MSI 970 GAMING VRM heatsink?

[MitchMuiz]

I have a AMD FX 6300 with a motherboard where the VRM's aren't heatsinked, so it heats up really quickly which causes enourmous framerate drops.
Is the MSI 970 GAMING the motherboard I'm looking for?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MitchMuiz]

If you are picking from those the the XFX XT series is the only one I would buy.

Okay, Thanks for the help mate. I will see if I can buy it in a week. I will check back on this thread when it's working or not.
Happy Holidays

Ok good luck

Thanks!
I found another one, and since I dont think I will upgrade my GPU anytime soon, I chose a 450 Watt one.
https://www.afuture.nl/productview.php?productID=262902

This would be fine and will support some GPU upgrades

What kind of GPU upgrades? from a GTX 750 TI to a GTX 950? is that an upgrade?

You could run a GTX 960 with that PSU

My case & psu arrived yesterday and we've put it together today. From what I've played now it finally works like it's supposed to.

Only 1 more question; I have 4 fans. the in the back i've plugged into the fan header next to my CPU cooler fan header. The 1 in the front I've plugged directly into the PSU. But those uptop I can't plug into anything. Should I get fan splitters, and how many?

 

[Rogue Leader]

There should be 4 total fan connectors on the board (not including the CPU). You can plug 3 pin fans into 4 pin connectors. if for some reason you can't reach all the connectors with the wires you have you can use a splitter off 1 or 2 connectors (just not the CPU one).

 

[MitchMuiz]

There should be 4 total fan connectors on the board (not including the CPU). You can plug 3 pin fans into 4 pin connectors. if for some reason you can't reach all the connectors with the wires you have you can use a splitter off 1 or 2 connectors (just not the CPU one).

Where are those 4 pin connectors located? Can't seem to find 'em. Only the 1 right next to the CPU cooler, which is a 3 pin.

 

[Rogue Leader]

There should be 4 total fan connectors on the board (not including the CPU). You can plug 3 pin fans into 4 pin connectors. if for some reason you can't reach all the connectors with the wires you have you can use a splitter off 1 or 2 connectors (just not the CPU one).

Where are those 4 pin connectors located? Can't seem to find 'em. Only the 1 right next to the CPU cooler, which is a 3 pin.

Not sure, should say in the manual. I read it on MSI's specs site. Unfortunately the picture is too dark.

 

[MitchMuiz]

There should be 4 total fan connectors on the board (not including the CPU). You can plug 3 pin fans into 4 pin connectors. if for some reason you can't reach all the connectors with the wires you have you can use a splitter off 1 or 2 connectors (just not the CPU one).

Where are those 4 pin connectors located? Can't seem to find 'em. Only the 1 right next to the CPU cooler, which is a 3 pin.

Not sure, should say in the manual. I read it on MSI's specs site. Unfortunately the picture is too dark.

I asked in a different thread and someone answered that I only have 2 fan headers (1 CPU & 1 case fan.) Can I use fan splitters on the case fan header? and how many should I use?

 

[Rogue Leader]

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/970-GAMING.html#hero-specification

Click on "Detail" under the Specifications, then scroll to Internal I/O Connections:

-1 x 4-pin CPU fan connector
-2 x 4-pin system fan connectors
-2 x 3-pin system fan connectors

Heres a link to the manual:

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/970-GAMING.html#down-manual

Check out page 1-20 it will show you all the fan connections.

There is no way in the world a modern ATX motherboard only has 1 case fan connection, even mATX boards have at least 2. Whoever told you that doesn't know what they are talking about.

If you use a splitter anyway you should only split it once, so run 2 fans from 1 header thats it.

 

[MitchMuiz]

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/970-GAMING.html#hero-specification

Click on "Detail" under the Specifications, then scroll to Internal I/O Connections:

-1 x 4-pin CPU fan connector
-2 x 4-pin system fan connectors
-2 x 3-pin system fan connectors

Heres a link to the manual:

https://us.msi.com/Motherboard/support/970-GAMING.html#down-manual

Check out page 1-20 it will show you all the fan connections.

There is no way in the world a modern ATX motherboard only has 1 case fan connection, even mATX boards have at least 2. Whoever told you that doesn't know what they are talking about.

If you use a splitter anyway you should only split it once, so run 2 fans from 1 header thats it.

I didnt buy the MSI 970. I still have my MSI GM760 P23 FX

 

[Rogue Leader]

Ok so then thats correct, it only has 1 system fan connector, with a splitter you can connect 2 fans. Otherwise you should either plug them into your PSU or buy a manual fan controller.

 

[MitchMuiz]

Ok so then thats correct, it only has 1 system fan connector, with a splitter you can connect 2 fans. Otherwise you should either plug them into your PSU or buy a manual fan controller.

