Northbridge getting too hot?

kdouglas1987 · 22 Nov 2011 at 14:51

Hi there im pretty new to overclocking and the such like but regardless ive done pretty well with my (now) secondary rig which i use as a HTPC. Just recently (yesterday) it started throwing up random BSOD, freezing and rebooting on its own. I have known for some time that the northbridge was running hot, VERY hot. I had read up on a few older threads about the issue and general feeling i got was that it is acceptable for the northbridge to run hot and still be fine. The cpu in the rig is relatively heavily overclocked (and unlocked for that matter). Here are the specs:

Biostar A780L AM2+ Motherboard
AMD 5000+ X2 2.2GHz (unlocked to Phenom FX-5000 Quad OC to 3311MHz)
4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800
500W ACW Black PSU (Recently added in place of older PSU)
1000GB Samsung Spinpoint SATA HDD

CPU stability and temperatures are not an issue but i have a feeling the northbridge is becoming one since when i clocked down to 2.75GHz the NB frequency went down to 2000MHz bringing down the temperature to 61C at idle. When CPU was at 3.3GHz the NB frequency was closer to 2500Hz and idle temp was 85C and the NB heatsink was not touchable by finger.

Anyone shed any light on my situation?

EDIT: Please disregard the specs in the sig, theyre very old and not related to either of my current rigs.

skyripper · 23 Nov 2011 at 11:47

Point a fan at the northbridge and see if the problem goes away.

bainbridge · 23 Nov 2011 at 21:45

Mod the NB heatsink by pulling out the cheap plastic pins, remove the crappy thermal transfer pad, apply a decent non-capacitive TIM such as MX-4 & refit using nuts & bolts.

Republic · 24 Nov 2011 at 00:22

Would something like this be helpful? Never seem to hear much about them tbh despite me seeing these in ******s, PC World... saying that it isn't a good indication if they stock them from my experiences lol.

Someone with more no how care to expand on this? Also I do believe they do them without the blue led lights too if they didn't take your fancy

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Deception · 24 Nov 2011 at 07:50

bainbridge said:
Mod the NB heatsink by pulling out the cheap plastic pins, remove the crappy thermal transfer pad, apply a decent non-capacitive TIM such as MX-4 & refit using nuts & bolts.

I'd do this, could also get a Antec Spot Cool and face it directly at the northbridge, as this will help focus cold air on the spot and hopefully lower temps.

Thejay · 24 Nov 2011 at 19:37

Chipset temperature on the 780 northbridge was always a problem mine used to sit at about that... Kinda glad nvidia gave up on chipsets lol