asrock 970m pro VRMs ? Problem or not ?

caveman OCUK · 28 Feb 2019 at 15:38

Hi, I’m planning a MATX build, iv gone for a fx 8350 which has a tdp of 125w, the only micro atx motherboard I could find was the asrock 970m pro3, which has a tdp of 140w which seems sufficient for the 8350, the only thing concerning me is hearing about the “VRMs” on the board getting hot and killing the board or causing throttling, I’m going to run it at the stock no overclocking , the case I’ve chosen has two front intake 120mms and iv got a cooler master hyper 212 evo in push/pull as the cpu cooler as well as an exhaust at the back of the case , is it as bad as they say or will the motherboard be fine ? Many thanks

Also the reason for old parts is budget building off of eBay , I already have everything apart from this motherboard , and it’s arriving tommorow , so a new part list is out of the question

Plec · 28 Feb 2019 at 20:40

Couple of ideas:

You could buy taller VRM heatsinks so that the Hyper 212 fan blow across the fins - this may help, as they will get hot. Or, if you have the room you could 'jimmy rig' a fan directly above the existing VRMs but you would need to be conscious how this would effect your overall airflow within the system - but if it was constant slow spinning fan directly above the sinks it shouldn't prove to be an issue.

I've used the fixed fan modification before, in the past, on older heavily clocked systems with success but that was with full ATX boards/cases where i had the room to play...

caveman OCUK · 28 Feb 2019 at 21:50

Plec said:
Couple of ideas:

You could buy taller VRM heatsinks so that the Hyper 212 fan blow across the fins - this may help, as they will get hot. Or, if you have the room you could 'jimmy rig' a fan directly above the existing VRMs but you would need to be conscious how this would effect your overall airflow within the system - but if it was constant slow spinning fan directly above the sinks it shouldn't prove to be an issue.

I've used the fixed fan modification before, in the past, on older heavily clocked systems with success but that was with full ATX boards/cases where i had the room to play...

Thank you for replying

iv made a couple of builds but iv never had to use vrm Heatsinks and don’t really know what I’m looking for , could you link something ? I see some vrm heatsinks on eBay but I don’t know if they need a specific size etc to fit , thanks so far

tamzzy · 28 Feb 2019 at 21:57

doesn't look very promising. even to run the fx8350 at stock speeds.
http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1754&title=970m-pro3-vrm-components

caveman OCUK · 28 Feb 2019 at 22:16

I just found some heatsinks by enzotech, self adhesive apparently , they should be ok?

Plec · 1 Mar 2019 at 09:55

tamzzy said:
doesn't look very promising. even to run the fx8350 at stock speeds.
http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1754&title=970m-pro3-vrm-components

Not great reading...

caveman OCUK said:
I just found some heatsinks by enzotech, self adhesive apparently , they should be ok?

The main criteria is that they're quality and tall enough to have air flow through them or drawn through them. Again, a small discrete fan may help - search youtube for examples if you're unfamiliar with this type of modification, there should be examples.

I would also try undervolting the 8350 - depending on your CPU (luck) you may be able to achieve a significant drop - via vcore/offset.

Perhaps try the undervolt and experimenting with a temporary fan over the existing: MOSFETS heatsink and chokes/capacitors (the VRM) and bench for stability and heat. It maybe that this combination would be enough without taking off and reattaching new heatsinks.

Additional: i would check the contact of the pre-installed heatinks on unpacking of the board. Make sure they're stuck on firmly and evenly.