Why a SB heatsink?

[Aastii]

I have been noticing that alot of newer board now have a northbridge AND southbridge heatsink and a thought occurs, why?

If all older mobos can code with te chip uncovered and uncooled, what is different with the new ones? I know technology makes the systems more powerful, but in all seriousness, when would the southbridge get to a point that it is going to get too hot? It generally just doesn't happen ever. Can somebody shed some light on this for me please?

 

[Zatharus]

Correct, some newer chipsets do generate a fair bit of heat. While the Southbridge covers the slower I/O buses of the system, this does not mean it runs without any heat dissipation. If a manufacturer deems it beneficial for the longevity of the chip, they will place a heatsink on it.

If the Southbridge is cooled, it is usually with just passive cooling. I have not seen a Southbridge with a huge, active cooler. But...you never know, massive heatsinks and crazy cooling solutions seem vogue these days...

 

[WeatherMan]

I had an old Socket 939 Board with an activly cooled SB, an asus too I think. It's strange, barely any of the newer boards SB need to be active cooled....

the sinks on top weren't exactly a standard HS, it was just like a shaped piece of open metal, with a fan inside, no spikes (cant remember the name )or anything, so probably added purely for aesthetics.

EDIT: That ECS board, I've just looked, the SB was infact the NB, just very low down on the board, below the 1st PCIE socket.. I'll check up the asus now, Maybe thats the same, Yep. lol

Also below the first pcie socket. Howcomes the nb on current boards are much higher than the old 939 boards?

The worst board I ever bought

 

[Aastii]

Those are some weird board with the layout i mean. The purple one though, i know you said it is crap but it looks fantastic. I love how simple it is but obviously, function before form.

I still don't get why a system would NEED it though. All of the motherboard creates a little bit of heat, but not all of it needs a heatsink and the SB has (to me atleast) always seemed like one of those that doesn;t need a heatsink because it just isn;t hot enough.

=Edit=

Have any of you noticed aswell that most nb heatsinks won't fit on on the SB, even thought the holes are the same...the manufacturer always puts something or other close enough to prevent a normal heatsink from fitting on because there is always something or other in the way

 

[StrangleHold]

Also below the first pcie socket. Howcomes the nb on current boards are much higher than the old 939 boards?

Depends alot if the board is a full width ATX board or not. Or if the Northbridge and Southbridge is combined into one chip or two. If its one chip they tend to put it below the PCI/e slots. If its 2 chips they put the North between the CPU bracket and the first PCIe slot and the South below the PCI/e slots.

 

[Zatharus]

Yes, most manufacturers follow what StrangleHold mentioned. Technically, the chipsets can be placed anywhere. While there is a fair bit of science that goes into circuit design, there tends to be more more of an art.