Asus A8N-SLI chipset fan dying

Hi,

I have an Asus A8N-SLI of which the little nForce chip fan is dying. I really want to replace it but I've never replaced such a fancy looking fan. I could not find a picture of the fan I have. It seems the mobo pics on the internet use a different fan than I have. However, this one comes pretty close except that mine is different ontop:


The questions:
1) Can I let the mobo run without any fan on the chipset? If I would remove the casing the chipset should get enough air from the front fan of the case. There is a clear path from the front fan to the chipset. However, I have my doubts.

2) When I replace the fan, what fan should/could I get. I have replaced fans in the past but nothing so 'fancy' as this one. Should I get the same shape/design fan or could I replaced it with a standard black one?

Well, that's about all.

Any info and/or help would be greatly appriciated.

It's good to replace the fan couse the chipset may overheat and it's need an a active cooling...try to find some VGA fancy cooler may come out even bether....or try to clean the fan or lybricate with some oil (machine oil) or with rost off (Wurth), or some motor oil. that may fix the problem regards

yeah mine died to i didnt replace it for a year and my temps never went over 24c when i replaced my mobo i put a new heatsink on it.

I'll have to give this a try.

The case is like a windmill. There is front case and back case fan. And on the left side of the case there is a CPU air intake. The CPU is cooled by a Zalman cooler, not sure which model. The memory is right next to this cooler and should benefit from it. The 7800GT has its stock cooler. AI Booster reports the CPU temp at 34 degrees and system temp at 39 degrees. No load at the moment but the computer is running 24x7.

I will first try to clean out the fan and oil it a bit like Blazk0 suggested. I never tried this so it might be interesting to see if this helps. If not, I will look for a fan from Zalman or other good fan building manufacturers.

Thank you for your input so far.

Funnily enough, my A8N SLI chipset fan was dying too, but i couldnt find a low enough profile one locally that would fit under my 8800GTX, so i ended up buying a fan for my other computer that uses an A8N-E and putting the A8N-E chipset fan in the SLI. Sorted heh

Yes, absolutely! Whatever the shortcomings of the early A8N-SLI and Deluxe, and there were many, Asus has been good about sending me replacement fans.

I ask about the airflow because I've been using a Zalman 7000 on my FX-55 (an early clawhammer version), and it does a great job cooling my CPU and RAM, but with the chipset fan isolated between two video cards (early production model EVGA 6800 GT's) that ran really hot the chipset was always running too hot. This is with 120 mm intake and exhaust fans. I finally ended up modding my case by replacing the clear panel in side with aluminum mesh to draw more air in, and this finally reduced my chipset temps.

I see that as I'm writing this Finlander has a great solution:

You, sir, are a clever boy! Does the heatpipe mount over the chipset using the mounting holes that the old fan used? I had always assumed the premium boards were different in their attachment method...

Thanks for posting!

The heatpipe does mount over the existing holes. I had to slightly bend the heatpipe about one or two degrees so the holes would line up - One look at my board you'd swear it was a Premium.

I was careful to clean off the old thermal material with rubbing alcohol and Q-tips, and I dry fitted the pipe to the board to make sure everything lined up. Then I removed the backing from the pre-applied thermal material and applied the pipe to the board, making sure all the pins were through the board and that it was secure.

Runs like a charm!

well to be fair i have 17 fans in my comp. i have no idea why my mobo is so hot with heatpipe but im use to it being 24c all the time and now its 45c all the time.

BTW ignore me if i make no sense i just woke up from a nice 4 hours of sleep.

You must take out the mainboard