Northbridge quiet cooling options

[freestyle1212]

Hello... I'm trying to find a quiet way to cool my Northbridge chip. My problem is that I have a PCI-E video card, which annoyingly sticks out over about half of the chip. This makes fanless heatsinks a non-option for me, even the low profile models I've seen (these are still about 5-6mm too tall). I know that there are plenty of 40mm fans out there, but are they quiet?? Or does someone happen to know of a super-low profile fanless heatsink (i.e 15mm or less)?

[Lespaul20]

What kind of motherboard do you have? What's the reason for a different heatsink?

[liambl]

Thats odd, a motherboard with the PCI-E slot next to the northbridge. Could you post some pics? If you are nor having heat problem why replace it? How big is the gap? You might be able to thermal epoxy a socket 7 fansink to it, thats a popular way.

[freestyle1212]

Okay so I guess I should include some more info. I want to replace the fan/heatsink because, like a lot of motherboard fans, it is ridiculously loud. Who knew such a small piece of junk could emit so much sound??? And my motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 (not sure on Rev 1.x or 2.x but I don't think that matters for this issue):

http://www.gigabyte-usa.com/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2206

You can see pretty clearly in that pic how the video card would overlap, as the card itself sticks out past the end of the PCI-E slot. The heatsink on my MB is different than the one pictured--it is square in shape and has a recessed area where the fan sits (and before you ask, it gets way too hot when I disable the fan :P)

Anyways I'm open to pretty much anything, as long as it's not too complicated... I know how to do basic stuff like installing components but I'm not a PC whiz by any means.

[Cricket]

I don't see a fan on the northbridge heatsink.

:) Cricket

[freestyle1212]

Heh I know... I just edited the post. The heatsink DOES have a fan in it--the fan grill has Gigabyte logo on it so I'm assuming this was not added on after the PC was built (I bought it third party).

[Lespaul20]

Maybe something like this where it's offset.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109131

[freestyle1212]

So it looks like the smaller square-shaped piece is what sits on top of the chipset, and then the larger grill apparatus sticks up vertically? If so, that might work--I do have a Zalman CPU fan which is pretty large, and another Zalman on my video card, so it might still be a tight fit. If I angled it right though, I'm sure I could make it work. Thanks for the heads up!

[liambl]

You could always turn it around until you find the best fit, but arrangement so the fins are orientated upwards would be best.