AMD Motherboards - VRM info database - Page 95

not exactly each one of those listings has a link, here is the link for that one:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?267709-MSI-Active-Phase-Control-blowing&p=4778528&viewfull=1#post4778528

this board had a option to turn off phases, this owner set the board to a single phase, and it blew up multiple components

if you search the actual board it will tell how many phases and although it says i7 what this means is it has a 1155 socket good for i3/i5/i7. MSI markets this board to take the chip when in fact it is a cheap board that could very well not run an i7 without overheating

Edit: this appears to be a good board not crap as previously stated, but has a bios option to turn off phases....1 phase equals cooked!
Edited by ryan w - 6/3/12 at 12:34pm

bet he wishes he had asked about it before hand.

I've got 2 systems I'd like to check with you guys.

System 1 Sig Rig:
Asus M4A88T-V EVO
Phenom II x4 955
NH-D14 (not using the 140mm fan, so less 'component cooling')
2 120mm exhaust fans around the CPU area

I've been running 3.6GHz at 1.4V for a while now, but I've been pushing it since I got my D14.
I can get 4GHz with about 1.47 to 1.49 vcore, but my VRM heat sink gets VERY hot to the touch under prime95 load.
I was wondering if this is a safe setup, and what I could do to keep them cooler?
Is it possible to change the TIM or something on a VRM heat sink?

I may change the Motherboard in this system in preparation for Piledriver, but I'm unsure about this at the moment.


System 2 LAN/F@H Rig:
Asus M5A78L-USB3
Athlon II x3 425 (Unlocked to Phenom II x4)
NH-C14 (Down draft style cooler directly over VRM's)
EnzoTech MOS-C1 heat sinks on VRM's
1 92mm exhaust fan around the CPU area

Currently running 3.375GHz on 4 cores with 1.44 to 1.45 Vcore.
Is this a safe setup?

I can upload some pictures if necessary.


Thanks in advance.

About the first one - yeah, I think it's safe. Those should be able to withstand 100C.
I recall of one case when Asus forgot some piece of plastic or nylon underneath the VRM heatsink. If you can take it off, it would be good to check if everything is ok in that regard

That's good to know.

I'm not sure how I would go about removing the heatsink though, I believe that i's held on with push pins?
Has anyone done this before?

Also, bump for system 2

Hey man, I do not own either board, but I have owned a M4 series, I never had a VRM heatsink, so not sure what the process is for removal/install of this part, but I did replace thermal compound on the NB and SB chips

looking at pictures of both your boards it appears the Asus M5A78L-USB3 does not have a heatsink over the VRM area where the M4A88T-V EVO has a VRM heatsink as well as beefier NB/SB heatsinks. In my experience OC the Phenom II x 4 using anything over 1.45 volts causes over temp protection (throttling) to kick in unless you have some type of passive cooling on the mosfets.

In case you feel like messing around with heatsinks this is a shot of my M4785-M board with NB and SB heatsink removed M4785-M w/ heatsinks removed (Click to show)
What I found on this M4 series board was:

- I removed both heatsinks, they use relatively small black plastic pushpins, the tabs are on the backside of the MB PCB

- You need to push the head of the pin down, squeeze the plastic pin tabs together on the bottom side of the MB then allow it to push through

- Be careful to not scrape any traces on the back of MB PCB if you use needle nose to compress the plastic pin head. I did scrape it, and was lucky the MB still worked.

- Carefully remove the heatsink, it will feel stuck to the chip. This is because there is a adhesive like thermal compound on the chip surface itself which is a pain to clean up but its possible

-There is also a foam spacer that surrounds the chip mating surface on the heatsink, be careful not to ruin this when using a alcohol based cleaner because it is needed as a spacer

- Once both chip and heatsink were clean I spread some spare Noctua NT-H1 with a card and remounted heatsinks by simply pushing the pins back through the board

Prior to doing this both the NB and SB heatsink where burn finger hot, after I saw improvement. I also installed another stick-on heatsink on top of the existing SB heatsink
M4785-M after heatsinks installed (Click to show)
EDIT:

Here is a good view of the EVO with heatsink removed but no info given of removal process:
http://www.techenclave.com/reviews-previews/asus-m4a88td-v-evo-usb3-105620/

This link has some good shots of removed heatsink off a different asus board:
http://www.clunk.org.uk/reviews/asus-p8p67-deluxe-motherboard-review/print.html
looks like it comes right off as there is just thermal pads!

Check out the quote from XD1771 about the M5A78L-M, this guy is experiencing over temp protection = add passive cooling when overclocking
http://www.overclock.net/t/1187426/overcoming-the-shortfalls-of-the-m5a78l-m-usb3-am3/0_20
Edited by ryan w - 6/17/12 at 7:14pm

Thanks for the helpful post

Regarding the Asus M5A78L-USB3, I have put some heat sinks on the VRM's, and 1.44 to 1.45 V has been perfectly smooth so far on my folding rig.
Here are some pictures:





Note this also has a C14 cooler on it, so the extra heat sinks also have direct airflow over them.

Do you think I am ok in this situation?

Regarding the Asus M4A88T-V EVO, is it perfectly fine to remove the heat sinks then?
And it shouldn't cause any problems replacing the pads with a thermal paste instead?
Note I only want to do this on the VRM heat sink, not the chipset heat sink, both of the chipsets remain quite cool.

I won't get round to doing this for a while, but I'd like to know what I'm doing

Cheers.

C14 Nice! So you may not even have to take of the VRM heatsink if you are stable with no throttling of voltage or core clock. If you do remove it, just check to make sure all the mosfets are contacting the thermal pad, if they are then I would just reinstall. If not you could purchase new thermal pad material. Use only thermal pads on mosfets, TIM is designed for heat transfer between two metal surfaces.

Oh and get another set of C1's for the M5 there is four mosfets per phase! check out some of my threads on the M4 youll see what i did
Edited by ryan w - 6/18/12 at 12:18pm

I think one of us is getting my 2 rigs confused, not helped by me getting the Motherboard name wrong

My Main rig is using :
Asus M4A88T-V EVO
NH-D14
Phenom II x4 @3.875GHz 1.47 - 1.49v

With the rig, I'm going to remove the VRM heat sink and reapply to make sure it's getting the right amount of contact.

Me second rig is using:
Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 (It's the mATX one, I do apologise for the confusion )
NH-C14
MOS-C1 Heat sinks (Pictures posted above)
Phenom II X4 B25 @3.375GHz 1.44 - 1.45v

I hope this clears things up.

Do these two setups look ok?

Thanks again.