Northbridge Fan (nForce4)

[kcrknp]

I have an ECS nForce4-A754 motherboard, which has a small fan attached to the northbridge (nForce4) heatsink. I use Speedfan to monitor my CPU temp, and after playing Dungeon Siege 2 for an hour, I went into Speedfan to check my temps. I noticed that my Fan 2 (my northbridge fan) was reading 0 RPM, when it usually registers. I have a clear side panel, so I shined a flashlight in and saw that the fan had infact stopped working. I opened the case to check the connection and everything was fine, it still won't spin. I touched the heatsink and it was no hotter than I would expect to find, just warm.

I've noticed many motherboards don't have a northbridge fan at all, just the heatsink. I was wondering if anyone knew if this particular northbridge would infact be damaged without using the fan.

FYI: I also have 2 fans below my side panel window that blow air in, one of them is almost directly blowing on the northbridge.

 

[Nubius]

nf4 doesn't have a northbridge per se...it's simply 'the chipset' now....and they really don't get too hot unlike the old nf2 boards in which the northbridge would get freakishly hot and the south bridge generally stayed relatively cool.

Regardless, in all honesty I'd get it replaced if I were you...maybe the fan works but the connection to the motherboard where it generally gets its power is shot...thats how it was on my nf3 board

 

[kcrknp]

Thanks for your help once again Nubius...are you the only one that knows anything around here? Anyway, my dad does computer repairs, but he's not familiar with most of the newer hardware. He says he has a fan that will probably fit so Ill try that out.

 

[Apokalipse]

replacement coolers don't cost much for chipsets
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=62&Submit=Property

 

[kcrknp]

OK, so I have a spare 3 pin connector for a case fan, it's labelled CASFAN1 I believe, I detached the fan (God those screws are tiny), and plugged it into the CASFAN connector and held onto it when I booted up. It didn't work, so I detached the fan. Now my guess would be that it's the fan itself and not the connector, but I've never tried plugging a chipset fan into a case fan connector, so I'm not sure if it was even supposed to work. Are all 3 pin connectors, regardless of what they're labelled, the same?


Apokalipse: I was looking at those this morning and noticed fans of that size put out about 4CFM....I have a 32CFM fan blowing on the heatsink...I would think that would cool it even better than the tiny little fan that was on it. Does anyone care to prove this incorrect?


I'm currently using the system and Speedfan reports a frosty 30*C on both heat sensors, remote and local. I'm not sure what remote and local are referring to though.

edit: By the way, the spare fan I was going to try is about a CM too large...

 

[kcrknp]

I have my case unscrewed (slides on) and I've been touching the heatsink intermittently and it is barely even warm to touch...It's been on for about an hour with just Firefox and Speedfan running. I'm afraid that gaming may overheat it.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

Lol, my chipsit in my computer which is a nf3 doesnt get above 90F, dont worry..... I had a nf2 heatsink that the fan on it failed and the chipsit ran rather warm but never to the point it could fail, now that south bridge chip got very very very hot to the touch....... Anyways don't worry......

 

[kcrknp]

So what you're saying is that this heatsink would have to be so hot that it literally burns my finger before the chip would fail?

 

[Nubius]

they can easily take upwards of 50C which probably would burn your finger, but I'm just paranoid and dont like it to get up that high. my nf3 fan died so I had a 6000RPM 60mm fan laying around and I set that fan up about 2 inches away from the chipset and had it blowing on it at about half speed (this tiny fan puts out 40CFM lol) and since it's small the air is rather concentrated...hell even with the normal fan dead and gone my chipset was a couple degrees cooler....so I suppose if you do something like that it won't be an issue...I have that same fan blowing on my nf4 system even though this chipset fan DOES infact work but it's keeping my chipset about 6-8C cooler than before

 

[kcrknp]

Thanks for your help Nubius, however I do not have the resources to rig up another fan....The heatsink now does start burning my finger after I hold it there for 10 seconds, so I guess it's no gaming for me until I get a new fan.