Northbridge Temps - GA 965P-DS3

[sablesg]

Hey all, I need your help on this

My Northbridge temperatures are hovering around 47C idle and 52 when I play games (Oblivion)

Is this normal? I'm in Malaysia, so I suppose its to be expected. What is the 'normal' operatable temperature range for the Northbridge

I haven't done any overclocking except that I'm running my 667 RAM at 800 with a +0.4V increase in RAM.

Thanks for your help in advanced.

 

[archae86]

My Northbridge temperatures are hovering around 47C idle and 52 when I play games (Oblivion)

First--many of us are eager to know how you are seeing this temperature, which we would also like to see. Very high Northbridge temperatures are widely reported for this board. Most of us are stuck with determining this by a finger test, as we've not found after-market software to display this temperature, and the BIOS indication vanishes after first boot.

Many folks have decided to improve the air flow on their 965P-DS3 Northbridge--some by adding a Mini Kaze fan (40mm, 3500rpm) directly on the heatsink.

As to your specific question--I think the temperatures you report are if anything on the low side of what others have reported. That does not mean it is perfectly OK. Long-term that temperature will slightly impair the probability distribution of the expected life of the part.

Short term it may parametrically put the part off optimum operation. On my sample of the 965P-DS3, with a pretty well-ventilated case, the system would fail to do a hot restart in Windows XP about 90% of the time until I added an 80mm fan aimed at the NB from about three inches away. With that temporary modification, hot restart failure probability dropped to about 10%. I think mine was worse in this functional effect of temperature than normal, and have RMAd the board for replacement. I'll test the replacement with and without a mini Kaze, and report here, but intend to keep the Mini Kaze on the NB in service in any case.

On my own sample of this board (before I RMAd it), I think I saw 65C in the BIOS screen while working on initial setup. I think I saw 55C on a cold boot after I'd flashed the BIOS to F10 (which got me just one more view of the NB and SB temperatures before they vanished again).

 

[sablesg]

Thanks for your reply.

As to how I measure the Northbridge Temperature, I have a digital multimeter with a temperature sensor. So I just poked it into my Northbridge heatsink. I suppose this isnt exactly very accurate as this reading is of the heatsink and not the real temperature. So I suppose actual temps should be higher than that.

I've not had any problems whatsoever due to those temperatures, but living in HOT malaysia does get me a bit paranoid.

I'm just wondering what the actual operatable range for the Northbridge is..

EDIT: My bad. I've remeasured it, shoving the sensor deeper into the heatsink. It seems to be more around 55C idle.

 

[chuckshissle]

That temp is normal for the north bridge, but unless it's causing instability to your system then you might want to consider and better cooling solution or install an 80mm fan in front of it would do just fine. But if you touch the north bridge and it burns your finger really quick than means you need to cool it down, regardless if it's not causing your system some hiccups. I have the same concern and so I installed an 80mm low-rpm fan blowing cool air to the N/B heatsink and cooled it down from 60c (gaming) to 35c (gaming). Yeah, and very big difference compare to the tiny 6000 rpm fan on it.

 

[sablesg]

I can leave my finger on the heatsink for about 3-4 seconds before it starts feeling really hot. Is that too hot?

My motherboard didn't even come with any fan for the Northbridge. And how would I install an 80mm fan to blow at the heatsink? Mount it on the side panel?

Thanks!

 

[chuckshissle]

You don't have to mount it on the side panel you can just set it on top of the graphics card like I did and or secure it with zip ties.

Here's mine.

 

[kdinx]

waa...sangat panas! letak kipas 8mm..murah

 

[chuckshissle]

????
0_o

 

[sablesg]

Alright thanks. I'll try just that. Btw. what that guy said. Its in Malay, the native (not exactly native, but the official language) of Malaysia.

He's saying "wow, its very hot! put a 8mm fan.. cheap"

I never knew there were 8mm fan. Must be the wonders of miniaturization.

Thanks for the help to those who replied. I guess I'll just try to attach a fan to blow on the heatsink. And I won't be worrying too much as well..

