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Very High ICH Temps

ibex333

ibex333

Diamond Member
I just built a Mini ATX PC.


It has a Intel DQ45EK Executive Series Q45 Mini-ITX mobo, e5200 Wolfdale, 4gigs RAM, etc... Basically a simple LGA 775 setup. All this is sitting inside an extremely cramped MI-008 case. you can look up the case on newegg or amazon if curious.

It does make sense that such a setup would be overheating like crazy, but all other temps are around 40-53c. ICH is 96c !!!

How bad is that? Whats the norm for ICH? Drilling the case or adding extra fans is not really an option for me.


Update: I found an old crappy Antec case fan I had lying around and jammed it in the best possible place to pull air from the side of the case and onto the CPU heatsink and the ICH chip behind it. Temps dropped to 82c, but that's with an IDLE PC, and this is during the winter. Come summer with its intense heat and humidity temps might go up to 90's again even with the fan...

Problem is, I have no idea how durable ICH chips are and how long it might last me under such high temps. Anyone know anything about this?
 
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There is no heatsink at all! It's a naked chip. apparently that's how the stock board comes.

I realized there's just no way to go around it. I have to buy a heatsink and glue-on thermal paste and stick a heatsink on there. Maybe even add some small fans if they'll fit.
 
Measure the dimensions between the chip and the case to see if there is room for a down-draft cooler first, just to make sure it'll fit.
 
ibex333 said:
There is no heatsink at all! It's a naked chip. apparently that's how the stock board comes.

I realized there's just no way to go around it. I have to buy a heatsink and glue-on thermal paste and stick a heatsink on there. Maybe even add some small fans if they'll fit.
Click to expand...

Whoops, I read PCH when you clearly wrote ICH.

Yeah, the ICH typically does not have a heatsink because it doesn't need one in a normal environment. If you don't have much airflow at all, you should probably get one to attach.
 
Given the airflow limitations, in absence of a heatsink with a fan that will fit you'd probably want to try to find one with long fins (if it will fit on your board) to try to get the fins up high enough to catch what limited airflow there is.
 
Good advice Steltek. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything such as this so i bought a regular copper heatsink with short fins. I glued it on with arctic silver epoxy compound and it stays on like champ. I also added two 80 mm fans which don't fit such that they blow directly on the ICH, but at least they are moving air. Now the temps are around 57c on idle, which I suppose is ok for an ICH chip? (correct me if I'm wrong) But under load, and in the summer, I'm sure these temps will spike to 70c and maybe even more.


On one hand, I don't mind if this system wont last long. I only paid $40 for the case which I will reuse later, and $51 for the mobo. The other components were rotting in my closet for years. But on the other hand, I'd like this computer to last at least 2 years or so...


By the way, does anyone know if it would do anything to reduce temps further if I glued on another heatsink on top of this one?
 
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ibex333 said:
Good advice Steltek. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything such as this so i bought a regular copper heatsink with short fins. I glued it on with arctic silver epoxy compound and it stays on like champ. I also added two 80 mm fans which don't fit such that they blow directly on the ICH, but at least they are moving air. Now the temps are around 57c on idle, which I suppose is ok for an ICH chip? (correct me if I'm wrong) But under load, and in the summer, I'm sure these temps will spike to 70c and maybe even more.
Click to expand...

It should be fine. Those chips run un-heatsinked in many laptops that are much toastier than 70C.

ibex333 said:
By the way, does anyone know if it would do anything to reduce temps further if I glued on another heatsink on top of this one?
Click to expand...

Theoretically yes, but I don't know that it'd make a worthwhile difference in practice.
 
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