I've been playing alot of BF4 and I noticed a slight change in performance (from 60 to 30-40). So I went into task manager and put BF4.exe on High Priority. Just now I've played a match with HWINFO64 running on my other screen. It said that the CPU maximum spiked again to 255 C. My problem still isn't fixed.

 

[MitchMuiz]

Ok so then thats correct, it only has 1 system fan connector, with a splitter you can connect 2 fans. Otherwise you should either plug them into your PSU or buy a manual fan controller.

I've been playing alot of BF4 and I noticed a slight change in performance (from 60 to 30-40). So I went into task manager and put BF4.exe on High Priority. Just now I've played a match with HWINFO64 running on my other screen. It said that the CPU maximum spiked again to 255 C. My problem still isn't fixed.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Theres no way it could ever spike to 255C it would literally melt down at that point.

Did you check for anything else that could be causing performance drops (such as a virus scan, Windows updates, etc)?

You may well need that motherboard, but I wouldn't mess with the priority, try to keep your readings consistent, so you can find whats driving the problem.

 

[MitchMuiz]

Theres no way it could ever spike to 255C it would literally melt down at that point.

Did you check for anything else that could be causing performance drops (such as a virus scan, Windows updates, etc)?

You may well need that motherboard, but I wouldn't mess with the priority, try to keep your readings consistent, so you can find whats driving the problem.

I've been playing Red Orchestra 2 for a good half an hour now and the CPU is sitting around 44 C with 48 at its max. I think messing with the priority was the problem.

 

[Rogue Leader]

ok good

 

[MitchMuiz]

ok good

Nevermind. After I played some NBA 2k16 HWiNFo64 reported again that the CPU spiked up to 200C.
Is this a motherboard flaw?

 

[Rogue Leader]

ok good

Nevermind. After I played some NBA 2k16 HWiNFo64 reported again that the CPU spiked up to 200C.
Is this a motherboard flaw?

Thats got to be a problem with the temp sensor or the software you are using. First off the system would reboot at 75 or 80c (I forget where the cutoff is exactly). If it somehow hit 200 it would crash and never start again.

The only things to use to measure temp would be AMD Overdrive, or like MSI Afterburner, which has Riva Statistics which is good too. AMD Overdrive measures Thermal Margin, basically the difference between the current temp and the max temp the processor will take (so the larger number the better).

 

[MitchMuiz]

ok good

Nevermind. After I played some NBA 2k16 HWiNFo64 reported again that the CPU spiked up to 200C.
Is this a motherboard flaw?

Thats got to be a problem with the temp sensor or the software you are using. First off the system would reboot at 75 or 80c (I forget where the cutoff is exactly). If it somehow hit 200 it would crash and never start again.

The only things to use to measure temp would be AMD Overdrive, or like MSI Afterburner, which has Riva Statistics which is good too. AMD Overdrive measures Thermal Margin, basically the difference between the current temp and the max temp the processor will take (so the larger number the better).

I used AMD Overdrive and HWiNFO64 side by side while I was playing BF4 for about an hour.
HWiNFO64 reported that I hit 255 C, while AMD Overdrive said that I hit -185C.

Is this a motherboard flaw? https://www.afuture.nl/productview.php?productID=982977 is this one better?

 

[Rogue Leader]

If you are getting temp readings like that then yes the temp sensor on your motherboard is bad.

I would get the MSI 970 gaming over that gigabyte board.

 

[MitchMuiz]

If you are getting temp readings like that then yes the temp sensor on your motherboard is bad.

I would get the MSI 970 gaming over that gigabyte board.

And this one: https://www.afuture.nl/productview.php?productID=4945892 ?

 

[Rogue Leader]

The AsRock is good too. It or the MSI would both be good choices. I am not a Gigabyte fan, have had problems in the past

 

[MitchMuiz]

The AsRock is good too. It or the MSI would both be good choices. I am not a Gigabyte fan, have had problems in the past

I read on some forums that MSI motherboards have poor thermal design. Is this true?

 

[Rogue Leader]

The AsRock is good too. It or the MSI would both be good choices. I am not a Gigabyte fan, have had problems in the past

I read on some forums that MSI motherboards have poor thermal design. Is this true?

I don't agree, I think they are just as good as ASRock, and definitely better than gigabyte

 

[MitchMuiz]

The AsRock is good too. It or the MSI would both be good choices. I am not a Gigabyte fan, have had problems in the past

I read on some forums that MSI motherboards have poor thermal design. Is this true?

I don't agree, I think they are just as good as ASRock, and definitely better than gigabyte

Are there any cheaper alternatives to the MSI 970 which are also good?

 

[Rogue Leader]

If you're looking for a good AM3 chipset like the 970 or 990 your options are limited. ASRock may be the only cheaper one. Only ASRock, MSI, Gigabyte, and ASUS make the boards. ASUS costs more I believe.