Dr. Dockter
New Member
Do motherboards differ a lot in how much heat they produce? If they do, how can you then know which is which?
Motherboards and produced heat
- Thread starter Dr. Dockter
- Start date
jevery
Active Member
Sure they differ. With heat produced primarily by the North and South Bridge controllers, and of course by the processor that has to be present for the board to function. Heat produced is proportional to the voltage and frequencies pushed through these circuits with the result being that an overclocked computer is going to produce more heat than the same system run at stock frequencies. As far as which boards run hot, the best advice I have is to read the reviews at Newegg. Many reviewers post temps – especially if the temp is above what is considered average. For instance, my MB runs quite a bit hotter than most others and many have noted that fact at Newegg and at the forum at ASUS support. Now, with that said, high temperatures and overheating is rarely an issue with MBs – It’s the CPU that has to be closely monitored and controlled.
Dr. Dockter
New Member
Thanks for your help! I’ve seen some MB coolers and I got concerned MB overheating might be a common problem. But if you say it’s rare then I’m not gonna burden myself with this issue as well. Thanks!
Nightrain
New Member
While I will agree to an extent that the board itself generally doesn't get hot enough to worry about, all the current going to the processor runs through the traces on the board. All the current that the chip needs runs through parts of the board; there is no direct connection to the chip that bypasses the motherboard.
That said, generally you've just got to sufficiently cool the cpu, northbridge (assuming there is one), and southbridge. High powered boards will cool the voltage regulators and such.
I don't know if anything has changed recently but sli chipsets generally tended to run hotter than their intel alternatives, barring the occasional hot x'series board.
Either way with decent airflow throughout the case, and no serious overclocking, you generally don't have to worry about the heat from the motherboard components.
It isn't the board that draws the current. It is the processor. And it is the processor that generates the heat because of it. The board is just the conductor, not the sink. Same thing as a toaster. The toaster gets hot but the wire connecting it to the outlet only warms up because it is near the heat source. It doesn't draw current itself.
if its common for a component to come with a cooling fan then its generated heat is of concern. If a fan doesnt normally come with a component then its heat creation is of little concern. This is the reason why video cards, processors, and power supplies come with fans and other components usually dont
Archangel
VIP Member
The pcb (board) does actually function as a heatsink. (for the little resistors and capacitors ert on the board. )
also, wires get warm when the current, in relation to the thickness, is big enough. (not as in instantly frying, but conductors do get warm, they have a resistance, so the do dissipate heat.
Sadly, the bearrings in that cooler are rubbish
have the same one, but removed it from my pc because it started makign a terrible noise.about the motherboards heat, some chipsets do run pretty hot. (I had my Northbridge on 74*C the other day (when i installed the water cooling) it resulted in strapping a 92mm fan to the motherboard, right on top of the northbridge heatsink to cool the motehrboard. (now its 45*C full load)
That wasn't my point. My point was that mainboard heating is a meaningless issue. Of course it draws some current, just like a toaster power cord. It draws very little compared to the processor and video engine. Putting a bunch of hobbyist heat sinks and coolers on components doesn't change a thing. Mainboard heating is still a meaningless issue. Sorry, I'm not biting.