Nforce 4 northbridge temps and OC`ing

[Str()ntium]

Hi all,

Just tweaking my new sys prior to transfer to a Mach 2 GT. Will have sig later . My mobo is a DFI Nforce 4 SLI-DR , I`m using an MSI 6800 GT solo at the moment.

What I`m concerned about is the position of the NB on this board. There is zero clearance between the card and the chipset fan .

2 questions :

1 What are people`s NB temps when seriously overclocking ? I`ll be using an SD 3700

2 Has anyone watercooled the NB on this board ? I know there are some blocks which have lateral rather than vertical fittings on them , this may work .

I cant see any other solutiion, as a passive cooler on the chipset simply wouldnt fit . One design flaw in an otherwise great board.

 

[jellybeard999]

only a koolance (iirc) block fits on the DFI, or custom made blocks

 

[nick25]

I didn't think temps mattered to much on nf4 with the memory controller on the cpu and all. You can get a couple of copper coolers that do fit however I'm not sure what the temp difference will be and whether its worth it. I just use some AS5 under mine.

 

[Master_G]

The temp of the chipset is more affected by the GPU(s) you are running and how much heat they are chucking over the heatsink.

All the waterblocks for it i have seen are way too restrictive for the gain in temps, best solution i have seen so far if your temps are getting excessive (over 60C usually) is to get a passive zalman northbridge sink and then bend the pinds so that the graphics card can fit in between them. That with decent airflow should give you no problems at all with temps.

G

 

[maverik-sg1]

I have found that the best way to stop the SOUTHBRIDGE (NF4 does not have a northbridge ) from getting too hot in single mode is this:

Set the jumpers in SLI mode and move the single card to the lower PCI-E slot.

This forces the PCI Express bus to run in 2x8 mode instead of 2x16mode and prevents the chipset from getting to warm (about 40degrees with 35 degrees case temp in my case) - There is no benefit to current cards running in 16x PCI-E mode and this easy change solves all your problems.

On the subject of heat, having watercooled GPU's is a great way of reducing the heat or using the Arctic cooling heat exhaust cooler to move the VGA hot air outside the case works well and is quiet too (cheap at only £18).

I have been looking at some report from Taipei computex and there are some coolers that have the fan offest from the chipset heatsink and thus provide better airflow on a low profile with greater surface area = cooler and quieter which = more stable overclock

 

[fatty]

Just water cool the cards and bang not heat thrown on the chipset well a lot less than using the stock cooling

 

[PHILIP1193]

just a little off point but non the less important!!!

i was reading the "pwmic" temp using mbm 5, now i couldn't work out where it was getting the temp reading for i always thought it was the psu temp!!!

So i shoved a zalman 80 mm fan in teh case and started searching for where the temp was read from e.g. place the fan over a heat sinks on mobo see if temps fell, now i have found and can concur that the pwn ic temp is the RAM TEMPS!!!! now before i had an 80mm fan over the ram my temps where around 55 idle now they are 41 -43 idle and go up to 46 ish load lol where as before 50 idle and 60ish load which is well too hot!!!

me = happy buddy as the 80mm fan mount match up with cathers g5 mounting holes lol and am using a nice stand off using anti vibration mounts later when i have nough chance to fit it all properly

Phil

 

[Gangster]

mine is WAY to hoot in this weather - 38oC! Normally is <31oC!

 

[imported_mrbios]

my nf4 temp is 45oC atm put as5 on it and still mid 40's its been as high as 52oC before

would love to watercool if i could but obviously this board is a bit restricting with what waterblocks you can use

 

[nick25]

But is the high temp actually causing you any problems?

 

[imported_mrbios]

But is the high temp actually causing you any problems?

no but lower is always better the higher temps could(i say could as i dont know for a fact) cripple overclocking abilitys of the board, i might just sit an 80mm fan blowing over it for peace of mind

 

[maverik-sg1]

Cooler is better of course.

As my SLI cards are watercooled I dont get so much heat in my case so this is not an issue for me.

In saying that the chipset (apart from the 30degree heat we just had) never goes above 42 degrees with everything fully overclocked.

A fan blowing toward it helps, I would recommend fitting the arctic rev5 cooler to your card so the VGA heat is removed from the case altogether.

Following my instructions in my previous post will also stop the chip getting unecessarily hot when only running one card.

I think there are sufficient answers here for you to start having a play and find out which works best for you within your own budget

Don't forget to post back your results so that we know what you tried and what worked best.

 

[Minstadave]

I cant see any other solutiion, as a passive cooler on the chipset simply wouldnt fit . One design flaw in an otherwise great board.

You sure?



My bodged Zalman Better temps than the stock cooler, under 40 degrees even today, overclocked with 1.6V Vchipset.

 

[cyclepath]

I'm gonna try this http://www.lunasio-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_47&products_id=267&osCsid=be2d70fb1bc8f129eaf89dc5ddd4605e not for overclocking especially, just to get rid of that damn fan noise