ASUS M2A-VM HDMI
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Is that the cpu heatsink or the northbridge heatsink getting hot? With my 4800 X2 65nm the CPU has been staying dead cold with a Coolermaster Hyper TX. I guess I haven't tried sustained heavily loaded though.
In retrospect, I'm thinking a CPU HSF that blows downward, like the thermaltake TMG A2 would be a better option - as it should spill air over the northbridge.
The other option I'm looking at is mounting an 80mm fan off the side of the case opposite the northbridge - around 25mm clear of the side of the case and blowing on to the motherboard. I've tested positioning one there running off 5V (virtually silent) and it is enough to cool it down to just warm.
In retrospect, I'm thinking a CPU HSF that blows downward, like the thermaltake TMG A2 would be a better option - as it should spill air over the northbridge.
The other option I'm looking at is mounting an 80mm fan off the side of the case opposite the northbridge - around 25mm clear of the side of the case and blowing on to the motherboard. I've tested positioning one there running off 5V (virtually silent) and it is enough to cool it down to just warm.
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Max Slowik
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The Thermalright HR-05 comes with a clip mount, and definitely has the capability to deal with the heat, but I'd worry about it completely blocking the heatsink.
One of the things you might want to look into is one of the other 690 boards, like Gigabyte's or Biostar's; both use shorter or differently-positioned heatsinks.
And even though they get hot, it's hot to the touch, not hot that causes instability, which is the important part to consider.
One of the things you might want to look into is one of the other 690 boards, like Gigabyte's or Biostar's; both use shorter or differently-positioned heatsinks.
And even though they get hot, it's hot to the touch, not hot that causes instability, which is the important part to consider.
We are trying to use the Zalman ZM-NBF47. However, the loop clip does not fit and interferes with the capacitors. We will try three "t-wrap's" tonight.
We are having stability some problems with this motherboard due to this "underated" northbridge chipset cooler. During the boot and occasionally the monitor flickers (gets blank), without reset the machine. We installed a nexus 80mm fan blowing over this chipset and the flicker during the boot dissapeared.
I suspect that the "underated" chipset cooler is the reason why this motherboard does not have any option to overclock.
We measured the temperature on the chipset yesterday and the results were:
a) Idle stock cooler: 51C
b) stock cooler and nexus 80mm@5V: 32C
Note: room temperature - 22C
We would much appreciate if any of the coleagues could measure the temperatures of your setup for comparison.
Best Regards,
Marcos
Q.J.A
We are having stability some problems with this motherboard due to this "underated" northbridge chipset cooler. During the boot and occasionally the monitor flickers (gets blank), without reset the machine. We installed a nexus 80mm fan blowing over this chipset and the flicker during the boot dissapeared.
I suspect that the "underated" chipset cooler is the reason why this motherboard does not have any option to overclock.
We measured the temperature on the chipset yesterday and the results were:
a) Idle stock cooler: 51C
b) stock cooler and nexus 80mm@5V: 32C
Note: room temperature - 22C
We would much appreciate if any of the coleagues could measure the temperatures of your setup for comparison.
Best Regards,
Marcos
Q.J.A
Last edited by mtavares on Thu Jun 14, 2007 4:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Max Slowik
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Just got my new Antec Fusion based system together and I love the board as I use both a 244T monitor (DVI) for working and a LCD projector (Component) for entertainment.
With a X2 3600+ and 4gigs of XMS memory coupled with my Genelec monitors it's a great music production machine and a superb HTPC with my 5.1 setup, for hardly any money at all!
When music apps comes with WaveRT drivers for Vista, you won't even need a PRO soundcard! (I've already sold mine).
Brilliant board!
With a X2 3600+ and 4gigs of XMS memory coupled with my Genelec monitors it's a great music production machine and a superb HTPC with my 5.1 setup, for hardly any money at all!
When music apps comes with WaveRT drivers for Vista, you won't even need a PRO soundcard! (I've already sold mine).
Brilliant board!
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Firetech
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video out or in?
