Chipset running hot

[XPiRX]

I have never encountered this problem before. I havent used my PC for about 2weeks, been real busy with work. Anyway, two weeks ago my chipset would always run 35C or so and 40-42C on load. Now its 43/44 IDLE. Its been the same temp in the house, A/C at 76F. I even cleaned out all the fans with compressed air. But its still running hot. I did have my Opteron 165 overclocked to about 2.48 ghz. I underclocked it to 2.0ghz now and the temperatures didnt budge, if anything they are hotter. My CPU also used to run at 22C idle and 30C load. Now its 30C idle and 40C load.

Im running an Opteron 165 on a DFI Lanparty UT4 Ultra-D board.

 

What could be causing this?

 

Edit - forgot that add. My system has seemed to be more unstable as well. its locked up twice, well once was when i overclocked it instead of underclocking it (wasnt paying attention). But like 10 minutes ago before posting this. I was installing a game, browsing on firefox and playing winamp. Then my music stopped. I could still check the game installation and then after i clicked something that locked up. Then I did something on firefox and then it locked up. I had to reboot.

 

This has never happened before. I dont know whats going on. Nothing has changed, except I blew out the case but that didnt affect any of the temperatures.

[Guest caffeinejunkie]

Whoa your computer is amazing lol at 22c it's below ambient! So thats very unlikely that it was actually running at those temps and the 30-40s seems much more reasonable. Is it possible that you've flashed the bios recently? Other then that I cant think of anything else that would cause it other then the ambients physically getting hotter.

[XPiRX]

Ya, more accuratly it would go between 22 and 26. Move around in the area during idle. But now its running 33/34 idle. Im more worried about the chipset. It idles at 44 now. 50 or so on load. Before it would be 35/40. No I have never flashed the bios.

 

Is it safe to run the chipset at 50C? The smartguardian that came with the motherboard posts 45C and up as red. Im bothered by it. And the fans are on full throttle 24/7 and it still idles at 44C. Whats the "Safe" range for the Chipset?

 

Edit: Oh and any idea about the strange lockup? I think there is something wrong, which is causing the lockups and hot temps.

 

Edit2: I just purchased an evercool chipset fan, dont u love impulse buying lol.

 

and now im thinking about buying a new case, I need a new one. Any recomendations? Im going to buy a few (silent hopefully) fans for the case as well.

[Guest caffeinejunkie]

50c load is perfectly safe. Even 60c although in my mind pushing it would still be fine. Actually one time after multiple instals the tabs on my VC-RE had lost their spring and while priming it popped off and I watched my chipset temps hit 75c before a pulled the plug and there was no damage. Actually I believe you would get a massive ammount of instability before the chipset would get hot enough to do damage.

 

ABout the lockup id let memtest run overnight with the 1-8 and see if anything turns up. If not then start priming. Oh and make sure to use Dual Prime (or the new dual sp2004 thingy).

 

For the case thats really personal preference. Myself I like a very clean looking case with a good ammount of room and decent modding potential so Im partial to Lian-Li.

[XPiRX]

Im running dual prime again for the past hour or so now. The CPU is at 40-42C. Chipset seems to have maxed at 48/49C. So I guess its ok then.

One thing though, in the Smartguardian it says PWN IC. What exactly is that? Because its hitting 52/53C. i never knew what that was.

It displays as "Motherboard" in everest and mbm. Is it just a motherboard sensor for inside the case? If it, it has to be off then cuz its cold in my case lol. Or is it something else?

[Mindflux]

those temps are fine, your original temps actually seemed unreasonably low.

PWMIC is the power management chip (or something like that) it supplies the power to the CPU (the chips w/ heatsinks to the right of your proc). if you're stressing your system out they'll get pretty hot. They're rated at 110C I believe so you're fine in the 50s - I'd only get worried if it was getting around 90C - then you can get some little stupid fan to blow over the sinks and that should take their temps down a lot....

