Why is my Northbridge hotter than other components in my system build?

[soarwitheagles]

Hi everyone!

I was just curious as to why the Northbridge chip is the hottest part of my system.  I was also wondering if this is normal and if I can do something to lower the temps.

The temps on the Scythe contoller are from left to right:

CPU=24c
Northbridge=30c
Southbridge=24c
RAM=22c

Thanks,

Soar

[Dark Mantis]

Hi Soar,

Well all the temperatures look within their expected tolerances to me. I certainly wouldn't be concerned by any of them. The Northbridge can depend on the components that you have installed.

[absic]

Hi Soar,

an interesting question and one that gets asked quite a bit.

If you check the Block Diagram in your User's Manual you can see that the Northbridge is responsible for handling communication between several main components of the PC. These include the CPU, RAM, Graphics and some of the PCIe Bus lanes and on some motherboards extra SATA ports.

The more work these components do the hotter the Northbridge will be. For example, running two graphic cards in SLI or Crossfire will increase the throughput on the Northbridge and the temperature will rise accordingly. I recently had a crossfire configuration on my system and saw the Northbridge temp drop by around 15C by removing one of the cards. Overclocking the CPU, having a higher speed CPU or running faster RAM will also produce more heat from the Northbridge. Again, on my AMD system running a low end Sempron will give me about 5-10C drop in Northbridge temps over the 1090T running flat out.

Play a game such as Crysis or watch a video and keep an eye on the Northbridge temps whilst doing so and you will see it rise. This is due to the demands of the video information being passed through the system and, in particular the Northbridge.

Hope this helps your understanding of this particular part of the PC a little better.

[soarwitheagles]

Hi Soar,

an interesting question and one that gets asked quite a bit.

If you check the Block Diagram in your User's Manual you can see that the Northbridge is responsible for handling communication between several main components of the PC. These include the CPU, RAM, Graphics and some of the PCIe Bus lanes and on some motherboards extra SATA ports.

The more work these components do the hotter the Northbridge will be. For example, running two graphic cards in SLI or Crossfire will increase the throughput on the Northbridge and the temperature will rise accordingly. I recently had a crossfire configuration on my system and saw the Northbridge temp drop by around 15C by removing one of the cards. Overclocking the CPU, having a higher speed CPU or running faster RAM will also produce more heat from the Northbridge. Again, on my AMD system running a low end Sempron will give me about 5-10C drop in Northbridge temps over the 1090T running flat out.

Play a game such as Crysis or watch a video and keep an eye on the Northbridge temps whilst doing so and you will see it rise. This is due to the demands of the video information being passed through the system and, in particular the Northbridge.

Hope this helps your understanding of this particular part of the PC a little better.

Absic,

You did it again!  My goodness, what a clear explanation you give.  To be 100% honest with you, I had no clue whatsoever what exactly the Northbridge does or why it is even on the motherboard.  Thanks to you, now I realize some of its functions as well as why it can become a little hotter than other components.

Absic, I will soon need to purchase a new hat because I have worn it out tipping it so many times to you!

Well, while you are here, can you give any insights into whether or not the GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard is very effective at unlocking a 4th core on the AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition Heka 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor?

I recently found a great deal on this AMD triple core processor and I was curious if  the GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard is able to accomplish such a feat.

I also recently found a great $50 deal on a new BIOSTAR A870U3 [I know....shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...we don't mention that dirty name here]....but, the reviews on this motherboard state it is an excellent choice to use for unlocking 4th cores....

I know nothing whatsoever about this unlocking business, but for the price, I thought I would take the risk.

Any ideas how to proceed in this matter?

Soar

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi Soar
Arctic Cooling ARCTIC mx-3 or Mx-4 or OCZ Freeze Extreme  thermal compound are good for cpu, North Bridge, SouthBridge...

Gloup_Gloup

[soarwitheagles]

Hi Soar
Arctic Cooling ARCTIC mx-3 or Mx-4 or OCZ Freeze Extreme  thermal compound are good for cpu, North Bridge, SouthBridge...

Gloup_Gloup

Gloup_Gloup,

Thanks for the post.  Do you think I could reduce the temps on the Northbridge chip if I redo the thermal paste [TIM]?

Soar

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi again,  

If I suppose the paste is not properly extended.
Or if paste is not good for disipate a heat.

Why not, thoroughly clean and start the application of paste.

Maybe you have a possibility to add a fan or other model of HeatSink on NorthBridge....
Just check, before change a paste or HeatSink, how actual heatsink is attached on motherboard....
If you have a possibility to display a picture about back of nothbridge (other side of motherboard)... if you want... I have best idea of situation...

Gloup_Gloup

[absic]

Hi Soar,

I honestly don't know how well the GA-990FXA-UD3 is when it comes to core unlocking but I'm always willing to be a Guinea Pig for you if you want to send me the motherboard and CPU! 

