Hey Everyone,
 
I got a EVGA 780i A1 motherboard. Now that it is the summer and my ambient temperature in my room is 30*C plus...My northbridge is getting alot hotter and the default fan evga provides isn't the greatest as most of you know. I'm thinking of taking the heatsink that is attached to the northbridge and southbridge and replacing it with these to similar products. The 2 links are below.
 
Heatsink for northbridge.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=54_197&products_id=25264
 
Heatsink for southbridge.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6717/vid-102/Enzotech_SLF-1_Forged_Copper_Northbridge_Southbridge_Low-Profile_Heatsink.html?tl=g40c16s227#blank
 
As you can see their made by the same company and from the reviews ive looked at they work good. Should I do this mod or is their a better way? Basically I want to lower northbridge/southbridge temperatures.  
 
***One more thing is it hard to remove the default heatsink and does it void my lifetime warrenty?
 
Any response is greatly appreciated.

yea my temperatures go to 80*C on my northbridge which is insane since i don't overclock and i have a very good case for airflow...THX for the forum link i think i might just do that...Im just confused a little though...so if i were to unscrew the chipset heatsink...can i take off all the foam pads from underneath the heatsink or do I leave some on?

davma077

so if i were to unscrew the chipset heatsink...can i take off all the foam pads from underneath the heatsink or do I leave some on?

 
Place the foam pads from the chips carefully in the garbage. 

bob16314

davma077

so if i were to unscrew the chipset heatsink...can i take off all the foam pads from underneath the heatsink or do I leave some on?

 
Place the foam pads from the chips carefully in the garbage. 

yup, if you try to removed them thats where they will end up because they tear apart.

davma077
alright guyz thx alot for all the advice I appreciate it...I don't understand y evga would put pads underneath there heatsink...what is the purpose of the pads?

They are not foam pads.  They are thermal pads for the transfer of heat from the Mosfets.  If you throw them away, you need to replace them with new ones.  If you remove them carefully, and don't rip them, you can reuse the same ones.  Either way, make sure that you place reused/new ones exactly where the old ones were removed.

Yea I was thinking of doing that but how would i install the fan on the heatsink...I know some ppl use screws but i dont wanna risk damaging the heatsink...also a strong fan would blow more hot air onto my xfx 9800gtx video card which already idles around 62*C with a room temperature of 30*C
 
***hey does anyone also know if the bios monitor system actually reads the correct temperatures of the north/southbridge chipsets...if not what is a good piece of free software that i could use to monitor my northbridge/southbridge chipsets?

VistaHead

davma077  
***hey does anyone also know if the bios monitor system actually reads the correct temperatures of the north/southbridge chipsets...if not what is a good piece of free software that i could use to monitor my northbridge/southbridge chipsets?

Yes, the BIOS does monitor the chipset accurately, however, if you want a program that will do it in the Windows environment, use the free version of Everest Ultimate.  After installation, click Computer - Sensor, your temps will be there (MCP & SPP).
http://www.lavalys.com/support/downloads

Awesome thanks for the software...its only a trial version though so will i have to pay for it after?

I use Everest and love it. I got the full version. Definitely worth it if you value your PC hardware =)

Nice work.

VistaHead

davma077
alright guyz thx alot for all the advice I appreciate it...I don't understand y evga would put pads underneath there heatsink...what is the purpose of the pads?

They are not foam pads.  They are thermal pads for the transfer of heat from the Mosfets.  If you throw them away, you need to replace them with new ones.  If you remove them carefully, and don't rip them, you can reuse the same ones.  Either way, make sure that you place reused/new ones exactly where the old ones were removed.

i think he may be referring to the foam squares under the mcp/spp HSF not the thermal pads under the mosfets. BTW you can just throw those away and us a non-conductive TIM with a little HSF tweaking for the mosfets area.

I decided to touch my MCP with my finger yesterday on my 680i and I noticed a +10 degrees celsius drop in my Aida64 OSD. so i started experimenting by pushing on the spp and mcp on different angles.. it was rather obvious there was a combination of a lack of tension on the plastic spring screws and the levelness of the two sink attached to the pipe.. trying to bend the pipe while my machine was running seemed to flatten it out and it stayed 10 degrees cooler..
Also when i bought my board i stripped off any crap on ALL the mobo hear sinks and put arctic silver on, if you haven't done that yet then..
It may not be necessary to go out and buy more stuff if what you got just needs tweaking. For example i put 2 paper shims that are usually used on motherboard screws on the plastic spring pins on my southbridge which drastically increased the tension