Can someone also please confirm whether the S-Video and (yellow) Video connectors on the HDMI card are outputs or inputs?
Re: video out or in?
Firetech wrote:Can someone also please confirm whether the S-Video and (yellow) Video connectors on the HDMI card are outputs or inputs?
According to the manual the yellow composite RCA is an input "connects to video source". All other connectors on the bracket are outputs.
Last edited by Poodle on Mon May 14, 2007 10:06 am, edited 5 times in total.
Moogles wrote:Sorry if this has been asked/answered before. Does anyone know if it's possible to use both digital outputs (DVI/HDMI) concurrently for a multimonitor setup? I know DVI/VGA is possible, but I'd like dual digital.
P.S.
Poodle: good choice of monitor! 244T is excellent.
Cheers mate. To answer you Q: You can only use one of the outputs on the "expansion pci-e board" at a time which means that in my case I can use both the Component and DVI at the same time. This also works great in your case with DVI and HDMI. However you can't use both Component and HDMI at the same time as these are both on the pci-e board but this shouldn't bother you. All this is explained on page 1-35 in the Manual.
So I think you'll be alright. You could download the manual as pdf @ asus.com to see for yourself. To be sure.
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Max Slowik
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Sorry I missed this: Athlon X2 6000 with C'N'Q enabled hovers around 35 idle, 50 load. I had an X2 5200 and it ran about the same, idled about 32. Both are 90nm parts. Chip runs 50-65 if I don't give it a lot of circulation.I'm just building an almost identical configuration but i'm stil troubled with the cpu heatsink; some temps on the Scythe Mine please
It's hot, but I've never run into stability problems. I give you the caveat that I'm pulling these numbers from memory.
Last edited by Max Slowik on Sat May 19, 2007 7:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
Looking at the dimensions of the HR-05-SLI, and the layout of the motherboard, I don't think it can possibly fit. The Noctua cooler looks very similar to the Thermalright HR-05, I imagine it would have problems, the chipset just isn't in a good position for such a large cooler.winguy wrote:Anyone got a Noctua NC-U6 or Thermalright HR-05-SLI on this?
Maybe using a CPU cooler with a fan blowing air towards the motherboard would deal with any chipset cooling issues? Perhaps something like the Thermalright XP-120 would be a better choice for the board than a tower cooler like the Scythe Ninja?
The possibility of dual-DVI (with a DVI/HDMI adapter) on the Asus board makes it attractive, but not if it's going to crash in a low airflow system.
I'd like the know if other 690G motherboards like the Biostar TA690G have similar issues with overly hot chipsets, or whether the position and design of their chipset coolers stops it from being such an issue.
As mentioned before, we were trying to find a way to successfully install the NBF47. In order to do that it was necessary to apply the following modifications:
a) build a spring with an inox steel "wire";
b) use the current heatshing cushion pad to make the installation more stable.
After the modification, the temperatures were the same of the nexus 80mm@5V fan installation, discussed on our previous post.
At the end, we believe that a fan directed to the chipset is the easiest mod. to try.
We bought this motherboard based on our previous experience with Asus, however, it does not follow the Asus tradition of high quality and overclockable motherboards. It is a shame that the design and performance was restricted by 690G chipset heatsink. For sure they will release a new rev. later fixing this problem. At this time, there is a Gigabyte motherboard to be released this month that we consider the best option: GA-MA69G-S3H (see the review at http://my.ocworkbench.com/2007/gigabyte ... -S3/g1.htm )
Marcos
Q.J.A
a) build a spring with an inox steel "wire";
b) use the current heatshing cushion pad to make the installation more stable.
After the modification, the temperatures were the same of the nexus 80mm@5V fan installation, discussed on our previous post.
At the end, we believe that a fan directed to the chipset is the easiest mod. to try.
