North and South Bridge fans on GA-X48-DS5

[gigafan200]

Hey, Does anyone have a good ideas for install chipset fans (Northbridge and/or Southbridge) on a GA-x48-DS5 MB?

[Nickel020]

Zip ties and a small 40mm fan will do the job for the NB. The SB doesn't need a fan unless you're running like 4+ SSDs of it.

[gigafan200]

Yeh I kinda had that Idea I may go with that at least experimentally to see if there is a true performance difference. I just want to get the temp down a hair. Not a major problem unless I am Stress testing under Prime95 X64. Other than Prime95 all other stress test and memory test run great.

I am still burning in a new application of AS5. But temps holding steady at 38c idle 60c @ (100% stress) VistaX64. But I notice that temp on NB a hot(very hot to touch)

I am somewhat of a temp-ophile. I am always looking for better (passive) ways to cool my system.

Thanks for the reply.

[Nickel020]

If you like passive you could replace the whole heatpipe and use a Thermalright HR-05 on the NB. I'm not sure whether any of the Thermalright mosfet heatsinks fit on the GB X48 boards, but you can check out their website.

[gigafan200]

Oh boy! That sucker looks mean. I will definitly consider that if I go the heat pipe removal route.

Would it be worth exploring putting AS5 or some other TC on heat pipe heatsinks?

[gigafan200]

I had an interesting anomaly with trying to run Prime95(all other diagnostics, memory test and stress test checked out). I changed all my components to a cheap ANTEC300(old case Antec SonataIII). It has alot of airflow. Prime95 ran fine for two hours.

I guess you can never underestimate the effect of good air flow through a system.

[Psycho101]

the thermalright cooler looks good and performs well.

You won't see much gain by removing the curent heatpipe cooler to replace the TIM with AS5, then re-fit. if the stock cooler is already getting warm/hot, then contact is good and better heat dissipation via a new cooler is needed. If the cooler were cool to the tough, and temp monitoring pointed to high chipset temps (assuming the board has a NB sensor), that would be the time I'd replace the TIM on the stock setup, as contact is almost certain to be poor in that case.

Air flow is definitely key. A decent intake and decent extraction fan can make all the difference. If installed right the addition of extra fans can benefit you. Be careful though as it can also have the opposite effect if it interferes with good air flow. Other things to try to make cooling more effective are things like using dense foam in empty drive bays. This reduces the amount of air in the case, meaning what's actually there gets turned around more quickly. The addition of a low speed drive bay fan (takes up 3 x 5.25" bays) can be effective too.

[gigafan200]

Thanks for the input. My ambient runs about 26C now since the new case (Antec 300, cheap case but great air flow) Processor(Q9650) running 35C(idle) to 58C(Full load) . And YES I did put low RPM fans in front. I experimented with some high RPM(3000) at full blast in front of the case and it didn't make much difference. Everything seems to run great temperature wise and I can run Prime95 non-stop and no problems. And recovery time to Idle temps are faster. And I can tell the NB is not as hot at full load.
I never payed much attention to the importance of good airflow in a case until now.