Toledo_Speedo
Obliviot
If you don't have a ramcooler get one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835704001
The FB-Dimms will easily hit 90C+ under load, this ramcooler dropped my temps by 30C.
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Building an Affordable "Skulltrail" System
- Thread starter Rob Williams
- Start date
If you don't have a ramcooler get one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835704001
The FB-Dimms will easily hit 90C+ under load, this ramcooler dropped my temps by 30C.
Toledo_Speedo
Obliviot
Are there two Remote 2's showing in SpeedFan? The lower of the two is the southbridge and the 70-80C reading is the NSB. I just realized that when my Remote 2 was reading 97C; my NSB cooler was unplugged. I plugged the fan in and it dropped 30C.
M
Mike
Guest
Hmmm. I don't think that that is quite right.
If you look closer you will see that there are two of these chips, each with a local, remote1, remote2. If your conclusion were right then both chips would each be measuring the same thing (i.e. fully redundant sensors) and both remote1's would show the same value (NB) and both remote2's would show the same value (SB). That is not the case (the temps don't match), and I doubt Intel would put such redundancies in their design anyway.
Each chip appears to be associated with a single CPU. I'm convinced that the local is the temp of the chip itself, one of the remote's is of the CPU and the other is most likely for the surrounding MOSFET feeding the CPU. They show really hot values when the only thing hot to the touch is the MOSFETs.
Turning on your NB fan would cool the area around the CPUs too, so it is not necessarily conclusive. But, then again, maybe the remote for one of the chips measures the NB and the remote for the other chip measures the SB? Someone should write to Intel support and ask.
Mike
M
Mike
Guest
Sorry, I just realized that that is exactly what you said. Your data is interesting. But, I'm still skeptical. In my case Remote2 has always been stable for both chips, but Remote1 is in the 90's for both. Maybe mine are switched compared to yours. But, I've always had my NB actively cooled and always had the problem that both Remote1 are way hot. Even with the NB under liquid (before my MOSFET cooling fiasco), the Remote1's were both way hot.
Or do you mean something else by NSB? Is NSB your northbridge, what I'm calling NB?
Mike
Toledo_Speedo
Obliviot
Sorry that was more for Hawke, I had just pulled the NorthBridge Heatinsink off, cleaned it and applied ArticSilver when I got the 97C reading (forgot to plug in the fan). I should have clarified; the NB may be remote 1, I am not at the office to check but whichever it is the SB is always 40C or less and the NB can be off the charts if not actively cooled. North Side Bus, North Bridge same thing. Not to be confused with the West Side Bus where Tupac was Gunned Down.
M
Mike
Guest
Triple Loop
Well, mostly "just because I can", I went ahead with the 3 loop setup. Unfortunately, when I powered up, the video card wasn't seated right and I didn't get any picture. Without powering down first, I seated the card properly which then gave me a picture. But, the keyboard wouldn't work. So, I disconnected the keyboard to stick it into a different USB and ... pop! Sounded like a short. Bottom line, board was fried, would not POST.
I assumed that I had fried the board due to "hot swapping". But, Intel RMA process concluded that it was customer defect due to "damaged pins on socket / bent CPU pins". Given that I wrestled the tubing into the blocks once they were already installed on the board, that doesn't surprise me either (doh!). No mention was made to the fact that I had removed and reinstalled the NB, SB and MOSFETs
Anyway, Intel policy is $65 for replacement board. I'm hugely happy with that! Despite my grief to date (mostly self inflicted), I've been very pleased with their support.
I won't get around to putting the replacement into my box until early August. I'll post my results for your further amusement
Mike
Well, mostly "just because I can", I went ahead with the 3 loop setup. Unfortunately, when I powered up, the video card wasn't seated right and I didn't get any picture. Without powering down first, I seated the card properly which then gave me a picture. But, the keyboard wouldn't work. So, I disconnected the keyboard to stick it into a different USB and ... pop! Sounded like a short. Bottom line, board was fried, would not POST.
I assumed that I had fried the board due to "hot swapping". But, Intel RMA process concluded that it was customer defect due to "damaged pins on socket / bent CPU pins". Given that I wrestled the tubing into the blocks once they were already installed on the board, that doesn't surprise me either (doh!). No mention was made to the fact that I had removed and reinstalled the NB, SB and MOSFETs
Anyway, Intel policy is $65 for replacement board. I'm hugely happy with that! Despite my grief to date (mostly self inflicted), I've been very pleased with their support.
I won't get around to putting the replacement into my box until early August. I'll post my results for your further amusement
Mike
Glad to hear about the results of the RMA process... good the replacement fee is quite modest. I'm not sure it makes up for all the hassle the machine has been to date, though
Well, considering they concluded the damage was user caused it sounds like you still got a nice deal out of it! Many companies would just tell the customer "you ruined it, your fault, so no warranty" and leave it at that.
