Please help if you have an Abit AN8 Ultra

[TD22057]

Hi everyone,
I'm in the process of figuring out the components for a system upgrade (in preparation for TES Oblivion) and I'm looking at motherboards. For what I want, it looks like the Abit AN8 Ultra is one of the only nForce4 Ultra boards that has the northbridge in a reasonable spot compared to the graphics card slot. I looked at a ton of other MB's but most of them have the northbridge way to close to the graphics card slot. However, I have a Lian V1100 so the motherboard is inverted and I've read several threads on the Abit forums that talk about huge temp differences with the MB upside down. I'm planning on getting a 7800GT and attaching the Zalman ZM80D-HP to it so I need a decent amount of space around it. I also really like the uGuru features on this board.

My current plan is to get an AN8 and then remove the heat pipe northbridge cooler and replace it with a passive heat sink. I'll probably pick up a cheap CPU heat sink or cut down one my old heat sinks to fit. I'm going to use a Ninja for the CPU cooling and put a Nexus 120mm fan in front of that and one in front of the 7800gt (both blowing towards the back of the case to act as exhaust fans) and control both of them from the front panel or uGuru. So I think there should be enough airflow to keep the northbridge reasonable cool.

I was wondering if someone with this board could measure the total rectangular area that's available where the northbridge sits so I could figure out which heat sink to use.

Thanks!
Ted

[afrost]

edit: oh duh nevermind.....saw you are using the board upside down.

i should actually read before i post

[bredbored]

I was wondering if someone with this board could measure the total rectangular area that's available where the northbridge sits so I could figure out which heat sink to use.

In case you're still after this info - about 50mm x 60mm would be the largest you could squeeze in between the capacitors.
Kingsley

[TD22057]

In case you're still after this info - about 50mm x 60mm would be the largest you could squeeze in between the capacitors.
Kingsley

Thanks! I was still after that. Hmmm - I might have to hacksaw up one of my old CPU heat sinks and give that a try. Unfortunately I was upgrading my machine for TES Oblivion and now that's delayed until Feb of next year so I guess I'm going to wait on buying anything.