GA-970A-UD3 overheating?

[Cyrim]

Hey,

I recently did an upgrade of my pc...
I bought a GA-970A-UD3 motherboard and a AMD FX-8350 Black Edition CPU

Everything seemed fine until i entered a game. After a whiloe of gaming my PC would crash:
all inputs and outputs of the pc would just stop (leds on mouse and keyboard turned off and screen had no signal). When i try to turn off my pc by holding the power button down it wouldn't turn off and also the reset switch didn't do anything. Only way to stop my pc was to flip the PSU switch.

Now i have been testing for 2 weeks with prime95 and HWinfo to see what is the problem.

normally i can run p95 for about 7 minutes until it crashes like before.

With a big external fan blowing into the open case i can run it for 2+ hours, longer i didn't test but it propably could, so it's obviously an overheating problem.

With HWinfo i closely inspect the temps in my pc, my system temp is always around 26 - 34 C. My cpu is 28 idle and max 48 C under 100% load with p95 torture test. The temp3 of my mobo is 26 C idle and slowly climbs from 55 till 60 C and then my pc crashes.
With the big fan it stays around 50 - 54 and it won't crash at all.

so my question: what should i do?
should i find another motherboard or buy better heatsinks?

thnx in advance

 

[azanimefan]

sounds like you've got a problem. well... at least we know it's a temp issue. so that's a start. the ud3 is by all accounts a good, popular and tough motherboard.

If the problem is solved by poping the side of the case off and sticking a fan into it, then it's probably a case airflow issue. (though we can't rule out a cpu heatsink issue either, because the CPU temp monitor might not be working right).

• What case are you using?
• what cpu cooler are you using?
• is your ram covered by a heat spreader?
• what types of fans do you have in the case?
• what are those fan's orientation, and position inside the case? are they pulling air into the case? blowing it out?
• what gpu do you have?
• what PSU?
• have you tried to pull the heatsink/fan off the cpu, clean it, then reapply the contact paste?

lets start with those basics first.

 

[kyfire]

In addition to what Azanimefan said...What CPU do you have and is it OCed?

 

[Cyrim]

Thnx for the very fast reply.

- i'm using a Fractal Design R4 case
- i'm using a Scythe Katana 4 CPU cooler
it can only be mounted to blow down onto my GPU or up out of the case. i have it blow up and opened the top of the case so the hot air can leave right away.
- My ram does not have a heat spreader
- I got a front intake fan hooked onto the motherboard running at 1000 rpm
and a rear outtake fan first hooked onto the mobo, but later i changed it to connect directly onto the PSU to make it go faster. This made my pc crash after 12 minutes of p95 instead on 7 minutes.
- I got a MSI R6850 GPU
- i got a BeQuiet BQT-500w-E6 PSU
- i did not try to redo the thermal paste since i was sure i did it right the first time. It might be worth a shot though.

edit: the CPU is a FX-8350 Black edition
i did not overclock it.

about the temp sensor not working:
HWinfo showed me 2 CPU temps. One from the mobo and one from the CPU itself. The CPU's sensor was obviously wrong as it said in idle my CPU was 7 C and around 10 degrees lower as the mobo CPU sensor at all times. So when i saw the mobo sensor have a more acceptable value i kind of assumed it was right.

 

[Conumdrum]

Mobo sensor can't be trusted.

It's a CPU cooling problem. Double check you have the CPU cooler installed right. Is the CPU fans speeding up as you run a load test? It should. Is the CPU fan connected to the 4 pin mobo connector labeled CPU fan? If so make sure the fan cooling for the bios is set up right.

 

[Cyrim]

yeah the cpu fan speeds up when under load. it's connected to the 4 pin that says CPU fan indeed. I checked the bios settings and it seemed all ok. Also the sensor in HWinfo says it runs 1000 rpm idle and 2600 rpm when under load.

 

[Mandrake4565]

cyrim, could you open hwmonitor and run prime then using the in forum attachment tool post a pic of hwmonitor under load here.

 

[Cyrim]

i won't have time this week to test until friday. Also this morning i checked the motherboard and found out the heatsink of the NB isn't applied very tightly, i could easily lift it off the mobo half a cm without much effort. Friday i will reapply those heatsinks and the cpu heatsink with some fresh thermal paste. I'll post my findings afterwards + pic if it didn't resolve the problem.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

 

[manu2b]

^And use a 92mm fan to cool down these heatsinks. It helped on the Asus I used with my 8120.

 

[Cyrim]

^And use a 92mm fan to cool down these heatsinks. It helped on the Asus I used with my 8120.

i like this idea, since even if this did resolve the issue i would still be feeling like playing games on a time bomb.
I have a question about the 92mm fan... How and where should i apply a fan? How can i fix it in place blowing at those heatsinks?

 

[Mandrake4565]

I agree with manu, but you may find it a little easier if you get a pair of 50mm fans and use double sided tape to mount the fans on the Vrm and Nb heatsinks. Another modification you can make, if you feel comfortable doing it. You can cut a hole in the right side door behind the motherboard and add a 120mm fan back there. It will help cool the socket area a bit.

 

[manu2b]

My rig was watercooled, so I put the 92mm fan on one of the WB attaching screws, and block i with a srew nut.

Something like that:

 

[azanimefan]

Thnx for the very fast reply.

- i'm using a Fractal Design R4 case

can you mount an exhaust fan on the top of the case? from the looks of it, you got a "quiet" pc case... which means airflow is a little restricted. you'll need to make sure you have solid fans, and good airflow just to start.

do you have the case with the side window?

if not, you can mount another intake fan on the side of the case to blow down onto the gpu/mb. i would highly suggest you do that much. I'd also say you should mount a fan on the top vents to blow the hot air out.

