I love ABIT, but every time... every time!

[Spinner]

I love ABIT, I always buy ABIT for my computers, but every single motherboard I have got off them has had one annoying flaw. The god damb North Bridge fan!

My KT7, my KR7A, and now... yep you guessed it, my NF7-S. The fan only after a couple of months, has started to constantly grown and wirr. It is so annoying, why can't ABIT just design a good fan?

I'm going to have to get another cooler for the northbridge, I mean, I was planning to, but that's not the point. I'm gonna get a couple of Zalmans heatsinks, one for the Northbridge, and one for the Southbridge, just for the hell of it.

But the point is... I shouldn't have to. ABIT, I love ya, but you ain't go a clue about designing fans.:wtf:

[RWB]

EVERY Abit board I have owned had something horrible wrong with it when I FIRST get it. Magically after messing around with it for a few hours, it will begin to work, and NEVER have that problem again, not even after an upgrade or anything.

Either a curse or a conspiracy/

[Geeky1]

why can't ABIT just design a good fan?

I dunno... why can't you just upgrade the fan to something halfway decent?

Besides, ABIT is not responsible for the fans. They use an OEM to make the fan and the heatsink... and the fans are cheap, generic, single-ball or ball/sleeve bearing fans, they're small, and they're high-rpm. They're going to be prone to failure. This is not limited to ABIT boards, you know.

But since stock northbridge cooling is generally awfully crappy anyhow, why do you use it? Just upgrade the damn thing and be done with it.

[TheSmJ]

At the moment I'm using 2 ABIT boards with fans, and have not once had a problem with noise. Even the KT7A's fan never had a problem.

[Leonardo]

Besides, ABIT is not responsible for the fans.

They aren't? You mean, someone forced Abit by gunpoint to use an inferior OEM to supply them northbridge fans? (just razzing you , nothing personal)

I wouldn't know about other boards with northbridge fan problems - I've been using Abit, with the exception of one Iwill, since 1999 when I first got into home built computers.

Spinner, another solution is just forego the NB fan completely. Get a large, cheap generic heatsink for like a Pound (sterling, not weight!), and you won't even need a fan, assuming your case has decent ventilation. I don't run any chipset fans in my two home systems, both of which have overclocked CPUs and video cards. I don't run fans on my video cards' GPUs either.

[fatcat]

My KT7A-Raid fan never died the year I had that board. I'll agree they aren't the best fans availible. Just keep the dust bunnies out and you shouldnt have a problem. I replaced the NB fan on my KX7 and KD7-E as soon as I bought the mobos with better cooling so I couldnt really comment on the newer style NB fans.

fc

[Spinner]

Geeky1 had this to say
I dunno... why can't you just upgrade the fan to something halfway decent?

Besides, ABIT is not responsible for the fans. They use an OEM to make the fan and the heatsink... and the fans are cheap, generic, single-ball or ball/sleeve bearing fans, they're small, and they're high-rpm. They're going to be prone to failure. This is not limited to ABIT boards, you know.

But since stock northbridge cooling is generally awfully crappy anyhow, why do you use it? Just upgrade the damn thing and be done with it.

Like I said, I have been and I am planning to upgrade the cooler, but the point is, I shouldn't have to:rolleyes: . I realise ABIT will get the fans from some third party supplier, perhaps what I should have said was, why can't they put something descent on there from the start? and I also realise this isn't something limited to ABIT boards, when did I say otherwise? I was just telling you the experience I've had with ABIT in that department. I just find it frustrating that eventhough every board I have ever bought from ABIT has been great top quality produce, the north bridge cooling devices they put on them hardly compliments the quality of the rest of the board.

Also, this was intended as a light hearted thread Geeky', you don't have to take things so personally. I was just sharing my annoyance with you all, lose the attitude dude!:shakehead


Leonardo had this to say
Spinner, another solution is just forego the NB fan completely. Get a large, cheap generic heatsink for like a Pound (sterling, not weight!), and you won't even need a fan, assuming your case has decent ventilation. I don't run any chipset fans in my two home systems, both of which have overclocked CPUs and video cards. I don't run fans on my video cards' GPUs either.

Well, yea, I mean I've had my eye on those fanless Zalman heatsinks for the north bridge for quite some time now, however the problem isn't so much that, it's the fact that there isn't hardly any room for anything but the stock HS/F, simply because my CPU cooler (Zalman Zalman CNPS7000A) over shadows the north bridge completely. I expect that I'll need to file down even the small Zalman NB HS, before I can get it to fit. But yeah, no fan is the plan, just a bit annoyed that I'm being forced to find an alternative, because of the fan screaming at me, rather than being able to change it over in my own time.

