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I am posting this so that others can do the same thing if they see fit.
My current board is a GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 1155 motherboard.
2600k @ stock 3.4ghz (for baseline testing)
The stock north bridge heat sink was a passive aluminum plate, approximately 2.5" X 3" and the thickness ranged from 5/16" to 3/16".
Though my NB temps we not too high. I always like to improve where i can.
As there is not enough room for a tower type cooler, i had to improvise.
I used an old school vga active cooler. It is made from solid copper and is 54.8mm (just over 2") in diameter with a base thickness of almost 7/64" (2.7mm) and just over 1/2" with the fan cover.Weighing almost twice what the stock cooler weighed.
The Spire Coolforce vga cooler i used is no longer available, but here is a similar cooler.Newegg does have other brands and colored vga coolers as well.
I just posted the cheapest that i could find.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119079
#1Tools needed.
Drill
Drill bits (5/32)
Thermal past
cooler
Dremel with a small cutting wheel. (the bit just fit into my Dremel, but wouldn't tighten down all the way, though it still worked.)
#2 Will it fit?
I have less than 1/2" clearance between my video card and the NB chip. I do have plenty of room as the diameter of the stock and replacement cooler are almost the same. As far as height goes, i did have to remove the fan cover. Now i have plenty of clearance.
A good way to check clearance is to look at your sata connectors. With the video card installed, you have roughly 1/16" between the connectors and card.
#3 Making it fit.
As the push pin or bolt on holes are a different distance apart from one another, i had to drill the holes slightly larger on the vga cooler to insure that the cooler would lay flat on the chip and not be pulled at an angle. I used a 5/32" drill bit to do this.
Then when laying the cooler into place i noticed that a capacitor was in the way. I had to use the Dremel to notch out an area of the vga cooler to fit over the capacitor.
EDIT: That is a quartz crystal rather than a capacitor.
The holes through the board were too large to use push pins or a machine screw. I used these plastic adapter washers that came with my Zalman socket 1156/775 clip kit in both the mobo and the cooler (The 4 came with the kit). $5 from newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118053
<a href="http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z100/micro5797/HWA/?action=view&current=zalmantoupload.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z100/micro5797/HWA/zalmantoupload.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
New cooler installed:
Here are my before and after temps.
I used prime 95 torture test for 16 min.
NB temp
Stock, prime 95 @ 52c, 125f
Vga, prime 95 @ 47c, 116f
Mobo temp
Stock, prime 95 @ 37c, 98f
Vga, prime 95 @ 31c, 87f
The higher the over clock the more the vga cooler will be useful at even higher temps.
I do notice the vga cooler cools faster when you stop prime 95 then the stock cooler.
My current board is a GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 1155 motherboard.
2600k @ stock 3.4ghz (for baseline testing)
The stock north bridge heat sink was a passive aluminum plate, approximately 2.5" X 3" and the thickness ranged from 5/16" to 3/16".
Though my NB temps we not too high. I always like to improve where i can.
As there is not enough room for a tower type cooler, i had to improvise.
I used an old school vga active cooler. It is made from solid copper and is 54.8mm (just over 2") in diameter with a base thickness of almost 7/64" (2.7mm) and just over 1/2" with the fan cover.Weighing almost twice what the stock cooler weighed.
The Spire Coolforce vga cooler i used is no longer available, but here is a similar cooler.Newegg does have other brands and colored vga coolers as well.
I just posted the cheapest that i could find.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119079
#1Tools needed.
Drill
Drill bits (5/32)
Thermal past
cooler
Dremel with a small cutting wheel. (the bit just fit into my Dremel, but wouldn't tighten down all the way, though it still worked.)
#2 Will it fit?
I have less than 1/2" clearance between my video card and the NB chip. I do have plenty of room as the diameter of the stock and replacement cooler are almost the same. As far as height goes, i did have to remove the fan cover. Now i have plenty of clearance.
A good way to check clearance is to look at your sata connectors. With the video card installed, you have roughly 1/16" between the connectors and card.
#3 Making it fit.
As the push pin or bolt on holes are a different distance apart from one another, i had to drill the holes slightly larger on the vga cooler to insure that the cooler would lay flat on the chip and not be pulled at an angle. I used a 5/32" drill bit to do this.
Then when laying the cooler into place i noticed that a capacitor was in the way. I had to use the Dremel to notch out an area of the vga cooler to fit over the capacitor.
EDIT: That is a quartz crystal rather than a capacitor.
The holes through the board were too large to use push pins or a machine screw. I used these plastic adapter washers that came with my Zalman socket 1156/775 clip kit in both the mobo and the cooler (The 4 came with the kit). $5 from newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118053
<a href="http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z100/micro5797/HWA/?action=view&current=zalmantoupload.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i195.photobucket.com/albums/z100/micro5797/HWA/zalmantoupload.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
New cooler installed:
Here are my before and after temps.
I used prime 95 torture test for 16 min.
NB temp
Stock, prime 95 @ 52c, 125f
Vga, prime 95 @ 47c, 116f
Mobo temp
Stock, prime 95 @ 37c, 98f
Vga, prime 95 @ 31c, 87f
The higher the over clock the more the vga cooler will be useful at even higher temps.
I do notice the vga cooler cools faster when you stop prime 95 then the stock cooler.
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