ASUS A8N-E Chipset Fan Removal for Zalman NB47J

khughes · Post by **khughes** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:22 am

Looks like Mr. Warranty is dead...
I've removed the chipset fan by pushing the plastic retaining pins in and clipping off the backsides. Fan popped right off which made me happy because I didn't want to use too much force and void the Motherboard along with the warranty.

Here's what came off.

Here's what is left.

Questions:
Do I need to put the black rubbery shim (top photo) back on chipset before putting NB47J on? Is it insulating any electrical connections? Aiding thermal anything?

I assume alcohol will clean off the old white thermal goo? How much do I need to remove? Just the chip or all/most of it from the green as well?

Thanks in Advance.

m0002a · Post by **m0002a** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:58 am

You will want to use thermal paste with your new heatsink, but the old and new paste may not interact well. So clean off as much as possible, especially on the top of the chip. Artic Cleaner fluid 1 works well, but it is basically a citrus cleaner if you can find that. You can try alcohol and see if that works.

I would recommend Artic Ceramique or the paste that comes with a new chipset heatsink. Do not use Artic Silver or any paste that is conductive.

Replace the shim. I am not sure if the shim provides electrical isolation, but it definitely keeps the heatsink from rocking and chipping the corners of the chip.

Use the old heatsink or the shim to line up the wings on the new heatsink before you try and install it. Be reasonably careful not to rock the heatsink so as to damage the chip when installing it.

Stjopatron · Post by **Stjopatron** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:04 am

Thank you for the photos. I always wondered what the Nforce Ultra looks like without underwear.

I remember reading a post from someone who damaged his shim by using alcohol on it. It kind of swelled up. Another post said it fell apart when it came in contact with alcohol.

khughes · Post by **khughes** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 6:41 pm

Thanks for the help guys.
Here's a picture of it cleaned up as best I could with an old T-shirt, My thumbnail and some alcohol.

Nifty logo, eh?

The white stuff must be thermal grease as it was creamy and cleaned up pretty well, but there was this pink stuff, that was the consistency of chewing gum and behaved like chewing gum, too. impossible to get off. Thats the residue still on the chip itself. ended up using my thumbnail very gently to take as much as I could off.

Does it need more cleaning or do I go with the thermal goo that comes with the Zalman NB47J (assuming it comes with some, it arrives Monday)?

Also arriving Monday is the Scythe Ninja. Any surprises there? At least there is no clean up as that will be a fresh installation.

Atragon · Post by **Atragon** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:21 am

Interesting, I didn't know any NF4 motherboards used shims on the chipset...

dexton · Post by **dexton** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:25 am

Atragon wrote:Interesting, I didn't know any NF4 motherboards used shims on the chipset...

yes, Ive seen Abit use a shim on their AN8 Ultra (the one with heatpipe cooled chipset)

nici · Post by **nici** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:26 am

The ASUS boards apparently do have shims, the A8N-SLI also has one.

dexton · Post by **dexton** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:35 am

khughes wrote:Thanks for the help guys.
Here's a picture of it cleaned up as best I could with an old T-shirt, My thumbnail and some alcohol.

Nifty logo, eh?

I have put a NB47J on an nF4 chipset myself, it felt like I could easily hurt the core when fastening the NB47J with the push-pins. Also, the nF4 is more elevated from the mobo than other chipsets, so I was unable to fasten it with the push-pins that came with the Zalman NB47J. I had to use the push pins originally mounted on the mobo (Asus A8NE-FM). May not be the case for you, just wanted to let you know.

khughes wrote: The white stuff must be thermal grease as it was creamy and cleaned up pretty well, but there was this pink stuff, that was the consistency of chewing gum and behaved like chewing gum, too. impossible to get off. Thats the residue still on the chip itself. ended up using my thumbnail very gently to take as much as I could off.

If you have one of these:
http://unimaxsupply.com/md/images/wpe1.jpg
or similar... the ones you clean the inside of your ears with. Dip it in alcohol and try to clean more.

khughes wrote: Does it need more cleaning or do I go with the thermal goo that comes with the Zalman NB47J (assuming it comes with some, it arrives Monday)?

just throw on the goo that comes with the Zalman

khughes wrote: Also arriving Monday is the Scythe Ninja. Any surprises there? At least there is no clean up as that will be a fresh installation.

going for passive cooling?

khughes · Post by **khughes** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:09 pm

Thanks for all the advice. I actually started with a Q-Tip, but the pink stuff was grabbing more cotton fuzz than the swab was taking off. I'll try again now that its better.

so I was unable to fasten it with the push-pins that came with the Zalman NB47J. I had to use the push pins originally mounted on the mobo (Asus A8NE-FM). May not be the case for you, just wanted to let you know.

Maybe I should have been more diligent when removing the fan as those pushpins are each in two or three pieces. I'll report back when I know more.

going for passive cooling?

The wife says spend the extra money and make this one quiet. Sorry guys, she's all mine. Hopefully I won't regret not spending the extra extra money on the A8N Premium with its HeatPipe northbridge cooler. I have no need for SLI, and the cost differential meant I could get the NB47J plus $60 worth of other goodies.

khughes · Post by **khughes** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:12 pm

OKay,found this product

Add a Q-Tip and a slow circular motion and I got this

much nicer now. And it has a nice citrus smell!

And here's a picture with the shim replaced for completness sake.

Its a good thing the heatsink is still in a UPS truck somewhere as I would otherwise be rushing through this and probabling ruining it. Although if I need the old pushpins, the damage is already done.

m0002a · Post by **m0002a** » Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:14 pm

If the push pins don't work, you can get some nylon machine screws and nuts at any decent hardware store (Home Depot, Lowe's, etc).

khughes · Post by **khughes** » Thu Sep 22, 2005 10:28 am

Thanks, m0002a, for the nylon machine screw idea. I decided right away not to bother with trying to force pushpins and risk damage. Finding appropriate screws turned into a bit of an ordeal. Home Depot and Lowe's smallest stock nylon are #6-32 which are just a bit too big. The guy at Dixieline (no nylon at all) recommended an industrial hardware place down the road and bingo! Row after row of hardware with small brown paper bags. 75 cents (!) later I have two #4-40 3/4 inch panhead bolt with nuts and 4 washers.

And the installation went incredibly smoothly. Aligned the mounting brackets with the old fan. Applied thermal goo that came with NB47J. Stuck it on chip. Bolt through washer, spring supplied with NB47J, bracket, motherboard, another washer, and nut. Repeat on other side. Hand tightened until springs were almost fully compressed. Realized 3/4 inch was probably too long as the bolt sticking out under motherboard was longer than standoffs in case. No problem as I just reversed the direction without having to worry about excessive force or moving the NB47J. This is definitely the no worry way to go. I suppose I'll need to check occasionaly to see if they loosen. Maybe another nut tightened to first one will lock them.

On to the rest of this assembly. Thanks to all who replied to this thread and who have posted other helpful threads.