Northbridge cooling

[Radio91P]

Hey guys,

My northbridge is running warm on my A8n-SLI deluxe and was thinking I should swap it out. I already have a VidCard cooler that is a little to big which I could cut down.
The only thing that worries me is what the chip looks like under the original fan. I have never delt with this before so apprehension comes into play. The original fan has a square piece of plastic on the bottom, with another square cut out in the middle. Do I need to include that on the new heatsink?

If anyone could give me some advice I would be more that appreciative!

Radio91P

[Leonardo]

If the northbridge heatsink is just "warm" to the touch, you don't need to replace it. If it is hot, in that it hurts to keep you finger on it, then yes, replace it. The plastic, rubbery square material on the bottom of the stock heatsink is there so that the heatsink doesn't crush the delicate northbridge chip during rapid assembly line operations. With an unprotected chip's core, as in northbridges, it is very easy to crush or rub off the corners. If you are careful when installing a heatsink on a chip, you don't need that rubber square.

By the way, CPUs used to be that way - the bare core in the middle of the CPU assembly. And yes, it was not uncommon for home builders/upgraders to ruin the cores.

[Radio91P]

Thus the paranoia!

Thanks for the tips man. The temp sits right about 40 C under load. My other board runs at 31 load. That is why I had the concern. Other board
A8N-E, which is really quite similar.

Thanks for the info,
That makes me feel a lot better about the whole process.

Radio91P

[lemonlime]

Thus the paranoia!

Thanks for the tips man. The temp sits right about 40 C under load. My other board runs at 31 load. That is why I had the concern. Other board
A8N-E, which is really quite similar.

Thanks for the info,
That makes me feel a lot better about the whole process.

Radio91P

Hey Radio91P,

IMO, 40'C at load is perfectly fine for the chipset temperature. I would not be concerned at all until it exceeds the mid-50s. The mosfets and other power regulation circutry are usually more useful to keep cool :thumbup

[Leonardo]

The motherboard temperature thermistor is not located at the northbridge. It's a separate sensor. But what I said stands -- if the northbridge sink only feels warm, and you don't plan on overclcocking, don't worry about it. If however, you would like to improve cooling without any hardware modifications, remove the the white silicone paste from the heatsink and apply some quality paste, like Arctic Silver 5. That will make a considerable distance.

[Esso]

nVIDIA nF4 southbridge modifications.

ArcticOC/GXP345 at XS used this CPU cooler, which he modifyed,
Artic Cooling Freezer 4.. (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=9&data=2&disc=)
http://img297.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hpim0528lite4np.jpg

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.php?p=277678&postcount=198
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.php?p=277682&postcount=200
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.php?p=277684&postcount=201
http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showpost.php?p=277685&postcount=202

XS thread (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=61809&page=5)

Air cooler (http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6577)


( As mentioned, 40 C is okay ( mine is somewere between 38-46 C)

[lemonlime]

The motherboard temperature thermistor is not located at the northbridge. It's a separate sensor..

Thats a good point, Leo. Some mainboards do not specify the northbridge/chipset temperature, but rather the 'board' temperature. I know the DFIs do. I'm not sure about other Asus NF4 boards though. Might want to check to be sure, Radio91P.

Another thing to keep in mind Radio91P: Unlike Intel systems which have the memory controller in the north-bridge, the A64 has the memory controller on-die. This usually results in much lower chipset temperatures. Also, because the memory controller is not on the chipset, lower chipset temperatures do not usually amount to higher overclocks. Intel/AthlonXP boards are another story.. you can get some impressive gains by improving northbridge cooling.

[Leonardo]

Some mainboards do not specify the northbridge/chipset temperature, but rather the 'board' temperature. The exception, not the norm is general motherboard "system" temperature reading, not the northbridge. I don't know why it's that way. Maybe it's so the user has an idea of how well the case ventilates.

Another thing to keep in mind Radio91P: Unlike Intel systems which have the memory controller in the north-bridge, the A64 has the memory controller on-die.This usually results in much lower chipset temperatures. Very true. Northbridge cooling is much more important on a legacy northbridge chip than on the newer AMD board's central chip - not really a northbridge - don't remember what it's called. But with the Socket 775 boards, overclocking will be hamstrung without very good cooling on the northbridge.

[Esso]

Tips, nF4 chipset fan.
http://www.gideontech.com/content/articles/306/1