I have bought an old Mesh pc with an Asus A7V133 motherboard and 1200
Athlon. The northbridge chip is a Via VT8363A with heat sink and fan, with
one problem - the fan is missing. Will it be safe to run the pc like this,
or will the chip overheat? I am thinking it may be ok, as I have a Soltek
board which has the same chip, with no fan and only a small heat sink, which
I ran for 4 years, and the heat sink never got that hot. Am I being too
optimistic?
Thanks guys
This chipset runs hot.....it is better to replace the fan.
But you can run without and see how it performs
peter
"Richard Wardle" <richardw234@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:C31604F6.1DD0%richardw234@hotmail.com...
>I have bought an old Mesh pc with an Asus A7V133 motherboard and 1200
> Athlon. The northbridge chip is a Via VT8363A with heat sink and fan, with
> one problem - the fan is missing. Will it be safe to run the pc like this,
> or will the chip overheat? I am thinking it may be ok, as I have a Soltek
> board which has the same chip, with no fan and only a small heat sink,
> which
> I ran for 4 years, and the heat sink never got that hot. Am I being too
> optimistic?
> Thanks guys
>
On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:40:29 GMT, Richard Wardle
<richardw234@hotmail.com> wrote:
>I have bought an old Mesh pc with an Asus A7V133 motherboard and 1200
>Athlon. The northbridge chip is a Via VT8363A with heat sink and fan, with
>one problem - the fan is missing. Will it be safe to run the pc like this,
>or will the chip overheat? I am thinking it may be ok, as I have a Soltek
>board which has the same chip, with no fan and only a small heat sink, which
>I ran for 4 years, and the heat sink never got that hot. Am I being too
>optimistic?
>Thanks guys
Get a Zalman heatsink for your Northbridge chip. You may need to cut
off a prong or two, but it works great and no noise. Under $10.
On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:40:29 GMT, Richard Wardle
<richardw234@hotmail.com> wrote:
>I have bought an old Mesh pc with an Asus A7V133 motherboard and 1200
>Athlon. The northbridge chip is a Via VT8363A with heat sink and fan, with
>one problem - the fan is missing. Will it be safe to run the pc like this,
>or will the chip overheat?
It is not a very hot running northbridge, most anything that
came after produces more heat. IF Asus had used a passive
heatsink with tall tines instead of a short one wearing a
fan, it would have ran cool enough in most environments
(assuming case ventilation is otherwise acceptible). Asus
did do this on most successive motherboards. Since Asus
used the small 'sink instead, it is not likely to be cool
enough without the fan on it, running. You could find the
same diameter fan online and screw it on - it need not be
the type that sits down inside the heatsink fins, only to be
the right diameter and then you may need slightly longer
screws... but of course life will be easier if it also came
with the mating motherboard fan header connector.
The other alternative is as another poster mentioned, an
aftermarket passive heatsink like those Zalman (et al.)
sell. Another alternative is to take some other heatsink of
adequate size, or if too large then cut it to the right size
with a hacksaw or whatever, then attach using some thermal
epoxy, or push-pins if that board has the holes around the
northbridge for pin-mounted heatsinks (I don't remember, but
if it can use pushpins it will take a bit more work
machining out the area to use them, and you would have to
find some or a makeshift substitute like screws plus springs
plus insulating washers then nuts on the back of the
motherboard, a lot of work when thermal epoxy will also do
the job).
>I am thinking it may be ok, as I have a Soltek
>board which has the same chip, with no fan and only a small heat sink, which
>I ran for 4 years, and the heat sink never got that hot. Am I being too
>optimistic?
The side of the sink matters less than fin surface area, and
which way the CPU heatsink (fan) exhausts, whether it
exhausts across the 'sink or not matters quite a bit on how
much it's cooled. When a 'sink has a fan, at least in that
era, it tended to have significantly lower fin area exposed
to air so it is a risk that it won't stay cool enough, but
you could always try it and see, taking frequent temperature
measurement right away to be sure it is cool enough... at
least a touch-test with your finger is a good start.
It may not be worth worrying about, since you can get the
Zalman passive 'sink for about $8 delivered online (for
example if you pick First Class USPS shipping here
"Richard Wardle" <richardw234@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:C31604F6.1DD0%richardw234@hotmail.com...
>I have bought an old Mesh pc with an Asus A7V133 motherboard and 1200
> Athlon. The northbridge chip is a Via VT8363A with heat sink and fan, with
> one problem - the fan is missing. Will it be safe to run the pc like this,
> or will the chip overheat? I am thinking it may be ok, as I have a Soltek
> board which has the same chip, with no fan and only a small heat sink,
> which
> I ran for 4 years, and the heat sink never got that hot. Am I being too
> optimistic?
