Low-profile, Passive, heatpipe northbridge cooler Released!

All about them.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
teapot
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:08 am

Low-profile, Passive, heatpipe northbridge cooler Released!

Post by teapot » Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:53 am

I have just recieved an email from mCubed, makers of silent PC components. They have just released the Borg NF4; a totally passive, heatpipe based cooler suitable for cooling nforce4 northbridges. See http://www.t-balancer.com/catalog/produ ... cts_id=134 for details.

The cooler is impressively large so should over superior cooling to the zalman offerings, and most importantly should overcome many people's (mine included) mounting woes, as it should fit fine underneath the graphics card. I have just ordered one myself, and although they aren't cheap I am pleased to support these sorts of small-scale engineering companies that respond to demand for something that I want!

Anyway here is a copy of the picture from their site, I can post installation information and results when I recieve and fit the cooler.
Image
I don't whether silent pc review accepts reader submitted reviews, but I would be willing to write a review if someone tells me where to send it.
Last edited by teapot on Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Tephras
Posts: 1140
Joined: Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:03 am
Location: Europe

Re: Low-profile, Passive, heatpipe northbridge cooler Releas

Post by Tephras » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:13 am

teapot wrote:I don't whether silent pc review accepts reader submitted reviews, but I would be willing to write a review if someone tells me where to send it.
Check the User Reviews forum section.

teknerd
Posts: 378
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2004 5:33 pm

Post by teknerd » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:16 am


acaurora
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1464
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2003 2:51 am
Location: Elk Grove, CA
Contact:

Post by acaurora » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:33 am

I still don't get how it attaches to teh side panel, so it says. HOpefully you can take a few pics - looks very promising.

rei
Posts: 967
Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 11:36 am

Post by rei » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:40 am

that's expensive :(

sgtpokey
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 301
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2002 11:29 pm
Location: Dublin, CA / Liverpool UK

Post by sgtpokey » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:54 am

Ha nice find teapot!!

on topic:

according to mcubed the heatpipes can swivel, you then adjust the heatpipes so that you can afix the black portion (it has adhesive, but they also recommend screwing in place) to whatever case wall makes sense.

It's the same concept as their entire line of BORG heatpipe coolers; most of which are really designed to work in their passive HTPC case. They even have a Penitum M passive cooler specifically designed for AOpens socket 479 motherboards (the 915 series)


Slightly off-topic,

I'm not using their northbridge cooler, but I have bitten the bullet and am getting their passive HTPC case, complete with silverstone passive psu, and BORG heatpipe coolers (one for my video card and one of their brand new Pentium M coolers)

Funnily enough, buying directly from mcubed (as a non-vat customer) is actually signicantly cheaper then buying from their US distributor, so I'm actually kind of pleased with the overall price. By far the cheapest passive setup you can buy at the moment.

mcubed has been pretty professional in their correspondence with me, answering all my questions and as soon as I build out the system, I'll actually try and write something up about it...

sgtpokey
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 301
Joined: Sat Dec 14, 2002 11:29 pm
Location: Dublin, CA / Liverpool UK

Post by sgtpokey » Thu Aug 18, 2005 12:05 pm

Actually here's an interesting picture straight from mcubed. However, this looks like their Northbridge version made especially for their HFX Media Case (Note that the heatsink end is a simple block that is attaching to the HFX Case's heatsink wall):

http://www.t-balancer.com/catalog/images/borg-hbc.jpg

I can't figure out what motherboard it is they are showing, but you can see the Silverston psu (the silver thing) on the left (In their media case the psu is forward and inside the case)

You can see that this solution may not be for everyone, as you'll have to figure out a route that doesn't coinflict with any of the wiring needed (In the pic it looks like it's going over some unused SATA sockets.

teknerd
Posts: 378
Joined: Sat Nov 13, 2004 5:33 pm

Post by teknerd » Thu Aug 18, 2005 1:50 pm

ironically the board featured in that shot is an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, a board that is available in a version with a stock passive northbridge cooler :D

teapot
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:08 am

Re: Low-profile, Passive, heatpipe northbridge cooler Releas

Post by teapot » Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:42 pm

Tephras wrote:
teapot wrote:I don't whether silent pc review accepts reader submitted reviews, but I would be willing to write a review if someone tells me where to send it.
Check the User Reviews forum section.
Ah hah


I fixed the link in original post.

The cooler is a bit expensive, but hopefully it will last more than one motherboard, as such I won't be glueing it to the case. I am not sure how I will mount it as I don't have vast amounts of space in my lian li -pc60 plus, provided it can be manipulated I am sure I will find a way, I may attach it to the HDD caddy with a bracket. We shall see.

I would be interested to read about their HTPC case. It is pretty expensive too, but looks lovely and is totally passive. I get the impression they are not a big operation and will not be shifting a massive volume, so you are paying an amount of money that makes it possible for them to exist. Personally I think they sell some interesting bits and pieces and am happy to pay that premium, but I can understand people finding it too expensive.

Next time readers of silent pc review want some slightly obscure piece of silencing kit, perhaps a small engineering company like mcubed might be able to respond.

ultraboy
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 547
Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2004 5:02 pm
Location: Bangkok Thailand

Post by ultraboy » Fri Aug 19, 2005 1:07 am

That kit looks pretty much like a Zalman ZM80D VGA HS with 90 degree bended heatpipes instead of a U shape.

Mikael
Posts: 206
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:12 am
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Post by Mikael » Fri Aug 19, 2005 3:48 am

ultraboy wrote:That kit looks pretty much like a Zalman ZM80D VGA HS with 90 degree bended heatpipes instead of a U shape.
Actually, owning a ZM80D-HP, I've got to say that this design looks pretty much identical... Even the screw holes for the heatsink are placed the same. Maybe they're manufactured at the same plant?

rpsgc
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 1630
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 1:59 am
Location: Portugal

Post by rpsgc » Fri Aug 19, 2005 3:50 am

Mikael wrote:
ultraboy wrote:That kit looks pretty much like a Zalman ZM80D VGA HS with 90 degree bended heatpipes instead of a U shape.
Actually, owning a ZM80D-HP, I've got to say that this design looks pretty much identical... Even the screw holes for the heatsink are placed the same. Maybe they're manufactured at the same plant?
<TIN FOIL HAT MODE>Or maybe they just buy ZM80Ds and modify them!</TIN FOIL HAT MODE>

Rasbelin
Posts: 31
Joined: Mon Jul 25, 2005 9:05 pm
Location: Finland

Post by Rasbelin » Fri Aug 19, 2005 5:13 pm

Well, as I said in the other thread, I won't be getting this. 59€ is just damn too much for a Northbridge cooling solution, no matter how noiseless or hi-tech it is. I decided to dump my MSI mobo and ordered an AOpen one which will fit passive Coolermaster cooling. It will be anyway cheaper than this MCube solution.

jabba
Posts: 101
Joined: Wed Sep 01, 2004 11:34 am

Post by jabba » Fri Aug 19, 2005 10:25 pm

My first thought was that it looked almost exactly like a ZM80D-HP. You can tell it uses Zalman style clips and everything else screams Zalman, except they anodized the thing to black.

Post Reply