What is a reasonable Nforce4 chipset temperature?

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JonV
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What is a reasonable Nforce4 chipset temperature?

Post by JonV » Thu Aug 25, 2005 5:58 pm

I've just put together an extremely quiet system, and I'm very happy with both CPU and GPU temperatures (never go above 50 and 65 respectively, even under extreme load). The only thing that's stumping me is the chipset.

The motherboard is an Asus A8N SLI Premium, with the heatpipe-cooled chipset. The heatpipe works great under normal conditions, but in my system there's not much airflow in the area, plus it's right underneath the passively (Zalman heatpipe) cooled graphics card. There *is* some nice airflow in the area around the "exhaust vent" of the heatpipe, and I think that's whats saving me so far.

There's no chipset temp monitor on this MB, but I've stuck an analog sensor from the mCubed T-balancer right on top of the little heatsink that sits on the chipset. The measured temperature there rises quickly to 70 even under low load. It stays there though - doesn't ever rise above 71 even under extreme load.

My question is: Is this a viable situation? If not - why not? I've already used the system extensively, with no stability problems whatsoever. I've seen very different opinions on this topic earlier around here - some seem upset if their chipset temperature rises above 40, while others happily accept 60 or more. I haven't been able to dig up any official max operating temperature spec - does anyone know what Nvidia says about this?

Einllel
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Re: What is a reasonable Nforce4 chipset temperature?

Post by Einllel » Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:27 pm

JonV wrote: ...

There's no chipset temp monitor on this MB, but I've stuck an analog sensor from the mCubed T-balancer right on top of the little heatsink that sits on the chipset. The measured temperature there rises quickly to 70 even under low load. It stays there though - doesn't ever rise above 71 even under extreme load.

My question is: Is this a viable situation? If not - why not? I've already used the system extensively, with no stability problems whatsoever. I've seen very different opinions on this topic earlier around here - some seem upset if their chipset temperature rises above 40, while others happily accept 60 or more. I haven't been able to dig up any official max operating temperature spec - does anyone know what Nvidia says about this?
Hi, JonV,

Have you tried ASUS PC Probe? that litlle utility shows the Northbrodge and CPU temperature, also the voltages and fan rpms.
You can also try EVEREST Home edition, this version is free and gives you a lot information about your system.

I can tell you that mine A8N-SLI Premium hasn't gone past 50ºC. It idles with cool & quiet on in the midlle 40's and jumps to near 50ºC under load.

I haven't put a probe on the litlle heatsink over the northbridge but I'll do when I receive my new Hardcano 13. I have touched it with my finger many times and it gets really hot to the touch, but I don't think 70ºC, it seems too hot for me. When I got the thermal probes I'll know if the utilities I have mentioned before are telling me the truth or not.

JonV
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Re: What is a reasonable Nforce4 chipset temperature?

Post by JonV » Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:50 pm

Einllel wrote:Have you tried ASUS PC Probe? that litlle utility shows the Northbrodge and CPU temperature, also the voltages and fan rpms.
My PC Probe shows CPU and MB temperature, says nothing about northbridge. Normally I might have interpreted the "MB temperature" as the northbridge temp, but not when my external sensor (and fingers - it's really too hot to touch for more than half a second) say 65 and PC Probe says 40.

So I really think the MB temperature as reported in the PC Probe utility is from a separate thermistor somewhere else on the MB. Unless the heatpipe is extremely efficient at evacuating heat directly from the chip, somehow leaving the top of the heatsink much hotter than the actual chip - sounds a bit far fetched though.

klegg
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Post by klegg » Mon Aug 29, 2005 11:32 pm

Not totally related. But...

I have a MSI, micro-ATX, K7N2GM2, with a nforce2 chipset. The system is homebuilt and designed to be silent (no fans except the one in the PSU). After one hour of CPUburn, cpu (Semperon 3000+) is measured to be 55 C, and after immediate reboot bios shows CPU 51 C and system 38 C. If it were only for that everything would be fine, BUT I have measured 85 C at the nforce-chipset. After changing the included heatsink (i.e. on the northbridge) to a Zalman the temperature on the chipset was reduced to 75 C. Everything runs stable, but these high temperatures make me a bit worried.

When corresponding with MSI, they are always very polite, but they don't want to tell me if that is an acceptable temperature, nor the maximum temperature on that specific component nor the power draw of it (which would be interesting if the temperature is too high and I have to increase the cooling capacity).

/j
Last edited by klegg on Tue Aug 30, 2005 2:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

Eler
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Re: What is a reasonable Nforce4 chipset temperature?

