Quiet, cool CPU == toasty northbridge?
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- Posts: 292
- Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 10:11 am
- Location: Perth, Western Australia
Quiet, cool CPU == toasty northbridge?
Hey all.
So, I installed a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme in my machine. My CPU is running a good ten degrees cooler, and with one less fan in my machine. Great!
However, my north bridge chipset is now getting very hot (63 degrees C!!). Previously it was under fifty.
This is the second time I've installed a CPU cooler without a fan, which has resulted in the chipset getting extra hot. Seems that the vertically facing fans on the stock coolers have the side effect of cooling the northbridge too.
Is this a common problem? How do most people solve it?
So, I installed a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme in my machine. My CPU is running a good ten degrees cooler, and with one less fan in my machine. Great!
However, my north bridge chipset is now getting very hot (63 degrees C!!). Previously it was under fifty.
This is the second time I've installed a CPU cooler without a fan, which has resulted in the chipset getting extra hot. Seems that the vertically facing fans on the stock coolers have the side effect of cooling the northbridge too.
Is this a common problem? How do most people solve it?
Yeah, it's always been a thought that top-down heatsinks (like the standard Intel and AMD ones) do an excellent job cooling both the Northbridge and any VRM components around the socket. In fact, Intel guidance states that top-down airflow is a necessity.
In having many machines with tower heatsinks (Like the Ninja and your TRUE) both overclocked and not, I can say that components definitely do get hotter when running towers, especially when they are low-airflow, but as the poster above me said, most chipsets are designed to work all the way up to 100C. If you're going for an overclock or something you may want to put some ducting or otherwise improve the airflow of your case, but for nearly all uses your chipset should be fine.
In having many machines with tower heatsinks (Like the Ninja and your TRUE) both overclocked and not, I can say that components definitely do get hotter when running towers, especially when they are low-airflow, but as the poster above me said, most chipsets are designed to work all the way up to 100C. If you're going for an overclock or something you may want to put some ducting or otherwise improve the airflow of your case, but for nearly all uses your chipset should be fine.
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- Posts: 292
- Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 10:11 am
- Location: Perth, Western Australia
With my P182 case I think the 120mm fan I fitted to the location at the back of the upper HDD cage to help cool the passive graphics card is in a nice flowline with the rear fan, N Bridge piggy in the middle.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/files/ima ... /p182n.jpg
http://www.silentpcreview.com/files/ima ... /p182n.jpg
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- Posts: 292
- Joined: Sat Jul 14, 2007 10:11 am
- Location: Perth, Western Australia
Yeah.. on my first PC with the toasty chipset, I bought a Zalmann heatsink which, while much larger than the factory one, still got to the same temperature (it took longer to do so).
Heat pipes really do seem to be the way to go, and I bet you're right, that the HR05 would do the job.
There's one main issue with that for me unfortunately, on both of my boards:
clearance (CPU heatsink, graphics card).
My current solution has been to experiment with fan positions. I am going to try suspending a fan "midship" in my case on elastic and hooks to see if I can cool it down.
Heat pipes really do seem to be the way to go, and I bet you're right, that the HR05 would do the job.
There's one main issue with that for me unfortunately, on both of my boards:
clearance (CPU heatsink, graphics card).
My current solution has been to experiment with fan positions. I am going to try suspending a fan "midship" in my case on elastic and hooks to see if I can cool it down.
If it hits the same temperature eventually it suggests something else is bottlenecking the heat transfer rate; it took longer because of higher heat capacity of the heatsink.theycallmebruce wrote:Yeah.. on my first PC with the toasty chipset, I bought a Zalmann heatsink which, while much larger than the factory one, still got to the same temperature (it took longer to do so).
And surface area of heatsink has increased, so...
Get some airflow over there dood.
It's the same for me, getting bigger heatsinks for NB or HDD did not decrease their temperature by much, if there's no forced airflow.
I always had HSFs blowing down to the board. My trusty SI-120 was recently replaced with the copper Ninja. So, I did this:
The fan is at an angle, blowing to the Ninja and to the board. The fan holder acts as a spring, pushing towards and lightly touching the IDE cables. Everything is now cool, it even blows a bit of air to the RAM.
BTW, the fan included with the Ninja turns at 715rpm at 12V. Perfect!
The fan is at an angle, blowing to the Ninja and to the board. The fan holder acts as a spring, pushing towards and lightly touching the IDE cables. Everything is now cool, it even blows a bit of air to the RAM.
BTW, the fan included with the Ninja turns at 715rpm at 12V. Perfect!