Does anyone think that the north/south bridges on the Asus A7N8X need more cooling?

[rommelrommel]

Seems like everyone almost at overclockers.com is doing this, but I dunno that they are really getting that hot... any opinions?

 

[BigJ]

Funny you should say that, I was just thinking of putting some AS3 on my northbridge heatsink. Thing does get pretty hot.

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

better thermal compound on the northbridge is almost a must if you plan on overclocking to the limits of the board/cpu imo
i always do it to the northbridge....but not the south becuase it doesnt get very hot (besides, its only the north that handles the fsb and whatnot)

 

[chizow]

I've got a crystal orb coming for my NB and the stock heatsink is getting moved to my MCP-T with some AS epoxy....I'll let ya know if I think it makes any difference

Chiz

 

[DanStp]

I like your idea for added cooling, my NB is cool with the standard sink and AS3, but the SB gets very hot, too hot to leave a finger on.

 

[Avram]

How do you get the HS off the Northbridge? I see the little tabs but I cant seem to figure out how to pull the thing off. I push in the buttons and pull? or do I need a crowbar or what?

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Avram
How do you get the HS off the Northbridge? I see the little tabs but I cant seem to figure out how to pull the thing off. I push in the buttons and pull? or do I need a crowbar or what?

Hehe no, if you're careful you can re-use the pins, but AS epoxy is probably a better solution overrall. You need to remove the motherboard from the risers, from the bottom of the board, use some needle nosed pliers and squeeze the teeth/barbs together. You should then be able to yank the pins from the other side and they should come out with minimal effort.

Chiz

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: DanStp
I like your idea for added cooling, my NB is cool with the standard sink and AS3, but the SB gets very hot, too hot to leave a finger on.

MichaelD also noted that the NB heatsink feels cool, but once you apply some better thermal paste and get better contact, the NB heats up considerably. He also correctly concludes its b/c of better contact and heat transfer, which is a good thing. Even better with an active fan blowing on it

Chiz

 

[Noid]

'Yank' ... omg ... dont yank .. a gentle steady pulling while using the needle nose pliers.

I know he was just being colorfull on the 'Yank' .. but no yanking is nessessary

---

Chizow ... why arnt you using a higher FSB and a lower Mult on your new system ... ? I think a higher FSB would give you a faster computer.

Or ... is something not handling a higher FSB? Just curious. (If the MB is not handling it)

 

[chizow]

Originally posted by: Noid
'Yank' ... omg ... dont yank .. a gentle steady pulling while using the needle nose pliers.

I know he was just being colorfull on the 'Yank' .. but no yanking is nessessary

---

Chizow ... why arnt you using a higher FSB and a lower Mult on your new system ... ? I think a higher FSB would give you a faster computer.

Or ... is something not handling a higher FSB? Just curious. (If the MB is not handling it)

LoL, well considering one guy was convinced the latch on his Epox AGP slot was "jammed", I have to use more forceful terms sometimes (you can never gauge the physical condition or constitution of a faceless S/N ). By the way, my final suggestion was to use some force or spend a week with hand grips and tennis balls and try again.

But yah, a gentle tug is enough to set em free.

About the low FSB, its my RAM. I can run any programs and play BF1942 for hours without crashing at 187FSB with relaxed timings, but Prime95 craps out after 3-6 hours. I'm at 14 x 174 with much tighter timings 2.5-3-3-7. I've been running Prime95 for hours on end, overnight and at work for the last 2 days and its been rock solid, so I'd rather lower my FSB than my overrall clockspeed. Yah, my rig may be faster overrall with a higher FSB and a lower total clockspeed, but I'm a MHZwhore Maybe after this whole 2Ghz fascination wears off, I'll up my FSB again and lower my total clock.

Chiz

 

[mechBgon]

In the olden days, people sometimes stuck heatsinks to their clock generator too (P3V4X anyone?). I can't find a photo of the board that is close-up enough to identify it but I'd guess it's the solo chip at the CPU socket's 8 o'clock. Does that one get hot to the touch, anyone?

 

[Noid]

I laffed at the tennis ball excersise. .. 2f

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
In the olden days, people sometimes stuck heatsinks to their clock generator too (P3V4X anyone?). I can't find a photo of the board that is close-up enough to identify it but I'd guess it's the solo chip at the CPU socket's 8 o'clock. Does that one get hot to the touch, anyone?

download the manual, its in pdf format, which allows quite a bit of zoom

some also stuck heatsinks to the voltage regulators back in the day, anyone know where these are and if they get hot?

