Mayday, Mayday, Mayday - Temps

David Cole · Post by **David Cole** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 3:26 pm

I am baffled.

I have just downgraded from an Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe to an Asus A8N-SLI Premium to get a mobo with less heat and therefore a smaller cooling requirement (and as recommended by MikeC - not my downgrade just the mo boards' preference).

I am running an AMD Athlon x2 4400, cooled by an SI-120 with a Nexus 120mm fan. PSU is a Seasonic SL12 600w. Also a passively cooled Gigabyte 6600GT vga card. Two Samsung HDDs, and a couple of DVDR/CDRs. That's it.

No case fans, but I am running the pc with no side panels at present.

Temps (according to BIOS): CPU 27C, Mobo 47C

A mobo temp of 47C - what's happening?

Incidentally, Asus Probe is blinking a warning at me telling me that my voltages are wrong eg 16 rather than 12v, but the BIOS says voltages are fine.

I was also getting highish (though not as high) temps with the A8N32-SLI Deluxe with a Seasonic SL12 430W and a variety of coolers (XP90, XP120, Zalman 9500).

I am on the point of throwing in the towel and buying a DELL. Does anyone please have any idea what is going on with the my mobo temps and and with Asus Probe voltage reporting?

Thanks for any help.

David

Tibors · Post by **Tibors** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 3:58 pm

Just ignore Asus Probe. If your 12V line really was 16 volt, then you system would have crashed ages ago. It is just a piece of crap software that is lying. The only acurate way to check the voltages is with a multimeter. It just can't be done acurately with the onboard sensors and software.

Why are you woried about the mobo temp of 47°C? Do you know what it exactly measures? There are several things that could well be 47°C and not cause any problem. E.g. the northbridge or the mosfets in the VRM. If your system is stable, then the mobo temp is nothing to wory about.

Edit: some typos

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:04 pm

1) Bear in mind 47C is still well within the thermal envelope of pretty much everything in a PC, ie PSU, CPU, HDD's, etc.

2) The motherboard reading may be wrong.

3) I would tend to trust the BIOS voltage readings more than Asus Probe (which is presumably a software-based reporting program?).

Can you actually feel anything on the motherboard that feels like it's at ~50C? (apart from the northbridge)

4) You are running it with no case fans.

5) You have a powerful CPU. A CPU temp of 27C for an X2 4400 is excellent.

Where is the heat from the 6600GT going?

toaom · Post by **toaom** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:14 pm

In both the A8N-SLI and the A8N32-SLI the mobo reading comes directly from the northbridge. The heatpipe system on the 32 transfers the heat from the southbridge via the northbridge cooler and all the way up to the radiator. This makes the 32 even hotter than the original a8nsli.

But, they both utilise the same kind of northbridge, the NForce 4 one. This is a notorious heat producer, as it has a lot of features combined in onechip.

My a8n32-sli has a almost constant northbridge temperature of ~47 degrees celcius. Even under stress it never goes higher than 50. I have never installed Asus PC Probe, as it's looking awful, makes a lot of fuss and has been reported to even destabalise your pc once in a while. Instead I've installed speedfan and the AMD processor drivers, which allow the system to remain reasonably cool.

CPU temp is idle around 28 degrees and under stress never goes higher than 48, that's when C'n'Q kickstarts the nexusfan on my Ninja

So I guess you're safe. At least it's what most other users of these boards see.

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:36 pm

toaom wrote:My a8n32-sli has a almost constant northbridge temperature of ~47 degrees celcius. Even under stress it never goes higher than 50. I have never installed Asus PC Probe, as it's looking awful, makes a lot of fuss and has been reported to even destabalise your pc once in a while. Instead I've installed speedfan and the AMD processor drivers, which allow the system to remain reasonably cool.

Agreed. I had the Asus PC Probe installed, but I removed it later. It's a piece of junk, just like almost every Asus software is.

David Cole · Post by **David Cole** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 4:47 pm

Thank you very much for these replies.

My worry was based on zero knowledge just on what I had read here and elsewhere about the sort of temps that mobos should achieve. I thought that 30'sC was the going rate not 47C.

The pc seems very stable and the aluminium radiator next to the processor seems pretty cool to the touch - which logically does not surprise me because a load of air is hitting it from the Nexus 120 through the SI-120. The heatpipe is warm to the touch but not hot.

The vga card is substantially closer to the cpu on the A8N-SLI Premium than on the A8N32-SLI Deluxe and it's heat is going on one side straight into the cpu (but apparently with not much effect if the CPU temp is to be believed). The vga's heatsink and pipes are hotter than anything else I think but nowhere near burning. I think it is so close to the cpu, and the SI-120 so vast, that like the mobo radiator (sorry, I am not sure what this is called) it gets a lot of spill cooling from the Nexus fan covering the SI-120.

Am I right that to do the most good, any additional cooling needs to be directed at the mobo radiator?

If you tell me not to worry about the mobo temp of 47C I won't. Thank you very much for the reassurance.

The next thing will be dealing with the prounced hum from the Seasonic psu - may have to go back to the 430w.

David

openwheelformula1 · Post by **openwheelformula1** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 9:09 pm

I must clarify something here. The "motherboard" temperature reading from Asus Prob is NOT directly from the northbridge. It comes from a specialized IC away from the northbridge. As long as you have ample airflow in your case, you don't have to worry about your heatpipe cooled NF4. Gigabyte uses a dinky heatsink and it is being stressed all day by my friend playing BF2. 47 degree is about what I get when the room temperature is hot.

toaom · Post by **toaom** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 7:44 am

After reading up one the asus forums, there seems to be a way to get these temps down by installing a front intake fan. Though I still think that ~47 degrees isn't too hot. I can always try putting the CPu fan in the CHA_1 header. judging from the manual, that header get's more juice when the Mobo temp is too high. Currently I have to do some crazy stuff to make the CPU fan to activate (get the cpu temp above 48 degress seems to do the trick).

David Cole · Post by **David Cole** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:20 am

openwheelformula1 wrote:I must clarify something here. The "motherboard" temperature reading from Asus Prob is NOT directly from the northbridge. It comes from a specialized IC away from the northbridge. As long as you have ample airflow in your case, you don't have to worry about your heatpipe cooled NF4. Gigabyte uses a dinky heatsink and it is being stressed all day by my friend playing BF2. 47 degree is about what I get when the room temperature is hot.

Can you tell me exactly where the mobo sensor is, please? Presumably it's just below the psu, and to the left of the cpu. If I have to fit another fan I'd like to know exactly where it will do the most good.

Thanks.

David

David Cole · Post by **David Cole** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 1:29 pm

Just an update. The problem of high motherboard temps is solved.

I was looking in the wrong place. I had been concentrating all the cooling on the SI-120 and to its left where the chipset radiator on the mobo is. I tried various combinations of 120mm and x2 92mms suspended on a Zalman bracket. Didn't make much difference. At the last look, my mobo temp had climbed to 50C with the CPU temp still at 29C (showing the efficiency of the SI-120).

Then I tried adding a Nexus 92mm fan sitting on the floor of the case facing the lower right area of the mobo where the ?Southbridge chipset cooler is. After a minute or so, my mobo temp was 34C with the CPU temp still at 29C. So I will try various combinations of fans in that area (120mm off the Zalman bracket, and 92mm attached to the bracket by a piece of Meccano).

I also swapped back the Seasonic 430w for the 600w and it is noticeably quieter.

I am relieved to find the answer to the high mobo temps I was getting.

David