Abit NF7-S2 fan failing.

[Goragoth]

My pretty new motherboard, only about 2 months old, is already having its fan fail on me. I'm begining to think that I'm cursed or something. Anyway, its been noisy as they get and today I pulled it out to have a look and see if maybe I can replace it. It looks somewhat non-standard though as its all round unlike most fans which are square. I tried the old trick of putting a bit of sewing machine oil on it and that seems to have helped a little but I can still hear that its not spinning 100% properly.

So, does anyone know if replacements are easy to get or if the fan is even needed? A friend of mine said that the fan on his mobo stopped at some stage and that he's been running his computer fine regardless. Can I simply disonnect the fan?

I can't really return the mobo either since I ordered it of the net and I'm not going to take all my components out and be without a computer for a few weeks.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Mine can get a bit funky and start clanking at times, but a few strategically placed "whaps" on the side of the case and it usually shuts up. (No, I'm not kidding.)

 

[MasterBaiter]

I"d just buy a new northbridge heatsink/fan setup. You could also probably put one of the smaller (maybe...) VGA coolers on it and you'd be in phat city.

 

[Rambler]

I've got similar problem with my Abit IS7 mobo, NB fan failing after few months :/
I couldn't afford to be w/o computer for a month or so, so i "fixed" (with rubber band) some random small fan onto the heatsink and it works ok for now.
Although it pisses me off that they have this nonstandard heatsink where the fan is fixed in the heatsink, not on top of it and i can't buy such small fan anywhere

 

[Guden Oden]

Buy a large passive heatsink instead, small fans will always suck because they break down in notime. Especially when screwed on to a hot sink like a northbridge, that makes the oil in the bearing evaporate even faster.

Intel's own 925-series mobos have incredible northbridge sinks... They look like socket 421 P3 sinks. Makes me wanna buy Intel, but they don't overclock worth %¤#@.

 

[digitalwanderer]

Buy a large passive heatsink instead, small fans will always suck because they break down in notime. Especially when screwed on to a hot sink like a northbridge, that makes the oil in the bearing evaporate even faster.

That's an excellent suggestion Guden, and I think I'm gonna take it to heart.

Thanks.

 

[Goragoth]

A big passive sink would be best I guess but that would pretty much require ripping the entire mobo out. I think I'll pass for now although I might come back that later. I'll probably try just strapping the fan from my old mobo to it and hope that it works.

 

[T2k]

There are few problem w/ passive sinks:

1. if you don't have good internal ventillation, it's not gonna work out: heat will stuck there - whereas a fan would take off hte heat from the sink at least

2. if you OC, you'll need a fan - my former NF7-S v1.2 and Athlon 2500+ combo was working on 2500MHz w/ 2.22 Vcore and maxed/tweaked out chipset voltage...

I suggest consider moving to water cooling: that's way more effective, better for the CPU, less noise yet affordable - simply the best cooling solution out there. 8)

 

[Goragoth]

Meh, turns out the bog standard fan from my old mobo has a different connector to the one on the Abit board. Not sure what I'm going to do now, I really don't want to mess with removing the heatsink and chucking a passive one on although that would be the best solution I guess.

 

[_xxx_]

The fan isn't supposed to run constantly. It runs only when needed - managed by BIOS.

 

[anaqer]

The fan isn't supposed to run constantly. It runs only when needed - managed by BIOS.

You sure 'bout that? AN7 boards may have such functionality (just guessing here), but the NF7-S2...?

 

[T2k]

The fan isn't supposed to run constantly. It runs only when needed - managed by BIOS.

IMO wrong: it runs constantly. Fan speed may could be controlled by BIOS but that's all.

 

[_xxx_]

I have an NF7 in my machine and it doesn't run constantly, only when under heavy load. Might also depend on BIOS version, or maybe my mobo is crap, dunno. Had no problems whatsoever.

 

[digitalwanderer]

I have a slightly modified Zalman 7000cu on my 2400+ so I can't see my fan worth shit since it's so honking huge without bending over damn near upside down in my chair to see under the heatsink....

:?

No way, I'm just not that interested.