We bought this motherboard based on our previous experience with Asus, however, it does not follow the Asus tradition of high quality and overclockable motherboards. It is a shame that the design and performance was restricted by 690G chipset heatsink. For sure they will release a new rev. later fixing this problem. At this time, there is a Gigabyte motherboard to be released this month that we consider the best option: GA-MA69G-S3H (see the review at http://my.ocworkbench.com/2007/gigabyte ... -S3/g1.htm )
Marcos
Q.J.A
We are sending below the photos of the installation of a Zalman ZM-NBF47 chipset cooler to replace the current 690G cooler.
In order to perform this installation it was necessary to perform the following modifications:
a) create a cushion pad on the 690G chipset. We used a 3M double face tape (heavy duty). We used four squares on the chipset corners. Without using this feature the cooler does not stay firm over the chipset due to the size of the 690G die;
b) create a cooler clip using a hard elastic wire (CrNi - diameter = 1.2mm). It is a orthodentist product. We believe that the diameter can be a little lower;
c) the format of the clip is an "U" with one side inverted. It is necessary to make a small hook at both ends;
d) We used the thermal paste Artic Silver 5.
After the modification the temperatures were the same we had using the Nexus 80mm fan @5V.
It was a long and funny process. A lot of trials to reach a good installation. A good friend that is a mechanical technician helped me a lot in this process. Up to now, we could not find any other chipset cooler that fits without modification with Zalman 9500 AM2 (mod. with Nexus 92mm fan).
The only drawback is that in the future, it will be required to find a passive graphics cards that does not cause any interference with this cooler. It should not have any additional equipment/part in the upper side of the graphics card.
Regards,
Marcos
Q.J.A
In order to perform this installation it was necessary to perform the following modifications:
a) create a cushion pad on the 690G chipset. We used a 3M double face tape (heavy duty). We used four squares on the chipset corners. Without using this feature the cooler does not stay firm over the chipset due to the size of the 690G die;
b) create a cooler clip using a hard elastic wire (CrNi - diameter = 1.2mm). It is a orthodentist product. We believe that the diameter can be a little lower;
c) the format of the clip is an "U" with one side inverted. It is necessary to make a small hook at both ends;
d) We used the thermal paste Artic Silver 5.
After the modification the temperatures were the same we had using the Nexus 80mm fan @5V.
It was a long and funny process. A lot of trials to reach a good installation. A good friend that is a mechanical technician helped me a lot in this process. Up to now, we could not find any other chipset cooler that fits without modification with Zalman 9500 AM2 (mod. with Nexus 92mm fan).
The only drawback is that in the future, it will be required to find a passive graphics cards that does not cause any interference with this cooler. It should not have any additional equipment/part in the upper side of the graphics card.
Regards,
Marcos
Q.J.A
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Firetech
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Very nice visual report. Thanks! 
I understand others have used bicycle spokes for making such clips too (maybe easier to obtain)mtavares wrote: b) create a cooler clip using a hard elastic wire (CrNi - diameter = 1.2mm). It is a orthodentist product. We believe that the diameter can be a little lower;
Bit of a pain having to mess around like that to put on a decent cooler.
Maybe it would be possible to draw a bit more air over the chipset using a duct from a rear case fan?
It doesn't look like any there are any motherboard components to get in the way, a simple card duct should be easy to fit in most cases. In the past I've used one to help with CPU cooling and it made a significant difference.
Maybe it would be possible to draw a bit more air over the chipset using a duct from a rear case fan?
It doesn't look like any there are any motherboard components to get in the way, a simple card duct should be easy to fit in most cases. In the past I've used one to help with CPU cooling and it made a significant difference.
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dhanson865
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Assuming temp1 on ACPI on ISA is the chipset in question I'm getting 40C from mine while typing this. By comparison the CPU is a 4200+ AM2 65W TDP that is hanging around 32C with the stock cooler (no heatpipes & 70mm fan)
The case I'm using is an Antec 835SX-II which has 3 front fans (80mm) and 2 rear fans (80mm) plus a Seasonic S12-430 (non sleeved). Four of the case fans are Nexus 80mm running at either 5v or 7v by way of hard wired connectors (no fan controller). The fifth case fan is a slightly higher speed fan than the Nexus 80mm that I'm running at 7v to cool the hard drive (not the original Antec case fan which is much higher RPMs).
