AMD 900 series HOT northbridge owners club

[kemical]

Hi,

I've used Gigabyte boards for years and recently replaced my ageing 790X with a 990FXA-UD3. First thing I did was to remove the Northbridge and replace the bubblegum type thermal paste with some non conductive MX-2.  You might also find one of these handy: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-007-AN&adword=google/pla/PUP_Components_Cooling_Heatsinks/Other_Coolers/HS-007-AN/&pup_ptid=41169927275&pup_kw=&pup_c=pla&gclid=CKiYy7vPuLICFeTLtAodzF4AFw . I use one in my system and fine tune it with Speedfan.

The best way to determine your actual northbridge temp is to enter your bios and look under PC health status for system temp. You can correlate this with something like speedfan which uses your SuperIO Chip=IT8720F to determine sensor temps and is an excellent application.
Just to add that my northbridge tops out around 38c although Gigabyte will tell you that they are good up to 90c (not that i would be happy in that situation.)

I hope this helps some..

[Hippie Tech]

Hi,

I've used Gigabyte boards for years and recently replaced my ageing 790X with a 990FXA-UD3. First thing I did was to remove the Northbridge and replace the bubblegum type thermal paste with some non conductive MX-2.  You might also find one of these handy: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-007-AN&adword=google/pla/PUP_Components_Cooling_Heatsinks/Other_Coolers/HS-007-AN/&pup_ptid=41169927275&pup_kw=&pup_c=pla&gclid=CKiYy7vPuLICFeTLtAodzF4AFw . I use one in my system and fine tune it with Speedfan.

The best way to determine your actual northbridge temp is to enter your bios and look under PC health status for system temp. You can correlate this with something like speedfan which uses your SuperIO Chip=IT8720F to determine sensor temps and is an excellent application.
Just to add that my northbridge tops out around 38c although Gigabyte will tell you that they are good up to 90c (not that i would be happy in that situation.)

I hope this helps some..

Hio Kemical.

Been there and done all of that. heh..

While the temp readings from the bios and various software do match, the supposed NB reading is not accurate. Other mobos I've tested show similar numbers yet the NB heatsinks were always cool or barely warm to the touch.

My rig has 11 fans. Do I really need another ? 
case - 4x 120mm + 1x 140mm
cpu - 3x 120mm
gpu - 2x 92mm
psu - 1x 135mm

I have tried placing a spare AMD cpu fan near the NB and on a seperate occasion I put a spare 140mm in the optical drive bay. I couldn't get the cpu fan close enough to make a difference. Adding the 140mm fan made the NB run hotter !

The 90C line they gave you is laugable if not insulting. Anything over 55C will significantly increase the temperature swings the mobo has to endure when booting up or shutting down. The board will eventually become damaged due to warping and/or solder reflow.

Once the room temp gets to be 25C or higher, the stock Gigabyte NB heatsink is simply incapable of handling the heat. Period.

pEACe   

[kemical]

The 90C line they gave you is laugable if not insulting. Anything over 55C will significantly increase the temperature swings the mobo has to endure when booting up or shutting down. The board will eventually become damaged due to warping and/or solder reflow.

Well regardless I'm only passing on what was written in the reply. I do want to take back some of what i wrote above as after spending a weekend researching the UD3 (I always do this with any new kit I purchase) I've found that much of what i wrote is incorrect.

I've found that the best info by far for the boards in question can be found here:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1023100/official-gigabyte-ga-990fxa-series-owners-thread-club

Just to save time on searching this bit of info I found really helpful:

Q: In CPUID HWMonitor, which temp is what?
A: TMPIN0 = system temp; TMPIN1 = CPU temp; TMPIN2 = NB temp

Hope this helps some..  


Just to add that after getting the above info I now realise my Northbridge is running around 40c idle and 50c under load. The system temp always stays at a cool 30ish but as long as the northbridge doesn't get any hotter than I'm ok with it. Does the above info help you revise your situation any?

[Hippie Tech]

The 90C line they gave you is laugable if not insulting. Anything over 55C will significantly increase the temperature swings the mobo has to endure when booting up or shutting down. The board will eventually become damaged due to warping and/or solder reflow.

Well regardless I'm only passing on what was written in the reply. I do want to take back some of what i wrote above as after spending a weekend researching the UD3 (I always do this with any new kit I purchase) I've found that much of what i wrote is incorrect.

I've found that the best info by far for the boards in question can be found here:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1023100/official-gigabyte-ga-990fxa-series-owners-thread-club

Just to save time on searching this bit of info I found really helpful:

Q: In CPUID HWMonitor, which temp is what?
A: TMPIN0 = system temp; TMPIN1 = CPU temp; TMPIN2 = NB temp

Hope this helps some..  


