IC7 northbridge question

[Ryck]

Hello Im soon going to be upgrading to a new pc and this is one of the mainboards that I was considering.

I have only one real concern about this board, since I was told that since I would not be overclocking the the vdimm issue would not affect me. The concern is the northbridge retention mechanism, and it coming loose off the motherboard. My question is, is this a fairly common occurence with this board and boards with the same nb hsf type, IS7, AI7 ?

 

[Tedinde]

I've had it happen once on a IC7 5 months ago. I just soldered it back. The IC7 im using now. I soldered extra before putting it in the case.

 

[chrisf6969]

I havent heard of it being a problem. I've taken the NB cooler off twice to oil the fan and to put thermal grease instead of TIM. (had to wiggle around, etc... & it seemed stable)

All seems fine. I just got a new NB cooler to put on: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-116-005&catalog=62&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1

But I'm kinda lazy, I might just wait until the stock, blue plastic one starts making noise again to put it on.

Here's my temps before I even changed TIM for thermal grease:

They're cooler now.

 

[SarCastro]

I have the IS7, and my northbridge heatsink fell off. Changed to use the other hoops, and they fell off too. Since it was a referb, it was out of warranty, so I bought an el-cheapo 486 cooler. That and some thermal tape did the trick. (Then again, I'm only running at 533MHz FSB) Luckily when it fell off it didn't damage my Radeon 9800 I've seen many others with this problem on the IS7 and IC7 in different forums(not just hardforum). Then again, many people have no problems. To me, you're rolling the dice...

Personally, I'm getting a new MB(non ABit) when I go to 800MHz FSB, just to be safe.

 

[smokinjryan]

many people have this problem when switching from old style fan to new style..I switched over and had np....if your buying it new you will already have new fan and all will be good.

 

[trugbilddrachen]

My IC7-g NB fan went wacky about 2.5 months after i got it.. too lazy to RMA.. so i bought the tt tiger.. works great... have had no problems with it yet... a little loud at times....

 

[Ryck]

See thats what I was kinda worried about, im gonna put together a decent system and really do not want this thing to fall on my ATI AIW 9600, I'm kinda like of it. Oh heres what I'm hoping to put together, for some encoding and a little gaming.

P4 3.0 Gz (800 FSB) --Maybe Prescott still not sure though
Mother Board : Still debating see the this thread for the reason
1 Gig Corsair Ram (PC3200)
ATI AIW 9600 Pro (Already Have)
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz (Already Have)
WD 80 Gig Hard Drive SP (Already Have)
WD 120 Gig Hard Drive SP
TDK 4X DVD +R Burner ( Already Have but may replace with a multi format Light On, and give this one to GF)
Lite One CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
480 Watt Antec True Blue (Already have, and this thing is just sitting in an empty case waiting to be abused.)


So yah see I like the IC7 but I am kinda hesitant about this Northbridge falling off thing. Oh yeah if not this board what about DFI or ASUS, suggestions are also welcome I would prefer
an 875 board but if there is a really good 865 board out there that may be a good alternative. Thanks all for the info.

 

[chrisf6969]

Get a cheaper processor (and sell your 9600) then use that money saved to get a 9800 Pro (or 5900 if Nv is your fancy)

Cheaper processors like the 2.4, 2.6 usually clock just as fast but with a much higher FSB, so you get a lot better memory scores.

If you dont get an Abit mobo, get an ASUS.