Looking at my front case fans vs the position of the chipset. It's right at the bottom of the middle intake fan so the bottom and middle fan are both feeding air to the section under the video card.
http://www.antec.com/pdf/flyers/Perf_II.pdf shows the specs and http://www.digital-deity.net/index.php? ... rticleid=8 has a picture if you need something to compare...
I don't know how it would behave in a SOLO but I may get the chance to find out as my fathers system is due for a rebuild. If I do I'll let you know as his system has a single Scythe 92mm front fan and a single Yate Loon 120mm rear fan.
I'd guess he has less airflow in total and probably more dead spots as the front airflow is in a 100mm channel vs roughly 200mm spread of the 2 relevant fans in the front of my larger case. It's so hard to tell without mounting it all in the SOLO to see how it'd really do.
The case I'm using is an Antec 835SX-II which has 3 front fans (80mm) and 2 rear fans (80mm) plus a Seasonic S12-430 (non sleeved). Four of the case fans are Nexus 80mm running at either 5v or 7v by way of hard wired connectors (no fan controller). The fifth case fan is a slightly higher speed fan than the Nexus 80mm that I'm running at 7v to cool the hard drive (not the original Antec case fan which is much higher RPMs).
Looking at my front case fans vs the position of the chipset. It's right at the bottom of the middle intake fan so the bottom and middle fan are both feeding air to the section under the video card.
http://www.antec.com/pdf/flyers/Perf_II.pdf shows the specs and http://www.digital-deity.net/index.php? ... rticleid=8 has a picture if you need something to compare...
I don't know how it would behave in a SOLO but I may get the chance to find out as my fathers system is due for a rebuild. If I do I'll let you know as his system has a single Scythe 92mm front fan and a single Yate Loon 120mm rear fan.
I'd guess he has less airflow in total and probably more dead spots as the front airflow is in a 100mm channel vs roughly 200mm spread of the 2 relevant fans in the front of my larger case. It's so hard to tell without mounting it all in the SOLO to see how it'd really do.
I picked up one of these boards for a new build and just finished installing a Scythe Ninja.
The good news is that it fits the motherboard without any problems. The retention clip doesn't hit the motherboard's stock northbridge cooler, the Ninja's heatpipes are just clear of the capacitors around the CPU socket, and there's no problem installing RAM in all four slots while the Ninja is installed.
In a lucky coincidence I managed to borrow a Thermalright HR-05 chipset cooler to see for myself whether it would work. Unsurprisingly it doesn't fit the motherboard. Even if you made a compatible clip, the heatpipes on the HR-05 would hit a nearby capacitor. There's enough space at the side of the Ninja to run a simple duct down to the northbridge from the rear case fan. Hopefully that'll be plenty to keep it cool and will also help with CPU cooling by moving air over the Ninja's base.
So far the only real disappointment is that the CPU I received for the system was an older 90nm Athlon X2. That's despite the mail order company listing it as the 65nm version. Annoyingly that's the main reason why I paid a little more to purchase it at that particular store. When I contacted them about it they responded that they consider the parts to be "functionally identical". They don't have the 65nm parts in stock and I'd have to pay shipping to return it for a refund. Looking at the relatively minor improvements offered by 65nm I don't think it's worth the hassle. Now that I've got the components I just want to get it up and running.
Anyway, once the system is actually built and running I'll probably post more details, and maybe some photos in the gallery.
The good news is that it fits the motherboard without any problems. The retention clip doesn't hit the motherboard's stock northbridge cooler, the Ninja's heatpipes are just clear of the capacitors around the CPU socket, and there's no problem installing RAM in all four slots while the Ninja is installed.