Cheers

[test_tube_tony]

You think you have it bad? i cant flash the bios on my a7n8x deluxe, AND my audio inputs stoped working. but that aint bad compaired to some other boards ive used in the past. bleh

[Spinner]

test_tube_tony had this to say
You think you have it bad? i cant flash the bios on my a7n8x deluxe, AND my audio inputs stoped working. but that aint bad compaired to some other boards ive used in the past. bleh

Not at all, but I know what you mean about those ASUS boards. I got one a about 6 weeks ago and even though it is nForce 2 and all that, it really has some issues. I had lot a trouble at first getting it to post, I still have trouble getting into the BIOS setup without having to reset the CMOS. So, I share your frustration with that particular motherboard, but one thing that board does have going for it, is the fanless north bridge heatsink. Talk about a mixed up world.:)

[Leonardo]

I've had my eye on those fanless Zalman heatsinks

No, I mean really inexpensive, like this (http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=270&item=HS-70&type=store) . I'm sure you've got a couple online surplus vendors in the UK. Do a search. $1.25 for superb, dead quiet cooling.

[Spinner]

I see, haven't really seen anything quite that cheap in the UK, in fact the Zalman coolers are really the only thing I've ever seen like that over here, but I'll have a scout around. Thanks.

[test_tube_tony]

I actually put a heat sink with a fan on there because it was overheating. an easy way to fix a fan is to:
Pull it off the heat sink
Remove the sticker on the back
If there is a rubber stopper remove that too
Drip some WD40 in the hole and spin the blades around
Clean the excess out with a sock
Put a drop of door hinge oil in the hole
Again spin the blades around
Replace the rubber stopper
Clean off the surface and re-stick the sticker
Enjoy your quiet fan. This also works for seized up fans. Good luck!

[csimon]

test_tube_tony had this to say
I actually put a heat sink with a fan on there because it was overheating. an easy way to fix a fan is to:
Pull it off the heat sink
Remove the sticker on the back
If there is a rubber stopper remove that too
Drip some WD40 in the hole and spin the blades around
Clean the excess out with a sock
Put a drop of door hinge oil in the hole
Again spin the blades around
Replace the rubber stopper
Clean off the surface and re-stick the sticker
Enjoy your quiet fan. This also works for seized up fans. Good luck!

is that a sock I'm wearing it or can it be a clean sock? LOL:respect:

[test_tube_tony]

lol, what ever u want man.

[Spinner]

test_tube_tony had this to say
I actually put a heat sink with a fan on there because it was overheating. an easy way to fix a fan is to:
Pull it off the heat sink
Remove the sticker on the back
If there is a rubber stopper remove that too
Drip some WD40 in the hole and spin the blades around
Clean the excess out with a sock
Put a drop of door hinge oil in the hole
Again spin the blades around
Replace the rubber stopper
Clean off the surface and re-stick the sticker
Enjoy your quiet fan. This also works for seized up fans. Good luck!

Cool, he he. Well, I've never been a big fan of WD40, but next time I've got a cranky fan, I'll give it ago. However, I did today go out and pick up a new heatsink for the northbridge, one without a fan, the Zalman one. I failed to find a cheaper one than that in the UK, at least one within driving distance of Manchester. I had to cut off some of the heatsinks pylons to get it to fit next to my CPU cooler, as I expected, but now I have a nice and quiet north bridge. If only ABIT could have done what I had done in the first place. Could have saved me a lot of hassle. Nevertheless.:D JD

[TheLostSwede]

Geeky1 had this to say
why can't ABIT just design a good fan?


Besides, ABIT is not responsible for the fans.

So if the fan goes pearshaped, Abit isn't responsible?
That's like saying Mercedes isn't responsible if the rear window falls of on a brand new car because it's made by another company.

[Geeky1]

I worded it poorly. They aren't responsible for the fact that the fans themselves are crap. They ARE, however, responsible for anything that may come of a fan failure (e.g. dead board)... I mean, they're the ones who chose to use crappy fans, but they're not designing the fans, so they're not responsible for the fact that the fans themselves are crap.

Did that make any sense, or did I just make it worse? I think I just made it more confusing :confused:

[Spinner]

Geeky1 had this to say
I worded it poorly. They aren't responsible for the fact that the fans themselves are crap. They ARE, however, responsible for anything that may come of a fan failure (e.g. dead board)... I mean, they're the ones who chose to use crappy fans, but they're not designing the fans, so they're not responsible for the fact that the fans themselves are crap.

Did that make any sense, or did I just make it worse? I think I just made it more confusing :confused:

I understand what you are saying mate, but that doesn't make ABIT any less responsible for fan failures, simply because they chose to use such crappy fans, when they could have used better ones. Nevertheless, for everything else motherboard wise, ABIT rocks like a death metal band on speed, so I'll forgive them for this one little oversight.

[Leonardo]

I'll forgive them for this one little oversight

Amen! :respect:

[test_tube_tony]

Spinner had this to say
Cool, he he. Well, I've never been a big fan of WD40, but next time I've got a cranky fan, I'll give it ago. However, I did today go out and pick up a new heatsink for the northbridge, one without a fan, the Zalman one. I failed to find a cheaper one than that in the UK, at least one within driving distance of Manchester. I had to cut off some of the heatsinks pylons to get it to fit next to my CPU cooler, as I expected, but now I have a nice and quiet north bridge. If only ABIT could have done what I had done in the first place. Could have saved me a lot of hassle. Nevertheless.:D JD

Keep in mind, WD40 is a cleaner, not an actual lubricant.