Do make sure you never try to seat anything with the board powered, that's the most sure fire way to kill either the board or whatever you are seating into it. PCIe devices and memory modules are not designed to be hot-plugged. The SATA cable on your hard drive is hot pluggable if the board + drive support SATA 2 specs, but even the power connector is not meant to be plugged into the drive when live. I've heard of people just starting to plug it in unevenly because it was in a hard to reach place or they were in a hurry, and it would short itself out before the pins/plug aligned correctly... do that and the hard drive is toast.
Removing the chipset cooling should affect anything these days, I've not heard of anyone having problems because of doing that at least. The CPU socket issue is a common thing they make sure to check for with LGA sockets, though.
Do make sure you never try to seat anything with the board powered, that's the most sure fire way to kill either the board or whatever you are seating into it. PCIe devices and memory modules are not designed to be hot-plugged. The SATA cable on your hard drive is hot pluggable if the board + drive support SATA 2 specs, but even the power connector is not meant to be plugged into the drive when live. I've heard of people just starting to plug it in unevenly because it was in a hard to reach place or they were in a hurry, and it would short itself out before the pins/plug aligned correctly... do that and the hard drive is toast.
Removing the chipset cooling should affect anything these days, I've not heard of anyone having problems because of doing that at least. The CPU socket issue is a common thing they make sure to check for with LGA sockets, though.
My problem has been solved now, I found out the small fan I got for the heatsink (thats ontop of the MCH) has died, what I did is I cut a hole in the side of the case (as some would probibly know, it is an old generic ATX case that has been modifiied to accept eATX mobos) and put a 90mm fan that blows frech air directly onto the MCH's heatsink and on idle, I am getting temps of 57C (which isn't bad) - I also bought some memory fans and getting idle temps of 44-48C now.
One thing that bothers me now, I recently found a BIOS update, and before switching on my PC, I had a power cut (thankfully there was no damage) and I was wondering if there is any reccomendations on UPS systems, I saw a deacently priced one, but I read it provides me with only 270 Watts, my PC's PSU is 1Kw, I am not sure of the minimum power the D5400XS motherboards draw (especially when it updates the BIOS)
I would sugget you look for a 750VA rated backUPS unit or greater if all you want is a couple minutes of computer power in order to complete BIOS flashes or have time to shut down the system. Depending on your computer you might prefer something in the 950VA range.
M
Mike
Guest
RMA Complete
Ok, so my patience isn't what it used to be. I put in the new board without issue. Overclocked to 4.0 Ghz quite easily using a 10x multiplier. But, I can not for the life of me get a higher multiplier without a BIG increase in CPU voltage, which is consistent with what I've seen across the web.
Going that route overpowers my liquid cooling and causes the CPU to step down. That, even though I have a triple rad with push/pull for each CPU/Voltage Regulators. The only way I'm going to get to the next level is to take out the voltage regulator blocks in favor of a dedicated radiator per CPU. At this point I really just can't be bothered with draining the two loops and re-tubing it all again I'm convinced that all those other people did not use Intel Burn Test for their stability testing!
The double rad with push/pull seems to be fine for the NB, SB, FB-DIMM. Oddly though, in virtually every review I've read, everyone had to bump up their vMCH to get an overclock. In all of my boards (4 and counting, including RMA's), the vMCH did nothing and I had to jack up the vFSB!
Mike
Well, mostly "just because I can", I went ahead with the 3 loop setup. Unfortunately, when I powered up, ... pop! Sounded like a short. Bottom line, board was fried, would not POST.
...
I won't get around to putting the replacement into my box until early August. I'll post my results for your further amusement
Ok, so my patience isn't what it used to be. I put in the new board without issue. Overclocked to 4.0 Ghz quite easily using a 10x multiplier. But, I can not for the life of me get a higher multiplier without a BIG increase in CPU voltage, which is consistent with what I've seen across the web.
Going that route overpowers my liquid cooling and causes the CPU to step down. That, even though I have a triple rad with push/pull for each CPU/Voltage Regulators. The only way I'm going to get to the next level is to take out the voltage regulator blocks in favor of a dedicated radiator per CPU. At this point I really just can't be bothered with draining the two loops and re-tubing it all again
I'm convinced that all those other people did not use Intel Burn Test for their stability testing!The double rad with push/pull seems to be fine for the NB, SB, FB-DIMM. Oddly though, in virtually every review I've read, everyone had to bump up their vMCH to get an overclock. In all of my boards (4 and counting, including RMA's), the vMCH did nothing and I had to jack up the vFSB!
