Is the fan on my chip set really needed?

yes its needed unless you get a much larger heatsink... i will post back in a few with a good replacement...

pimp cooler...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103169
fanless...
http://www.xpcgear.com/zalmanzmnb47j.html

that may work, but i have no clue if the holes will line up to mount it, this is a low profile cooler link ,but i would definatle lapp it with some 800-1000 grit sand paper to maximize performance and use AS5 too...

i will look some more for some low profile coolers for ya...

Why would "lapping" it make it work better? I have heard this term before but was never sure what it meant.

idea... what if you use this heatsink or this one and mount this above it for a fan....

they have the fan thingy at xpcgear.com too, but i was just linking stuff for ideas...

well with the bigger fan, it will move more air and help cool other parts of the system, and be quieter too, bigger the fan, the quieter and more air it moves.... but look around and find what appeals to you and get what u need... good luck

hey, take a look at this thread that I had going for the chipset coolers on the Asus A8N-SLI deluxe. there are coolers listed that should fit your board too... for all different types of application. (water, fanless, active cooled)
http://www.overclock.net/amd-motherb...a8n-sli+deluxe

I have the zalman heatsink that has been suggested on my asus board, but just for added cooling I got an evercool 40mm fan and attatched it to the heatsink with rubberbands. It plugs directly into the chipset fan header and I can still monitor fan speed. I got the fan from xoxide.com and the heatsink from newegg