Chipset: not touchable - ASUS Probe reporting 43?C

[c0d1f1ed]

Hi all,

I recently bought a new system with an Athon 64 X2 4400+ (overclocked to 2.4 GHz), and an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium. I primarily chose this motherboard because of the fanless chipset cooler.

The CPU temperatures are excellent: 60?C at full load and with Q-Fan on. Noise levels are also great with the stock cooler between 2000 and 3000 RPM depending on load. ASUS Probe also reports good temperatures for the northbridge: only 43?C. Now, although the CPU temperature and fan RPM readouts are very believable (CPU heatsink is touchable and I can see the RPM going up and down), the northbridge temperature seems higher than reported. I can't touch the metal part right above the northbridge for a whole second. 43?C is barely above body temperature so it should just feel warm. NVIDIA nTune reports the same temperatures.

So, has anyone experienced something similar? Is the temperature readout incorrect? If so should I disable Q-Fan and/or get a cooler with more airflow at low RMP (like the Zalman 7700)? How hot can a Norhtbridge really be before I should start worrying?

Thanks for you expert insights,

c0d1f1ed

 

[Tiamat]

Chipsets do run very hot. Just make sure you have a slight breeze running by the chipset heatsink

 

[milleron]

NO, I've not seen anything like that. My nForce chipset is literally cool to the touch. I could leave my finger on it all day, and the heatpipe and heatsink are also cool to the touch.

Do you, by chance, have your motherboard mounted upside down -- i.e., with the CPU socket toward the bottom, as is necessary in some Lian Li cases like the V1100 and V2100? If so, that's the answer to your problem. The heatpipe technology on the A8N-SLI Premium does not work in all positions, unlike the heatpipes on most modern CPU coolers that are position-neutral. It works if the board is horizontal or if it's mounted in the traditional position with its heatsink higher than the chipset. Mount the heatsink lower and the result is as you describe -- a chipset too hot to touch.

Ron

 

[c0d1f1ed]

Originally posted by: milleron
NO, I've not seen anything like that. My nForce chipset is literally cool to the touch. I could leave my finger on it all day, and the heatpipe and heatsink are also cool to the touch.

Thanks for the information!

My board isn't mounted upside down, but I only have two fans: the stock CPU cooler, and a 12 cm fan on the bottom of my power supply. I'm probably going to need extra airflow around the heatsink connected to the heatpipe. With Q-Fan on the CPU cooler creates only a very slow warm breeze, but I can't stand the noise with Q-Fan off.

I'll get a Zalman 7700 and a 12 cm fan for the back of the case...

Any idea why ASUS Probe reports warm temperatures while it's in fact hot?

P.S: Please bear with me; my previous desktop was a Pentium 3 Celeron dissipating 12 Watt and my Centrino laptop is very cool too.

 

[milleron]

Originally posted by: c0d1f1ed
My board isn't mounted upside down, but I only have two fans: the stock CPU cooler, and a 12 cm fan on the bottom of my power supply. I'm probably going to need extra airflow around the heatsink connected to the heatpipe. With Q-Fan on the CPU cooler creates only a very slow warm breeze, but I can't stand the noise with Q-Fan off.
'll get a Zalman 7700 and a 12 cm fan for the back of the case...

That will take care of the noise and give much better cooling. I think the 7700 comes with a Zalman Fanmate, so you'll be able to use Q-Fan or the FanMate. That 7700 is very heavy. I'd bet that even with the X2 overclocked, you could get very good cooling with the 7700 AlCu. If you could wait for the Zalman 9500, you get the best of both -- light weight and cooling that Zalman claims is literally better than water cooling.

Any idea why ASUS Probe reports warm temperatures while it's in fact hot?

Well, no one has yet figured out for sure just where on the motherboard the sensor is that's reported by Probe as "motherboard." Since in my computer, that temp is the hottest one, I've assumed that it's in or near the chipset, but who knows? At any rate, I'm very suspicious that there's something wrong with your chipset cooling. I know that's not what you want to hear, especially since I have no way of being sure about it, but your experience is so different from mine that it really makes me wonder. Perhaps mine is cool to the touch simply because the heat is being dissipated very efficiently by the air flow around my heatsink. If getting the CNPS 7700, which should provide marvelous air flow over your heatpipe/heatsink, doesn't result in a much cooler chipset, then I'd be pretty sure that something's wrong with it.

Ron

 

[c0d1f1ed]

Originally posted by: milleron
That will take care of the noise and give much better cooling. I think the 7700 comes with a Zalman Fanmate, so you'll be able to use Q-Fan or the FanMate. That 7700 is very heavy. I'd bet that even with the X2 overclocked, you could get very good cooling with the 7700 AlCu. If you could wait for the Zalman 9500, you get the best of both -- light weight and cooling that Zalman claims is literally better than water cooling.

It's the 7700AlCu I had in mind. My processor barely reaches 60?C with Q-Fan on and the 7700AlCu should perform equal to or better than the stock cooler.

Well, no one has yet figured out for sure just where on the motherboard the sensor is that's reported by Probe as "motherboard."

Interesting! Now that you mention it, nTune also reports it as 'System' temperature. So it's probably not build into the northbridge itself, but very close.

I've done some further research: This message (forums.afterdawn.com) mentions 50'C and burning hot temperatures (for the upside-down Lian-Li), so there certainly a connection between that readout and the northbridge temperature. Here (digit-life.com) they mention an on-board sensor.

By the way what is your ASUS Probe 'motherboard' temperature? If the sensor is 10'C cooler then I assume it's around 30'C?

Thanks again!

 

[furballi]

It's much higher than the reported temp. Perhaps Asus cheated with the temp probe to show a "nominal" temp reading. Based on your touch test, I would say the temp is at least 70C. It is very difficult to passively cool the NF4 chipset without a large heat sink and a fan. You should be able to achieve adequate cooling with a large aftermarket heatsink and the use of the big Zalman 7700Cu CPU cooler.