> Thanks guys
>
With that chipset, you may want to just install a fan to blow across the HS
to help cool it. Tie wraps or Velcro work quite well to position a fan
almost anywhere you need one.....:-). A larger quiet fan would be best,
maybe a 120mm low rpm one. Those older Via chipsets were not extremely hot
anyway.
"Richard Wardle" <richardw234@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:C31604F6.1DD0%richardw234@hotmail.com...
> I have bought an old Mesh pc with an Asus A7V133 motherboard and 1200
> Athlon. The northbridge chip is a Via VT8363A with heat sink and fan, with
> one problem - the fan is missing. Will it be safe to run the pc like this,
> or will the chip overheat?
I forget what variety of ASUS MB ran my old Pentium 2
but when the fan died it overheated enough to malfunction
badly. No permanent damage: new fan cost $20 odd and
the unit still runs OK (10 years later.)
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
>"Richard Wardle" <richardw234@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:C31604F6.1DD0%richardw234@hotmail.com...
>
>> I have bought an old Mesh pc with an Asus A7V133 motherboard and 1200
>> Athlon. The northbridge chip is a Via VT8363A with heat sink and fan, with
>> one problem - the fan is missing. Will it be safe to run the pc like this,
>> or will the chip overheat?
>
>I forget what variety of ASUS MB ran my old Pentium 2
>but when the fan died it overheated enough to malfunction
>badly. No permanent damage: new fan cost $20 odd and
>the unit still runs OK (10 years later.)
Nothing from the Pentium 2 era needed a fan on the
northbridge. 440LX and Via 693, Intel 810 didn't even have
a heatsink at all on most boards. 440BX and 815, newer
chipsets often had a passive heatsink.
Therefore, I suspect your failed fan was cooling something
else more important than just the northbridge.
> On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:40:29 GMT, Richard Wardle
> <richardw234@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I have bought an old Mesh pc with an Asus A7V133 motherboard and 1200
>> Athlon. The northbridge chip is a Via VT8363A with heat sink and fan, with
>> one problem - the fan is missing. Will it be safe to run the pc like this,
>> or will the chip overheat?
>
> It is not a very hot running northbridge, most anything that
> came after produces more heat. IF Asus had used a passive
> heatsink with tall tines instead of a short one wearing a
> fan, it would have ran cool enough in most environments
> (assuming case ventilation is otherwise acceptible). Asus
> did do this on most successive motherboards. Since Asus
> used the small 'sink instead, it is not likely to be cool
> enough without the fan on it, running. You could find the
> same diameter fan online and screw it on - it need not be
> the type that sits down inside the heatsink fins, only to be
> the right diameter and then you may need slightly longer
> screws... but of course life will be easier if it also came
> with the mating motherboard fan header connector.
>
> The other alternative is as another poster mentioned, an
> aftermarket passive heatsink like those Zalman (et al.)
> sell. Another alternative is to take some other heatsink of
> adequate size, or if too large then cut it to the right size
> with a hacksaw or whatever, then attach using some thermal
> epoxy, or push-pins if that board has the holes around the
> northbridge for pin-mounted heatsinks (I don't remember, but
> if it can use pushpins it will take a bit more work
> machining out the area to use them, and you would have to
> find some or a makeshift substitute like screws plus springs
> plus insulating washers then nuts on the back of the
> motherboard, a lot of work when thermal epoxy will also do
> the job).
>
>
>> I am thinking it may be ok, as I have a Soltek
>> board which has the same chip, with no fan and only a small heat sink, which
>> I ran for 4 years, and the heat sink never got that hot. Am I being too
>> optimistic?
>
> The side of the sink matters less than fin surface area, and
> which way the CPU heatsink (fan) exhausts, whether it
> exhausts across the 'sink or not matters quite a bit on how
> much it's cooled. When a 'sink has a fan, at least in that
> era, it tended to have significantly lower fin area exposed
> to air so it is a risk that it won't stay cool enough, but
> you could always try it and see, taking frequent temperature
> measurement right away to be sure it is cool enough... at
> least a touch-test with your finger is a good start.
>
> It may not be worth worrying about, since you can get the
> Zalman passive 'sink for about $8 delivered online (for
> example if you pick First Class USPS shipping here
>
>
> http://www.svc.com/zm-nb32k.html
Thanks Kony for a comprehensive reply. The Asus heat sink hasn't got any
fins as such, just 3 sides which enclosed the fan, the fan was held by 2
tiny screws, it would be difficult to fit another fan unless it was exactly
the same as the original. The sink is held by 2 plastic pins and easily
removed, I may be better looking for a scrap board with a suitable sink. (
unfortunately the Soltek sink has different hole spacing or I would swap it)
The sink doesn't get that hot when the pc is on for an hour or so, but I
don't think I would trust it under load on a hot day.
Heat sink 
Linear Mode
