ROG STRIX Z690-F GAMING WIFI - Chipset running ~80c at idle

[BobbyCannon]

I have double checked my air flow in my case, all other temps in my system are fine.

Ex. Motherboard 34c, CPU 44c, VRM 43, GPU 52, DRAM ~45c x 4...

However, the Chipset will idle at 80. I cannot get it to go down.

I have heard that running many M.2 will cause higher chipset temps. I'm running 4 M.2 in Raid 0 so maybe that's why?

[JohnAb]

There a few ways to reduce PCH temperature, search these forums and you'll find some discussions. In my opinion, the single best best way to reduce the temperature by at least 10-12C is to add a fan or two pointing towards the chipset heatsink. I do this with two 8cm fans and my PCH temp is around 57C with the motherboard temp at around 22C. You can also replace the thermal pad under the PCH heatsink but that's more work and could invalidate your warranty. 

Do you mean that your motherboard is at 34C? I don't know if that's due to ambient temperature where you live, but it sounds like you have the possibility to reduce that using your case fans with some good fan profiles. That will also reduce the PCH temperature. For every degree temp rise in your case, the PCH will go up by about the same amount. 

You are right that NVME drives can increase the PCH temp, it's doing more work. You can also lower the PCH voltages to midpoints (or even to minimum if stable) in the BIOS and advanced power settings in Windows can also help. I'll let you do the research, I can't remember which settings give the biggest reduction, but you might get another 2-5C reduction. Just be aware that some settings like lower voltages can introduce WHEA errors, so monitor for those in HWInfo. 

Having said all of that, high PCH temps are not necessarily a huge thing to be concerned about, but I do think it's good to reduce the temp if you can. 80C at idle is hotter then I would like.