Overheating chipset.

[NotHarry]

I have had a lot of trouble with my new 'Asus rog strix z690-A Gaming wifi D4' motherboard. My latest problem is a chipset that idles at 60c+.
I want to strip the heatsink for chipset in order to reseat it but you have this daft piece of plastic over the heatsink that has a cable tie attached to it, and I don't know how to remove it.
Have any of you guys striped the northbridge heat sink from one of these boards, how do you get the piece of plastic off first?

[restsugavan]

New build PC need under motherboard fan indeed. Since GPU card being longer and longer. Not only size did matters it weight also heavier.

Next you'll need PC case that support Dual PSU 1200W above on Diamon Rapid Era (Post Granite Rapid XEON 2024) with TDP only CPU being 350Watt TDP at stock.
The RTX Ada Loveless RTX 4090Ti on next year require at least 850watt TDP at stock. NVIDIA Hopper RTX 500 Series require at least 950Watt TDP at stock.

From those trend you'll need lower 3 x 120mm FAN at the buttom of the board indeed.

[PauloPanda]

Have a ASUS ROG STRIX Z690 GAMING-WIFI motherboard. After adjusting the voltage in the BIOS and the Power Saving to Maximum in Windows 11, I got the following temperature for PCH (i.e., from 65C to current 54C).



Should I proceed to remove the plastic cover in the PCH heatsink, replace the thermal pads and tighten the screws to achieve an even lower temperature? Or should I just stop here?

[JohnAb]

Hi PauloPanda - your temperatures are great. Just my opinion, but I think anything under 60C is very good for these boards. You just have to balance the inconvenience of taking your PC apart and the time involved.

Overall, I'm in a very similar position (PCH is currently around 56-59C) and I don't think that the effort is justified. However, if my typical PCH temperature was perhaps over 70-75C then I think I would make the effort. Up to you of course, lower is always nice, but I would say you're in a good place already. If I take out out the motherboard for some other reason then I might do something, but perhaps there is also a warranty issue to consider as well. If you still have a long warranty then I would leave it. I'd be more tempted to dismantle the heatsink after the warranty expires, but again, that's just my opinion.

Don't forget that these chipsets are capable of running a LOT hotter anyway (other people have reported over 90C on some boards when gaming), so on balance, PCH temps are not something to worry about too much. As I said above, I have never heard of high PCH temperatures causing a failure. Longer term it might be a different story, we will see!

[PauloPanda]

JohnAb wrote:
Hi PauloPanda - your temperatures are great. Just my opinion, but I think anything under 60C is very good for these boards. You just have to balance the inconvenience of taking your PC apart and the time involved.

Overall, I'm in a very similar position (PCH is currently around 56-59C) and I don't think that the effort is justified. However, if my typical PCH temperature was perhaps over 70-75C then I think I would make the effort. Up to you of course, lower is always nice, but I would say you're in a good place already. If I take out out the motherboard for some other reason then I might do something, but perhaps there is also a warranty issue to consider as well. If you still have a long warranty then I would leave it. I'd be more tempted to dismantle the heatsink after the warranty expires, but again, that's just my opinion.

Don't forget that these chipsets are capable of running a LOT hotter anyway (other people have reported over 90C on some boards when gaming), so on balance, PCH temps are not something to worry about too much. As I said above, I have never heard of high PCH temperatures causing a failure. Longer term it might be a different story, we will see!

It is just that nagging feeling that it could be better that keeps bothering me. You are correct. I should leave it until the time the warranty runs out, or when I need to take apart the PC for upgrading, Most probably will do so when I upgrade the CPU to the 13th Gen CPU when I need to take apart the AIO and the CPU Contact Frame.

Another fear is that the PCH's heatsink is not tighten (read here somewhere) that makes me want to do it. Think I have a serious case of OCD! :D:D:D Guess I have to bear with it for a while more.

[JohnAb]

Yeah, lol. I feel much the same if I'm honest. I have a PCH temp graph on my desktop (HWInfo) so I can keep an eye on it.

One thing to mention again, when I set PCIe link management to maximum savings in Windows I started getting a lot of WHEA errors (again HWInfo shows these). Setting power saving to moderate fixed that. Also, I couldn't boot when I set minimum PCH voltages in BIOS, so I am now back on midpoints.

Us OCD guys should stick together 🙂

[PauloPanda]

JohnAb wrote:
Yeah, lol. I feel much the same if I'm honest. I have a PCH temp graph on my desktop (HWInfo) so I can keep an eye on it.

One thing to mention again, when I set PCIe link management to maximum savings in Windows I started getting a lot of WHEA errors (again HWInfo shows these). Setting power saving to moderate fixed that. Also, I couldn't boot when I set minimum PCH voltages in BIOS, so I am now back on midpoints.

Us OCD guys should stick together 🙂

I configured my Stream Deck to show HWInfo64 statistics to keep an eye on the PC. Yeah, I installed a 40mm Noctua fan to blow directly at the PCH - The PCH Fan.



Got an occasional WHEA error. But these are recoverable - to date. Will keep Maximum Savings in Windows for now. I suspect your power supply may not be stable enough to provide a steady stream (i.e., too much fluctuation) of power under minimum PCH voltages.

Yeah, I guess most hobbyists have some OCD in them - It always can be better and just want to make sure everything is okay. 😉

[JohnAb]

Wow, that Steam deck looks cool. Now I have a reason to get one 🙂 What software are you running on that? Does it get the PC results wirelessly somehow?

I was getting 100 WHEA errors per minute on max link savings, so pretty extreme.

[JohnAb]

Oh sorry, you said Stream deck, not Steam deck lol. I'll see if I can find one. What brand is it? Thanks

[PauloPanda]

JohnAb wrote:
Oh sorry, you said Stream deck, not Steam deck lol. I'll see if I can find one. What brand is it? Thanks

You can find it here (https://www.elgato.com/en/stream-deck-xl)

There is an addon that you need to install. The rest is just following the instructions. 😉

[Adrian1983]

Well guy's to update you all I just finished repadding the chipset on my Gaming A and wow what a difference! I've gone from like 70c idle to the mid 50's, Doesn't even go anywhere near 60c now, When I first booted the system it was in the low 40's it's never been that low before and that's without a fan as well, the pad Asus was using was rubbish.

I removed the original and reinstalled a 2mm piece of Gelid GP extreme left the plastic shroud off and put it all back together and I am so glad I did it now! I've just put my case fans on as they were on minimum and now it's idling at 52c been on an hour, The fact the fans are making a difference now just goes to show all the heat was trapped and no fan was making any difference previously but now it's so much better! hope this helps anyone.

Oh did a 980 Pro NVME test also to make sure I was making it sweat a little with data transfers haha and all good.