How hot?

[Scarchunk]

I have an Asus P5GDC Deluxe MB and yesterday I noticed that the heatsink on my northbridge was pretty freakin hot. I can't really remember touching it in the past but I would think I would've since I big on temps. Anyhow my temp readings don't really reflect the heat as my cpu idles 30-32C and my MB reads 33-34C. I use bios and Asus Probe/Everest in Windows. I know that the northbridge should be warm but it's almost too hot to hold my finger on. I got good airflow with an intake blowing on it. I've got some Artic Silver 5 around so I might try remounting the HS but I wonder if an copper one would help much more. I guess my question is:

1) If this has just begun getting hot recently, what might cause this? Is this a sign of a board going bad?
2) If anyone else has this board, how hot does your northbridge HS get? Am I overreacting?
3) If my northbridge overheats, could it damage other components besides the MB?

P4 630 3.0Ghz w/ Artic Cooler Freezer Pro 7 HSF
1GB Patriot DDR400 (2x512)
Leadtek 6800GS (485/1100)
WD 120GB 7200rpm HDD

 

[PJ101]

Dude your temps sound fine.. nothing to worry about

 

[Scarchunk]

Yeah I'm real happy with the temps but they don't seem right since I can barely hold my finger to the northbridge heatsink. Do you know where the temp sensor for the MB is located?

 

[PJ101]

I would have to say that it is just located on the board somewhere and it would vary between manufacturers... but taht is just speculation.

 

[lost]

The temps for the cpu and motherboard are ok.

My 640 and M/B run at similar temps as yours.

The northbridge runs at a higher temp.

What sort of case do you have? How many fans?

My northbridge ran at 40C plus till I added a 8cm fan to the case cover to cool it. Now it currently runs at 32C.

_______________________________
P4 640 3.2Ghz (3.6)
Gigabyte GA-8IPE775-G M/B
Arctic Cooler Freezer 7
1Gb Kingmax DDR 400 (2x 512MB Dual Channel)
Gigabyte 6600GT AGP (564/1130)
2 x 80GB WD HDD

 

[apache_lives]

passive cooling is alwyas hot

 

[Scarchunk]

I have an Antec Sonata case with a 120mm intake and exhaust. Of course my Enermax 485W psu has 2 fans and I've got the Artic Cooling HSF that blows directly out the exhaust. I have a fan controller on my intake and it's turned way down but my temps haven't suffered and I can feel nice cool airflow throughout my case. All my wires are bundled and out of the way. According to my temp readings, I'm doing real well but it seems weird to me that my northbridge is so hot that I can barely touch it. If my northbridge were running at 42C for instance that would be roughly 108F. Would that feel that hot? If I reseat my northbridge HS in order to apply Artic Silver is there anything I need to watch out for? I've never had to replace a chipset HS. Hey Lost, what are you measuring your northbridge temp with?

 

[lost]

My case is an Antec Sonata too. Lovely case. The psu would be pulling air through the Antec vent on the cover.

I have 120mm intake and exhaust fans as well. The psu is the Antec that came with the case, 380W with one exhaust fan.

42C is hotter than human body temp so it going to feel very warm at least.

My Northbridge ran between 40C idle and 50C load before I added the 80mm to the case cover near the latch. Never goes over 40C at load now.

Although the air flow feels good, I know what u mean, the flow of air I believe misses cooling the board components and thats why I added the fan to the cover to push the air coming from the front fan onto the M/B.

I wouldn,t worry about reseating the HS it sound like it's doing its job of drawing the heat from the chip. For me the HS doesn't sound like its being cooled by the airflow.

I use a Mcubed T-Balancer SL4 fan controller. The temp on the northbridge is measured with a digital sensor attached to the HS from this, out of the air stream. The temp of the actual chip would be slightly higher so I calibrated it a couple of degrees higher to run the side cover and rear exhaust fans off this temp.

 

[Scarchunk]

It's pretty nice to find someone who has a very similar setup to help you diagnose your rig. So then I google the fan controller that your using and its exactly what I've been looking for. I don't really like the huge units that mount in your floppy bays and I've looked everywhere for one that mounts in a PCI slot. I finally bought a cheapo single fan controller but this is so much better. Where in the world can I buy one of those and how much was it? It looked like it has 3-pin fan connectors so do you use adaptor or are the 4-pin compatable? Also I'm thinking of either blocking off or putting a filter behind the Antec lettering that's drilled in the sides of the case. It seems like I pull alot of dust thru those holes. What do you think?

 

[lost]

Thought about filtering the Antec holes. Read somewhere a review of the case that covered the holes to compare inside temps. The case temp went up. Decided against it.

The dust is a fact of life unfortunately. The dust will get in through every crack in the case. I simply clean the case once in a while before it has a chance to build up.

mCubed

Here is a link for Northern Hemisphere (US& Can).

http://www.elgo-tech.com/controller.html

or

http://www.3dcool.com/


Southern Hemisphere Link (Aust)

http://www.altech.com.au/



mCubed Link

http://www.mcubed-tech.com/eng/produkte.htm

They have an online shop.

I saw it for roughly US$72.00. Here it was Au$80.00

Not cheap but once it's in you can forget about turning knobs etc.

It will respond to temp rises automatically. You can even set how it will respond.

You can also have different temp/fan speed settings. Summer one , winter another, o/c another, quiet, loud whatever u like.

If you search through Tom's you'll find a review. They have since updated the software. Works well.

Use adaptor from 4 wire to 3 pin. I moded the wires on my fans to suite.

 

[Scarchunk]

Thanks for all the info.