A8N-Sli Premium - do I need a new NB cooler?

[dbaldus]

So I have the A8N-Sli Premium (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131540)
and have only been able to get my Opty 165 up to 310Mhz at 1.5 volts (since the Opty is locked at an x9 multiplier, that only gives me 2790 mhz) and it is NOT stable. The most I can get stable at a lower voltage is about 2.6Ghz, so I was just wondering if the overclockability had anything to do with the northbridge cooling solution on this board?

What has everyone's experience been with the northbridge cooler on this board? Would it do me some good to get a different NB cooler, possibly a fan or something that actively cools it? What difference does the NB being cooler actually make in the first place?

Also, if you think I should get a new cooler, do you have any recommendations?

 

[kevdog]

this doesn't seem like a bad OC, this may be the limit of your particular chip (or combination of parts). if your cooling is all air, then case airflow is obviously a critical factor

 

[dbaldus]

this doesn't seem like a bad OC, this may be the limit of your particular chip (or combination of parts). if your cooling is all air, then case airflow is obviously a critical factor

Check out my sig:

Antec P180 Silver
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (BIOS 1009)
Opty 165 @ 2650 mhz with Scythe Ninja
2 x 512 Corsair XMS 3200C2Pro @ 242 mhz, 2.5-3-3-6
eVGA 7900GT Reloaded 256mb (Stock speeds)
Audigy2 ZS
Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80Gb SATA 3Gb/s (Boot)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 120Gb SATA (Storage)
Seasonic S12 430W

I don't think that airflow is a problem, especially considering my case and that I have 3 fans running in it (one on the Ninja). Any other suggestions?