H270m-itx Fanless HTPC

GregL wrote: Hi All, I am trying to track down a passive cooler for the northbridge that fits this board size. I tried enzotech but their heatsink is just a little to big as far as the span for the mounting holes go. I'm not sure I even need one but if I end up needing a better heatsink on it I'd like to find it ahead of time :) Any input is greatly appreciated!

I'm a bit confused about the need for an additional heat sink for the H270 chipset, since this board already has one on it.

I assume you mean the chipset will be warmer because you want a fan-less HTPC. That makes me wonder about the CPU cooler you are using, I'm assuming running it passively cooled, without a fan?

One or two low speed fans in the PC case would barely raise the noise level, and really help keep everything cooler. Of course, I'm a cool freak when it comes to my PCs.

The Z270 chipset in my ASRock Z270 Gaming K6 board is currently at 35C, which is hardly warm for a chipset. The TDP of the Z270 and H270 chipsets is 6W. The maximum temperature of modern Intel chipsets is actually above that of their processors, over 100C.

Honestly, I would not worry about needing extra cooling for the H270 chipset. In the UEFI/BIOS of your board, the Chipset Configuration screen, there are multiple power saving options related to the chipset. Just enable the PCH PCIE ASPM Support, DMI ASPM Support, and PCH DMI ASPM Support options, which will reduce the chipset's temperature under low load conditions.