Northbridge cooling

[hondamanslim]

About 8 months ago i posted a thread asking if anyone knew the safe temperature range of the Northbridge for a P4C 800-E Deluxe motherboard. It seems to run between 42C idle and 52C during gaming. I've overclocked the board from 3.0 to 3.6 and i have great air cooling in my case. My Prescott core runs hot but with Thermaltake Copper heat pipe and 90 mm fan it runs as low as 29c idle and as high as 44C during FEAR. Due to last posting i got some great response as to which coolers i may want to invest in but I just want to know if anyone has some idea of the northbridge's temp Limits for this board in these conditions.

Thanks
hondamanslim

 

[harlam357]

Buddy of mine has this board... let me see if he'll lend some advice.

 

[inkfx]

If you do decide to get a new cooler may I suggest the Swiftech 159-CU.

 

[AlabamaCajun]

The northbridge can see temps in the 60s but I believe you will see instability before damage. I finally got the Cooler Master Heatpipe cooler for mine to keep it cooler. I like to see temps below 40 if possible. After putting active cooling I was able to run at 3.1-3.2G stable with a P4-2.6North. Keep air moving in the case and yout should be OK.

 

[hondamanslim]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into the swiftech. I just noticed it seemed hot. Thanks again for the reply.

Hondamanslim

 

[batboy]

That is a little warm for a N/B. My old Abit IC7 boards (same chipset) were no more than 40 degrees full load with stock N/B cooler. The higher FSB you want, the more you need to cool the N/B.

 

[proth]

As long as you're stable, should be no need for a fan. If you're concerned about the heat then add a fan. The P4C800 has been around for a long time and I heard of NB temps ranging from 30c to 60c with no problems. Running occasional 50+c temps will not burn out anything.

 

[funboy]

Greetings. Question for AlabamaCajun, which CM Heatpipe cooler are you talking about? One for the Northbridge? got a link to that because I can't find any cooler on CM site with heatpipes except CPU coolers.

And a general question, is the MB temps the Northbridge temps for the p4c800?

 

[hondamanslim]

Results

Thanks for all the imputs! I bought the swiftech 159 CU with fan and it dropped my Northbridge temp to around 40 C under load! Ive seen it as low as 33 C idle! What a difference! I also use the thermalright 90-c cooler with 92mm Silent cat fan so new Northbridge cooler looks great next to it. I noticed no change in sound from additional fan as well. Anyone out there looking to get Northbridge cool should use this!

Thanks again for the info everyone!!

- hondamanslim

Motherboard = P4C800E - Deluxe
running P4 3.0E oc'd to 3.603 mhz
on bios overclock.

 

[funboy]

hey hondamanslim, how are you getting those temp readings from? I just stuck a swiftech onto my northbridge and put a thermal sensor between heatsink and northbridge and my computer idles at 45°C. What mobo do you have?

 

[max_clock]

A friend of mine has that board. the southbridge burn during the last summer, now the USB ports doesnt work and Asus doesnt give him a new one because he removed some kind of sticker off the board. My advice is to buy a southbridge heatsink, they are very cheap and efficient.

 

[funboy]

the southbridge burn??? which MOBO you talking about?

 

[hondamanslim]

Funboy - I placed my temp sensor on the bottom of the swiftech heatsink as close to the chip as possible without getting any thermal compound on it. I wanted the heatsink to get as much heat off the chip as possible. I have a Lian Li thermal monitor which came with (3) thermal sensors. I used one on my cpu and one on my northbridge. As i write this, and this is the only application running, my northbrige reads 36.0 degrees C. I have only been up and running about 30 min. or so but it seems to level off there. I can lower it some if i crank up my case fan but this is where i typically leave it. I can get it a lot lower if i leave it idle and crank up my case fan however! The numbers i listed were peak highs and lows!

 

[hondamanslim]

Max_Clock - I had a heat sink on my southbridge. It came with a chipset cooler i got for an old video card. I have taken it off and am waiting for a custom copper heatsink i ordered online. I also keep the room my computer is in at approx. 73 degrees F to help keep the box cool. THIS HELPS A LOT. Tell your friend to keep his AC on lower and make sure his/her case is getting enough circulation!

hondamanslim

 

[hondamanslim]

Hey funboy - Maybe your right it is the location of sensor. Either way it still lost a substantial amount of heat using swiftech! Let me know what you think.