This section describes how to remove the original chipset heatsink / fan (NVidia nforce 4 chipset) on a ASUS A8N-SLI deluxe PC mainboard (Motherboard) and replace it with a Zalman ZM-NB47-J heatsink, but can be applied to other mainboards and chipsets.

The ASUS chipset heatsink / fan supplied with the PC mainboard is a small 37mm x 37mm x 14mm heatsink with a 12v fan in the middle. The fan ran at high speed (8881 - 9350 rpm), make a lot of noise and did not seem to cool the chip enough - the hot air was blown out of the sides of the heatsink directly on to the surrounding components.

The replacement Zalman heatsink is made of aluminium coloured blue and is 37 x 37 by 47mm high. The barcode of the package is 823884000474.

Not quite as efficient as the blue 47mm high heatsink, Zalman also make a smaller 32mm high heatsink coloured yellow if there is not enough space below your graphics card (or you don’t like the colour blue).

Preparation

Before you begin, check the following:

That you may invalidate the PC mainboard or PC warranty.
That you are confident about doing this task and are aware that you could damage the PC mainboard.
Make sure that a Zalman heatsink is suitable for your mainboard - There needs to be suitable mounting holes on the mainboard with enough clearance around the chipset.
There needs to be enough room for the height of the heatsink. Make sure that the end of the graphics card will be clear of the heatsink. The nVida 6600 graphics card has sufficient clearance. Zalman also make a shorter heatsink (32mm high, yellow colour).
There needs to be enough airflow through the case to remove the heat from the Zalman heatsink.

Make sure you have the necessary tools. As a minimum you will need screwdrivers, for removing / replacing the PC mainboard and for assembling the heatsink, and pliers for removing the existing fan / heatsink. You should also take precautions to protect the mainboard and other components from static damage - e.g. antistatic wrist strap.

These are the tasks you need to follow. Click on the title to take you to the page.

Remove existing ASUS fan / heatsink