Motherboard Chipset Cooler Roundup

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A chipset cooler might not be the most expensive purchase you will ever make, but with growing heat dissipation from current chipsets, it may become a key component in the nearby future. Remember that your Northbridge manages data between your CPU, RAM and VGA to name the most important ones.

Analyzing the performance chart, it's very difficult to put a real winner in front. It appears that together with the extension of the market, so is the knowledge on providing quality coolers spreading rapidly among manufacturers.

I was really surprised with how well Zalman’s ZM-NBF47 passive heat sink performed. The design however might cause some problems depending on your motherboard layout. The Blue Ice, Coolermasters first active Northbridge cooler, suffers the same fate. The lighter Pro version does quite well in outperforming its bigger brother with a more traditional design. At first I was a bit afraid the Thermalright HR-05 would have the same issues as the big Blue Ice, but how wrong could a man be? This heatsink is huge, but the easy installation and excellent passive cooling are only a few of its good points. After spending two weeks of testing these different chipset coolers I ended up really liking the Chip Force series from Jing Ting. Not only did they provide a stable cooling solution during all the tests (even without a fan), they also used an interesting L-shaped shape. Doing this, you can easily install larger video cards without fear that they will collide with your Northbridge cooler.