A8N5X chip set cooler

[judge031]

I will be putting together a system soon (my first build) with the A8N5X. I've read about a lot of chip set fan noise issues on a similar Asus board that has SLI capabilities. I am not interested in SLI, over-clocking or gaming, but I am very interested in putting together a quiet and stable system. Forums indicate the A8N5X seems to have a bit quieter fan, but I would really be interested in a passive cooling system that won’t have a fan to wear out or whine at some point. I've seen a passive cooling heat sink made by Zalman (ZM-NB47J) on newegg that can be used without a fan. It seems the smart time to install this would be at the initial build. It lists restrictions on its application to boards that don’t incorporate a “built in graphics chipset” and the board must have “mounting holes” around the NorthBridge chip set. Another issue is that the heat sink is very large, and some users note that it’s a very tight fit in certain applications. The graphics board will be very close and I’ll be using a 256 meg Sapphire (100119L-HS) that also has heat sink cooling. Has anyone tried this particular cooler on this board or installed a similar passive cooler that worked out well?

[Alaron]

I used a Zalman passive cooler on the northbridge of my old system when its fan died. I've never had a problem with it.

I looked at the A8N5X closely, and it appears to have two mounting holes on opposite sides of the northbridge heatsink/fan. You should be able to install it easily. And you're right, install it before anything else, since you'll need to push the pins through the board.

[judge031]

Thanks. I'm hoping there will be enough space. I've seen some posts talking about huge heat sinks being a problem with video card close by. I hope someone using the A8N5X has tried a similar passive chipset cooler.