Xylo

So, I have an DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D (full info. in sig), and due to various cooling issues, I was wondering something about the PCIe1 and PCIe4 slots... I have only one graphics card, and naturally it's in PCIe1 w/ the 16x enabled by default and what not... I've been told I can move it to PCIe 4, and switch the jumpers, but... 1) I'd only get 8x, right? Just how much is that going impact my system's performance? A lot? A little? None? etc... 2) Would that even work? Or would I have problems w/ there being no card in PCIe1? (I'm pretty sure it should work though...) Any advice would be most appreciated... ...Thanks!

Nope, it's got clearance for sure. It's just a dead little crappy fan is all, I guess (anyone seen the condition the bottom of it is in!...yeesh). Planning on WC'ing it I guess, if I can figure out a block that will fit, and is in the U.S., and has 1/2" fittings....any suggestions?

It's weird...the fan seems to be almost loose on its spindle or axis or whatever the proper term would be. In that I can physicall push on the middle section, feel it lower a couple millimeters, and it will spin fine for a few second before the force of the air sort've pushes it back up on it's spindle....sigh.... I'll double check the clearance, but I'm pretty sure it's clear. Also, I was looking a long time ago at some chipset coolers, like the passive big blue (aluminum?) one...from I think, um, Vantec? Required some modificcations, but looked like it could be made to fit?... In any case, I'll check out the fan described....

So yesterday, my chipset fan started emitting a really loud whine....now it's making all sorts of bad noises and visibly grinding/slowing down and speeding up a bit and slowing down visibly even... I'm guessing it's on it's last legs? Or is there a common fix for this what must be moderately common problem? If it's dead, can anyone recommend a good low-lying replacement?...I'd love to integrate it into my WC'ing set-up, but don't know of any waterblocks that would fit really (and are 1/2" barbs and easily available in U.S.)...

You can and should. Like I said, the only difficult is that the epoxy on the sides might come a bit up over the lip of the chip.... And no, it should not be a thicker amount.

Just because "everyone does it" doesn't make it right... Seriously though, I was shocked at the roughness of the underside of the fan....it is not a pretty sight.

I got a total temperature drop of 5-6 C ...very nice. Disappointing though to then think of how crappy the original fan install was...??

Additionally, it's made by nVidia for the nForce chipset which is on the DFI boards in question...so...? In any case, I'm trying out a64tweaker....but having a bit of a time with documentation for it...

??...isn't that the point of ArctiClean, which is made by AS themselves??

Is it hard to configure for the graphics card to run in the second slot?

I just finished this myself. I DEFINITELY had to lap the base, as not only was it very, very coarse, it was also a bit concave. I was pretty disappointed in DFI in this area. It was a major pain in the butt to lap too, because: 1) Getting all the foam glue goo off was annoying. 2) It was very hard to not get the little sharp spokes caught on the paper...I tried to bevel along the edge of them, but that wasn't easy either. In any case, I put the foam back down, and remounted the fan without the top piece...everything seems so far so good...already noticing a couple degree drop. I'll report more once the AS5 has cured and such. A couple things about applying the TIM: 1) It's a bit tough to get smooth, because there's an engraved "nVidia" logo on the top of the chip. 2) Also, it's a bit hard to apply as the laquer along the edges of the chip goes a tad higher than the chip itself, so it can be a bit tricky to spread well...

Hey, two questions for folks... 1) Any reason to put the top metal part of the fan back on? I mean: ------ ------ ||||| fan ||||| =============== I mean that top ---- part...seems useless and maybe even countproductive? 2) The base of the heat sink is REALLY damn coarse. I'm thinking of lapping it a bit first to make it a bit more smooth... I've very carefully removed the little foam pad to be able to maybe lap it a bit. No reason I need to actually "re-affix" the little foam pad, is there? I mean, I'll probably just "place it" in between when I put the fan back on.

!!....while not necessarily the best PSUs on the planet, they are hardly unheard of / "not a mainstream PSU"...

I was having similar problems...maybe some of the info. here can help: http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20630

My guess is he didn't actually mean "memory controller", but was talking more along the lines of "general memory compatibility problems". Given one glance at these forums shows that a lot of people seem to have difficulty with RAM & DFI boards (at least at first, and with certain brands of memory), maybe they were just getting a lot of RMAs (that weren't really defective?), and just decided to swap out the whole lot?...(shrug)...