Mobo at 40C and rising

[Thoku]

Hi a mates just built a PC with:
AMD A2 4600+ (Stock fsb and heatsink)
Asus M2N4 Sli

Booting to bios with case side off:
CPU: 46C-48C
Mobo: 35C climbing when PC underload to around 50C

At the moment he can't even install Windows on it as the PC is cutting out as soon the mobo reaches 50C.

Any possible suggestions as to why this is happening? The rest of the case seems fine and yes the heatsink for the CPU is on properly.

[Thorsson]

I presume it is the northbridge chipset that is overheating. Is it passive cooled or have a fan? If the latter is the fan working? Is it obstructed (e.g. by an over-long video card)?

[Thoku]

I presume it is the northbridge chipset that is overheating. Is it passive cooled or have a fan? If the latter is the fan working? Is it obstructed (e.g. by an over-long video card)?

Its passively cooled. The plan this weekend is to boot the comp outside the case just to discount the case as a possible cause of the overheating.

[Thorsson]

It won't be the case in general, so much as airflow over the passive cooler. Don't know the mobo, but I do know that overheating NBs is often a cause for instability and a definite limiter on OCing. You might try enhancing the cooling.

[s_kinton]

Just buy an active cooling hsf for the NB and ditch the passive one.

[aidanjt]

You shouldn't have to actively cool motherboard ICs if the case has a decent thermal flow. Thankfully Zalman proved that and we got rid of the annoying ass NB fans that sounded like scalextrix cars going 100mph.

[s_kinton]

I know that he shouldnt, but the airflow is obviously very poor in the case. Its either add an NB fan or rethink the case/wiring layout and buy some more case fans!

The only other thing, although very unlikely is that the BIOS temp readings are incorrect and its shutting down. You can probably turn the NB thermal monitor off to stop it shutting down, but I wouldnt recommend it unless you're absolutely sure its wrong.

Is the NB hot to touch around the time it shuts down?

[Magnets]

50 degrees northbridge isn't really that hot, is it?

[Agent]

50 degrees northbridge isn't really that hot, is it?

Considering that's underload, and passively cooled, I agree.

[amjedm]

I'm sure the northbridge on my S939 Asus mobo averages around 40 (computer has been switched off for several weeks) if not higher and I didn't think that was a problem.

[Magnets]

I'm sure the northbridge on my S939 Asus mobo averages around 40 (computer has been switched off for several weeks) if not higher and I didn't think that was a problem.

Mine idles at 41 degrees, not sure what it is under load. When i turn it off, and touch the heatsink it's pretty damn hot.

[Thoku]

Sorry I don't think I have made my self clear.

These temperatures are all from cold to bios only, when I talk about "load" I'm talking about installing Windows on it which I haven't been able to do. Its an issue because it takes about 1min to get to the bios from power on which is wrong, all I'm wondering is it a broken mobo causing the heating slowness and heat or just a case heating issue?