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PWM chip cooling solutions?(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: Kosh
I've noticed that when my processor is under heavy load, the temperature on the PWM chip shoots up to 135-140°F (57-60° C).
I've got a stock P4 fan on the processor that came with the P4 chip. Will changing that to a better fan also help cool the PWM ships that are around the CPU? I can't seem to find anything on the A-Bit site about this, but I may not be looking in the right area.
Posted by: Ritsui
Don't worry about it. 60C is well within spec for a PWM chip and not high at all at heavy load... even less so if you're either overclocking (overvolting the cpu) and/or using a CPU on the higher end of what the board was designed for.
If you're concerned about it, you can beef up your case intake and exaust fans (I have my front intake fans ported to blow just below the CPU), but I think even minimal passive cooling should be enough to carry off that heat.
Posted by: Veky
I wouldn't worry, those things can run just fine over 90°C. Cooling them might give you more stabile voltages. Easiest way is slapping some heatsinks on them or even putting a fan using a little bit of imagination. 
Posted by: Kosh
I *am* worried about it, because the BIOS heat alarm goes off for it.  and My system has rebooted twice now in the past hour during CPU-intensive loads (transcoding M4P files to M4A to MP3) 
Everytime the alarm goes off, my sesor software that came with the A-bit mobo is flashing red for the PWM. this last time, it spiked up to 150°F
Posted by: Ritsui
Are you sure the reboot isn't due to another issue? As Veky said, your PWM should easily handle over 70°C or 80°C constant and peak temperatures up to and over 100°C under load.
I'd say either the reading you're seeing isn't correct (and it's actually much higher) or something else is causing the reboot. If your CPU temp isn't unusually high (most bios only trigger shutdown on CPU temp), then it's possible the PWM is bad or that your PSU simply isn't able to deliver voltage in a range your board can handle when the CPU is under heavy load... but it's pretty certain that neither of those issues would change by dropping the PWM temperature below 60°C.
My guess is you're going to need to outright replace either the motherboard or the PSU. Take a look at all the capacitors around the CPU. Are any of them bulging or showing discoloration?
Posted by: Kosh
quote:
Originally posted by Ritsui
Are you sure the reboot isn't due to another issue? As Veky said, your PWM should easily handle over 70°C or 80°C constant and peak temperatures up to and over 100°C under load.
I'd say either the reading you're seeing isn't correct (and it's actually much higher) or something else is causing the reboot. If your CPU temp isn't unusually high (most bios only trigger shutdown on CPU temp), then it's possible the PWM is bad or that your PSU simply isn't able to deliver voltage in a range your board can handle when the CPU is under heavy load... but it's pretty certain that neither of those issues would change by dropping the PWM temperature below 60°C.
My guess is you're going to need to outright replace either the motherboard or the PSU. Take a look at all the capacitors around the CPU. Are any of them bulging or showing discoloration?
The last stress test (transcoding files in the background *and* playing City of Heroes with the side of the case open and a small desktop fan blowing on the mobo on high) I did with the temp monitoring software showed that the CPU climbed at hit a plateau at 161.2°F (71°C) with the PWM hitting the plateau at 154.4°F (67°C).
Right now, with NOTHING running, except FireFox and the temp software, the CPU is at 111.2°F (43°C) and the PWM is at 98.6°F (36°C).
I just got back from the store, actually, with a new CPU Fan, and some fresh Arctic Silver. on my way home, I got to thinking (dangerous, I know  ) that maybe the PSU was faulty and was pushing out too much voltage... the PWM's are trying to regulate that before it hits the CPU and subsequently stuck with a shitload of heat as a byproduct.
I'm about to shut down and replace the stock P4 fan with the new one, so I'll check the capacitors while I'm in there! Thanks for the tip.
Posted by: Kosh
No bulging or discolored capacitors around the CPU. whew.
After replacing the stock P4 cooling fan with a better one, cleaning off old Arctic Silver off the P4 (it looks like it'd kinda dried up) and reapplying a thin coating from a new small tube, and installing a 120mm front panel fan that I've had for the past 5 months but never got around to actually installing.....
After the same stresstest as I described in the last message...
CPU: 123.8° F (51°C)
PWM: 129.4°F (Just went to 54° C after spending 15 minutes at 53° C)
Maybe it was poor stock cooling heatsink and fan? maybe it was poor coverage of the original Arctic Silver? Dunno, but seems to be behaving for now.
Gonna watch it like a hawk, though. 
Posted by: Ritsui
quote:
Originally posted by Kosh
...showed that the CPU climbed at hit a plateau at 161.2°F (71°C) with the PWM hitting the plateau at 154.4°F (67°C).
Ouch. I think the maximum spec for the fastest P4 is 72°C and most are 67°C or lower. 
Glad to know it wasn't the motherboard in any case 
Posted by: Kosh
Follow-up...
Four days later, with constant logging of temperatures, the CPU hasn't gotten past 47°C (other than that initial spike recorded above), and the PWM hasn't gotten past 49°C (again, excepting that initial spike above). No shutdowns, reboots, or heat sensor alarms, either. 
New CPU fan, new Arctic Silver, and another case fan seems to have worked wonders.
Who woulda thunk it?
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