Maximum Safe MB/NB/SB Temperatures?

Arthalen

Arthalen

Arthalen

Associate
Joined
20 Apr 2006
Posts
2,037
Location
Leeds, UK
Whats considered maximum safe temperatures for Motherboard / North Bridge / Southbridge? Particularly on Intel X38/ICH9R (Asus Maximus Formula)

After getting my 4870s Crossfire installed, my board temperatures have jumped tremendously, to the point where I've had to downclock on the NB and CPU to keep the temperature from tripping past 90c and get a thermal shutdown on the NB! Lol!

Anyways, after turning down my overclock and NB voltage, my board overall is still cooking. At idle in windows, Im looking at around 70c ish for the NB and 50-55c for the SB/Board itself.

So, what kind of temperature ranges are decent/safe?

PS Im considering a full Thermalright block setup on the board to get the temperatures down a significant amount.
 
90oC! that's a bit high! i try and keep my NB/SB below 50oC (asus rampage formula), i say both as they're linked by a heatpipe; the NB obviously is hotter, but without a fan on it, the SB temp ends up almost the same for an extended period of time. have you got an 80mm fan (or smaller) that you can stick on the NB?

out of interest, what voltage have you got the NB at?

edit: just noticed you've got the same case as me :D
 
twist3d0n3 said:
90oC! that's a bit high! i try and keep my NB/SB below 50oC (asus rampage formula), i say both as they're linked by a heatpipe; the NB obviously is hotter, but without a fan on it, the SB temp ends up almost the same for an extended period of time. have you got an 80mm fan (or smaller) that you can stick on the NB?

out of interest, what voltage have you got the NB at?

edit: just noticed you've got the same case as me :D
Click to expand...

Thats the main problem here I think, that damn heatpipe between the SB and Northbridge meaning that SB is getting atruckload of NB heat.

At the moment, the NB is down to around 1.45v. I need it higher than that though to really push the board/cpu for a higher overclock. I had it as high as 1.6v when I was dialling an overclock in on the Maximus Formula BIOS I flashed the board back to at the weekend.

I think I have to realise that I'm seriously stressing the Northbridge - 4 sticks of ram, dual GPU setup and quadcore means the Northbridge is getting a hell of a workout. I even have the Ram working on quite tight timings for the level of overclock.

Will get some pictures up and start rolling some ideas around for reducing temperatures.

Funny thing is, PC was stable as a rock yesterday playing Mass Effect all day long :)

Edit: Case rules - gonna do some mods I think though next time Itake the beast apart.
 
it might be an idea to take of the NB/SB sink assembly and apply some decent TIM (as5 etc) and allow that to cure - could drop temps by a few degrees.

i think you've got the NB voltage a bit high there, i don't like going above 1.4v, and i've got 4GHz stable on my e8400. i have an 80mm fan strapped to it to cool it, which today as my gf is playing spore, i decided to see what the temp would be like if i took it off - it shot up to 65oC in a matter of minutes! so i put it back on ASAP, and literally after 5 mins it was down to 50oC. (this fan has a shroud on it too btw)

you should be ok in terms of stressing it, my setup only differs in that i'm running a dual and not a quad.

hehe yeah lovely case the A70, i've cut a side window, and going to mount my rad in the roof in the next few days :D wish i'd had it powder coated/sprayed before i stuck everything in it, but cba to take it all out for that now lol
 
Hmm, thanks for the advice.

When I get home I'll take a look at reducing the NB Volts somewhat, and confirm some of the other voltages as well. I'll see if I can dig up a fan from somewhere as well.

I'll post back when I have more information.
 
I get twitchy if my motherboard temps go above 30°C :D

Arthalen said:
that damn heatpipe between the SB and Northbridge meaning that SB is getting atruckload of NB heat
Click to expand...
I would have thought it was the other way around, the SB is probably sitting underneath your crossfire set-up and wicking the heat up to the Northbridge!

You could probably sort it all out with some BIOS adjustments and a single 120mm fan . . . that is if you already have half decent case cooling?
 
Arthalen said:
Thats the main problem here I think, that damn heatpipe between the SB and Northbridge meaning that SB is getting atruckload of NB heat.
Click to expand...

Surely that's a good thing though? If the SB isn't on much load and the NB is on full load then you might as well share the heat? It's a good way of balancing across all three. You could put a fan there, or look into a new NB heatsink if that's possible.

How are you measuring these temps anyway?
 
Thanks for the feedback guys.

Heres the current settings:

Vcore: 1.425
CPU PLL: 1.5
VNB: 1.41
VSB: 1.05
Dram: 2.12
FSBTerm: 1.40
SB 1.5v: 1.5v
CPU GTL: 0.63x
NB GTL: 0.67x
Loadline Calibration: Enabled

And Temps @ Idle:

BIOS@Post / 15 minutes in Windows @ Idle
CPU: 36c / 38c
Mobo: 32c /50c
NB: 56c / 72c
SB: 49c / 57c

I think Shadow has hit the nose on the head with the fact the 4870's are not dealing with there heat output at the moment.

In PCI-Ex16 No.1 I have an Asus 4870 with a Zalman style cooler, so the hot air isnt going any where.

In PCI-Ex16 No.2 I have a reference design 4870, so the hot air is atleast being exhausted.

I think the first step may be to swap these over, as then there will be no dead air between the cards as there probably is now. Also, the Southbridge is located between the two cards, which may help to explain its higher temperatures. What does bug me though is that the heatsinks themselves are very hot, and not just the surrounding warm air.

I'll also dig out a fan for the northbridge to see if that can help.
 
Akasa AK-VC03-BLUV Vortexx NEO
The Accelero S1 Rev. 2 (with fan mounted adj power cables - blowing down lenght of card, aka same direction as case fans)
This is the way I use mine in my office CAD workstation - it very efficient, and keeps 'windtunnel' air path.
Flower style cooler are no help for multi gpu setups
 
Last edited:
Im really liking the Akasa Neo's tbh, but will need to keep in mind cooling the mosfets and powe regulation area as well.
 
Ok, swapped the GPUs over so the exhaust based one is in the top slot and the flower one is below it.

Also did some cable tidying while I was at it. New temperatures:

Old temperatures: 30 minutes in Windows @ Idle
CPU: 38c
Mobo: 50c
NB: 72c
SB: 57c

New temperatures: 30 minutes in Windows @ Idle
CPU: 37c
Mobo: 41c
NB: 64c
SB: 50c

So a good drop in temps, but still very hot. I think next step is to get a fan on the NB and see if that helps, and then try it on the SB to see which one has the greater effect.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom