AMD 900 series HOT northbridge owners club

[Hippie Tech]

Hi and good day all.

Here's hoping that someone out there knows of a quick/easy solution to this problem that has plagued the AMD Gigabyte 9xx mobos.

My experience with the anonymous Gigabyte tech support rep was most disappointing to say the least. Comments like " the board has been validated.." and " There were thousands of these boards sold and no issue were reported.", did absolutely nothing to ease my concerns. The response I got from Runn3r was just as laughable.

Either the bios is overvolting the NB and/or the tiny heatsink is inadequete and/or these mobos have faulty wiring/construction that is causing this extreme heat.

As a last resort, I'll be forced to void my warranty   and use thermal adhesive to hold the Zalman NB-F47 chipset cooler in place.

Thanks in advance.

pEACe

HT

[MarkJohnson]

How hot is it?  Does putting a fan on it help?  They are designed to run with one.  Putting an aftermarket cooler usually takes away the air it gets from the stock CPU cooler.

Who are these thousands with overheating issues?  I have no issues with my setup.  What circumstances cause you overheating?  we'll need a whole lot more info other than it's overheating to track down why it's overheating.

I see no response from Runn3r?

Why would you want to glue on a heatsink?  Glue has worse cooling properties.

If you're going to put on a new NB heatsink, buy an all copper one with a fan and a heatpipe version would be best.  ThermalRight makes nice ones that allow you to attach a fan.

Anymore, I find it best to buy the high end boards as they have higher quality chips and very good cooling solutions on the board already.  It can save hassles as the hundred dollars on heatsink on the board is worth the extra cost of the motherboard, let alone the better quality chips to keep from having overheating issues in the first place.

[Hippie Tech]

Hi Mark

At idle, the NB heatsink is very hot to the touch with the cpu at stock 960T settings. When gaming, the backplate on my gpu gets very warm aswell.

Using a fan to cool it, will only mask the problem. And what you said about aftermarket cpu coolers has me lol'ing. xD

I've run this cpu and my previous cooler, Zalman 9900NT, on 5 other mobos. (Asus 790gx, 970 evo, 990fx, MSI 890fx, 970). All of their respective NB heatsinks felt cool or barely warm. The NB on this 'high end' 990fxa-ud3 rev 1.0, that I tested with a PII 965be, was searing hot, btw.

Is my post that hard to understand ? I never said thousands were overheating. Plz re-read.

Runn3r's comment was from this PM. How does someone become an admin when they dole out noob advice like this !

"Hi

There is no technical problem if northbridge is just hot unless you experience any problem with your PC.
Don't worry about it, have a look at such comparison - if someone owns a car then noone checks the temperature of the engine itself, if there is no alarm sign that water in cooling system is too hot.

Please calm down and thanks for understanding

runn3R / GIGABYTE Forum Admin"

Thermal adhesive is a mixture of thermal paste and glue. It will be my last resort unless I can figure something else out. I'm thinking that an elastic or hairband might be enough to hold the NB-F47 in place... hmm..

[Vezina]

Hippie Tech ,you are over reacting mate.

Had many boards with 7xx chipsets (2 with 790FX ,one with 770 and one with 790X) ,owning a 890GX based board and a 970 based board as well.They were all hot or felt to hot.
As long as there is no stability issue ,everything is ok.

Enhance the air flow in your case and move on ,the board will be absolite before the north-bridge will burn or whatever.

If you just want it cooler just replace the cooler and the thermal paste.

Maybe your chipset is a rebadged 890 GX with the GPU running on empty inside it.If it is the case then most probable the silicon itself is made to stand heat as a GPU does.
My 890 GX based board is perfectly stable and it s really super hot.

You can simply sell the board and get another one.

[MarkJohnson]

Hi Mark

At idle, the NB heatsink is very hot to the touch with the cpu at stock 960T settings. When gaming, the backplate on my gpu gets very warm aswell.

you do have a thermometer to put on it?  Maybe a IR temp gun?

