[Z590] Asus ROG Maximus XIII Hero - PCH High Temperature

[EncodeGR]

My PCH temperature is fairly high, which concerns me. I'm used to everything else in my system being pretty chilly, usually around 28-30 C. The airflow is also really good. The *only* thing that gets hot is the PCH, and i don't understand why.


-- Some Backround Info, Setup --

Intel Pentium G6400 4.0GHz (Lol, well... until i get my Rocket Lake chip)

MSI GTX 1070Ti Gaming X (Until i actually manage to find a 3080/3070, if ever...)

HyperX DDR4 32GB 3600Mhz XMP CL17 (4 x 8 GB)

Asus ROG Maximus XIII Hero (Z590)

Asus ROG Thor 850 Plat

Samsung 980 Pro M2. NVMe PCIe 4.0 500GB (installed in M2.2_2, cpu bound)

Noctua NH-U12A

Noctua NF-A14 PWM (x6)



-- Things i've tried --

1. Updated Drivers. Updated ME FW. Updated BIOS.
2. Inspected PCH heatsink and thermal pad and resit. No change.
3. Removed M.2 NVMe drive and GPU. No significant change.
4. Checked the PCH 1.8v VCCIN voltage, stable 1.8v.
5. Made sure nothing is "overclocked", using XMP, or enhanced in any automatic way.
6. Lowered VCCIO and VCCSA to 1.10v, since automatic was pushing both to 1.40 for some reason !! (CPU weak memory controller ?). No change.

** I need to mention i couldn't find the PCH Core Voltage, anywhere in the settings. No idea why.


-- PCH Temperature --

PCH temperature starts at 35-38 C, during a cold boot. During the next 5 minutes it climbs and stabilizes at 56 - 62 C, while IDLING.

And that's with a system without GPU, or M.2 NVMe drive. Just the CPU and its iGPU which stay at 24 C, cooled by a Noctua NH-U12A. With a fully assembled system and under load it goes up to 70 - 80 C.


Now... The only thing i have not tried yet, is to completely remove the plastic ROG-logo cover, on top of the PCH, as it may be severely suffocating the heatsink, restricting the airflow towards it.

That would explain the temps under load, but i'm not sure if that explains the initial fast-climbing temperatures while idling. And honestly, without the cover the LEDs underneath it are blinding, so the Aura lighting needs to be completely disabled. Could this be a flawed design ?? I doubt.

I don't understand what's wrong. I've seen people reviewing this mothereboard, while reporting PCH idle temps at 35C and 55C under load. I know that right now, it's not gonna cause any sort of damage. I am however concerned about the longevity and a possible degredation over time, thinking that my PCH is at 75-80 C while gaming.

Sorry for the long post, had to make sure everythong's covered.

Any help would be appreciated

-- HWInfo & HWMonitor -> 3 minutes after cold boot --
-- Bios Monitor -> 10 minutes after cold boot --

[Zardoc]

That's not normal. I would submit a ticket. It just may need a bios update but I can't say for sure.

[EncodeGR]

Yeap, already submitted one.

I'm very sceptical. I mean not only the PCH temp is high and PCH voltage is shown as 1.704v which sounds crazy, but also the motherboard also applied 1.40v to both VCCIO and VCCSA by default automatically (even without XMP), and 1.40v is way too much. I had to lower them manually to 1.10v. I don't understand what's going on, it's like the board's Bios and auto settings are over-reacting.

Could this be caused by the very low end Pentium G6400 ? Cause the board was definitely not designed to work with such a low end CPU. But shouldn't it be able to ? I don't know... I mean, i will replace it soon with Rocket Lake chip, i just don't want my board to get degradation or any sort of damage by then.

[lLegendaary]

RMA? or try to check thermal paste for your chipset manually .

[EncodeGR]

RMA? or try to check thermal paste for your chipset manually .

The RMA process seems way too complicated for that period due to COVID. I would say 1-2 months, maybe more, to get it replaced, and i need my computer for my job.

I've already stated in the original post that i've already checked the heatsink which as i said has a thermal pad, and i did re-sit it.
Thermal paste is not an option since there is a gap between them, thus the thermal pad.

[Saltgrass]

The RMA process seems way too complicated for that period due to COVID. I would say 1-2 months, maybe more, to get it replaced, and i need my computer for my job.

I've already stated in the original post that i've already checked the heatsink which as i said has a thermal pad, and i did re-sit it.
Thermal paste is not an option since there is a gap between them, thus the thermal pad.

I don't have that board so I don't know how it was delivered but the plastic cover on the logo is probably just to protect the logo. There are usually a few of those type covers.. I would remove it if it is covering a heatsink..

[EncodeGR]

I don't have that board so I don't know how it was delivered but the plastic cover on the logo is probably just to protect the logo. There are usually a few of those type covers.. I would remove it if it is covering a heatsink..

I'm sorry, what i meant was that the whole cover with the ASUS logo is made of plastic (compared to the other metalic heatsinks).
The actual pch heatsink is below (making no contact with the plastic). I find that weird, since the plastic Asus logo thingy completely surrounds and suffocates the PCH, and blocks any airflow.

Taken two screenshots from a Youtube video. They should explain how things are a bit better:

[Zardoc]

Is it me that's confused or is the heat sink plastic still on there? I'm just not sure, because you have to remove the plastic for the heat sinks.

I think that we are still a ways from RMA.

Here are my temps.

[EncodeGR]

Is it me that's confused or is the heat sink plastic still on there? I'm just not sure.

Those photos are not mine. I have removed all thin films from the heatsinks (white) as well as their base (blue).

What the first photo shows, is the M.2 metal heatsink, merged with the plastic PCH cover.
The sesond photo just shows the pch metal heatsink.

That plastic cover goes on top of the PCH heatsink, essentialy blocking all airflow. No idea why they designed it like that.

[pitderbeste]

Hello everybody,

I also bought an Asus ROG Maximus XIII Hero (Z590) and can also see that the PCH temperature is very high (74 degrees)

I currently use:
Intel I9 10900kf
Gigabyte RTX3090
2 Samsung 970 EVO Plus in M2.2_3 M2.2_4 (RAID 0)
Corsair DDR4 32GB Kit 4600 CL18

But I see PCH temperature twice .. What is for what.

Regards
PiT

temp after 1h Fortnite