Page 1 of 1

Is 62ºC motherboard temperature safe?

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 4:52 am
by danielG
My current PC consists of:

Antec P182 w/ 2xS-Flex@600 rpm at top and rear exhausts
Gigabyte GA-MA790X
Phenom II X3 720 + Asus Triton 75 + Slipstream@900-1200 rpm
Powercolor HD 4770 (stock, bought a few days ago)

When gaming, the graphics card makes the motherboard temperature rise to 62ºC, while the CPU has yet to rise over 54ºC. This happens with my old 3650HD + Accelero S1 and with the new graphics card.

Is 62ºC safe for the motherboard? I can add an intake fan, which will lower temperatures dramatically, but I'd like to avoid adding extra fans.

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:17 am
by LodeHacker
Shouldn't the CPU be hotter than the motherboard? Have you tried any other temperature sensors to be 100% sure?

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:29 am
by Monkeh16
That's quite normal and safe.

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:43 am
by danielG
Monkeh16, thanks.

Lodehacker, I don't know. I used to think the highest temp was the CPU. When I checked the BIOS to make sure, I was surprised to see it was the lowest. CPU core temps match those reported by the motherboard sensors. Maybe the air in the case is cooler than the motherboard... My case doesn't have much air flow, since the case fans are running slow.

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:16 am
by Monkeh16
Chipsets have very very small heatsinks, little mounting pressure, and no forced airflow, so they tend to run hotter than the CPU. They're made to handle those temperatures. A P35 MCH for example won't report temperatures below 66.7C because that's outside their expected operating range.

Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 11:17 am
by new2spcr
danielG wrote:Monkeh16, thanks.

Lodehacker, I don't know. I used to think the highest temp was the CPU. When I checked the BIOS to make sure, I was surprised to see it was the lowest. CPU core temps match those reported by the motherboard sensors. Maybe the air in the case is cooler than the motherboard... My case doesn't have much air flow, since the case fans are running slow.
I wouldn't worry about high NB temps... those chips are built to take higher temps than that. My Nforce chip hit 70 C when idling.