- i'm using a Scythe Katana 4 CPU cooler
it can only be mounted to blow down onto my GPU or up out of the case. i have it blow up and opened the top of the case so the hot air can leave right away.

good orientation. though a second fan at the top of the case will help temps a little too. I have my cooling in an identical orientation. cpu cooling fan blowing up through the heatsink... with a case fan at the top "aiding" the airflow out.

- My ram does not have a heat spreader

no biggie... i was sorta just covering my bases. If we get the mb and cpu temps down and you still have this issue, i'd suggest you buy some aftermarket heatsink/heatspreaders to install on your ram. generally i'm of the opinion you don't need these, and they're just for looks... but if we run out of options this is somewhere we can still go with it.

- I got a front intake fan hooked onto the motherboard running at 1000 rpm
and a rear outtake fan first hooked onto the mobo, but later i changed it to connect directly onto the PSU to make it go faster. This made my pc crash after 12 minutes of p95 instead on 7 minutes.

the problem you're gonna have is your pc is not reading the temps right on the cpu... which means the mb's automatic fan controls are going to be iffy. You might need to look into a manual fan control panel

- I got a MSI R6850 GPU

thanks for being specific here... i was mostly interested in the type of gpu cooler that your gpu had... as well as what type of heatsource this card might be. The 6850 is a bit of a space heater... and your gpu cooler blows the hot air into the case, not out of it. this makes a side mounted fan more important. if you have the window, and can't mount one, then I suggest you look into internally mounting fans in the case to expedite the airflow, up and out of the system (even if you have a side fan spot you might need to do this anyway). This will likely be 100% DIY, a hobby project with lots of experimentation.

- i did not try to redo the thermal paste since i was sure i did it right the first time. It might be worth a shot though.

absolutely 100%, yes. do it. i don't care if you think you got it right the first time. your temps are likely way too high for a stock 8350 with that cpu cooler. Redo it, redo it, redo it. This ain't about pride, this is about protecting your investment. Everyone can get it wrong. No one is immune. I bet every guy in this forum has put a cpu cooler on in a way that was ineffective.

about the temp sensor not working:
HWinfo showed me 2 CPU temps. One from the mobo and one from the CPU itself. The CPU's sensor was obviously wrong as it said in idle my CPU was 7 C and around 10 degrees lower as the mobo CPU sensor at all times. So when i saw the mobo sensor have a more acceptable value i kind of assumed it was right.

For some reason most of the AM3+ mbs suffer some temp monitoring issues... its the same for the FM2 MBs... not sure why, but then this is a problem that can plague both intel and amd from time to time... which is why everyone will tell you not to trust the MB temp readings. My suggestion would be to invest in a front panel fan controller with temp probes. and get one down and into the socket on the heatsink... that will give you better info. Or a thermal gun or something. you need to find out how hot your cpu is really running.

that your MB is reading in the 60's is alarming to most of us here, because a FX cpu running that hot will overheat. that your mb is recording that temp blows my mind.


so, steps to take.

1. Re-seat the CPU cooler
2. Add fan controller/temp monitor
3. Add Fans as needed (intake/exhost/internal airflow)

let us know how it goes, and good luck!

 

[moccor]

I too bought this motherboard recently. Maybe this link will be of help to you too.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=724197
My temps seem to be fine with the config and setup in my sig. But my case has many fans too. Not sure if it will help you, since there are many variables in determining temperatures. But my CPU 0 = 46C. TEMP1 = 30C. TEMP2=47C. TEMP3 = 46C. And my GPU temp is 46C. This is while running Prime95. I incldued the GPU temp because they get VERY hot and since this boards CPU NB is RIGHT behind the PCIEx16 slot, your GPU under load Will increase the temp of the CPU NB and vice versa.

 

[Cyrim]

Hello,

sorry for the late reaction,
I have bought a 40 and 50mm fan and put them on the North Bridge and VRM heatsinks. Also i reapplied the CPU and NB heatsinks, with some nice fresh thermal paste.

Put the fans on max speed, and run the test again. The temp3 stayed a few (3 - 4) degrees lower then before. but this time after 5 minutes of prime95 my pc crashed again.

So i was all depressed and was going to reapply the heatsinks again, since i didn't know what else to do, but then i found this 550W PSU i could borrow for a minute.

That somehow fixed my problems. Even with the 40 and 50mm fans off it ran p95 for over an hour and it didn't crash.

I knew 500W was just barely hanging in there, but earlier i stressed my GPU at the same time and it didn't crash any sooner. So i thought it couldn't be my PSU. That feeling was enhanced when it didn't crash while using a big fan.

I think this was the problem and i ordered a 750W PSU. Hopefully it will arrive in a few days. And i'll post if it fixed it.

 

[manu2b]

Well, we are the faulty ones: we should have asked earlier what your PSU was, as these piledrivers are REAL power orgres!

happy your issue is solved though.

 

[azanimefan]

glad you found it. I'm sorta embarrassed i didn't suggest checking the psu at the start. The thing of it is, the lack of dependable temp readings were alarming me too much to think straight...

Glad it worked out though; sorry i wasn't more help

 

[Mandrake4565]

glad you found it. I'm sorta embarrassed i didn't suggest checking the psu at the start. The thing of it is, the lack of dependable temp readings were alarming me too much to think straight...

Glad it worked out though; sorry i wasn't more help

We'll let you slide this time azanimefan

 

[nookuwn]

500W quality PSU is not enough for this rig?
my 2x hd 7950 pull about 550w at the wall.
Since you ordered a 750W already, hopefully the 500W is just defective.