My motherboard will die, help me find Mosfet Heatsinks!

1311 Views 13 Replies 10 Participants Last post by xd_1771, Apr 9, 2011

Jaguarbamf

Discussion Starter · Apr 9, 2011

I plan to be doing a lot with my build over the summer, like updating my bios to support a Bulldozer processor. I plan on doing some extreme overclocking with it though and I'm pretty sure my motherboard will explode.

What would be the best thing to do to cool this board?
The only thing I'm currently not interested in is cooling other than air.

Save

1 - 14 of 14 Posts

digitally

· #2 · Apr 9, 2011

ram heatsink (might) do the trick. just find the right shape and size

See less See more

Save

Shomiyamu!

· #3 · Apr 9, 2011

It...already has a sink on it.
Unless you can remove it, which is not recommended, you pretty much have to get a new board if you're overclocking the 125w.
MSI mosfets aren't that great.

If it's not your sig rig you're talking about, either mos-c10 or mos-c1 will do.
Expensiveexpensiveexpensive mos-c1's though.

Save

Diabolical999

· #4 · Apr 9, 2011

This is your board, right?

See the big heatsink (to the left of the CPU socket) that says '140W CPU Ready'? Yeah, that heatsink is already cooling the mosfets. You're fine.

See less See more

Save

Shomiyamu!

· #5 · Apr 9, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diabolical999;13056721
This is your board, right?

See the big heatsink (to the left of the CPU socket) that says '140W CPU Ready'? Yeah, that heatsink is already cooling the mosfets. You're fine.

He can't have high overclocks on a 4+1 phase and a 125w cpu because of MSI's low quality mosfets.

Save

httuner

· #6 · Apr 9, 2011

I've pushed 3.8ghz on a 955x4 BE on my previous Asus M4A77D motherboard which I believe only has 4+1 phase also and no heatsinks on mosfets for about 2 years and it did just fine, but then again it was an Asus board & if MSi boards do have weak mosfets as everyone says then you might not want to go crazy with the overclocking

& yes, if thats your motherboard you already have mosfet cooling with that huge passive heatsink, You could always find a way to attach a fan to it? Or use an Antec spot cooling fan to direct air around the mosfet area, it'll help_

Save

Shomiyamu!

· #7 · Apr 9, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by httuner;13056856
I've pushed 3.8ghz on a 955x4 BE on my previous Asus M4A77D motherboard which I believe only has 4+1 phase also and no heatsinks on mosfets for about 2 years and it did just fine, but then again it was an Asus board & if MSi boards do have weak mosfets as everyone says then you might not want to go crazy with the overclocking

& yes, if thats your motherboard you already have mosfet cooling with that huge passive heatsink, You could always find a way to attach a fan to it? Or use an Antec spot cooling fan to direct air around the mosfet area, it'll help_

Asus mosfets never blow up because they have a protection that lowers the voltage if it gets too hot.

Save

wumpus

· #8 · Apr 9, 2011

stick some washers under the plastic push pins to add pressure

Save

Lucky 13 SpeedShop

· #9 · Apr 9, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shomiyamu!;13056669
It...already has a sink on it.
Unless you can remove it, which is not recommended, you pretty much have to get a new board if you're overclocking the 125w.
MSI mosfets aren't that great.

Not necessarily. My 125w 965 C3 has been running @ 4+ Ghz since I purchased it 8 months ago. There is only one (that I can recall) failure of an x4, and the vast majority of failures were from Thuban equipped boards. I won't claim that it'll support oc'ing BD, far from it. I don't trust it past 4 cores. I do however agree on getting a better board for Zambezi.
Quote:

Originally Posted by wumpus;13057646
stick some washers under the plastic push pins to add pressure

Great idea, the heatsinks are screwed down though.

So just use nylon washers in place of the springs to pressure mod it.

See less See more

Save

allikat

· #10 · Apr 9, 2011

Pressure mod the mosfet heatsink mounting, and make sure the big 140mm central fan in that huge noctua heatsink is down nice and low so it pushes air over the mosfet area. Other than that, your only other options are to increase case airflow some more and to consider replacement TIM on the heatsink (MX Diamond would be good, as would any non-conductive TIM - AS5 would be bad)

Save

httuner

· #11 · Apr 9, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shomiyamu!;13057601
Asus mosfets never blow up because they have a protection that lowers the voltage if it gets too hot.

Ah, never knew that, thats good stuff

Save

xd_1771

· #12 · Apr 9, 2011

This MSI board is known to blow up despite the presence of MOSFET heatsinks
Be wary... MSI boards do still lack overcurrent protection and all

Getting a 95W FX-Series model (NOT the 125W 8-core model) might work better for you and be safer - due to the lower TDP at stock and OC'ed and etc. 4-core, 6-core and lower-end 8-core models will have 95W variants.

Save

Dromihetes

· #13 · Apr 9, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shomiyamu!

Asus mosfets never blow up because they have a protection that lowers the voltage if it gets too hot.

Don t say never

You never know

Find some electronics skilled guy and pay him to replace the MOSFETS with something good/better with higher amps ratings.
Experiment for us on your own if you have the guts

The MSI mobos may have some protections ,but they may never have the time to kick in as the mosfets fuse themselves faster

See less See more

Save

xd_1771

· #14 · Apr 9, 2011

I would say "never" would probably be a slight stretch, about ASUS boards not failing due to VRMs. "Very rarely" might be the more appropriate word.

Save

1 - 14 of 14 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month