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MOSFET and VRM Heatsink Placement

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  • Mosfet
  • Heatsinks
  • Motherboards
Last response: in Motherboards
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November 4, 2013 8:05:32 AM

Hi, All -
Long time lurker, first time poster. I've been running an AMD Phenom II X6 1045t at 3.65ghz for the past 2 years on an Asus AM3 m4a78lt-m micro ATX mobo with zero problems whatsoever.

I was recently gifted a 1090t black edition that I intend to use to tide me over until going to AM3+ or beyond socket when Excavator arrives. I know a micro ATX board with 4+1 phase configuration isn't ideal for overclocking, but I'm hoping I can pull a 3.9-4.0ghz overclock with 1090t.

To my question: I've always felt there was another 150mhz to be had with my 1045t, however, at CPU voltages around and over 1.44 the mobo would consistently throttle down my CPU speed. Again, with the binning of chips, I'm hoping I can achieve around 4.0 with the same voltages I need right now to achieve 3.65 (~1.431 volts), but as insurance I was going to throw some copper MOSFET heat sinks on the mobo and blow a fan onto them.

I have a pretty good idea as to where they go from reading around, but I did notice a few peculiar features on my mobo. See my very crude illustration below:

The yellow boxes I'm 99.999% sure are most definitely MOSFETS. The green boxes are chokes and do not require heatsinks, correct? What about the red boxes next to the yellow MOSFETS? What are these and do they require cooling?

Thanks in advance for your help.

More about : mosfet vrm heatsink placement

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a b V Motherboard
November 4, 2013 8:14:50 AM

to my knowledge they both should be cooled by a heatsink. from what i can see my board has a few more than yours and is covered by a heatsink.

I'm not sure how you would add one with no mounting holes but you coud deff rig something up, even then I doubt it will help you overclock anymore since your still limited by the 4+1 design.
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November 4, 2013 8:38:31 AM

06yfz450ridr said:
to my knowledge they both should be cooled by a heatsink. from what i can see my board has a few more than yours and is covered by a heatsink.

I'm not sure how you would add one with no mounting holes but you coud deff rig something up, even then I doubt it will help you overclock anymore since your still limited by the 4+1 design.


Thanks. Probably won't help much that's why I'm hoping, logically, a higher binned CPU will get further on the same or less voltage. We'll see.
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a b V Motherboard
November 4, 2013 8:47:47 AM

zielritter said:
06yfz450ridr said:
to my knowledge they both should be cooled by a heatsink. from what i can see my board has a few more than yours and is covered by a heatsink.

I'm not sure how you would add one with no mounting holes but you coud deff rig something up, even then I doubt it will help you overclock anymore since your still limited by the 4+1 design.


Thanks. Probably won't help much that's why I'm hoping, logically, a higher binned CPU will get further on the same or less voltage. We'll see.


True, I found my limits plenty of times but it will hold me of till the newer fx series comes out hopefully soon


wouldnt hurt to try and add some only problem i see is how to hold them on when they got hot they will most likly fall off.

I use a dram cooler on my vrm heatsink but the 40mm fans are annoyingly loud
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November 10, 2013 3:29:20 AM

Was able to get another 200mhz with the 1090t @ 3.85. Anything higher requires a voltage bump that brings me into the 50's during stress testing which causes the board to throttle me.
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