The 9500 does not blow on the motherboard. Therefore, it will NOT cool the chipset.

Invest in a quality 120 mm Panaflo medium speed fan at the rear and use the Zalman Fanmate 2 to balance between speed and noise. You may also want to cut an opening at the side of the case to allow room temp air to be drawn into the case. If you're lazy, then buy the Antec SLK3000B for $45.

 

[milleron]

The sensor called "Motherboard" in Asus Probe is always around 41-43°. As you say, that's only about 7-11°F warmer than body temperature and would feel pleasantly warm, not hot. In spite of that, the heatpipe receptacle attached to my chipset does not feel warmer than body temperature, and neither do either the heatpipe or the heatsink. I'm thinking that even if the chipset, itself, is 42°C, the heat is being conducted away from it so efficiently that components of the cooler do not even feel hot. Likewise, I've felt all over my XP120 on the CPU, and there's no part of it that's not literally cool. These two devices are my first with heatpipes, and I'm finding their performance a little difficult to believe. My Athlon 64 3500+ rarely gets above body temperature. Maybe it'll live as long as I do

Ron

 

[AntiStatic]

I have the same motherboard and the same exact issue. No way could i keep my finger on there for more than a second.

 

[milleron]

Same question: it's not mounted upside down, as in a Lian Li V2100, is it?

 

[AntiStatic]

Antec P180

 

[c0d1f1ed]

Originally posted by: furballi
The 9500 does not blow on the motherboard. Therefore, it will NOT cool the chipset.

The A8N-SLI Premium has a heatsink on the voltage regulators which is roughly 2 cm high (the heatpipe of the northbridge ends here). Since the Zalman 9500 blows straight to the back I believe it would be adequate. On the other hand, it looks like a very big cooler and even though the weight is moderate the height must create a lot of extra torque the 7700 models don't create. So I think I'm going to stick with an 7700AlCu, unless it has any major disadvantage?

You may also want to cut an opening at the side of the case to allow room temp air to be drawn into the case. If you're lazy, then buy the Antec SLK3000B for $45.

I have a Chieftec BX which has two holes; at the height of the VGA card and at the height of the CPU. In the back there's an opening for a 12 cm fan, so I guess that's the only thing missing...

 

[milleron]

Originally posted by: AntiStatic
Antec P180

I just don't understand. You're running the same board and case that I am. How in the world could this huge difference exist? I suppose it's possible that they installed mine incorrectly so that no heat's even being transferred to the cooling system at all thus rendering it cool to the touch. However, I'd expect that to lead to instability, and most users are not reporting the chipset to be so hot that it cannot be touched.

Ron

 

[milleron]

Originally posted by: c0d1f1ed
Since the Zalman 9500 blows straight to the back I believe it would be adequate. On the other hand, it looks like a very big cooler and even though the weight is moderate the height must create a lot of extra torque the 7700 models don't create. So I think I'm going to stick with an 7700AlCu, unless it has any major disadvantage?

Well, you're overclocking, right? If I were not going to overclock, I'd certainly stick with the 7700AlCu (or the nice-n-light XP120 I installed). If I did want to overclock, however, I'd certainly give the 9500 strong consideration. Have you seen the thermal resistance and cooling curves on the Zalman Web site?

I thought about the torque, like you, as soon as I saw a picture of it, however, it weighs only a pound, so maybe the torque's acceptable.

Ron

 

[AntiStatic]

Originally posted by: milleron

Originally posted by: AntiStatic
Antec P180

I just don't understand. You're running the same board and case that I am. How in the world could this huge difference exist? I suppose it's possible that they installed mine incorrectly so that no heat's even being transferred to the cooling system at all thus rendering it cool to the touch. However, I'd expect that to lead to instability, and most users are not reporting the chipset to be so hot that it cannot be touched.

Ron

i don't know lol. i'm not having any stability issues and my temps are within high normal range. I have not overclocked anything tho.

 

[NokiaDude]

Don't worry about it. The NF4 is designed to run from 0-90C all day long.

 

[c0d1f1ed]

I bought the Zalman 7700AlCu and Zalman 12 cm case fan.

I first installed the case fan and disabled Q-Fan (everything running at full speed). Maximum CPU temperature was 43'C and motherboard temperature 37'C. I can now touch the northbridge. It only becomes uncomfortable after ten seconds. So I estimate the real temperature is between 50 and 60.

The installation of the Zalman cooler was real easy, except for removing the ASUS backplate. It's sortof taped to the back of the motherboard. I read that some people used a screwdriver to lift it off easily, but there's danger of damaging some wires. Others used a hair dryer to heat it up so the glue of the tape gets softer. This is what I did too, and I was able to remove the backplate with my hands after pulling on one end.

The CPU cooler is speed-controlled by ASUS Q-Fan, while the case fan is now attached to a Fanmate set to lowest speed (making absolutely no noise). The CPU now barely reaches 49'C and rotates at 1360 RPM while the motherboard temperature is 39'C. My power supply and hard disk now make the most noise, although the Zalman 7700 makes an audible low-pitch noise which I think is the ball bearings that need to settle.

So I got a really quiet and cool system now, with an Athlon 64 X2 4400+ at 4800+ speed! Thanks all for the advice!

 

[c0d1f1ed]

I'm still puzzled by milleron's temperatures though. Do you by any chance have a side-panel fan blowing straight onto the northbridge? A fan in the front meant for the harddrives that also creates airflow around the northbridge? A graphics card fan in the vicinity? Or just a high-speed CPU fan blowing onto the upper end of the heatpipe? The newest Beta BIOS or updated nForce driver?