Motherboard Safety with 125W+ TDP processors

[JGB123]

IF YOU'RE BUILDING A PC and eyeing a liquid cooling setup or tower-style fan cooler then you need to read this:

About VRMs & Mosfets / Motherboard Safety with 125W+ TDP processors

"...OCN member mdocod has found that as of 3 March 2011, at least 71% of the VRM cooling failure incidents in the compiled list of horror stories have happened on a cooling that deviates from stock cooling. This value may be higher due to the amount of situations where cooling was not described.

"Stock" CPU cooling is designed to blow down onto the motherboard components, including VRMs. Aftermarket cooling, which includes: tower cooling, any sort of water cooling, is usually not. Remember, TDP rating on all boards is done with processors at stock and with stock cooling. That means your 4+1 phase or even 3+1 phase (on AMD platform) may actually be fine for a more power consuming (i.e. 125W TDP) processor with stock cooling & at stock speed, but deviate any one of these and you're on your own...

...At stock CPU speed and with the stock cooler (air blows past the heatsink fins and onto the board, so some air gets to the VRM area and other motherboard components for cooling) you are within that TDP limit. When you overclock or use any aftermarket CPU cooling that is not downward-blowing, you're then exceeding these limits, which may bring additional heat and instability into the VRMs (though this can be fixable with MOSFET heatsinks and fan). Overclocking is usually associated with many tower heatsinks that blow over the motherboard; this removal of VRM cooling may significantly increase chances of catastrophe. In a sample, 70% of all VRM failure incidents happened with aftermarket CPU cooling installed..."

About VRMs & Mosfets / Motherboard Safety with 125W+ TDP processors
http://www.overclock.net/t/943109/about-vrms-mosfets-motherboard-safety-with-125w-tdp-processors

[autotech]

Interesting but I don't believe it. I have use aftermarket Zalman tower coolers on every board I have owned. Every board I built for friend and kids.  Over 100 computers and all to this day are still running except for one that 2 ram slots went bad but it was 7 years old.

I have upgraded from a 890fx board to an intel but I ran it 4 years and never a problem and has been in a friends computer since then.

[JGB123]

VRM cooling solutions - CPUs, Motherboards, and Memory - Linus Tech Tips
http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/179426-vrm-cooling-solutions/

[dmdilks]

If you have good cooling go through your computer you shouldn't have a problem. Plus most people throw the cooler that comes with any CPU away.

Yes it does blow down on the heat sink and board. But that little air blowing down really isn't going to make that much of a difference.

Plus the heat sink that comes with any AMD chip only blows from top & bottom. They are not like the Intel that blows all around.

Again if you have good air flow coming in the front and going out the back you should be fine. I have been doing this for almost 30 yrs.

Plus I don't OC any thing. Why because if I can't do something without having to OC. I'll buy something better to do the job.

[autotech]

AMEN  dmdiks

[JGB123]

I'll stay with a CLP0602 (or a similar & better design) actively cooling the CPU and VRM (along with something like a 0761345-75018-9 for the south bridge) anyway.

The takeaway I got from reading the Motherboard Safety with 125W+ TDP processors info in full was that a lot of inexperienced users needlessly damage their gear by failing to first educate themselves re its limitations.

+2 on staying with stock speeds to promote reliability and service life.

[dmdilks]

info in full was that a lot of inexperienced users needlessly damage their gear by failing to first educate themselves re its limitations.

That is it in a nut shell. About 50% or more come here with problems all the time. Then will say it isn't my fault it is Gigabyte.

I tell people all the time that some people shouldn't own a computer, plus they shouldn't be working on it either.

[JGB123]

Yup.

When I got into computers (strictly as a hobbyist) it was by cannibalizing discarded machines off the street into an succession of ever-improving rigs for myself with the remaining components being assembled into PCs destined for local charities.

Curb side machines are now harder to come by but Guinea pig rigs can still be had real cheap from computer recycling and education outfits like:

Free Geek at DuckDuckGo
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Free+Geek

I would highly recommend that PC build novices put their wallets away and consider volunteering their time to learn the ins & outs of hardware by refurbishing machines under instruction for local community centers and schools etc--with the bonus being that in addition to a free PC hardware education, they get to keep the final machine they work on.

Where could one find the time to do this? That's easy. Unplug the TV.

[dmdilks]

I'm glad we have some body over here on the AMD side to help. I do have a AMD machine. Autotech & I try to help when we can.

But I'm more Intel & he looks like he is too. I hope you stick around. People come and go here and I enjoy helping people.

I might not be right all the time but I try. Autotech does a nice job here on the forums too.

GIGABYTE-GA-990FXA-UD5R, FX-9370 4.40GHz AM3+ 8-CORE, Mushkin 8gb DDR3 1600, EVGA GTX 480 OC, Ultra 750W PSU, COOLER MASTER HAF 922, Win 7 Pro 64bit - Play around with computer

[JGB123]

Hmm... An FX-9370, eh?

Since the GA-990FXA-UD3 (rev. 4.0) natively supports the FX-9370 and the FX-9590 do you know if its VRM etc was beefed up to support 220 Watt processors?

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket AM3+ - GA-990FXA-UD3 (rev. 4.0)
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4672#

If so that would make it the prime candidate for an AM3+ end-of-the-line & top-of-the-pile rig:

December 3rd 2013
"Vishera" End Of The Line for AMD FX CPUs: Roadmap | techPowerUp
http://www.techpowerup.com/195355/vishera-end-of-the-line-for-amd-fx-cpus-roadmap.html

[dmdilks]

I can't really tell you that. I had a GA-990FXA-UD5R Ver. 1.0 board. I want the FX-9370. I went out and got a Ver. 3.0 board that supported the CPU.

The only thing I don't like is how the Temps are all over the place on the CPU. They can go from 30c to 38c with out doing any thing & go back to 30c.

Everything is stock settings and I have a after market cooler on it too. One of these days I will get around to looking at it.

Like I said this my Play around with & back room computer. But I did go look at the GA-990FXA-UD3 and it does look like the heat sinks were beef up on the 4.0 board.

[JGB123]

The only thing I don't like is how the Temps are all over the place on the CPU. They can go from 30c to 38c with out doing any thing & go back to 30c.

Maybe it's time to give Windows 10 a whirl (It looks good and runs fast in VirtualBox):

Download Windows Technical Preview ISO - Microsoft Windows
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-iso

BTW. How is the CPU fan control on your FX-9370 rig?

One of the reasons I went back to the Asus M5A88-V EVO was that the GA-990XA-UD3 (rev. 1.x) kept frequently revving up the CPU fan (AMD Cool-n-Quiet engaged) every time there was a momentary CPU spike up to ~4GHz.

The next time I breadboard the 'UD3 I'm going to install amd64-microcode from the Ubuntu repositories to see if it makes a difference.

[dmdilks]

Maybe it's time to give Windows 10 a whirl (It looks good and runs fast in VirtualBox):

I have already have installed it on one my computers. The same day Microsoft email me about it. It doesn't look to bad either. I

[JGB123]

Perhaps Windows 10 Technical Preview offers better support for the FX-9370.

Hmm... As a long shot, I should try it on my GA-990XA-UD3 (rev. 1.x) / 1100T combo to find out if it improves the CPU fan control issue.

[dmdilks]

Went to the back room to do something on the AMD machine. When it went to boot up found out that the SSD had gone bad. The next SSD I'll put in will have two OS on it Win 7 & 10.