eniac

Hi everybody.

Yesterday I got fed up with the sound of the northbridge, being far too noisy, even though my temps were very good. I went out and bought a Zalman Northbridge heatsink, this one: http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product...dx=71&code=014

So I got the old one off (man, what a crappy "heatsink" that is, no wonder they need a fan @ 8000RPM), and installed the Zalman heatsink. I used Arctic Silver 3. I had to bend a few fins of the heatsink, because else it would get in touch with my graphics card. I installed it a bit sideways, but that doesn't matter I guess, since the Northbridge chip is so tiny that its surface is entirely covered with the Zalman.

Now, I've noticed something in Speedfan, and I don't know if this is since today, but in speedfan I get one disturbingly high temperature. See this:
http://users.pandora.be/eniac4/eniac/hightemp2.jpg
Don't mind the blank display properties, that is because I backed out of Half-Life 2 while playing and the display window wasn't painted yet.

Am I correct in thinking that the "remote temp" is the Northbridge temperature? I thought the Neo4 didn't really have a Northbridge temp sensor. Mind you: this is with a 120mm Antec fan @ full speed blowing right onto the Zalman and graphics card.

This high temperature ONLY occurs in gaming (not when in windows 100% stressed) and if I stop gaming, the temp drops really fast. In a matter of seconds, it drops down to under fifty, and after 1/2 minute it's at 39°C, and stays there. Even if I stress 100% (with distributed.net or the likes) in windows, the temp stays normal.

I don't really get it, the Zalman should cool in a decent enough fashion... Or is the NF4 Ultra chipset really that hot? Are my temps still safe, and if so, how high can it be while still maintaining a safe margin? I'd hate to ruin this board since it overclocks really well.

I'd like to point out that it's really hot here these days, possibly the warmest summer days we'll get these days.

I would also like to point out that overclocking doesn't really matter: when running @ 9*200, I also get this kind of temperatures.

edit: damn, I guess this would fit better in the problems section. Sorry guys.

jakkerd

to my untrained eye, that looks like a graka temp

jmke

jakkerd is onto something, what vidcard do you have?

open the temp panel of your vidcard and compare

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eniac

It's a Leadtek Extreme 6600GT. But it doesn't seem to be the graphics card... In the Nvidia Control panel, I get a temperature of 41°C right now, whereas in Speedfan my remote temp is at 37°C.

But when gaming, I do see that it rises above 60° in the control panel.

Could it really be that speedfan and the control panel make different readouts of the same sensor? If so, I would be relieved since a graphics card can handle a temp of 70-80°C without any problem...

edit: what I find so strange, is that it cools down so quickly. Within a matter of seconds, it's 15°C cooler...

jmke

in speedfan, log that temperature to a file, then start playing some games, quitting to windows, reload, etc etc

then graph the results, if it temp jumps up and down while you're gaming = vidcard temp

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eniac

I will try it tomorrow or this evening, have to go now.

One question remains: what type of applications stress the northbridge like hell, while not stressing the graphics card? That way I can do some northbridge stressing to, reassuring me of the fact that it really isn't the northbridge

edit: I have to say that the system is really stable, and I'd think that with a far too high northbridge or graphics card temperature, I would get crashes and lockups, right?

eniac

Okay, I did some research, in Speedfan the "remote temp" = MAX6648 sensor. This sensor is used by Nvidia in their graphics cards. I then ran "everest" (Aida32-alike program), and it reads the GPU temp from the MAX6648 sensor. Result: identical temps as in speedfan.

So I guess it's solved then. Still puzzles me why Nvidia can't make a correct readout in their control panel... Maybe they are compensating the readout for reading errors or something.

Still one question: the Zalman northbridge heatsink gets very hot to the touch, almost burning my finger after a few hours of gaming. Is this normal and safe?

jmke

active cooling > passive cooling,

placing a small silent 40mm on there will do wonders

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Rutar

40mm is ok, 120mm is good =P

eniac

Well true, but the active northbridge fan on the Neo4 is quite the screamer

I'll try and attach my Antec 120mm firmly somewhere inthere. Thanks for all the help guys.