Mike
Over a year in my Skulltrail system has been fantastic (apart from the IDT audio system which the drivers seem to die sometimes when windows XP boots up)
I decided to purchase a PCI sound card (Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeGamer), to my horror, it doesn't fit my PCI slot, it seems as if the PCI slot is one or two millimeaters out of alignment, even though I have fitted my GeForce 260GTX without hassle when I first built the system (and its a big card taking up 2 slots)
I decided to find out what PCI version the D5400XS motherboard has, turns out it is PCI 2.3 and the soundcard requiers PCI 2.1 and I was wondering if my motherboard is out of alignment (which I doubt as I looked carefully if it was vertical and the fact that the graphics card fits perfectly) or PCI 2.1 is incompatable with PCI 2.3 meaning I should return the PCI card and try to get a PCI-E sound card instead?
I decided to purchase a PCI sound card (Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi XtremeGamer), to my horror, it doesn't fit my PCI slot, it seems as if the PCI slot is one or two millimeaters out of alignment, even though I have fitted my GeForce 260GTX without hassle when I first built the system (and its a big card taking up 2 slots)
I decided to find out what PCI version the D5400XS motherboard has, turns out it is PCI 2.3 and the soundcard requiers PCI 2.1 and I was wondering if my motherboard is out of alignment (which I doubt as I looked carefully if it was vertical and the fact that the graphics card fits perfectly) or PCI 2.1 is incompatable with PCI 2.3 meaning I should return the PCI card and try to get a PCI-E sound card instead?
Psi*
Tech Monkey
I drilled out to your sound card's web page & see "Available PCI 2.1 compliant slot (PCI 2.2 and 2.3 also supported)"
Most of what I think remember about PCI 2.x is keying for different voltage cards ... 3.3V & 5 V. Soooo, since I cannot quite tell about the notches in the card edge, I have to assume that there are 2 notches in this card.
But, I don't think that is what you are asking about nor your problem ... eliminating the issue of PCI 2.1 or 2.3.
So, what direction of mis-alignment are you seeing? Too close to the edge of the mother board, in which case the sound card seems to be too tight a fit between the PCI connector & the back of the case?
Maybe loosen the screws that hold the mobo to the case & see if you can get a tiny little millimeter more clearance between the case & the mobo?
Most of what I think remember about PCI 2.x is keying for different voltage cards ... 3.3V & 5 V. Soooo, since I cannot quite tell about the notches in the card edge, I have to assume that there are 2 notches in this card.
But, I don't think that is what you are asking about nor your problem ... eliminating the issue of PCI 2.1 or 2.3.
So, what direction of mis-alignment are you seeing? Too close to the edge of the mother board, in which case the sound card seems to be too tight a fit between the PCI connector & the back of the case?
Maybe loosen the screws that hold the mobo to the case & see if you can get a tiny little millimeter more clearance between the case & the mobo?
Psi*
Tech Monkey
I don't mean the the board might skewed or off horizontal depending on how you mean that, but there may be a little wiggle room if the mother board hold down screws are loosened a bit. Not removed, you don't need to rebuild this. I am thinking that you might be able to slide the mother board towards the front of the case away from the back just the bit that you need.
And, possibly the way to do this, is while the hold down screws are loose is to then try inserting the sound card. I am expecting that this is just a snug fit issue rather than compatibility. :techgage:
Also ... loosen or remove the screws that hold the other option cards to case. Nothing move if they are still fastened down. In the end, you may have to do a little forcing down with the thumb to get the screws back in, but shouldn't be a big deal.
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I managed to fit the soundcard in and it doesn't work, although looking at the website, it said "Available PCI 2.1 compliant slot (PCI 2.2 and 2.3 also supported)" only under Wondows Vista - I use Windows XP (I have made sure the card is in, will provide futher updates as I trawl through the support pages)
Absolutly nothing, I am unsure I understand why - when I failed to insert the card, I put it back in the anti-static packaging - I doubt the motherboards PCI slot is damaged otherwise I suspect I would have recived error messages - I wonder if Windows XP support PCI 2.3 because of the system requierments shown in the Creative Labs website
Windows XP:
* Genuine Intel® Pentium® III 1 GHz, AMD® 1 GHz processor or faster
* Intel, AMD or 100% compatible motherboard chipset
* Microsoft® Windows® XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Window XP Pro x64
* 256MB RAM
* 600MB of free hard disk space
* Available PCI 2.1 slot for the audio card
* CD-ROM/CD-RW or CD/DVD-ROM required for software installation
* Graphics card with DirectX® 9 and OpenGL® compliant 3D graphics accelerator
* Internet connection is required to obtain free PowerDVD players with Dolby® Digital and DTS™ decoding
Windows Vista™:
* Genuine Intel® Pentium® III 1 GHz, AMD® 1 GHz processor or faster
* Intel, AMD or 100% compatible motherboard chipset
* Microsoft Windows Vista™ 32-bit or 64-bit
* 512 MB RAM
* 600 MB of free hard disk space
* Available PCI 2.1 compliant slot (PCI 2.2 and 2.3 also supported)
* Headphones or amplified speakers (available separately)
* CD-ROM drive installed
* Internet connection is required to obtain free PowerDVD players with Dolby® Digital and DTS™ decoding
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