Using a fan to cool it, will only mask the problem. And what you said about aftermarket cpu coolers has me lol'ing. xD

You don't sound like you were around when those verticle heatsinks first came out.  I remember when I bought my first one, Zalman 9500 92mm.  It was awesome.  kept the cpu nice and cool.  Unfortunately it took the airflow from my passive NB and caused it to overheat when I was overclocking to get my 800MHz to run at full speed.  It worked for a couple weeks and then began BSODing.  I thought it was the ram so I went to swap it out when my hand slipped and it touched the NB heatsink and darn near burned me.  I googled it and everyone was having the same issue.  I got copper heartsink with a little 40mm fan and things were cooler.  although I had to leave my ram at 667MHz and the NB overvolted for it to work, and it even crashed once in a great while.

anyway, whenever I use the verticle heatsink or waterblocks, I ALWAYS put a fan on my NB.  Just gun shy I guess.

I've run this cpu and my previous cooler, Zalman 9900NT, on 5 other mobos. (Asus 790gx, 970 evo, 990fx, MSI 890fx, 970). All of their respective NB heatsinks felt cool or barely warm. The NB on this 'high end' 990fxa-ud3 rev 1.0, that I tested with a PII 965be, was searing hot, btw.

If searing hot I'd assume you have major issues.  I'd just return it.

Is my post that hard to understand ? I never said thousands were overheating. Plz re-read.

I just assumed a plague was about a thousand plus. 

Runn3r's comment was from this PM. How does someone become an admin when they dole out noob advice like this !

"Hi

There is no technical problem if northbridge is just hot unless you experience any problem with your PC.
Don't worry about it, have a look at such comparison - if someone owns a car then noone checks the temperature of the engine itself, if there is no alarm sign that water in cooling system is too hot.

Please calm down and thanks for understanding

runn3R / GIGABYTE Forum Admin"

sounds like Runn3r was having a bad day.

Thermal adhesive is a mixture of thermal paste and glue. It will be my last resort unless I can figure something else out. I'm thinking that an elastic or hairband might be enough to hold the NB-F47 in place... hmm..

At most I'd try remounting the original with good paste and a fan.  No sense destroying it with glue and risk damaging the NB when you remove it.  Besides, that heatsink looks weaker than the stock unit.

If stock isn't working with new tim I'd return it fast before you have to RMA it.  If you're not happy now, you never will.  Just move on before it's too late and you get stuck like I always seem to.

Luck
-=Mark=-

[Hippie Tech]

Hey guys

I'm convinced that the stock heatsink is to blame. There is almost nothing to it and its design is obviously flawed. It needs 10-20g more mass and the bulk of it should be centered with the NB chip. EVERY other mobo I've seen does NOT run this hot.

And enough with the cpu coolers, Mark.  lol ! The ga990fxa-ud3 belongs to a client and he was using the stock AMD HSF.

Hippie Tech ,you are over reacting mate.

Had many boards with 7xx chipsets (2 with 790FX ,one with 770 and one with 790X) ,owning a 890GX based board and a 970 based board as well.They were all hot or felt to hot.
As long as there is no stability issue ,everything is ok.

Enhance the air flow in your case and move on ,the board will be absolite before the north-bridge will burn or whatever.

If you just want it cooler just replace the cooler and the thermal paste.

Maybe your chipset is a rebadged 890 GX with the GPU running on empty inside it.If it is the case then most probable the silicon itself is made to stand heat as a GPU does.
My 890 GX based board is perfectly stable and it s really super hot.

You can simply sell the board and get another one.

Were they all Gigabyte mobos ?

What !? "Gpu running on empty inside it." ?? ROFL 'then slaps forehead' :p One more noob/ bury you head in the sand comment like that and I'll delete my acct, deal with it on my own and just stay clear away from Gigabyte.

I'm about to see if zip ties or an elastic band will be enough to hold the Zalman cooler in place.

