A Budget Do-it Yourself Chipset Cooler

There is no perfect solution for this situation: the Gigabyte G1975X comes equipped with four tiny, yet noisy fans to cool its Northbridge chipset. To help remedy the noise problem, : remove the fasteners and the plastic fan housing, then install a quiet Northbridge fan instead.

One drawback of the Gigabyte G1975X motherboard is that there are four tiny fans, the shrill buzz of which is bound to bother users. These fans are intended to cool the Northbridge chip and the voltage regulator on the motherboard. To eliminate the noise, we clipped the leads to those fans, and installed a quiet fan atop the Northbridge heat sink. The voltage regulator can do without additional cooling, because a nearby case fan can do the job.

An example from the Gigabyte G1975X: this tiny fan rotates at high speed and creates bothersome noise. This sort of thing only works for fanatic gamers, who typically don't care as much about ergonomics as they do for performance

Crude but effective: A simple fan is anchored to the Northbridge heat sink using twist ties.

Which one to choose? Additional fans should definitely be installed in the PC case. Without a fan controller or potentiometer to control fan speeds, noise levels can become unbearable.