I think that is the easiest and cheapest way to test it. I personally notice a BIG difference when I turn the exhaust fans up, and I am running liquid cooling. There are alot of other chips that put out alot of heat. My Northbridge runs pretty hot, the heatsink is at 65.5C, mine is in a tower the northbridge sits right under the CPU. Since heat rises it only makes sense that the radient heat from the Northbridge will be heating my CPU up. My board is fanless, and I am not sure how great that is in terms of performance.
I'm considering adding a northbridge liquid cooler as well.
I'm considering adding a northbridge liquid cooler as well.