Northbridge fan
Discussion
Got an Asus board with a broken northbridge fan. The fan is only an inch across and bolts via three small screws into the centre of a heatsink.
The board is an Asus A8n SLI delux.
Problem is I'm using a 880 graphics card with won't allow me to replace with a larger heatsink, or to use a normal fan bolted to the top.
So far I have been unable to find somewhere I can buy one from, Asus only has major shops as resellers in the UK so they're no good. Any ideas?
The board is an Asus A8n SLI delux.
Problem is I'm using a 880 graphics card with won't allow me to replace with a larger heatsink, or to use a normal fan bolted to the top.
So far I have been unable to find somewhere I can buy one from, Asus only has major shops as resellers in the UK so they're no good. Any ideas?
Coincidentally, my replacement for my A8N sli northbridge fan turned up on Friday; only I didn't order the fan; went for the heatpipe cooler from the next model up - nothing to go wrong there. Haven't fitted it yet, as the fan is still going(ordered it as the A8N fan is notorious for going).
There are two types of fan for the A8N - the older one appears to give the most trouble. If the board is less than a year old, speak to Asus in the UK, and they'll replace it FOC with the newer one, which is slightly bigger.
If it is older than a year, you can get a heatsink that'll fit - (there's quite a few available IIRC from when I looked,you'll have to google for it as I didn't keep the links, sorry); I do remember that zalman did one - watch out though, it's fecking huuuuge and may obscure the 2nd PCIe slot for larger cards.
There was also a completely over the top one for about $60!
Failing that, http://estore.asus.com/shop/ is where you can (and I did) order replacement parts; you'll either have to do what I did, which is get a colleague in the US to order for you(I wasn't in the US at the time, nor was I in any rush either, it's taken him about 10 months to ship it to me!), or there are a few escrow services available which will ship to the UK.
Edited to add -
http://estore.asus.com/shop/item.asp?
Is what you want.
There are two types of fan for the A8N - the older one appears to give the most trouble. If the board is less than a year old, speak to Asus in the UK, and they'll replace it FOC with the newer one, which is slightly bigger.
If it is older than a year, you can get a heatsink that'll fit - (there's quite a few available IIRC from when I looked,you'll have to google for it as I didn't keep the links, sorry); I do remember that zalman did one - watch out though, it's fecking huuuuge and may obscure the 2nd PCIe slot for larger cards.
There was also a completely over the top one for about $60!
Failing that, http://estore.asus.com/shop/ is where you can (and I did) order replacement parts; you'll either have to do what I did, which is get a colleague in the US to order for you(I wasn't in the US at the time, nor was I in any rush either, it's taken him about 10 months to ship it to me!), or there are a few escrow services available which will ship to the UK.
Edited to add -
http://estore.asus.com/shop/item.asp?
Is what you want.
Edited by jimmyjimjim on Sunday 1st April 15:52
Thanks for the reply.
The fan they are suggesting is
http://estore.asus.com/shop/item.asp?
But the locating pins are all wrong for mine as mine has a pin on diagonal corners, and I doubt that one would fit. Does it look like it would fit your board?
It is an A8N-sli-delux.
My problem is that enlarged heatsinks, and possibly even your cooling pipe wouldn't fit as the double width PCIE card 8800 give only a hairbreath room above the standard part.
The fan they are suggesting is
http://estore.asus.com/shop/item.asp?
But the locating pins are all wrong for mine as mine has a pin on diagonal corners, and I doubt that one would fit. Does it look like it would fit your board?
It is an A8N-sli-delux.
My problem is that enlarged heatsinks, and possibly even your cooling pipe wouldn't fit as the double width PCIE card 8800 give only a hairbreath room above the standard part.
The reason I went for the heatpipe was similar to you; I've got a got a couple of full length (!) 7800GTX's, so anything higher that a gnat whisker wouldn't fit.
When I ordered it, I did a fair bit of research, and found that many people had gone for the heatpipe as an alternative, for the same reasons; it'll fit, I've seen pictures.
As for the diagonal pins...I put the cover back on the pc about an hour ago and manoevered the fecker back it to the corner of the room, recabled, the lot. This involved heavy cursing and skinned knuckles. I'm not taking it out of there except if it catches fire! However, looking at the orientation of the heatpipe, whereas the pins appear to be on either side of the 'fanless design' heatsink, it is designed to be at an angle, so the pins would be at the top left and bottom right.
Looking at the chipset fan:-
You can see the the black pins are also angled to top left and bottom right. Notice also that the design of the fan has changed; mine is the (presumably) older type in the individual image.
The entire height of the northbridge heatsink assembly for the heatpipe is about 6-7mm.
If the pins don't fit exactly (I'd be bloody amzed if they don't), then that is what thermal adhesive is for ;->
When I ordered it, I did a fair bit of research, and found that many people had gone for the heatpipe as an alternative, for the same reasons; it'll fit, I've seen pictures.
As for the diagonal pins...I put the cover back on the pc about an hour ago and manoevered the fecker back it to the corner of the room, recabled, the lot. This involved heavy cursing and skinned knuckles. I'm not taking it out of there except if it catches fire! However, looking at the orientation of the heatpipe, whereas the pins appear to be on either side of the 'fanless design' heatsink, it is designed to be at an angle, so the pins would be at the top left and bottom right.
Looking at the chipset fan:-
You can see the the black pins are also angled to top left and bottom right. Notice also that the design of the fan has changed; mine is the (presumably) older type in the individual image.
The entire height of the northbridge heatsink assembly for the heatpipe is about 6-7mm.
If the pins don't fit exactly (I'd be bloody amzed if they don't), then that is what thermal adhesive is for ;->
Edited by jimmyjimjim on Sunday 1st April 21:29
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