790i Ultra chipset heat problems...

nathanc

nathanc

nathanc

Associate
Joined
15 Sep 2003
Posts
225
Location
Surrey
Hi all

My motherboard has the 790i Ultra chipset. This can get very hot. I use good quality air cooling, my case (Antec P150) is relatively small and with two 8800GTs, a couple of disks there is not a large degree for airflow.

Last night I was playing Crysis Warhead and after about 30 mins, it just froze on me. After rebooting, I checked the NB temp in the Bios and it reported 80 degrees centigrade. The bios is set to shut down the machine when that temp reaches 85 degrees so I suspect that's what happened!

When idle, my PC is very quiet. The fans on the 8800GTs emerge from the ambient noise during game play and that is okay... the fan on my Thermalright goes upto 1250rpm (ish) at max but still can't be heard.

The motherboard also comes with an extra (40mm) fan that sits on part of the northbridge chipset heatsink - I've used that but reduced the RPM with a Fanmate to reduce the noise.

Anyway, I'm looking for a bit of advice. The MB cooling supports water cooling - it's called Fusion block and is used on a number of Asus boards and uses 3/8 connectors.

Preferrably I want a solution that will fit in my existing case and be quiet!

Can anyone recommend a water cooling solution that just works on the motherboard (not CPU, GPUs or memory) but would allow expansion in the future?

Moving to a large case such as the Antec P182 is another option but I would like to avoid that additional cost if possible.

Any ideas?
 
Maybe even, I should just plump for the P182 anyway. The extra space and cooling potential of the case my bring temps down!
The P150 does limit what graphics cards I can purchase and I suppose it wasn't really designed for the amount of heat my system produces!!

I'll go back to sleep now :)
 
I'm glad your happy with your striker too. Those temps seem a bit high. My NB temps hit 61 with 1.45v NB in an Antec 1200 case. I thought that was the cause of my bsods, so i hung a 90mm fan to cool the fusion block:



Temps didn't exceed 55 degrees, but I still got bsods, so I gave up.

But in your case I'd say temps are a problem.
 
cje said:
Temps didn't exceed 55 degrees, but I still got bsods, so I gave up.

But in your case I'd say temps are a problem.
Click to expand...

No pun intended eh?

What is interesting is that even with the 1200.. you still have the problem - I'm not so convinced now that the P182 is the answer!

The thing that worries me about water cooling is that in my limited experience, I haven't seen a quiet system yet!
 
Got the Antec 1200 too & my temps have never exceeded 55 for north bridge & 65 for the south bridge. Admittedly though I only have the one GTX280 @ 702/1260/1458.

IMG_0080-S.jpg
 
My setup looks horrible compared to USER's setup. Though, in fairness, I was swapping HDDs and I've got 2 gfx cards needing 2 PCIe power connectors.

But ignore my 90mm contraption, that's gone now.
 
Mine doesn't have quite so many lights......

But maybe that doesn't matter when the panels are on and the PC is sitting beside my desk :)
 
I remember reading on the Asus support forums that they reckoned that the first thing you should do is remove the heat sink assembly, clean it up and apply some decent TIM.

When I initially built the computer I didn't want to do this since I wanted to put it all together, make sure it worked etc..

It's been 9 months since I built it. I've already got some AS5 so I've just order some of the new AS cleaner.

Hopefully, some decent heat transfer might knock a few degrees off!
 
I've got my TIM remover, the MX2 is being shipped home tomorrow and I'll have the day off. Once the wife has left the house, Operation motherboard cooling begins tomorrow ;)
 
Let us know how you get on! I'm thinking of getting a 40 or 60mm fan to continuosuly blow on the NB fusion block. I really cannot be bothered with taking the heatpipe assembly off etc. I'm not sure my motherboard works 100% anyway, so I'm leaving my mobo intact incase I need to RMA.
 
I have used the little optional fan that comes in the box, but it doesn't seem to offer any better stability. All it does it add more noise, so it's got to be worth a try!
 
You got the striker II? I got 2 little optional fans that are only to be used with water cooling. I didn't get any other fans.
 
cje said:
You got the striker II? I got 2 little optional fans that are only to be used with water cooling. I didn't get any other fans.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it is the II but I only got one fan.

I believe I have quite good airflow through the case but none of my fans blow against the board - hence I tried using the option fan... to little avail :(
 
The TIM replacement is complete and I'd say it's a relative success!

After an hour or so of idle at 1600fsb, the North bridge temp was about 60C. After 20mins of Crysis warhead it hovers around 70C.

15C reduction with load.... not bad for an hours work!
 
@nathanc, I'm getting some high temps now I've got 4 RAM modules in, and need a slightly higher NB voltage.

did you have any trouble getting the heatpipe assembly off? Did you literally just unscrew the screws and let it drop off? Or was it stuck there?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom