Cooking Bacon on my nForce2 South-Bridge (again).

Hi,

I just bought myself a new Digital Thermometer today, and the first thing I
could think of testing was the *South-Bridge* of the NF7-S system I just
sold.

Since the machine didn't have any hard-disks I just let it load up memtest
x86 and loop for a while.

15 minutes later. . . .the reading from LCD display was. . . .68°C lol!

I know we discussed this before (a few months ago), but isn't that too hot?
I did try to find some pre-made heatsinks in the *U.K* but no luck. Why
didn't anyone start selling heatsinks for the nForce2 boards?

The South-Bridge is situated very close to the AGP slot so I have no idea
how people are using Zalman heatsinks, surely they get in the way of the AGP
card, especially if it has a meaty heatsinks itself?

 

I have a different nF2 mobo, but I noticed the Southbridge very warm
(uncomfortably hot) to the touch also. I just stuck on a passive heatsink of
appropriate size (no more than a few mm larger) with some frag tape and now
just warm ;-) If the Mk.I fingertip tells you it's hot, cool it! Everyone
is always trying to improve the cooling of the Northbridge, video chipset,
etc... The Southbridge need a little help to ;-)

FRH

 

I'm sure if the chip needed to run cooler it would have a heatsink fitted.
Having said that I did try a memory heatsink on my NF7 SB...it did keep it
cooler but this did not result in improvement in any element of the systems
performance.

 

Hi,
well I did notice that the some DFI nForce2 boards have a heatsink installed
on the South-Bridge. Something just tells me that leaving it with no help
is gonna reduce the life of the board. I mean its running hotter than my
CPU.

it's a small thing but it *itches* me from time to time. Between that and
the (soon to BGA heatsinked)graphics card I think the system temps are
forced higher.

There must be something I can buy online in the U.K that will do the job?

You notice that the Mosfets don't have a heatsink, people mod them (ABIT
OTES lol). I suppose they are more critical to a stbale system though.

 

On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 23:16:34 +0000 (UTC), "Wayne Youngman"

x2 different heatsink plus fan about a fiver
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?...&t=1623&l=3&AvdID=1&CatID=28&GrpID=11&cks=PRL

passive about 7 quid
http://www.aria.co.uk/ProductsList.asp?Category=%&Name=chipset&Code=&Submit=Search

active ' orb ' about twelve quid
passive about twenty quid
http://www.chillblast.com/customer/home.php?cat=72

and thirty quid for the bogs dollocks - Swiftech - MCX159-A
http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/home.php?cat=410

or ten qidid for the copper 'vantec '
http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=16537&cat=410

 

Many semiconductors are designed to run at temps as high as 125c....... but the
cooler they are kept , the better the slew rates, the better the slew rate, the better
the thermal efficiency, the better the thermal efficiency, the cooler they run....the
cooler they run, the longer they last .......
Cool huh?


Homie

--
Mainboards, Videocards & CPU pin repair.

http://motherboardrepair.com


Hi,

I just bought myself a new Digital Thermometer today, and the first thing I
could think of testing was the *South-Bridge* of the NF7-S system I just
sold.

Since the machine didn't have any hard-disks I just let it load up memtest
x86 and loop for a while.

15 minutes later. . . .the reading from LCD display was. . . .68°C lol!

I know we discussed this before (a few months ago), but isn't that too hot?
I did try to find some pre-made heatsinks in the *U.K* but no luck. Why
didn't anyone start selling heatsinks for the nForce2 boards?

The South-Bridge is situated very close to the AGP slot so I have no idea
how people are using Zalman heatsinks, surely they get in the way of the AGP
card, especially if it has a meaty heatsinks itself?

 

Hehe,
indeed. I was working from the angle off:

a) Making the Southbridge as long-living as possible
b) Stop this little oven from heating up my case (like my 9800, soon to be
sinked)

 

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?...&t=1623&l=3&AvdID=1&CatID=28&GrpID=11&cks=PRL



Hi,
that *Spire Chipsett cooler bundle JACSA1 Heatsink and fan for
Chipset*(£4.84) look about the best so far. The rest are for the
Northbridge no?. On the NF7-S the southbridge chip is pretty close to the
AGP slot, so using a *Large* heatsink would hamper the graphic card
installations.

Thanks for the urls, I don't know how I missed that little *spire* bundle. .
..

 

"> it's a small thing but it *itches* me from time to time. Between that
and

Indeed there is. They are out of stock at the moment, but this link
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Other_Coolers_57.html
takes you to Overclockers.co.uk and the Vantec Iceberq CCB-A1C, used to use
one of these on my old Epox Nforce2 board - used the Iceberq for the
Northbridge, and it comes with 2 small passive heatsinks one of which fits
perfectly on the Southbridge. Well worth the tenner or so plus VAT.

Hellraiser...........>

 

You do realise that. even with a heatsink, it will produce just as much heat
and it will still be released into your case?

 

I'm running two Soltek SL-75FRN2-L nForce2 Ultra400 boards and hadn't even
thought about SB temps until I read this. I held my finger on them and it
was uncomfortably hot. I had a couple of cheap "Coolermaster" NB 'sinks with
frag tape on them in my drawer, I'd just bought them for the 40mm fans to
fit to the passively cooled NB 'sink on these boards. I checked them out and
I could fit them, with a little overlap (not touching anything live). So
that's what I've done, I don't know if it'll make any difference to the
longevity of my boards but they weren't doing any good in the drawer.

BTW, they didn't make very good contact. The SB seems to be *very* concave.
However the 'sinks get warm so I'm hoping they're helping and not just
trapping a pocket of hot air 'tween the sink and the chip. One of them has
the advantage of being right in the airflow from the AGP card (different
cards in the machines) so doesn't get as warm as the other.

 

As well as the above, the Vantec Iceberq CCB-A1C (also mentioned)and
CoolerMaster CRC-U01 RAM chip coolers (used on the SB) have had decent
reviews.

The Thermaltake Thinwings also interest me, (see
http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/product.php?view=2819&PHPSESSID=6c57c73432893e214
e61a01975eded34
but I can't find any reviews. Anyone used them?

Andy

 

For Bipolar Junction transistors you could throw off the q-point if you cooled
it too much, depending on the biasing circuit used. This could seriously screw
up an op-amp circuit's output. Furthermore, for the NPN silicon 2n4877 BJT,
the datasheet doesn't mention anything about slew rates changing w/temperature.
It can also run at a Tj(pk) of 200 degrees C.

-Bill (remove "botizer" to reply via email)

 

Agreed... However, having adequate design margins to run within timing
spec at 125 degrees C is not the same as being specified for operation
at 125 degrees C. Consumer silicon is normally spec'd for continuous
operation at a maximum 70 degrees C case temperature, unless
< explicitly stated otherwise > . For example, the latest P4 Northwood
processors are spec'd by Intel for 70 degrees C and the P4 EE at 64
degrees C, (both <core> temperatures) for 'reliable' operation.

[ Above these temperatures, built-in hardware thermal-protection will
arbitrarily cut-in at an unspecified (by Intel) core temperature to
lower the internal clock rate to preserve silicon integrity. ]

Beware of case temperatures in excess of 80 degrees C on high-density
devices on the latest silicon processes. Thermal stresses on the
silicon vias and thin-dielectrics. Also, the device density magnifies
the failure incidence. It just takes one via or one transistor in the
100million or so in a CPU or GPU to generate a useless lump of
silicon.

Devices rated for continuous 125 degrees C operation are low-density
very conservatively spec'd and normally radiation-hardened too. I
doubt if Spirit or Opportunity incorporate any large devices on 0.15u
(or smaller) processes......

John Lewis