In a lucky coincidence I managed to borrow a Thermalright HR-05 chipset cooler to see for myself whether it would work. Unsurprisingly it doesn't fit the motherboard. Even if you made a compatible clip, the heatpipes on the HR-05 would hit a nearby capacitor. There's enough space at the side of the Ninja to run a simple duct down to the northbridge from the rear case fan. Hopefully that'll be plenty to keep it cool and will also help with CPU cooling by moving air over the Ninja's base.
So far the only real disappointment is that the CPU I received for the system was an older 90nm Athlon X2. That's despite the mail order company listing it as the 65nm version. Annoyingly that's the main reason why I paid a little more to purchase it at that particular store. When I contacted them about it they responded that they consider the parts to be "functionally identical". They don't have the 65nm parts in stock and I'd have to pay shipping to return it for a refund. Looking at the relatively minor improvements offered by 65nm I don't think it's worth the hassle. Now that I've got the components I just want to get it up and running.
Anyway, once the system is actually built and running I'll probably post more details, and maybe some photos in the gallery.
Does anyone else think that the BIOS temperature readings are a little screwy on this motherboard?
CPU temperature is about what I'd expect, around 55C at stock speed and voltage. That's roughly the temperature I'd guess by simply touching the Ninja's heatpipes.
On the other hand, the motherboard temperature reading seems way out. I assume that this is intended to measure Northbridge temperature, that's how it's worked on previous motherboards I've owned.
The motherboard temperature is currently at 36C, yet touching the Northbridge for one second is quite painful, certainly much hotter than the Ninja's heatpipes...
Any idea what the MB temperature is actually reading?
CPU temperature is about what I'd expect, around 55C at stock speed and voltage. That's roughly the temperature I'd guess by simply touching the Ninja's heatpipes.
On the other hand, the motherboard temperature reading seems way out. I assume that this is intended to measure Northbridge temperature, that's how it's worked on previous motherboards I've owned.
The motherboard temperature is currently at 36C, yet touching the Northbridge for one second is quite painful, certainly much hotter than the Ninja's heatpipes...
Any idea what the MB temperature is actually reading?
I've just got one of this boards and built it using a AMD x2 3600+ 65w cpu. I've undervolted the vcore to 1v and it runs very stable. .950 is as low as I can go and it still boots and seems ok but I'll experiment a bit more. 0.925 boots but as soon as the XP logo appears the pc reboots everytime so a little too low I guess.
As per almost everyone else comments on this forum and others the northbridge does get very hot imo. I have the stock AMD fan running full speed as its not too loud for the additional airflow it provides to the northbridge chip. It just seems a little too hot for my liking. I don't fancy replacing the heatsink but can't see hot to attach a quiet fan or get more air movement over it to bring its temps down.
I'm non bios 503 fyi. I had ATI Cats 7.5 install but was getting a lot of screen flicker. People on Asus forum suggest using the drivers from the asus disc, bit old and more stable. Well so far so good, no screen flicker and stable but it is early days. 7.5 report the graphics as X1200 series and the asus provide 7.3 (I think) report Radeon xpress X1250 as others had noted. I run the drivers only not for Cat control panel as I find it bloated and slow. I'll use ATI Tool for settings etc...just not sure if it supports HDMI output yet (to be downloaded later)
I'm running 2gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 667mhz and a Western Digital SATA 160gb single platter drive WD1600AAJS. The drive was recommended on this forum and its pretty good imo, quiet, cool'ish and fast. All in a Antec NSK4000 which is good solid case, no vibration noise and side vent to get heat out.
Cpu temp is about 18c and if I play Call Of Duty 2 (in Dx7 its playable) I get it up to about 28c so very happy. Thats with the side off the case as I've not finished it yet Desktop idle uses 47w and max Ive seen during CoD2 was 70.
To my question. In hardware device I have one unknown item. I've install the southbridge drivers from ATI website and Asus cd but this won't go. I don't know what it is, no clues that I can see. Does anyone else have this problem ? SMBus I had to do a manual install for as well, not very good imo.
