Is the chipset fan even necessary?

[imported_stev]

The chipset fan on my MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum has been running at 5600-5800 RPM from the very beginning, but it's getting increasingly louder over time. I got a free replacement from them and it's back to being a little quieter again, but I doubt it will last much longer than the first one. So, I started experimenting with having the fan unplugged and I never saw the chipset temperature go above 35 C, although I don't tax my system very often.

I'd like to figure out if I can do without the fan for good and just remove it (but keep the aluminum heatsink) and I have two questions:

1) What would be the best way to stress the chipset the most? Being a newbie, I'm not exactly sure what the chipset does!

2) What would be a practical temperature limit for the chipset? The instructions do not specify.

 

[Ricemarine]

You could get a zalman northbridge heatsink and then stick your own 40mm fan over it...

More quiet.
If you aren't overclocking, and you have sufficient airflow, you could just use the zalman NB47J heatsink by itself...

 

[imported_stev]

This motherboard is tricky for third party heatsink/fan assemblies because the chipset is partially underneath the video card. And besides, I've been running the computer most of tonight with the fan unplugged and have yet to see any difference in the temperature. Why add anything to it if this seems to be working fine? I just want to make sure even under load that it will be okay.

 

[Ricemarine]

Originally posted by: stev
This motherboard is tricky for third party heatsink/fan assemblies because the chipset is partially underneath the video card. And besides, I've been running the computer most of tonight with the fan unplugged and have yet to see any difference in the temperature. Why add anything to it if this seems to be working fine? I just want to make sure even under load that it will be okay.

Nforce4 chipsets are known to be quite toasty under load...
Might want to be careful about it....

Isn't there an option on the bios to tell when to speed the thing up?...

 

[oynaz]

I just had a friend fry his mobo and his PSU due to poor cooling of the chipset

 

[imported_stev]

Originally posted by: Ricemarine

Originally posted by: stev
This motherboard is tricky for third party heatsink/fan assemblies because the chipset is partially underneath the video card. And besides, I've been running the computer most of tonight with the fan unplugged and have yet to see any difference in the temperature. Why add anything to it if this seems to be working fine? I just want to make sure even under load that it will be okay.

Nforce4 chipsets are known to be quite toasty under load...
Might want to be careful about it....

Isn't there an option on the bios to tell when to speed the thing up?...

Nope, I can't even control the fan speed in SpeedFan. I've run CPU Burn-in for 10 minutes and I see the chipset temp go from 32-37 C. I'll definitely try it longer, but I'm open to any other ideas for stressing the damn thing to see if it gets too hot (although, what's too hot? 50 C?)

 

[imported_stev]

Still looking for answers to my original two questions...

 

[Operandi]

The fan MSI puts on that board is a complete piece of crap. I'm in the middle rebuilding a system with this board and a fried chipset fan was one of the problem areas.

The fan was actually so cooked it would hardly budge. Underneath the heatsink there was a cushion to keep the heatsin level with the chipset die; the inside portion of which was hard and a brownish color so it was probably exposed to some serious temperatures.

I ended up going with the Thermalright HR-05 SLI but even then I had to face the heatsink towards the right hand side of the board (due to small cap blocking one of the heatpipes) which would be a problem for longer graphics cards.

 

[imported_stev]

MSI confirmed to me that the "System Temp" in MSI's Core Center is in fact the NB chipset. I've never seen it go above 35 C with or without the fan. Do I have a magical chipset?

Anyone have a direct answer to the original two questions?

 

[Baked]

Originally posted by: stev
1) What would be the best way to stress the chipset the most? Being a newbie, I'm not exactly sure what the chipset does!

2) What would be a practical temperature limit for the chipset? The instructions do not specify.

1) Overclocking and running Prime95 or Orthos if you have a DP. When you overclock, you're putting more stress on the NB than normal. The NB controls the traffic of everything.

2) It depends. NB won't get as hot as the CPU. Having a fan blow air over or through the NB heatsink will be more than efficient to cool it.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: stev
MSI confirmed to me that the "System Temp" in MSI's Core Center is in fact the NB chipset. I've never seen it go above 35 C with or without the fan. Do I have a magical chipset?

Anyone have a direct answer to the original two questions?

Either MSI is wrong or the temp reading is off. On with board I was working with the heatsink was hot. I measured the surface at 127f / 53c; which if anything was low since the thermometer wasn't making the best contact with the heatsink.

The chipset is basically a hub for the entire system so the best test is to get as much activity going as possible (CPU, GPU, RAM, ect.); a good test would be some looping 3dMark.

As for specific temp I would say 50-60 but that is more of an educated guess then anything. Either way I?m sure that you are well over 35c without a fan pushing air through the heatsink.

 

[ayabe]

I have the same mobo and my fan has problems too, I just give it a little kickstart, but when I don't have it running my machine will be unstable, even when just surfing the web.

 

[imported_stev]

I've had no stability problems. I just have a 120 mm case fan running at 1200 RPM or so with no intake fan. Wires are pretty well tucked away, though so there should be good flow through the case. I also don't overclock anything.

Just in case that temperature sensor is wrong or for some other chip, is there some kind of temperature sensor that I can press up against the heatsink to give me an approximate temp of the chip itself? I'd appreciate any recommendations for specific temp sensors!

 

[imported_stev]

Originally posted by: ayabe
I have the same mobo and my fan has problems too, I just give it a little kickstart, but when I don't have it running my machine will be unstable, even when just surfing the web.

Does your fan go as fast as mine? I still have yet to find someone whose chipset fan for this mobo spins at 2500 RPM like MSI says it should. I would think at that speed for such a small fan it wouldn't be moving much air.

 

[imported_stev]

Bump for my magical chipset.

 

[pkrush]

Eh, my neo4-f is supposedly running at 37c now, but that's with a Coolermaster passive NB cooler on it and even that's getting some airflow fron the VF700 on the video card. Of course, I had to break a lot of the fins off to get the video card to fit, but oh well, at least it's MUCH better than the nightmare original fan was (and actually reporting lower temps too!) . I do think that temp sensor is off though, since the heatsink feels really warm, but it's perfectly stable so I don't really care. MSI's temp readings seem to change every time they release a BIOS update.

 

[Navid]

Does the chipset sink feel warm/hot if you touch it?

 

[imported_stev]

I can't get my finger through the fan blades to touch the part of the heatsink that's closest to the chip, but the protruding bits of metal surrounding the fan were pretty hot, but I could still touch them without being burned.

I'll mess around with this more over the weekend and see what I can find out.

 

[Navid]

If the heatsink is pretty hot, that means that the chipset itself is even hotter!
I would not run it without the fan or if you want to get rid of the fan, you will need a sink that is meant to run without a fan (passive).

 

[East17]

NF4 Is a HOT chipset ... it wouldn't last without a fan in any circumstances .

Leaving the cooling system without the fan is a BAD ideea .

You could try by using a 80mm CASE FAN that would point towards the chipset heatsink and the video card ... there us no fixed setup ... just make sure it blows air on the chipset heatsink .

This way the noise will be much diminished and the cooling performance would stay the same ... or maybe even increase .

The best test is the one done with the empty hand : run Quake3 ... and then run Prime ... and then run SuperPI ... if you can hold your finger on the heatsink it's OK ... if not ... then you need better cooling .

I'm speaking from experience ... try to simplify the problem like this and you'll be ok .

 

[potato28]

DO NOT DO THIS! Ive lost a motherboard to it! The NF4 chipset is hotter than Hell itself. Put a fan on there, or buy an aftermarket cooler!