Overheating chipset.

[PauloPanda]

I removed the original and reinstalled a 2mm piece of Gelid GP extreme left the plastic shroud off and put it all back together and I am so glad I did it now! I've just put my case fans on as they were on minimum and now it's idling at 52c been on an hour, The fact the fans are making a difference now just goes to show all the heat was trapped and no fan was making any difference previously but now it's so much better! hope this helps anyone.

Just ordered some thermal pads (Thermalright Thermal Pad Odyssey II). Will be replacing them when I upgrade my CPU from 12th Gen to 13th Gen. Giving the 12th Gen to my daughter.

Planned to remove the plastic shroud as well.

Will update here when done.

[IT Troll]

wow what a difference! I've gone from like 70c idle to the mid 50's, Doesn't even go anywhere near 60c now, When I first booted the system it was in the low 40's it's never been that low before and that's without a fan as well, the pad Asus was using was rubbish.

Thanks for the update. I'm going to have to do mine now. Did you tighten the fixing screws more when re-attaching, or just try to match how it was originally?

Just ordered some thermal pads (Thermalright Thermal Pad Odyssey II).

I've gone for that too. Went for the 1.5mm version.

[Adrian1983]

Thank you PauloPanda Adrian - Sounds good. That's a big difference, thanks for letting us know

No problem your welcome.

[Adrian1983]

Just ordered some thermal pads (Thermalright Thermal Pad Odyssey II). Will be replacing them when I upgrade my CPU from 12th Gen to 13th Gen. Giving the 12th Gen to my daughter.

Planned to remove the plastic shroud as well.

Will update here when done.

it doesn't look bad at all without the plastic, imo it actually looks better and now there is flat space to attach a little fan also which I ended up doing in the end after the mod and now i'm idling at 53c, huge difference from the 70's

Let us know how you get on mate.

[Adrian1983]

Thanks for the update. I'm going to have to do mine now. Did you tighten the fixing screws more when re-attaching, or just try to match how it was originally?


I've gone for that too. Went for the 1.5mm version.

Mine originally were pretty tight to be honest so I just did the same again to be fair, I do have better thermal pads the Gelid ultimate which do have slightly better thermal properties but the pads are stiff, One thing I have learned from doing the Vram on the 3080's is it was a bit of a nightmare trying to balance the contact area between the core and the vram with stiff pads so that's why I got Gelid GP extremes they are way way softer pads and mould better.

In saying that you only need one surface area for the chipset so I probably could have used the ultimates and shaved a few more degrees off but as it is i'm now idling at 53c from 70-72c so I am extremely happy with that.

let us know how you get on.

Update forgot to say i'm now seeing temps when I first boot to windows in the 30's 39c never I have ever seen these sort of temps before changing the thermal pad for a quality one, I used to always see in the 50'sC when first booting up that says how cheap quality the stock pads are.

[Adrian1983]

I should add there is actually only 2 screws holding the heatsink to the chipset the rest are because of the plastic shroud, Just be careful with those adhesive rubber washers and make sure they're reinstalled, Some of them can peel off when you're removing the the shroud and plastic and get stuck to the thing you're removing.

[JohnAb]

Adrian - great job and thanks for updates and photos. So you are getting 53C with a fan as well, correct?

If that's the case then I probably won't remove the heatsink (not yet anyway). I'm getting 56-59C on my Hero (also with a fan) so I might not get such a big benefit. Mind you, I'll do it if I have to remove the motherboard anyway for some reason.

Out of interest, what do you get if you turn your fan off?

Just turned my little PCH fan pack off to see what happens. Motherboard temp increases from 22C to 30C. PCH up from 57C to 70C.

[Adrian1983]

Adrian - great job and thanks for updates and photos. So you are getting 53C with a fan as well, correct?

If that's the case then I probably won't remove the heatsink (not yet anyway). I'm getting 56-59C on my Hero (also with a fan) so I might not get such a big benefit. Mind you, I'll do it if I have to remove the motherboard anyway for some reason.

Out of interest, what do you get if you turn your fan off?

Just turned my little PCH fan pack off to see what happens. Motherboard temp increases from 22C to 30C. PCH up from 57C to 70C.

To be honest only a few C difference, Because it's only a little fan and I want it inaudible less than 1000rpm it goes up to 3200rpm.

It can shave about 5c off with the fan full whack, With the fan totally off and the rest of my case fans on when gaming it doesn't go over 50-51c now, Previously it would go to mid 70's and 80 in the summer so was a massive difference for me.

[JohnAb]

Ok thanks. Just goes to prove what an amazing difference plastic removal and decent pads make. Appreciate your answer, I'm getting much closer to doing the same now

[PauloPanda]

I should add there is actually only 2 screws holding the heatsink to the chipset the rest are because of the plastic shroud, Just be careful with those adhesive rubber washers and make sure they're reinstalled, Some of them can peel off when you're removing the shroud and plastic and get stuck to the thing you're removing.

Thanks for the updates. Just a few clarifications:

1. What is the thickness of the thermal pads that you used? 1.5mm or 2mm? Will 2mm be better due to compression and better contact?
2. Any wiring or LED in the plastic shroud that we should be aware of?
3. After removing the shroud, the PCIe quick release button (i.e., to move the latch for quick release of the GPU) still working?

Thanks.