[MarkJohnson]

Hey guys

I'm convinced that the stock heatsink is to blame. There is almost nothing to it and its design is obviously flawed. It needs 10-20g more mass and the bulk of it should be centered with the NB chip. EVERY other mobo I've seen does NOT run this hot.

Convinced?  and you laugh at my comments.  Try putting a fan on it.  it will be the same as putting on a,so called, better heatsink.  If it doesn't work with a fan send it back!  If the fan works, swap heatsink of you wish and put on fans.  I would personally rma for a better NB chip.

And enough with the cpu coolers, Mark.  lol ! The ga990fxa-ud3 belongs to a client and he was using the stock AMD HSF.

Were they all Gigabyte mobos ?

Mine was DFI with a huge NB heatsink.  It barely cleared the Zalman.  Actually it touched it barely.  But all MB brands had the issue.  As I said this was a huge problem.  An actual plague. lol  Intel was trying to keep up with AMD at the time and were pushing their processors to the limits at stock settings.  So a little thing like missing airflow and small oc would fry NB.  Back then it was the NB holding things back.  Not the CPU so much.  You needed a cherry picked NB which you can't do, so you had to buy the top end boards to get the best possible NB.   You couldn't just buy a NB chip and put one on yourself.

What !? "Gpu running on empty inside it." ?? ROFL 'then slaps forehead' :p One more noob/ bury you head in the sand comment like that and I'll delete my acct, deal with it on my own and just stay clear away from Gigabyte.

ow, talk about the kettle calling the post black!  It is much cheaper to one NB with the GPU on it already and just not enable it when not needed.   It makes a whole lot of sense to me.

I'm about to see if zip ties or an elastic band will be enough to hold the Zalman cooler in place.

Wow! really?  I have some bubble gum if you need it.  lol

Just put a fan on it to see if there is a difference.  If it is bad as you claim, just return it.  It's obvious not just a heatsink issue if it gets that hot.  I mean the others you stated were luke warm.  If heatsink was a little too small then it wouldn't make that huge of a difference.

Just test other options before you go broke buying things you don't need or worse, miss your return date.

What were your temp reading?  Hopefully you have a method of testing other than your finger.  You may burn off your fingerprints before you figure this out.

[Vezina]

Were they all Gigabyte mobos ?

No!

What !? "Gpu running on empty inside it." ?? ROFL 'then slaps forehead' :p One more noob/ bury you head in the sand comment like that and I'll delete my acct, deal with it on my own and just stay clear away from Gigabyte.

Yes boy,your 990X  is a re-badged 8xx chip ,all 9xx chipsets are rebadged 8xx ,most probable in your case it s a 890GX.

Your insults will lead this useless thread into oblivion.

I'm about to see if zip ties or an elastic band will be enough to hold the Zalman cooler in place.

It s your useless choice.
Have fun

[toostrike]

Hi Mark

At idle, the NB heatsink is very hot to the touch with the cpu at stock 960T settings. When gaming, the backplate on my gpu gets very warm aswell.

Using a fan to cool it, will only mask the problem. And what you said about aftermarket cpu coolers has me lol'ing. xD

I've run this cpu and my previous cooler, Zalman 9900NT, on 5 other mobos. (Asus 790gx, 970 evo, 990fx, MSI 890fx, 970). All of their respective NB heatsinks felt cool or barely warm. The NB on this 'high end' 990fxa-ud3 rev 1.0, that I tested with a PII 965be, was searing hot, btw.