 

[mechBgon]

Doh, I'm an idiot I've got the PDF already, why didn't I think of that. Must need more coffee

Looking at it, I'm guessing that's the one, or else the smaller one right above it. Aha! A Google search for "taimag chip ha-003" brings up a LAN component, ruling out the upper one made by TAIMAG. Any A7N8X owners want to Google up the info for the other chip to confirm it's a clock generator...?

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: chizow

Originally posted by: DanStp
I like your idea for added cooling, my NB is cool with the standard sink and AS3, but the SB gets very hot, too hot to leave a finger on.

MichaelD also noted that the NB heatsink feels cool, but once you apply some better thermal paste and get better contact, the NB heats up considerably. He also correctly concludes its b/c of better contact and heat transfer, which is a good thing. Even better with an active fan blowing on it

Chiz

Absolutely. This is the first mobo that I've done this to and I can tell you that it's a good idea. I was able to squeeze the little "ears" on the bottoms of the pins that hold the HS on w/my fingers and push up. They pop right out, but stay attached to the HS due to the springs...you'll see once you get it off. The HS was stuck to the chip due to the pink pad. DO NOT wedge a screwdriver in there! Pull up from one side with your fingers. It will come off. You don't want to scratch the surface of the HS or the chip. Smoothest is best.

Once you get some AS3 on there and pass about 170MHz FSB or so, you'll see how hot the HS gets in relation to it's "former self." Goes to show you how much heat was trapped in there.

Now, as far as FSB vs. total CPU MHz (Yes, Megahertz, Pillage2001! ) goes, before this post, I was messing with settings and benchmarking.

I went from 12x180 (2170MHz) to 11x200 (2200MHz...speed diff is negligible) and benchmarked.

These included PCMark/3dMark/SANDRA/UT2K3. The only real diff was in memory bandwith and until I get a better videocard that is better able to utilize that bandwith, it's not worth the additional stress on the memory and chipset. Being that my videocard is "only" a GF4 4200, I think that's what was holding back my video-related benchmarks, but the CPU scores were almost identical. I found with the 200MHz FSB I had to up the CPU voltage to 1.700 from 1.675. Believe it or not, this makes a difference in my CPU temps.

I am planning on putting a faster fan on my AX-7 CPU HS; I feel that will make a diff in my temps. I am just not comfortable seeing my CPU temps in the lower 50's. Plus, that's the range that P95 goes byebye.

My two cents.

 

[chizow]

Oh man...mind is gettin foggy. Not sure on this, but I coulda swore the Nforce2 doesn't have/need a clockgen? Wasn't that how they managed the PCI and AGP locks....I gotta find that link to refresh my memory

Chiz

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: chizow
Oh man...mind is gettin foggy. Not sure on this, but I coulda swore the Nforce2 doesn't have/need a clockgen? Wasn't that how they managed the PCI and AGP locks....I gotta find that link to refresh my memory

Chiz

I dunno, maybe you're right. What's the chip in question say on it? Does it get hot?

Here is an offensive photo:
skimpy thermal contact of stock thermal pad!

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: chizow
Oh man...mind is gettin foggy. Not sure on this, but I coulda swore the Nforce2 doesn't have/need a clockgen? Wasn't that how they managed the PCI and AGP locks....I gotta find that link to refresh my memory

Chiz

I dunno, maybe you're right. What's the chip in question say on it? Does it get hot?

Here is an offensive photo:
skimpy thermal contact of stock thermal pad!

I wish I would've taken a picture of my Nbridge HS when I yanked it off there. The thermal pad was a perfect square, slightly off-center on the chip. The biggest problem is that basically, that means about only 1/2 the Northbridge surface is ACTUALLY IN CONTACT W/THE HS!! Kind of defeats the whole purpose of the HS, huh?

I coated the entire bottom of the HS with AS3 and slapped it on there. Took about 30 minutes...took awhile to get the pink crap off the HS :| I used Goof Off and my fingernail to scrape it off, then cleaned it up with rubbing alcohol on a paper towel. Same for the chip itself. What a diff. Great idea.

 

[Su1c1da1]

anybody got a bios version they like more than the other? If so which 1? for the Deluxe version.

 

[chizow]

1002.001 is the best by far. Credit for maintaining the page goes to Coolight, bump the page if you use it

Chiz

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

so 1002_4 is the magic bios to automatically unlock all mults on tbreds i assume?