Just to add that after getting the above info I now realise my Northbridge is running around 40c idle and 50c under load. The system temp always stays at a cool 30ish but as long as the northbridge doesn't get any hotter than I'm ok with it. Does the above info help you revise your situation any?

I am familiar with the owner's clubs on that forum, and all they did was help to confirm that many others are also feeling the heat. lol

They are wrong about the NB temp as TMPIN2 is actually a ghost reading of the CPU. When CPU Unlock is enabled TMPIN2 shows 12C and does not budge, even when stressed. My screenshots should be self explanitory.

Speedfan reads TMPIN2 as Temp3






My problem will be solved as soon as I can find a couple of washers that will work with the push pins on my modded NB heatsink. I have bought 2 aftermarket chipset coolers and both have issues because the holes on the mobo are wider and spaced farther apart than norm. WTG Gigabyte ! :p

[kemical]

Hmm I think your correct in your assessment that the sensor reading is actually a ghost reading of the cpu temp +10 degrees. My reasons for saying this is because I was checking the temp trace found in speedfan and it matched the cpu's troughs and peaks exactly but as I said above, +10 degrees. My old 790X gigabyte board gave a similar weird reading at that sensor point although that said 80c or something like that and there was nothing on my system at 80 plus degrees.

I've also noticed that if i blast a fan on the northbridge and monitor the TMPIN2 temp,  the figure just won't budge but if I monitor what i originally thought was the northbridge temp, then some decrease in temperature is seen. So I guess I was in the right place originally anyway.. Thanks for helping to clear that up.

[Hippie Tech]

The cpu and ghost readings are not 10C+ apart. Look at the Prime95 screenie a little closer. Thats the core temp you're looking at. 

[kemical]

Dude I'm talking about my own data not yours.. Perhaps i should have included a screenie for clarity.

Edit:
This is why i said the above, my data is slightly different to yours as I'm using the 990FXA-UD3

[Hippie Tech]

Duh oops ! 

How does AMD Overdrive read the sensors on your board ?

They seem to be having problems with the 900 series. The previous two versions couldn't read my gpu ! haha

[kemical]

Hi,

I can see the GPU (5870) but other stuff like chipset is a little bit out and some sensors don't even register. Like you say I'm unsure if this is down to the chipset or Windows 8 Pro.
One thing I do love about this board though (amongst others) is the onboard sound. It's incredible! I've never heard anything so good especially for onboard stuff. In games I can hear a pin drop.. awesome stuff.

I'm getting a 8150 in a few weeks to replace my 965 and it will be interesting to see how this chipset reacts to the new cpu. One it was actually designed for...

[Hippie Tech]

All I want to say is.. woot woot ! 

Big thanks to Randy at cuttingedgecomputers.ca for supplying the free washers. 



The Logisys CC8 (aka NBridge8) is simply amazing and well worth the cash. The base of the HS barely gets warm and the normal heat build up, between the NB and gpu, is no more.

http://www.logisyscomputer.com/viewsku.asp?SKUID=CC8&DID=VGA

[kemical]

Looking good!

[Hippie Tech]

Heyo and ty Kem

Now its even better with my new HD 7870. xD  The VF3000N is on its 4th gpu ! haha  eg. GTX 285 > HD 5830 > HD 6870 > HD 7870

The performance and temps are blowing my mind ! Room temps were at least 22C when I was playing Trackmania the other day.

[Hippie Tech]

This is.. WHAT A WELL COOLED MOBO LOOKS LIKE !  



..gaming with a little 10-12C air blowing in the window...  

[Guy22]

Hi all,

Whilst I am confused which indicator represents the Northbridge temperature reading. I am using HWMonitor and Open Hardware Monitor and their temp readings are similar. I bought 990FXA-UD3 along with FX8150 a month ago. I am just starting using VMWare Workstation 9. As far as I can tell you, once I started running two VM sessions, browsing the web and watch movies. The system will shut down around 5 - 10 minutes later. I have contacted Gigabyte support, their response are, let's say not useful. At the time of this writing, I only have VM sessions opened, one of them is idle, and another one is installing software. The Open Hardware Monitor telling me the temperatures are
Temp #1 47C
Temp #2 64C
Temp #3 87C

The Temp #3 did reach to 101C in a number of occasions, many occasions hit 98C.

I am currently waiting for the NB heatsink purchased from ebay, as I am not able to find any computer shops selling them.

I will post again once I applied Artic Ceramique and the new heatsink.

[Hippie Tech]

Hio guy

Tbh I don't think anyone knows lol..

What I do know is that Gigabyte should have done a recall on these boards a long time ago. For whatever reason the northbridge on this thing wants to melt through the board, once the gpu becomes engaged.

Which chipset cooler did you buy ?