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Mobos with heatpipe cooling

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perdomot

Golden Member
Just found out my Giga P965-S3 mobo had a system temp of 48 degrees with an open case and am considering getting a mobo with heatpipe cooling on the NB/SB. Never seen mobo temps get higher than cpu temps and was wondering how effective the heatpipes are at keeping things cool. Ambient temps are 27 degrees so having the mobo 20+ hotter is a concern. Thanks.
 
The heatpipe design on the NB helps when you need to raise the MCH voltage obviously, which would be in case you decide to push your RAM as much as possible.
 
I already had a small fan on the NB but the system temps still reached 48 degrees. I've seen some that the pipe covers both bridges and thats my main focus.
 
I have the same board. When I first got he board I had a system temp around the same as you. I put as small vantec fan mounted directly on the NB and it dropped my temps to the mid 30s. Last week I got tired of the loud fan and took it off. I checked my system temps after taking it off and they did not go back up at all. I thought this was very strange but I contribute it to better airflow in my case. IMHO I think you should first try removing the heat sinks and apply some AS5 and see if that helps. Also is the sink or fan dusty? this can cause it to heat up or reduce airflow. If you are over clocking it might help to put a larger fan over the NB area. I think part of my heat problem was over clocking. I don't run my over clock on a 24/7 basis because I really don't need to it browse the web or watch DVDs. When I play intensive games I over clock my CPU /GPU and usually turn up my fans.

IMO the heat pipe cooler on boards are there for over clocking. Good air flow is always the first thing you should think about. Also having an open case does not always mean better cooling or air flow.
 
the 965 chipset had some limitations with fsb and strap selection.(the short of it was that the higher you pushed the fsb the hotter the mch/NB had to work to sustain the latency) The p35 does a little better.

The question of m/b with built-in heat pipes being worth it depends on the pipe and the way it is fastened. Most are designed to use down-blowing cpu H/S fans to cool the pipe. If you use a tower H/S the pipes aren't as effective. If it's one of the pipes that cool the pwm+nb+sb, the problem is that most m/b makers don't get enough good contact between the pipe bases and the chips because they use the plastic plungers to secure it.(tension isn't as good as screws and nuts.)

Since most heat pipes come on the premium boards, you have to ask yourself if it's worth the extra money for the heatpipe and the additional m/b features vs getting a mid-range board and putting a chipset cooler(like the TR HR-05) on it yourself.
 
Ninjajedi,
The SB heatsink is pretty pathetic and sits just under the vid card which surely makes things worse. The system is clean as I dust inside the case regularly so that's not an issue.

gorobei,
I'm running a FSB of 300 so it shouldn't be so bad. I've always heard of NB getting hot but not SB so much. Maybe changing the heatsink might be worth it.
 
Anything is better than having a fan on your NB... if you ask my opinion.

Motherboard fans always seem to give out before other fans, in my experience.

 
Originally posted by: wired247
Anything is better than having a fan on your NB... if you ask my opinion.

Motherboard fans always seem to give out before other fans, in my experience.
Click to expand...

That's why you're supposed to put silent, low-RPM 60mm or 80mm case fans on them instead of 40mm noisemakers. A well-placed 80mm fan will help with cooling of the entire NB-CPU area, which many high-end CPU heatsinks don't help with at all.

If I'm lazy, I just put a fan on top of the video card pointing at the NB, otherwise you can bend a spare PCI slot cover and attach a fan to that. Some people use chopsticks, or you can get more creative than that. A 120mm fan on the side of the case will help too.

AFAIK the only thing you should watch out for is the type of fan you use, because some case fans are designed to work in an upright position and don't handle vibration too well. The sleeved fans I've been using do start to deteriorate quicker if they are hanging loose in a case.

There's lots of things you can do, depending on how good you want it to look and how much you want to spend. Or I guess you can pay the $50 premium to get all the extra cooling with boards that have heatpipes. $5-10 fan or $200 motherboard... you decide.
 
NEVER judge an item based on architectural specifications. Always used reviews that compare its real world performance. In theory a heatpipe helps, but only compared to the exact same motherboard without said heatpipe. Make sure you read reviews and and select a quality board and you will do all right.
 
Originally posted by: toadeater
Originally posted by: wired247
Anything is better than having a fan on your NB... if you ask my opinion.

Motherboard fans always seem to give out before other fans, in my experience.
Click to expand...

$5-10 fan or $200 motherboard... you decide.
Click to expand...

P5E. I already have :thumbsup:



OK admittedly I picked the P5E for the full 2x PCIe 2.0 slots which the P35 chipset does not offer, and not for lack of fans, but the lack of fans is NICE 🙂


And for reference, my last mobo which was an Abit IC7-G had a crap NB cooler with a little fan that made a lot of noise on its way out the door and finally died, I had to replace the whole NB cooler with a $20 + shipping passive heatsink.... this was a huge PITA and I'd rather not go through the same thing again
 
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