Joking aside, core unlocking is not guaranteed and my own attempts in this area have failed on most of the Gigabyte motherboards I have tried. The funny thing is the CPU would unlock fine on a couple of boards but not on others. So will it unlock on your new board? There is a possibility that it will but I have to say that from personal experience and anecdotal evidence I would go for the $50 dollar board (Not mentioning the name) as I to have found this make good at this particular feature.

When it comes to replacing the Thermal Paste on the Northbridge, looking at the temperatures you are reporting I would say that you really don't need to go down this path and there are plenty of users who would kill for your idle temps as they stand at the moment.

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi Absic,

Discussed in this Topic, the Intel-based motherboard.
See legend of picture : Various temps of the 2500k build.JPG in initial post.

But the comments that you made​​, are interesting in relation to comments of the second post of Soar ...

But I do not contest the fact that it is not necessary or required to change the thermal paste on the northbridge.
This is a suggestion only. I hope it's clearer that way.

Gloup_Gloup

[Aussie Allan]

Hi Soar
Arctic Cooling ARCTIC mx-3 or Mx-4 or OCZ Freeze Extreme  thermal compound are good for cpu, North Bridge, SouthBridge...

Gloup_Gloup

Gloup_Gloup,

Thanks for the post.  Do you think I could reduce the temps on the Northbridge chip if I redo the thermal paste [TIM]?

Soar

  Anything can be improved if done correctly ... As Absic stated quite correctly....the bridge chip is the chip that gets nailed the most next to the CPU

  The work it has to do will guarantee a high thermal loading ....Period!..... if you go down this path of replacing the TIM on the sink.... there's a newish compound making serious inroads that has proven ability, especially when loads are constant and high.......forgetting about polymer carriers, silver has a thermal index (Wmk [Watts-Meter-Kelvin])  of about 426.....copper around 406.......Synthetic Diamond is in the range of 2500 to 3000.

  This makes it about 7.5 times better then copper at conducting heat ... "Perennial then IC Diamond" were the first PC commercial thermal paste ....even Antec have there own on the market now........regardless of brand.....Nano sized Synthetic Diamond based thermal compounds are really worth a shot ....Higher the loading.....the more efficient they become....... Hell , I'm even mucking around with my own formulations

  Aussie Allan

[teknology9]

Hi All,

There is an item from Tom's Hardware that looks at a range of thermal compounds which you may find interesting.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/cooling-air-pressure-heatsink,review-32320-8.html.


Teknology9

[Aussie Allan]

                                  "Metal based liquids are to approached with Extreme caution"

  I'm doing some in-depth research here ATM .... looks brilliant on paper! ..... eats heat like you wouldn't believe.........also eats metal......

  Mercury, Gallium, Galistan and others are all very, very good on the thermal properties side......but all are conductive .... and all eat metal.

  Even the hailed  non toxic replacement to Mercury......Gallium will eat through a piece of tin foil in under an hour but is totally non toxic, a solid at room temp but melt at just over 29C .... Galistan a little better at -19C bit still reactive .... there problem lays in their ability to wet and then Alloy or permeate just about any metal surface they get near....... once in the atomic parent structure.....they turn the base metal to Oxides  .... copper oxide....Aluminium Oxide ...... Imagine eventually an Aluminium heat sink with the porosity and hardness of chalk  

  Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Funny you should mention that Allan as I have some Indigo Xtreme that I was given by the UK importers to review but I must admit that so far I have put off using it for just this concern. It is supposed thermally to be the Mutt's Nuts but I didn't want to disintegrate my processor's shield. Do you have any information on it in particular ?

[Aussie Allan]

  Funny you should mention that DM....I know you had some... ... give me a couple of hours and I take a look at it and it's package for you as to it's long term safety and stability ..... it all comes down to how there got around the little problems mentioned earlier.

  Aussie Allan

[Aussie Allan]

  Right back again with a little more intel....."Indigo Xtreme" .... This is ideally for the experienced PC builder .... To get the most from this product you will have to follow the installation procedure religiously,... as far as I can see it's a relatively safe product to use on your favourite PC....

 

    Not because of the eutectic metals used but the the way it's been encapsulated that has made these compounds available for the first time to the PC enthusiast......... as far as what phase change Metal (or liquid Amalgam/Alloy )........There are two elements that are liquid at the temperature technically designated 'room temperature' or 298 K (25° C) and a total of six elements that can be liquids at actual room temperatures and pressures.

Liquid at 25°C

    Bromine
    Mercury

Become Liquid 25°C-40°C

    Francium
    Cesium
    Gallium
    Rubidium ...... and then elements can be added that change the characteristics and thermal properties yet again ... Like the alloy Galinstan (68.5% Ga, 21.5% In, 10% Sn) has a melting/freezing point of about −19 °C (−2 °F) ... hailed as the replacement of Mercury..........

  I would love to know what the membrane is made of though.....could this be the first Graphene Product  on the PC market ?.....hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahah......not at £16 a pop.....

  And getting around the wetting of the inside of the film.........Gallium III Oxide maybe ? wonder How this stuff goes at -45C ..... might have to get my hands on some for the Monster X79 Project

  Aussie Allan