 

[pinoyako]

My Northbridge temperatures are hovering around 47C idle and 52 when I play games (Oblivion)

As to your specific question--I think the temperatures you report are if anything on the low side of what others have reported. That does not mean it is perfectly OK. Long-term that temperature will slightly impair the probability distribution of the expected life of the part.

you mean others have reported much higher temps? i live in the philippines (so the OP and i may have the same room temps) and my NB idles at 39-42c (depending on the room temp) and maxes at 46-48c ..i thought it was hot at that, but reading this, i might as well consider myself lucky (?) (BTW good case flow would suffice i guess)

can you please provide a link to where i can see the other reported NB temps on the DS3 and S3? i know someone who mounted a 40mm fan on the NB and he now got 35c idle temps

 

[archae86]

you mean others have reported much higher temps? i live in the philippines (so the OP and i may have the same room temps) and my NB idles at 39-42c (depending on the room temp) and maxes at 46-48c ..i thought it was hot at that, but reading this, i might as well consider myself lucky (?) (BTW good case flow would suffice i guess)

can you please provide a link to where i can see the other reported NB temps on the DS3 and S3? i know someone who mounted a 40mm fan on the NB and he now got 35c idle temps

I can't provide a link, but believe I recall seeing one or two others report the BIOS screen showing at least 55C for the Northbridge. I personally think I recall seeing 65C in this BIOS report.

Unfortunately, I can't confirm this, as the BIOS indication is removed from the screen in both F9 an F10 firmware revs on first reboot and does not return (save perhaps on the first boot after a new firmware is loaded).

I don't know whether Gigabyte firmware hides this reading on purpose--possibly because someone thought it was displaying an erroneous value.

The BIOS number would, I believe, be that reported by processing an internal measurement on the die itself (as with Core temperatures reported for CPUs), and thus would be much higher than an external temperature. If you are reporting an external temperature (as it turns out was being reported above--I did not realize this when I formed my response), then I cannot establish a direct comparison.

Yes, good case ventilation past the NB would help. A fan nearby pointed at the NB would help more, and a directly mounted 40mm fan right on the NB heatsink would help more still.

I today made some Restart and hot boot tests turning on and off the 40mm fan (mini Kaze) I have fastened to the NB heatsink. I definitely saw better reboot behavior with the fan on.

However my sample of the 965P-DS3 is clearly not a good one--I plan to RMA it this week. I was doing careful tests to provide a basis for comparison on the replacement board, which I hope to see in a couple of weeks.

 

[archae86]

can you please provide a link to where i can see the other reported NB temps on the DS3 and S3? i know someone who mounted a 40mm fan on the NB and he now got 35c idle temps

This afternoon I flashed my 965P-DS3 to rev 10 firmware. As previously reported, this meant that on first boot after the flash the PC health screen actually showed ICH and MCH temperatures (even though the board was already at rev 10 before the overflash).

My case has pretty good (not gamer good, but for the rest of us) ventilation, with a 120mm Yate Loon rear fan extracting air at 1380 rpm and two Panasonic 92mm front fans injecting air at 1541 rpm. With very little CPU activity during the BIOS flash, the CPU was not adding much heat to the box, though it had previously run for hours. I think a case with less good ventilation, running in a warmer room, sharing the case with a CPU at full utilization, could easily put this reported NB temperature into the 60s or even higher.

Anyway, the display shows 59C for the MCH before turning the fan on,

and it dropped over about a 5 minute period to 46C when I turned the fan on.

My current fan mount is just a rubber band.

I intend to use fan screws wedged into the heat sink fins for a more durable mount once I have a keeper motherboard.

 

[BlackThyra]

archae86,

im using DS3 rev.1 (C2 Chip) on F10 too but i dont see such thing as yours..

how could u view the detailed temps info showing ICH, MCH SYSFAN, PWR FAN and all?

i want to minitor the NB temp too.. but cant seem to find it where..

 

[archae86]

archae86,

im using DS3 rev.1 (C2 Chip) on F10 too but i dont see such thing as yours..

how could u view the detailed temps info showing ICH, MCH SYSFAN, PWR FAN and all?

i want to minitor the NB temp too.. but cant seem to find it where..

The firmware behavior seems to be that after first boot, the MCH and ICH temperatures are no longer shown.

So, if you want to see these, your most likely method is to re-flash F10 firmware, then be careful to not allow the very first boot after the firmware flash to proceed beyond the Setup (BIOS) stage. If you check the PC Health status page, I think you'll find the entries as I've shown--but they'll be gone the next time you restart or boot, so be ready to perform any experiments right then.

 

[BlackThyra]

archae86,

im using DS3 rev.1 (C2 Chip) on F10 too but i dont see such thing as yours..

how could u view the detailed temps info showing ICH, MCH SYSFAN, PWR FAN and all?

i want to minitor the NB temp too.. but cant seem to find it where..

The firmware behavior seems to be that after first boot, the MCH and ICH temperatures are no longer shown.

So, if you want to see these, your most likely method is to re-flash F10 firmware, then be careful to not allow the very first boot after the firmware flash to proceed beyond the Setup (BIOS) stage. If you check the PC Health status page, I think you'll find the entries as I've shown--but they'll be gone the next time you restart or boot, so be ready to perform any experiments right then.
unfortunately, i've done exacty what u said but its still the same though... no MCH voltage, etc shown..

on the 1st boot (Flashed using @BIOS), i pressed del immediately before the POST gets past it then i go thru the PC Heath and shown nothing but the ordinary... :roll: :roll:

 

[archae86]

on the 1st boot (Flashed using @BIOS), i pressed del immediately before the POST gets past it then i go thru the PC Heath and shown nothing but the ordinary...

I flashed from a floppy file using the utility accessible directly from the BIOS screens--I think Gigabyte calls that Q-flash? Not @BIOS. Possibly that makes a difference.

Also it did the reboot itself as part of the end of the flashing. The next "real" reboot was already too late.

 

[zjohnr]

unfortunately, i've done exacty what u said but its still the same though... no MCH voltage, etc shown...

Both archae86 and I are working with rev 3.3 of the Gigabyte 965P-DS3. If I'm reading your signature correctly, you have rev 1.0. Possibly the sensors for the MCH (northbridge) and ICH (southbridge) temps are not present on the rev 1.0 boards. Or it could be some other version related difference ...

-john

 

[BlackThyra]

unfortunately, i've done exacty what u said but its still the same though... no MCH voltage, etc shown...

Both archae86 and I are working with rev 3.3 of the Gigabyte 965P-DS3. If I'm reading your signature correctly, you have rev 1.0. Possibly the sensors for the MCH (northbridge) and ICH (southbridge) temps are not present on the rev 1.0 boards. Or it could be some other version related difference ...

-john
well, i also have dont it thru the QFlash thing and i got the same result.

looks like its a yes. there aint no MCH sensor in rev 1.

i've put a 50mm fan on the NB and it spins 5000 rounds per min. that would keep it cool alright.

 

[03flat4]

I have recently gotten a rev 3.3 DS3 board as well, and I found out myself that my Northrbridge was too hot after touching it accidentally shortly after getting some overclocking done and pulling my hand away after feeling the heat from the heatsink! I think because I am water cooled I lack some of the air flow that you'd have from having a HSF on the CPU. Anyhow, for now, I have a spare 120mm fan sitting on my video card pointing right at the northbridge...I might get a 3200 rpm ball bearing fan from frys and rubbber band it to the heat sink like you did...using fan screws to mount was mentioned here..does that work well? wedging them into the Heat sink?

 

[Dave_McMahon]

When overclocking the northbridge gets hotter with Auto voltage settings, so use sensible manual volts (is +4 too much?)

I removed the NB heatsink and after removing the putty (i think they use this so it dont get disturbed by shipping chalenges <only reason I can think of!) and applied some Artic ilver 5

I Use a Antec Spot cool (wonderful thing) and point it (from quite a distance) to both the north and south bridges.

I was doing CPU overclocks and not mem overclocks (DDR-2 667 with a 800MHz FSB CPU (E4300) do the NB is pronbaly still gonna get real hot for you.

Look at pic

 

[zjohnr]

When overclocking the northbridge gets hotter with Auto voltage settings, so use sensible manual volts (is +4 too much?)

Why does everyone seem to automatically equate overclocking with jacking up voltages? If you have an accomodating CPU (like an E4300 ) then for a mild overclock you probably don't have to raise the voltage at all. I've got my FSB set to 266MHz which is up 66 from the stock 200MHz for my E4300. All my voltages are set to "manual" and "normal" in the BIOS.

Granted, most people who OC want to push it further. What I'm suggesting is a more conservative approach and only raise the voltage when testing indicates you need to do this. (Why do I believe in a cautious approach? Well, here's a link to a cautionary tale ... Motherboard northbridge reaches 120c (!) and dies)

I removed the NB heatsink and after removing the putty (i think they use this so it dont get disturbed by shipping challenges <only reason I can think of!) and applied some Artic Silver 5

How did the process of removing and reattaching the NB heatsink go for you? I've heard that it can be a lot of work removing the NB heatsink.

-john, the ostensibly clueless redundant legacy-in-transition dinosaur

 

[Dave_McMahon]

When overclocking the northbridge gets hotter with Auto voltage settings, so use sensible manual volts (is +4 too much?)

Why does everyone seem to automatically equate overclocking with jacking up voltages? If you have an accomodating CPU (like an E4300 ) then for a mild overclock you probably don't have to raise the voltage at all. I've got my FSB set to 266MHz which is up 66 from the stock 200MHz for my E4300. All my voltages are set to "manual" and "normal" in the BIOS.

Granted, most people who OC want to push it further. What I'm suggesting is a more conservative approach and only raise the voltage when testing indicates you need to do this.

Snap! My board went upto 320FSB before I had to push the PCI-e (stock volts) beyond what the SATA controller would put up with, hope that new bios or maybe volts (in the right place) would help.

Post #1 mentions a +4 volt increase! Sounds bad to me!

The Northbridge is tricky but not impossible to remove, it is appently easier to do it when the board is new as the plastic is well newer! You kinda have to push the pin and use your fingernails to puch the tabs in then push it thoug the board (Just connect yourself to a 30' earth rod to avoid static-frying the NB!!!)

Am gonna get a small nut and bolt to provide a better connection (Heat sink to board).

 

[03flat4]

When overclocking the northbridge gets hotter with Auto voltage settings, so use sensible manual volts (is +4 too much?)

Why does everyone seem to automatically equate overclocking with jacking up voltages? If you have an accomodating CPU (like an E4300 ) then for a mild overclock you probably don't have to raise the voltage at all. I've got my FSB set to 266MHz which is up 66 from the stock 200MHz for my E4300. All my voltages are set to "manual" and "normal" in the BIOS.


I agree..just raise it as needed to be stable. I have my E4300@3.2GHz(PC800 gskill HZ RAM), and I put them all at +3..but then just worked my way down the ladder trying to keep stability..After a week or so of using TAT/Orthos with various voltages, I am now at +.1MCH +.2 FSB +.2 DDR2. I think my PC takes a dump at +.1FSB so that is probably staying there. I am working my CPU's voltage down currently, and it is at 1.375V as we speak and going through TAT testing..see how low that goes..maybe try Normal MCH..if it works great..if not I'll keep it at +.1. The Heatsink stays cool with a fan on it...maybe it'll even stay cool without a little fan if the PC will run well at normal nortbridge voltage, but I am not keeping my hopes up for the nortbridge working at stock voltage...

so my goal is

CPU : as close to OEM voltage as possible
MCH : Normal
FSB : +.1V
DDR2 : +.2 or .1V

should have this settled in a week or 2

 

[Dave_McMahon]

Am I alone in needing to raise the PCI-e frequency in order to overclock beyond 270FSB? at a 320FSB I needed a 120MHz PCI-e which was too much for the soutbridge as it stopped recognising my HDD.

 

[zjohnr]

Am I alone in needing to raise the PCI-e frequency in order to overclock beyond 270FSB?

My only experience with PCIe freqs on my Gigabyte rev 3.3 DS3 was that I found I needed to lock the PCIe in at 100MHz (or lower, I guess) if I raise the FSB freq. If I leave PCIe set to "Auto" then my system hangs while just booting into the BIOS.

How did you determine that you need to set PCIe at a higher (than stock 100MHz) freq to overclock past 270FSB?

-john