Which chips get hot on a motherboard?

[Jeff7]

I've got a whole slew of heatsinks here that I can cut up, and I'd just like to know which chips get hot on a DDR motherboard other than the northbridge. I've heard that the clock generator can get toasty. Any others that a heatsink might do a tiny bit of good on?

Yes, when I have nothing else in mind to do, I stick heatsinks on things.

 

[Damascus]

The voltage regulators. Any other onboard hardware controllers like hardware audio/LAN/SCSI etc.

 

[LS20]

touch it and feel it :-D

 

[microAmp]

<< touch it and feel it :-D >>

 

[alpineranger]

Clock generators tend to get very hot.

Edit: stupid me, I didn't fully read the original post.

What about putting heatsinks on the memory (assuming you haven't already done so)?

 

[Jeff7]

I'm considering putting heatspreaders on the memory if I can find them cheap. They're just too expensive new though, plus I don't want to use that thermal tape that comes with the things; it just is not good at making full contact with the chips, plus it has lousy heat transfer properties. If I find any cheap I'll add them.


So far, the clock generator, voltage regulators, and integrated audio chips are things to keep cool.

 

[LS20]

btw, i just switched from thermal tape to thermal grease/paste on the cpu and saw no difference sin temperature at all...

i cleaned it thoroughly with acetone, filled in the microscopic pores with a pair of plastic gloves... did everything that you're supposed to do.. and got same result as with the tape/strip