Zalman ZM NB47J

...(one with a fan).

Performs well, excellent passive cooling
Installation is a bit hard.

(Check on Zalman website, if this is compatible with your motherboard before buying)

Well done Zalman 8/10



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Well, i am surprised!

I bought this cooler, as i was fed up with the noise coming from my computer, and decided to take action, to reduce the constant humming noises my computer was making.

This cooler is for the 'Northbridge' on a motherboard. For those who do not know, this is a small chip on a motherboard in a computer, which gets, quite hot, as all communications between the processor, and the memory/ graphics card etc, go through this chip.

Most motherboards have a heatsink on this chip. Some like mine, have a heatsink with a little fan, so they can dissipate the heat. The problem is that these little fans, can be quite noisy, and, if you use your pc a lot, noise can be irritating after long periods, so any solutions to lessen noise, should be looked in to.

I paid £5.82, and ordered it online on 4 July 2005. It arrived the next morning. It was well packed, and came with all instructions.

You have to remove the motherboard to install this heatsink, as the mounting procedure, involves removing the old heatsink. (Only attempt this if you are confident with yourself, and have some experience with the insides of pc's, otherwise, get it installed by a professional)
Once the motherboard is removed, you use some long nose pliers, and carefully squeeze, the two plastic push pins, which hold the old heatsink to the board.

Once removed, i cleaned the old thermal paste, that was stuck like 'glue' on the northbridge chip. I used isopropyl alcohol (this is great stuff for cleaning) and some cotton buds, and a lint free cloth to remove the gunk.

Once cleaned, i applied the thermal paste that comes with the cooler, on to the northbridge chip. I made sure it was an even layer of paste, by using the edge of a plastic card. (any credit card will do the job)

Then i prepared the heatsink. Line up the shims, under the cooler, and use the supplied screws/washers, to hold in place. Once this is done, line it up with the old cooler, so you get an idea of where to actually tighten the screws, and so that it will fit properly.

Then, just carefully line up the cooler on to the northbridge mounting holes, and, push the new pins in to the board to secure it.

Quite a big job, for something so small, huh!

I installed the board back in to the case, and re attached all the cables.

Turned on the pc, and immediately noticed a difference. The annoying loud whirring noise has gone, and now, there are softer whirring sounds. I can hear my case fans, and CPU fan now, and i'm gonna look to silence those, next.

Four days later, and things are still good, in fact i 'feel' my PC runs smoother.
The heatsink is warm to the touch, when pc is idle, and gets warmer when running intensive applications, like 3d games.
This is probably due to it being aluminium, and this is a better material for conducting heat, than the rubbish lump of metal, that the manufacturer will use.

I would recommend this cooler, to anyone looking to make their pc quieter, especially, if you have a northbridge with a active heatsink (one with a fan).

Performs well, excellent passive cooling
Installation is a bit hard.

(Check on Zalman website, if this is compatible with your motherboard before buying)

Well done Zalman 8/10

 

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