Nice Post.First,that was a lame comment,"There is no technical problem if northbridge is just hot unless you experience any problem with your PC." The boards you listed are a good example of how proper cooling for the NB should be implemented.Gigabyte has no excuse for this poor cooling solution,on any motherboard.Then again,I never had a gigabyte board go bad,so I cant complain too much.I own (2) GA-970A-UD3 boards,which are your basic budget gaming board.The north bridge is fastened to the board with plastic push pins.. The board in question," 990fxa-ud3 rev 1.0" is a step up from my board.I used my first 970 for 7 months with no issues.Now it will serve as a back-up,just in case this board takes a dive.I just put in a new 970 & a 965be,and put it through the paces.OC @ 3.9G with 1.376 Vcore. It idles @ 30C,and I cant push it past 39C on full load,for 40 minutes.Sweet Using a Hyper 212 plus and Noctua NT-H1 paste.My theory is the NB will burn up,in 1 1/2 -2 years of heavy use.Having a case with good airflow,maybe longer.Well, @ 100 dollars for a 970,its not a bad trade off..I have a Antec DF85.It has 7 stock fans,and I added 2 more for the cpu cooler,and the case stays cool.I would like to know what gigabyte considers a safe NB temp,considering the cooling method it uses on the NB.Go figure.

If you look at the snapshot,on the left side,a quarter of the way down,you'll see temperature 3,which is @ 50C.That is the north bridge temp.I was compressing some huge files for 40 minutes pushing all 4 cores.This seems to be the max temp for the NB on my 970.When running basic pc tasks NB stays @ 40C - 42C.It's also summer,so 45C is common depending on the ambient temp.I have my rig in the basement.Its always cool.

http://postimage.org/image/x3tuo3tbj/              Load

http://postimage.org/image/fmt8i0du1/             Idle

[arkon]

Try putting the PC in standby (S3) then wake it up then check the NB temps with HWMonitor or OpenHardwareMonitor notice anything weird.?

Specs:

AMD Phenom II 955 BE
Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5
CoolerMaster Hyper TX3
Silverstone Strider 600w
4GB Mushkin Blackline

[Dark Mantis]

In general I don't like the methods of fixing or necessarilly design of some of the coolers for the northbridge, and that isn't just on Gigabyte boards. I feel the northbridge is treated like a second class citizen and not given much thought or expenditure to cool. It is very easy to custom fix some much better solution but I do agree that it shouldn't be necessary.

[Hippie Tech]

Hi all IM BACK ! lol

First off, I'd like to thank Leo, @Gigabyte tech support, for restoring my faith and trust in Gigabyte. He has informed R&D about my findings and concerns, and has mailed me some thermal pads for the NB heatsink. They should arrive some this week. WOOT WOOT Leo !

Last week I decided to use some thermal pad material that was salvaged off some older gpus. On my first attempt, I placed 4 small globs near the corners of the NB pcb. Not only did this drastically reduce the NB heatsink's surface temps, it also made installing the heatsink much safer thanks to the added support. I also removed the plastic sheet that was glued to the base of the NB heatsink.



The second attempt worked a little better even though I did not refresh the (Artic Silver Ceramique) thermal paste. The heatsink is no longer searing hot.



Plan B... Modded NBridge8. Thats if I can find some nylon nuts, bolts and washers that will fit.





@Dark Mantis +1 

pEACe

HT

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Hippie Tech

Nice to see that you have officially joined us 

Sounds more like it ! I reckon that something was amiss though from what you said about the plastic sheet beneath the heatsink. I doesn't sound like it should have been there.

I also removed the plastic sheet that was glued to the base of the NB heatsink.

Anyway at least it is gone now and good riddance I reckon. I told you there were some good guys in the system, it's just getting past the others that is the hard part.  

[Hippie Tech]

Hi Hippie Tech

Nice to see that you have officially joined us 

Sounds more like it ! I reckon that something was amiss though from what you said about the plastic sheet beneath the heatsink. I doesn't sound like it should have been there.

I also removed the plastic sheet that was glued to the base of the NB heatsink.

Anyway at least it is gone now and good riddance I reckon. I told you there were some good guys in the system, it's just getting past the others that is the hard part.  

Thanks DM !

Just to be clear, the plastic had a square cut out near the middle, with a foam pad/square surrounding it and the NB chip.

Thermally conductive plastic ? lol

[Dark Mantis]

Thermally conductive plastic ? lol

Not in this lifetime!

If there was a window cut out of it centrally maybe the chip fitted through there.