HOT MCH on Asus Sabertooth x-58 Mobo

[goobee]

I recently went to an AIO and the temps on my i7-970 is pretty good, about 37 - 41c (4ghz@1.325v). However, the MCH temps shot up like a rocket, hovering around 88c.

The radiator sits right above the heatsink (power regulators?) towards the back of the mobo with a heatpipe leading from the Northbridge.

I'm pretty sure that heatsink relied on airflow from a HSF to properly cool. Now that I am on water cooling, there is zero airflow over the heatsink.

What do you guys suggest?

 

[reigdaer]

hi goobee

with the I7 Proccessors the heat is a nightmare (sometimes).

i've seen this before, check the air flow inside the case make sure the air go from the bottom to the top and infront to the back.

add fans much as the case allow you and try always to set the fans pulling the air out the case (it you can put fans infront the case, set them pushing air in).

the thermal compound is important, never use too much, if you overflow the CPU, it will keeping overheating, put like 3mm of the syringe in a line at the middle of the CPU, put the heatsink and see how much it covers (note that the thermal compound with the pressure of the heatsink will spread till get a really thin layer).

and for te case, never ever put it to close the walls, try to keep it like 2 fist of the wall to proper hot air flow.

for last, inside the case, use plastic belts to get together the wires, they can slow down the air and accumulate dust which means more heat.

try this before spend more money, it helps a lot, sorry for my english

 

[dma0991]

Several solutions.

1. Use a side case fan to blow towards the CPU area if your case supports it.
2. If using a single radiator like Corsair H80, make it blow inwards which improves the cooling performance of the radiator as well.
3. If using a dual radiator at the top, do the same like #2.
4. Mount a 120mm fan in the 5.25" bay area, blowing towards the CPU area.

The air in option 2 and 3 will be hot but the incidental airflow should help cool a little. I have my radiator as I've mentioned in #3 and the temps are acceptable, 40C-ish. If all else fails, do #4.

 

[goobee]

I have a Zalman LQ-320 that similar to a Corsair H80 in a push/pull configuration in the case. The side of the case is mesh with no fan opening. There is a single 120 fan in the front pulling air in. There are dual 120 openings in the back with the radiator in one and a 120 in the other. It would have been better if I was able to install the radiator in the upper fan opening but there isn't enough clearance at the top. All of the 5.25 bays are filled with drives so no go. I will try reversing the fan direction to see if that helps.

 

[dkm777]

I had the same mobo and had the same problem with air cooling, since the CPU fan was blowing towards the back of the case and the northbridge heatsink would get no airflow at all. The only solution is to stick a small fan on it.

 

[goobee]

Update:

I flipped the fans around and everything looked good. Mobo temps still seemed a bit high at ~55c but much better than ~88.

It got warm over the weekend in So Cal and suddenly, I started experiencing random BSODs. At some point, I noticed the boot screen only showing ~17gbs out of 24gbs total ram. Memtest confirmed 3 of 6 sticks were faulty.

Upon opening the case, there was an odor of hot electronic components, not good. Looks like I must have cooked the ram, I doubt 3 would become defective on their own at the same exact time.

I give up. I went back to air cooling with my old dual fan air Noctua NH-C14. Time to RMA the bad ram. :|

 

[aigomorla]

the biggest flaw with aio's was the complete removal of a board fan.

basically when u got a heat sink. u got a fan attached.. it moves air to the board...
EVen towers direct some air low so it hits the board.

AIO's dont.. the block has no fan.. and the radiator fan is usually located way at the end of the case.. hence u get no air movement across the board.

If you think that is bad... ur lucky ur not scaling videocards.

the South bridge on the X58 .. ICH10 chip is a nightmare as well when u got 2 monster videocards covering it dumping heat on them.

Thats not where ur problems end tho... the mosfets on the X58 are also nightmares.
This lead to me begging vendors to draft a full board block for watercooling on the X58.

and you got this:

i would say your best bet at this point is getting a fan and pointing it directly on your dead spots.
This antec guy is one of my favorates for jobs like that.

 

[goobee]

I hear you. That was one of the main reasons I went with the Noctua NH-C14, it was one of the few high performance HSFs that mount horizontally and blows air downward.

The AIO does a better job cooling the processors but at the expense of cooling to the mainboard. :|