As per almost everyone else comments on this forum and others the northbridge does get very hot imo. I have the stock AMD fan running full speed as its not too loud for the additional airflow it provides to the northbridge chip. It just seems a little too hot for my liking. I don't fancy replacing the heatsink but can't see hot to attach a quiet fan or get more air movement over it to bring its temps down.
I'm non bios 503 fyi. I had ATI Cats 7.5 install but was getting a lot of screen flicker. People on Asus forum suggest using the drivers from the asus disc, bit old and more stable. Well so far so good, no screen flicker and stable but it is early days. 7.5 report the graphics as X1200 series and the asus provide 7.3 (I think) report Radeon xpress X1250 as others had noted. I run the drivers only not for Cat control panel as I find it bloated and slow. I'll use ATI Tool for settings etc...just not sure if it supports HDMI output yet (to be downloaded later)
I'm running 2gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 667mhz and a Western Digital SATA 160gb single platter drive WD1600AAJS. The drive was recommended on this forum and its pretty good imo, quiet, cool'ish and fast. All in a Antec NSK4000 which is good solid case, no vibration noise and side vent to get heat out.
Cpu temp is about 18c and if I play Call Of Duty 2 (in Dx7 its playable) I get it up to about 28c so very happy. Thats with the side off the case as I've not finished it yet
Desktop idle uses 47w and max Ive seen during CoD2 was 70.To my question. In hardware device I have one unknown item. I've install the southbridge drivers from ATI website and Asus cd but this won't go. I don't know what it is, no clues that I can see. Does anyone else have this problem ? SMBus I had to do a manual install for as well, not very good imo.
Running two instances (to utilise both CPU cores) of the Prime 95 torture test is one of the best ways of testing stability. In my experience that comes up with errors very quickly if the voltage is too low. Drop the voltage incrementally using a utility like CrystalCPUID and you can find the lowest stable voltages without having to reboot the computer.NX3 wrote:I've just got one of this boards and built it using a AMD x2 3600+ 65w cpu. I've undervolted the vcore to 1v and it runs very stable. .950 is as low as I can go and it still boots and seems ok but I'll experiment a bit more. 0.925 boots but as soon as the XP logo appears the pc reboots everytime so a little too low I guess.
I've found that 1.0v is the lowest stable voltage for my X2 3600+; a 90nm Windsor core running at 2Ghz. Within 30 seconds of dropping it to 0.975 Prime 95 stops with an error, while at 1v I've run it overnight without any problems.
I quite like using ducts made out of cardboard to guide airflow around. It looks a bit 'ghetto', but if you don't have a window on your case, or don't care what it looks like, that doesn't really matter. Of course it depends on your case and components whether there's room to run a duct from a case fan to the vicinity of the northbridge.NX3 wrote:As per almost everyone else comments on this forum and others the northbridge does get very hot imo. I have the stock AMD fan running full speed as its not too loud for the additional airflow it provides to the northbridge chip. It just seems a little too hot for my liking. I don't fancy replacing the heatsink but can't see hot to attach a quiet fan or get more air movement over it to bring its temps down.
I've got some spare VGA memory heatsinks lying around somewhere. The outer fins on two sides of the stock northbridge cooler are pretty flat, with just a couple of slits in them (not very efficient considering that airflow is usually flowing from the front to the back of the case). Maybe simply sticking on a few ramsinks would increase the surface area and help with passive cooling. It probably wouldn't make a big difference, but I doubt it'd do any harm either...
That's a funny coincidence, I'm using the same RAM, although I've got 2x1Gb rather than a single 2Gb stick. For me this RAM works fine at 800Mhz, the maximum option in the board's BIOS menu. I've tested this by running Memtest for several hours without any errors.NX3 wrote:I'm running 2gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 667mhz
I've used CrystalCPUID to set the CPU to run at 1Ghz @ 0.8v while idle. At the Windows desktop it uses around 35W, measured at the wall socket with a kill-a-watt. This system uses an external hard drive that isn't powered from the 430W Seasonic PSU, and doesn't currently have any PCI cards or bus-powered USB devices. At full load running two instances of Prime 95 it draws around 60W. Overall I'm very pleased with this, it looks like I could run it from a 120W Pico PSU quite comfortably if I wanted to.NX3 wrote:Desktop idle uses 47w and max Ive seen during CoD2 was 70.
Now that you mention it, I do have the same problem. It's stable and everything seems to be working, including networking and firewire, so I'm not going to worry about it too much.NX3 wrote:To my question. In hardware device I have one unknown item. I've install the southbridge drivers from ATI website and Asus cd but this won't go. I don't know what it is, no clues that I can see. Does anyone else have this problem ? SMBus I had to do a manual install for as well, not very good imo.
I definitely think that hardware manufacturers often neglect their drivers and documentation. I've bought quite a lot of hardware that's quite well designed overall, yet has terrible drivers and almost incomprehensible documentation. As if that kind of thing is an unimportant finishing touch that they can happily ignore...
The support for the Asus board isn't that bad, but considering that it's been out for a while, and considering that the 690G is quite important for AMD, there do seem to be some rough edges.
By the way, has anyone noticed any coil whine from this motherboard?
While testing the system I've noticed an intermittent buzzing. It comes and goes seemingly at random so is hard to isolate. It definitely isn't caused by a fan (I've tried stopping them all) and it isn't caused by a drive (there aren't any), so it must be either the PSU or motherboard. Until I can try a different PSU it'll be difficult to tell for sure what's causing it.
Hopefully it is a problem with the PSU, that's easy enough to replace. I'd rather not have to dismantle the system and send back the motherboard, especially when I might get another one with the same problem. It's quite loud so definitely isn't something I'm willing to live with...
While testing the system I've noticed an intermittent buzzing. It comes and goes seemingly at random so is hard to isolate. It definitely isn't caused by a fan (I've tried stopping them all) and it isn't caused by a drive (there aren't any), so it must be either the PSU or motherboard. Until I can try a different PSU it'll be difficult to tell for sure what's causing it.
Hopefully it is a problem with the PSU, that's easy enough to replace. I'd rather not have to dismantle the system and send back the motherboard, especially when I might get another one with the same problem. It's quite loud so definitely isn't something I'm willing to live with...
I've had a go at improving the little northbridge heatsink with some spare ramsinks.
Here's a shot of the stock northbridge cooler:
And here it is after its rather Frankensteinian makeover; with 10 Swifttech ramsinks stuck on it:
Obviously the contact they make with the northbridge heatsink is far from ideal, especially the ones perched on top of the fins, but they are heating up quite nicely. All that extra metal has to make a difference for passive cooling. It's never going to run as cool as I'd like, but hopefully it'll be enough to prevent any stability problems.
By comparison, here's the northbridge heatsink on a Asus m-ATX Socket A board, a low cost predecessor of the M2A-VM:
As you can see, despite that old chipset using a lot less power, its heatsink is quite a lot bigger than the one on the new motherboard. I wonder what possessed Asus to put such a small cooler on a motherboard that's designed for media centre use; where low airflow systems are very common.
Here's a shot of the stock northbridge cooler:
And here it is after its rather Frankensteinian makeover; with 10 Swifttech ramsinks stuck on it:
Obviously the contact they make with the northbridge heatsink is far from ideal, especially the ones perched on top of the fins, but they are heating up quite nicely. All that extra metal has to make a difference for passive cooling. It's never going to run as cool as I'd like, but hopefully it'll be enough to prevent any stability problems.
By comparison, here's the northbridge heatsink on a Asus m-ATX Socket A board, a low cost predecessor of the M2A-VM:
As you can see, despite that old chipset using a lot less power, its heatsink is quite a lot bigger than the one on the new motherboard. I wonder what possessed Asus to put such a small cooler on a motherboard that's designed for media centre use; where low airflow systems are very common.
We were still experiencing some flickering even after install the Zalman ZM-NBF47. So we decided to install the Thermalright HR-05. The installation was much easier.
With this installation we will be able to install a video card in a near future.
At least in our case, the problem is not only the chipset overheat....
Best Regards,
Marcos
Q.J.A
With this installation we will be able to install a video card in a near future.
At least in our case, the problem is not only the chipset overheat....
Best Regards,
Marcos
Q.J.A
Last edited by mtavares on Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
To be honest I’m very surprised that the HR-05 could actually fit. To me it looked like it couldn’t be angled to avoid the heatpipes touching the nearby capacitors, not without the other side hitting the CPU heatsink retention bracket. Seeing it installed there, I’m still not convinced that it would fit with the bracket used by my Scythe Ninja. As you can see in the image I posted above; it very nearly touches the stock cooler.mtavares wrote:We were still experiencing some flickering even after install the Zalman ZM-NBF47. So we decided to install the Thermaright HR-05. The installation was much easier.
How hard was it to bend the clip into shape? I had to give back the HR5 that I borrowed so didn’t try bending it much, but to me it felt quite solid, and seemed designed for hooks that are significantly further apart. I assumed that it wouldn’t be easy to bend it into shape without warping it so much that it would no longer hold the HR-05 in place correctly.
I don't think it's the hot northbridge that causes the graphics problems that some people have reported. When testing the motherboard the northbridge became so hot that the system crashed and wouldn’t POST until it had cooled down. Despite that I didn’t experience problems with the graphics while using the older drivers. If you’re running a newer version of the ATI drivers then you should definitely downgrade and see if that fixes the problem.mtavares wrote:With this installation we will be able to install a video card in a near future.
At least in our case, the problem is not only the chipset overheat....
Thanks for replying Steve_Y and mtavares (that new heatsink looks very interesting, hope the video is up soon).
I'm new to this so just got CrystalCPUID and Prime 95 setup to try out. I'm not sure what to trust for voltage readings. Ive got AMD dashboard and Powermonitor but they don't reflect the volts I set in bios so I've dismissed them. Asus Probe agrees with my bios voltages so that seems ok to a point. Also Asus Cool'n'quiet monitor shows the voltage but only properly by hovering over the the system tray icon as the main display never updates.
Using CrystalCPUID I've had the vcore down to 0.875 according to Asus CnQ whereas CrystalCPUID says 0.925. They always seem to differ by 0.05. I need to understand CrystalCPUID more I think and test some more to get the watts down if I can.
I've got a Brisbane core x2 3600+ fyi and the memory is 2x 1gb so the same as your Steve_Y You've set the mem at 800mhz, thats interesting, again something to try and see what effect on heat and watts it makes. Also FPS in Cod2
The Asus 690G seems the best of the current 690G boards but as you say it is a little rough around the edges. I see bios 703 I think, is in beta testing so lets hope Asus fix things with this version. Also Ive feed back to ATI so who knows but maybe Cats 7.6 might be good (haha!!)
I'm new to this so just got CrystalCPUID and Prime 95 setup to try out. I'm not sure what to trust for voltage readings. Ive got AMD dashboard and Powermonitor but they don't reflect the volts I set in bios so I've dismissed them. Asus Probe agrees with my bios voltages so that seems ok to a point. Also Asus Cool'n'quiet monitor shows the voltage but only properly by hovering over the the system tray icon as the main display never updates.
Using CrystalCPUID I've had the vcore down to 0.875 according to Asus CnQ whereas CrystalCPUID says 0.925. They always seem to differ by 0.05. I need to understand CrystalCPUID more I think and test some more to get the watts down if I can.
I've got a Brisbane core x2 3600+ fyi and the memory is 2x 1gb so the same as your Steve_Y
You've set the mem at 800mhz, thats interesting, again something to try and see what effect on heat and watts it makes. Also FPS in Cod2 The Asus 690G seems the best of the current 690G boards but as you say it is a little rough around the edges. I see bios 703 I think, is in beta testing so lets hope Asus fix things with this version. Also Ive feed back to ATI so who knows but maybe Cats 7.6 might be good (haha!!)