Post by Eler » Tue Aug 30, 2005 1:48 am

Einllel wrote: Have you tried ASUS PC Probe? that litlle utility shows the Northbrodge . . .
No it doesn't, pc probe motherboard temperature it's not Northbridge temp. I have a sensor next to my nf4 under a "blue" Zalman and it always shows a different temperature than pc probe.

JonV, you should sen a mail to asus to tell them about your worries as long as you didn't change anything of the motherboard i guess your temps should be ok, but better check with them.

- Eler.

JonV
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Re: What is a reasonable Nforce4 chipset temperature?

Post by JonV » Tue Aug 30, 2005 7:28 pm

Eler wrote: JonV, you should sen a mail to asus to tell them about your worries as long as you didn't change anything of the motherboard i guess your temps should be ok, but better check with them.
Thanks for the idea - I did, and they replied within the day, which is impressive. Even more impressive is the specificity of the information, and I quote: "the maximumtemperature of the chipset is about the 100 degree , So your motherboard of 73 degree is normal. Don't worry about it ."

So I'll stop worrying about it then :)

Eler
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Re: What is a reasonable Nforce4 chipset temperature?

Post by Eler » Wed Aug 31, 2005 5:35 am

JonV wrote:
Eler wrote: JonV, you should sen a mail to asus to tell them about your worries as long as you didn't change anything of the motherboard i guess your temps should be ok, but better check with them.
Thanks for the idea - I did, and they replied within the day, which is impressive. Even more impressive is the specificity of the information, and I quote: "the maximumtemperature of the chipset is about the 100 degree , So your motherboard of 73 degree is normal. Don't worry about it ."

So I'll stop worrying about it then :)
Wow! I didn't know that it could get that high. I have the "Deluxe" edition of this mobo and always tried to be under 55º C. It's nice to know i don't have to be so restrictive about it.

- Eler

indie!!!!
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Post by indie!!!! » Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:17 pm

My chipset is around 52 idle and ~55 load. I have a 120mm intake flowing towards the chipset...it just runs hot. The cpu 28 idle 38 load. The NF4 supposedly has a max of 80C.

JonV
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Post by JonV » Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:22 pm

indie!!!! wrote:The NF4 supposedly has a max of 80C.
Where did you hear this? Such a statement, especially when Asus claims a much higher max temp, really ought to be qualified.

indie!!!!
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Post by indie!!!! » Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:28 pm

On the DFI forum, I don't know if it's true but it was stated by someone in a similar thread.

rei
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Post by rei » Mon Sep 05, 2005 7:12 am

indie, the temp measurement that you are citing is not for the northbridge itself, but more along the lines of case temp.

the northbridge runs a lot hotter, 60-80 usually. the 80 figure mentioned was the figure given when someone here contacted more than 1 manufacturer regarding the operating threshold of the northbridge.

Flexo
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Post by Flexo » Mon Sep 05, 2005 8:30 am

So what program should we use to determine the actual temperature of the Northbridge?

I have an Asus A8N-E with a Zalman ZM-NB47J. I've been using Asus Probe and Everest to read the NB temp thinking it was the MB temp between 35-40C. I also have the T-balancer installed with the analogue sensor reading between 55-60C. I'd assumed the heatsink was performing really well in conducting the heat but it seems I was wrong.

So I now need to re-calibrate the T-balancer sensors. Is there anything that reads the real NB temp accurately?

Thanks

Acoustic case C6607b with 2 Nexus 120mm fans (front +back)Athlon 64 3700+ san diego CPU, Scythe SCNJ-1000 Ninja heatsink + Nexus 120 fan, Asus A8N-E Mobo with Zalman ZM-NB47J, Sapphire x800xl ultimate VGA, Seasonic s-12 430w PSU, OCZ 1GB (2 x 512MB) PC3200 REV 2, Samsung SP120 200GB (SP2004C) HD, Pioneer DVR-A09XL DVD/RW, mCubed T Balancer XL Analogue fan controller

rei
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Post by rei » Mon Sep 05, 2005 8:37 pm

you need to attach a physical measurement thingy to the chip surface.

ronrem
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Post by ronrem » Sun Sep 11, 2005 5:17 pm

If 100 degree C is okay we got slack we never expected,Asus might consider a deluxe heatpipe setup that moves the heat to the top of your case where a special cupholder can keep your coffee warm! Why waste all that warmth?

hyperq
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Post by hyperq » Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:50 pm

Image

I don't want a "heat generator" in my computer, so I hung a Panaflo 80L there and let it run at 7v. The chipset heatsink on my nForce4 board is in low forties (measured with a thermo probe).

If you are not an overclocker, just hang a 7v fan there and you are all set. Don't have to worry about the chipset temp again.

If you are an overclocker, click the link below and go to section 2, which is titled "Cooling NB47J with SpeedFan 4.25".
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=24846

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