Good Chipset Fan?

[juppy]

Does anybody know of a good, reliable brand of chipset fan? Like the 30 to 40mm kind. I had one go out about 4 or 5 months ago, and read that there wasn't much difference in quality between the brands, since most of them are sleeve bearing anyway, so I just went to Radio Shack and bought one there to replace my worn out fan. Well, long story short, this RS replacement is already starting to growl on bootup, just like the old bad fan did when it went out. So are there any GOOD fans in this small size, that'll last longer than 6 months, or do you just buy these things by the handful and keep replacing them every so often?

[Cricket]

What I've done in the past is remove the stock heatsink/fan unit and used thermal epoxy to bond a old Socket 5/7/370 heatsink onto the northbridge to make a large passive cooler. If the fins are too tall I just cut them down with a Dremel where necessary. No fan to worry about and less noise from the computer.

Cricket

[juppy]

I hadn't thought of doing that. That'll keep it cool enough, not having the fan on there, just so the heatsink is big enough?

I don't know that this chipset really puts out all that much heat anyway, because it's fairly old. It's a VIA KT266A. And the heatsink they put on it from the factory is pretty darn small to begin with.

I might try that and see what happens, because I think I've got an old 370 heatsink around here somewhere. Oh goodie, time to go digging through my spare parts piles again.

Thanks Cricket!

[Stuey]

http://www.3dcool.com/product_info.php?products_id=1707

I've got an Abit Max-3 with an active northbridge. I replaced it with this heatsink but without the fan, and it's been running well for about a year now.

Cricket's option is $20 cheaper (free) though if you've got the available spare parts.

[juppy]

Thanks for the suggestion, Stuey! I'll keep that one in mind in the event I can't find that other one I think I have.....because, yeah, free is always better, IMO.

[Alaron]

Here is an even cheaper option if you can't come across an old heatsink. I've got one of these on a northbridge whose fan died, and haven't had an issue for years now. http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g40/...ile-Page1.html

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Alaron Here is an even cheaper option if you can't come across an old heatsink. I've got one of these on a northbridge whose fan died, and haven't had an issue for years now. http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g40/...ile-Page1.html

Hey, that's what I used on the southbridge of my ASUS P4P800SE motherboard. I bought some of those heatsinks years ago and never used them. When the southbridge/USB problem came up I bought some Arctic Silver thermal epoxy and bonded one of those to the southbridge chip...not sure if it actually helps with the problem or not but my P4P800SE is still working okay.

Cricket

[juppy]

Cool.....even cheaper stuff! I found that old heatsink but it seems pretty big to be putting on a chipset IC. Those that Alaron linked to might be better than what I've got.

You know, come to think of it, I just remembered something.....when I built my brother's last computer for him, I used an Epox motherboard and it came with several little blue stick-on type heatsinks (which I didn't find a need for on his board). Would those do the job if I stuck several of 'em on the same chip together or is it better to have one solid heatsink that covers the whole thing? They're not very big.....maybe the size of a fingernail, if I remember correctly, so it'd definitely take more than one.

Just a side note.....it's kind of funny......that fan that was making the noise hasn't made a single growling noise since I posted this question the other day. It kept growling on startup for 3 days straight before that time, but after posting the question, nada. I think it's monitoring what I've been typing and knows it might be headed for the trash can!

[Panama Red]

Hmmmm, a psychic fan eh? Seems like Nancy Reagan and Bill Clinton used them as advisors!

[juppy]

Somehow I think that might be a different type of psychic fan.