A8N-SLI chipset fan

[Gerhard Austaller]

Hi

Yesterday the second chipset fan was dying on an A8N-SLI board :-(
Anybody experienced the same problems? Now we think of replacing the
fan with big heat sink without fan. Will that be enough, or should we
but another fan on it...?

Gerhard

 

[milleron]

Hi

Yesterday the second chipset fan was dying on an A8N-SLI board :-(
Anybody experienced the same problems? Now we think of replacing the
fan with big heat sink without fan. Will that be enough, or should we
but another fan on it...?

Gerhard

What has died? Was your second dead fan identical to the one that
came on the board? If it was, then you might want to ask Asus to
replace it with their redesigned (slower) fan. These things seem to
last much longer than the original high-RPM fans.

If you opt for the Zalman heatsink (NB47, I think) that most A8N-SLI
owners choose, be aware that many users have reported that it needs a
nearby fan blowing on it.


Ron

 

[Robert Hancock]

If you opt for the Zalman heatsink (NB47, I think) that most A8N-SLI
owners choose, be aware that many users have reported that it needs a
nearby fan blowing on it.

Also, it will block installing most 2-slot video cards in the upper
PCI-E x16 slot (unless you grind off part of the Zalman heatsink, maybe..)

 

[Gerhard Austaller]

Hi

What has died?

The fan on the nForce4 SLI chip ;-) Yes, it was replaced two months ago
by an identical modell. THx for the hints for the heatsink.

Gerhard

 

[Larry]

Look at the page below to see what I did to mine

http://www.larryewing.com/chipset.htm

 

[milleron]

Look at the page below to see what I did to mine

http://www.larryewing.com/chipset.htm

Very nice. Did you try it without the fan first? If so, how hot did
it run with the heatsink alone? Does the small fan make much noise?

Ron

 

[Larry]

I did try it stock at first, but the heatsink did not seem to be big
enough to sink that much heat. It was very hot to the touch.
The fan is the new one that runs about 5K rpm and I can't hear
it over my power supply fans. The only problem I have is I can't
remove my hard drive. I should have put it in the next slot down.
I'll have to remove my motherboard just to take out my drive.
Hopefully I won't have to.

 

[Viðarr]

Hi

Yesterday the second chipset fan was dying on an A8N-SLI board :-(
Anybody experienced the same problems? Now we think of replacing the
fan with big heat sink without fan. Will that be enough, or should we
but another fan on it...?

Gerhard

I went through the original A8N-SLI Deluxe chipset fan quickly (within a
couple weeks of getting my computer). I wasn't at all thrilled with the
idea of having to remove the mainboard to install the Asus replacement (I
have neither space nor tools here), so I came up with an alternate plan.

I "solved" the Northbridge chipset fan problem by completely removing the
stock fan, leaving the heatsink in place and mounted to the chipset.
Removing the stock fan is easy. (The only problem is that the enclosure is
held on by four very small screws, and the fan held in place by three even
smaller ones. Because they can easily lose themselves among the other
components if dropped, a magnetic screwdriver makes the whole process much
easier. Finding lost ones easily adds an hour to the procedure.)

I then mounted a Sunon maglev fan (40mm x 10mm, 3-wire) using four #4 x 3/4
inch (2.74mm x 19mm) wood/metal screws (NOT machine screws), securing the
screws between the vanes of the heatsink to seat the fan. In order to have
adequate clearance and visibility, I needed to pull the top videocard (I
have two XFX 6800 Ultras in SLI mode), but that was the only other problem I
had.

The Sunon fan seems to run faster than I'd like (~13,000 RPM), but I don't
know if that's its true speed or if it actually is running at 6,500 RPM. It's
very quiet. (I haven't figured out how to adjust the fan multiplier, if
that's even possible. I bought five of the fans while I was at it, so I'm
covered even if it is at the extreme high end of its range.) Everything
seems to be working fine so far. The nice thing about this fix is that [1]
it doesn't involve removing the mainboard; [2] it's technically and
mechanically easy; and [3] takes about an hour if all goes as planned. The
10mm-thick Sunon fan mounted on the existing heatsink provides adequate
clearance even for the twin XFXs. There may be better solutions, but I know
this one works.

When I eventually upgrade from this machine, and if I have the luxury of
time, I'm going to wait until more mainboards are available and have track
records, and then choose the best. I don't want to go through THIS sort of
problem again. I mean if *I* could come up with an inexpensive, workable
solution, why couldn't Asus do it before they put the board into production?
According to the reviews, the A8N-SLI Deluxe (when *I* bought mine) was the
best board available. (There was no mention of the chipset fan problem in
any of the reviews I read.) I'd have gladly paid a bit more to not have had
the Northbridge chipset fan problem in the first place.

Grrrrr.

Viðarr

 

[Larry]

can you post a picture on a website or email one to me?
I would post it on my site for others to see.

You can email me by replacing sox with cox

Hi

Yesterday the second chipset fan was dying on an A8N-SLI board :-(
Anybody experienced the same problems? Now we think of replacing the
fan with big heat sink without fan. Will that be enough, or should we
but another fan on it...?

Gerhard

I went through the original A8N-SLI Deluxe chipset fan quickly (within a
couple weeks of getting my computer). I wasn't at all thrilled with the
idea of having to remove the mainboard to install the Asus replacement (I
have neither space nor tools here), so I came up with an alternate plan.

I "solved" the Northbridge chipset fan problem by completely removing the
stock fan, leaving the heatsink in place and mounted to the chipset.
Removing the stock fan is easy. (The only problem is that the enclosure
is held on by four very small screws, and the fan held in place by three
even smaller ones. Because they can easily lose themselves among the
other components if dropped, a magnetic screwdriver makes the whole
process much easier. Finding lost ones easily adds an hour to the
procedure.)

I then mounted a Sunon maglev fan (40mm x 10mm, 3-wire) using four #4 x
3/4 inch (2.74mm x 19mm) wood/metal screws (NOT machine screws), securing
the screws between the vanes of the heatsink to seat the fan. In order to
have adequate clearance and visibility, I needed to pull the top videocard
(I have two XFX 6800 Ultras in SLI mode), but that was the only other
problem I had.

The Sunon fan seems to run faster than I'd like (~13,000 RPM), but I don't
know if that's its true speed or if it actually is running at 6,500 RPM.
It's very quiet. (I haven't figured out how to adjust the fan multiplier,
if that's even possible. I bought five of the fans while I was at it, so
I'm covered even if it is at the extreme high end of its range.)
Everything seems to be working fine so far. The nice thing about this fix
is that [1] it doesn't involve removing the mainboard; [2] it's
technically and mechanically easy; and [3] takes about an hour if all goes
as planned. The 10mm-thick Sunon fan mounted on the existing heatsink
provides adequate clearance even for the twin XFXs. There may be better
solutions, but I know this one works.

When I eventually upgrade from this machine, and if I have the luxury of
time, I'm going to wait until more mainboards are available and have track
records, and then choose the best. I don't want to go through THIS sort
of problem again. I mean if *I* could come up with an inexpensive,
workable solution, why couldn't Asus do it before they put the board into
production? According to the reviews, the A8N-SLI Deluxe (when *I* bought
mine) was the best board available. (There was no mention of the chipset
fan problem in any of the reviews I read.) I'd have gladly paid a bit
more to not have had the Northbridge chipset fan problem in the first
place.

Grrrrr.

Viðarr