 

If you haven't changed anything though and suddenly the temps are all different, that's concerning. Check the bios temps to make sure your software is accurate, if it's been reading 5-10C lower than the real temp you're running hot now. As for the instability I don't know, make sure all your drivers are working properly and make sure there isn't any hair or something stupid on your board maybe shorting something.

 

Also, what's cooling your processor? maybe your heatsinks dusty? My old athlon 2100 burned out because I didn't clean it for 3years and the heatsink was literally full of dust, it had about 10% air-flow left.

 

Also did you use the config file for MBM5? PWMIC should be labeled PWMIC...

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6798

[snapilica2003]

Yep those temps are very fine... i've changed my stock chipset cooler with a Iceberq CCB-C1A and in my stupidity i forgot to plug it in... and my chipset was runnig fine at 60C with no lockups. I was a bit worried but only after some 3 days did i check to see if the cooler was actualy spinning ... pluged it in... now i het 52C full load... (i forgot to mention that i keep it in 5V not 12V ... it's wa more quieter)... and i'm pleased with the temps

[tasr]

What are vcore and chipset volts set at?

 

Recheck you Smartguardian setup. How do the temps compare in the BIOS?

 

This is a very good thread by soundx98; Temps Too High? on keeping the Pulse-Width Modulation Integrated Circuit (PWMIC) and the Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET) cool.

 

 

 

A good chipset replacement one is the Evercool VC-RE. It’s quieter and a lot of people get a 5ºC - 10ºC drop in temp. Use AS5 when installing the new one.

 

If you decide to order a new one do DFI-Street a favor and use the link in Happy Games signature for the VC-RE chipset cooler. DFI-Street gets a credit and that helps fund the Street.

 

 

 

Have you loaded the Dual Core Optimizer. AMD Dual-Core Optimizer and AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual Core Processor Driver for Windows XP ver 1.3.2

 

 

I prefer MBM5 as my software temp monitor.

[-attritus-]

I got a 5-10c drop just by clearing off the copious amounts of thermal paste (from factory installation) and remounting with as5! I'm sure in my fruitless searching to fix my problem I saw a guide for this. Also as previously said, your temps seem pretty normal!

[XPiRX]

@Mindflux - I have re-dusted my entire case and everything inside again to make sure there is absolutely nothing in the case. Didnt do much. One thing I "DID" forget was that I moved my PC from the basement up to my room about 2 months ago. Mabye Im remembering the temps from the basement? I thought about that last night at 5am lol. I have the Opteron 165 Stock Fan and Heatsink.

 

@tasr - Default stock cooling, stock voltage. Ive been downclocking my overclock from 2.5ghz down to 2.0ghz and didnt notice any temperature changes *at all*. So now I think im just over reacting and from the two floor change may have affected my mind lol. I re-over-clocked it up to 2.4ghz and its still well stable.

Thanks for the post by soundx98. That really helped me.

I just also installed the "Dual Core Optimizer", is that new to AMD's download? It says June 2006 thx.

 

And I have ordered a Evercool VR-RC fan, so it should be here soon

[tasr]

XPiRX,

 

Check these Tutorials out on the Evercool VC-RE Chipset Fan. Good stuff!

 

Evercool VC-RE Chipset Fan Mod Guide

 

Evercool VC-RE Chipset Fan Installation

 

Cleaning your NF4 Chipset fan and replacing with AS5

[XPiRX]

Thanks for the link Tasr !

 

An update about the lockups. I went and played WoW with my friend again earlier (hes trying to get me hooked on it ). It locked up. Then i thought "hey, i was xsfering stuff from the laptop" The last two lockups only happened when i was transfering some files from a Wireless laptop. I tried transfering some large files via wired lan and i didnt lock up. I started to transfer from the laptop again and it locks up about 20 minutes later. So i think it had something to do with it. Unsure of why, but never had the problem before, and seems to only be that one laptop (Inspiron 4100). :cool: Guess thats solved.