[TheSmJ]

test_tube_tony had this to say
Spinner had this to say
Cool, he he. Well, I've never been a big fan of WD40, but next time I've got a cranky fan, I'll give it ago. However, I did today go out and pick up a new heatsink for the northbridge, one without a fan, the Zalman one. I failed to find a cheaper one than that in the UK, at least one within driving distance of Manchester. I had to cut off some of the heatsinks pylons to get it to fit next to my CPU cooler, as I expected, but now I have a nice and quiet north bridge. If only ABIT could have done what I had done in the first place. Could have saved me a lot of hassle. Nevertheless.:D JD

Keep in mind, WD40 is a cleaner, not an actual lubricant.

Yeah, but the WD would clean the stuff out.

Although afterwards you should still get some lube to put in there.

[Geeky1]

Uh, WD-40 is a lightweight oil. It cleans and lubricates. (I think).

[drasnor]

WD-40 is a water-displacement chemical (that's what WD stands for, and 40 is their 40th try at it). It is a makeshift lubricant, though you'll want something a bit less volatile for long-term use.

I've performed this procedure countless times on my GeForce 3 Ti500's stock fan (except with light machine oil) and it usually starts to seize up again after three weeks. I have to regularly add more oil, but I think this has to do with the fact that my GF3 runs so hot that the oil scorches or decomposes, so probably using motor oil will fix the problem.

I put the sticker back on after oiling. The original sticker gave out, but a piece of aluminum tape cut to a circle now suffices.

My problem with replacing GPU coolers is that they're all too tall. I need all the PCI I can get, so the whole replacement HSF has to be <25mm tall so as not to obstruct the adjacent slot.

-drasnor :fold:

[Geeky1]

WTF do you need that many PCI slots for?

[TheLostSwede]

I know what you mean Geeky, i'm just playing a jerk on you buddy. :D And i agree with you.

[Leonardo]

I need all the PCI I can get, so the whole replacement HSF has to be <25mm tall so as not to obstruct the adjacent slot.

Oh... so that means I can't repeat myself now and tout the efficacy of oversized passive heatsinks for GPUs and northbridges. :D

[TheLostSwede]

Leo,

Have you measured mainboard temps with active compared to passive cooling on those chips? If the mainboard temps is 5c higher because of that, so will the cpu temps be. At least. I shaved 6-7c off my board temps by installing waterblocks on those chips instead of stock.

Also, if anyone is interested in lowering the idletemps a lot, use WPRSET and change register 6F from 0F to 1F

[Leonardo]

The only temp monitoring I have is from Motherboard Monitor and the BIOS. There have been no board temperature changes, that I can tell, due to the passive heatsinks.

[TheLostSwede]

That's great. Must be one hell of a passive sink that can compete with an active.

[Leonardo]

On both of my systems, I can get stable GPU/RAM overclocks of around 330/315, reference defualt settings of 270/270. After running something intense like FutureMark 2003, the GPU heatsink will be very warm to the touch, but not hot. The same goes for the northbridge passive sinks - warm but not hot. I know that's not very empirical, but I have no temperature measuring instruments.

I don't think the passive sinks method would very well in a poorly ventilated case. The configuration of the case needs to be such that fresh air is available to the heatsinks, as their are no heatsink fans to pull in cool air and force down into the sinks. I think also, that sinks with densely packed veins would not work well. I think the heated air from the veins would tend to be trapped inside the veins' air pocket.

[csimon]

I'm thinking about it ...I may design something to utilize a 60mm fan ...that way you have a choice to use that old whinny delta that may be lying around! hehe

[drasnor]

Geeky1 had this to say
WTF do you need that many PCI slots for?
I'm building a 1.4GHz Pentium III Tualatin machine on an Asus P2B-B. That board is a 440BX slot1 board in the AT form factor, and the case I'm using is for an IBM Personal Computer AT, which used to have an AT 286 board in it. The board only has three PCI, and that goes down to two if I have an oversize AGP heatsink.

Right now, the loadout is:
AGP: nVidia GeForce 3 Ti500
PCI0: 3com 3c905C-TX-M managed Fast Ethernet
PCI1: Adaptec 2940U2W LVD SCSI-II, Ultra SCSI-II adapter
PCI2: Turtle Beach Santa Cruz 5.1 soundcard
ISA0: (shared with PCI2, vacant)
ISA1: USRobotics 56k V.90 controller-based modem

I could really use a 90 degree adapter for Slot1. It would eliminate me having to carve up part of the hard drive chassis with my Dremel. I've only been able to find one, but it seems to find it necessary to go up a full height before flipping over, and I need mine flipped right at the connector (like a 1U riser).

-drasnor :fold:

[WuGgaRoO]

Leonardo had this to say


Oh... so that means I can't repeat myself now and tout the efficacy of oversized passive heatsinks for GPUs and northbridges. :D


for SLI'd voodoo 2's ofcourse...along with the fan blower...ahh the days when i almost ph34r3d that id run out of back slots...now with everything onboard...its all good to go

[drasnor]

I have SLI'd Voodoo2's in my Linux box. It ran out of slots. I guess the 92mm Vantec Tornado counts as a blower.

-drasnor :fold: