Is 62ÂºC motherboard temperature safe?

danielG · Post by **danielG** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 4:52 am

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 62ÂºC, while the CPU has yet to rise over 54ÂºC. This happens with my old 3650HD + Accelero S1 and with the new graphics card.

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

LodeHacker · Post by **LodeHacker** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:17 am

Shouldn't the CPU be hotter than the motherboard? Have you tried any other temperature sensors to be 100% sure?

Monkeh16 · Post by **Monkeh16** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:29 am

That's quite normal and safe.

danielG · Post by **danielG** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 5:43 am

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.

Monkeh16 · Post by **Monkeh16** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:16 am

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.

new2spcr · Post by **new2spcr** » Sat Jun 27, 2009 11:17 am

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.