Motherboard northbridge smells like it's burning

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pablo1505

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Apr 21, 2013
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Hey guys, just wanted to know if anyone can help. I have a GA 970A-UD3 motherboard and there is this part between the processor and the graphics card (which I think is called northbridge) that gets too hot when I'm using my pc, mostly when playing powerful games like far cry 3 and so on, can anyone tell me maybe what could be causing it? I have seen people with basically the same build and playing the same games and it runs fine for them, so i wouldn't know what it is.
My build is: Sapphire HD 7950 graphics card, 8GB RAM corsair, AMD 6100 processor, GS 800 power supply, Seagate barracuda 1TB HDD.
 
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It says: TMPIN0 39-39 C; TMPIN1 50-55 C; TMPIN2 30-51 C. This is when not playing any games.
When playing games:
TMPIN0 38-39 C
TMPIN1 60-65 C
TMPIN2 40-52 C
 
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well the case came with a fan installed already, and has space for a 200mm one and a 120mm, but are they really necessary? I'm not trying to be cheap, I just want to know like if they are that necessary that even when only using the internet and playing music it gets hot.
 
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are you really that stupid? you're the one with over heating problems.
 
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I'm just asking because other people don't have extra fans and it works fine for them... So no I'm not stupid because if I knew that they all had such fans, then obviously I would conclude that that is the problem
 
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Pablo's logic is sound. Don't be a dick.
 
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The Norhbridge usually comes with a small fan atop, although some motherboards do forgo them they can be rather noisy sometimes. If there are mounting holes for a small fan, get some thermal paste and add a small fan, it will help to dissipate the heat. The Northbridge is supposed to get hot, it interacts with the "Southbridge" or CPU, to improve performance. Your temps are not so bad, perhaps add some internal fans to the PC.

Fans are important, the internals of the PC can get quite congested with hot air, you need to dispel much of that by use of fans attached to the back of the case. Get fans that connect to the FAN1, FAN2 etc pins, you can then monitor their rpms.

Edit - anything that smells like burning is a BAD thing. Also check your standoffs and that there are not standoffs that touch the motherboard underneath, they could be touching a weld or indenting the motherboard and may cause the PCB board to crack.
 
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Hey thanks for replying, I don't know exactly what u mean by standoffs though, could u explain that to me? And I recently spoke with someone from Gigabyte and they told me the same thing you did, that basically it's supposed to run hot but the burning smell is not normal. They told me to mount a spot cooling fan or something like that and see if it works. But I still feel uneasy about this because i mean... Since when are parts like that supposed to smell like burning plastic?
 
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Sorry but what do u mean by system hardware configuration? Do u mean like what I put as my build? Sapphire HD 7950 graphics card, 8GB RAM corsair, AMD 6100 processor, GS 800 power supply, Seagate barracuda 1TB HDD.
 
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WOW, put a fan on it. Go figure............ almost like I work for Gigabyte.....????
 
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If you aren't going to say something helpful then just stop posting on the thread. Like, who asked you????
 
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Burning plastic might infer some sort of plastic wrap covering like when you buy something new, there is a film of clear plastic over the item, maybe Ggabyte forgot to remove the protective covering?

The Southbridge, I made a boo boo, the southbridge looks after the sound ports. Too many things to remember about PC's, you'd really need a 15 year Degree to be a real expert! I've been fixing PC's for only about 10 years, I need more experience!

The standoffs are the bolts or brass screws under the motherboard, on the base plate, where you screw the screws to hold the motherboard in place. Some fittings are plastic arrow points, some are square fittings that you plug a plastic thingy into, lots of dfferrent types, some even use long screws whereas others use tiny screws.

The PCI (e) cards, if any should be fitted evenly in their slots. If any look slightly diagonal then they are not squarely in place.

If possible, take a few snapshots of the PC innards so we can see whether there is adequate airflow, view the Northbridge, and whether there is DUST.

A small fan would have springed (plastic) bolts so that the small heat sink can be placed over the Northbridge, the plastic pop bolts would then be pushed through small holes in the motherboard, only two, at diagonal to each other. They have pointy ends that expand at the other side of the motherboard. Sometimes the fan interferes with the Video card fitting if they are too close to each other, probably why the fan was either removed or not put on at all.

The fan is similar to the one in the link except that it would have Gigabyte imprinted on it instead of Vantec (the circular one).
http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=98720.0

[rant] I wish we had a search engine for PC's, it's so hard to find PC related things these days![/rant]
 
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I did read the entire thread, and I can see that in fact no one asked you specifically. So stop being rude, and go do something productive with your life other than trolling someone's posts.
 
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Thanks again, so now that I am informed as to how the northbridge works, is there any possibility that the heat-sink is not working? and from your experience, has it ever gotten too hot for you? say without more than 2 fans, my case has one in front and one in the back, and I checked for any plastic and so on, but there's no sign of plastic anywhere around there. I decided to purchase a spot cooler as well, with it the northbridge might stop overheating, but I still see no reason for this to happen. I mean, i've never had a pc do this while only browsing through the internet. So if my conclusion is correct, then the motherboard came defective? and if you think it's normal, then how is that most people haven't complained about such a thing on this specific motherboard?
I'm not home currently so I cannot take a picture and publish it, but as soon as I do, I will make sure to post it. Thanks again!
 
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That´s it!

 
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"Consider the North Bridge chip (also called the Memory Controller hub or Graphics/Memory Controller hub). It carries high-speed data traffic between the processor and memory, AGP video and the rest of the computer. What happens if it overheats? Unlike an overheated processor or memory module which can be replaced if it fails, the North Bridge chip is an integral part of the motherboard. If it fails, it takes down the entire motherboard."
It's an old thread, 2003, but will give you a general idea,
reference - http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=339028

Actually, I've never considered the Northbridge as an issue, I always blame something else. It could well be the reasom that many motherboards end up being RMAed.

The motherboard did not necessarily come defective, it could be something entirely different. If the air flow around the motherboard is somewhat lacking that could impede the heat dissipation ergo your fault. If you overclock, use high performance video cards, cpu, ram then those combined could impact on the Northbridge especially with high FPS gaming, video editing, programming, etc.. If the video card sits over the Northbidge, that could impact on its heat dissipation, some video cards are extra long.

The plastic smell is of concern, it might be coming from the monitor perhaps, they also had plastic film on them when purchased new, even on the screen. The only other thing I can think of, does your desk where the PC sits, have a plastic covering like a world map for instance? Why? Well, if the PSU is bottom based and the extruding fan is facing towards the desk, then it might be overheating the plastic film, of your "world map" causing the burning smell. It's only a theory but it would be nice to actually prove it.

I have added a fan on occasion but only because I'd seen them on other motherboards. I do my own rebuilds, I got 10 pc's (actually 15 now but my name is TenPC), I don't build for anyone except myself. Each PC does something different, games, software, video editing, programming, different OSes etc.. Storage is an issue now, I'm paying $50 per week to house my extra computers, lol, I could buy ten PC's a year with the yearly fees I pay but I wouldn't get the necessary hardware that I already have, most of the PC's are pre 2008.
 
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ok guys, so I went and bought a fan, and a artic silver 5 thermal compound to put it on both my cpu and the northbridge. But... I still get the same smell... It's not as strong this time, but I can still smell it. Maybe it'll go away over time since I just applied the compound. Thanks for your help and if it does go away i'll let u guys know.
 
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