M17 Temperature Question

From HWMonitor while using Prime95

P8400 2.26 GHz
TZ00 69c
Core 1/2 61c

X9100 ES 3.06 GHz
TZ00 103c
Core 1/2 92c
Auto throttled down every 5 seconds to keep TZ00 temp to stay below 103c

X9100 ES clocked to 1.6 GHz thru multiplier
TZ00 69c
Core 1/2 57c

First question: Why the temperature of TZ00 changes so much given that the bus didn't change in these sample? Isn't TZ00 the Intel chipset which shouldn't be affected by the CPU Clock?

Second question: In the underclock example, it shows that reduce the multiplier to reduce the temperature of the Core would also decrease the TZ00. The TZ00 is always 10 to 20 degree above the Core temperature. This proves that I didn't screw up the stock thermal "mud" while installing the X9100. Is there something I can do to reduce the temperature of TZ00?

ps. I do understand the Core and Chipset shares the same heatsink and it's possible that the Core temperature can affect the Chipset temperature through the heatsink, but even if that's the case, the Chipset shouldn't have higher temperature than the Core.

 

Don't forget that the TZ00 is linked to the same heatsink as the processor and it usually SHOULD run at about the same temperature.

However, if it's running that hot then you've got a problem.

Don't forget as well that all of the computer's information passes to and from the processor through the northbridge. It's exactly what its name implies, the north data bridge. It does get hot.

You could try copper modding your northbridge, or just replacing the thermal pad with a thick layer of good thermal paste like OCZ Freeze or ICD.

 

Thanks for your discussion.

From my understanding of your second theory, you are saying if the CPU is faster and processes more data, then TZ00 needs to transfer more data as well, so that TZ00 will create more heat. My underclock example denies that because it's only at 1.6 GHz, so it should process less data, but the temp of TZ00 is not related to the amount of data process.

Your first theory still cannot be verified from the examples, although I suspect it's somewhat related as I suggest in the first post. But if the high temperature of TZ00 is due to the share heatsink, then the temperature should not go higher than the core just because of that.

Please correct me if my analyse is wrong.
Is the TZ00 really the chipset or something else? It seems to me that the temp of TZ00 is somehow related to the temp of core, but probably not from more data need to transfer through northbridge (underclock example shows)

Is your TZ00 temp always 10 to 20 degree higher than Core?

 

My TZ00 is never higher than the CPU temp. and my CPU temp is between 70-75C..

did u put thermal pad on your NB ? i'm using thermal paste on my NB because the thermal pad is broken but the temp still never gets so high like yours..

 

No, my TZ00 usually lies at the same temperature or a little hotter (like 5 to a max of 10 degrees) than my processor.

The TZ00 should lie close to the processor, that's what I was saying, and also saying that in yours it is running too hot undoubtedly.

The TZ00 is the northbridge. That's what it is, that's all it is. It can also be defined as the chipset, but it's not the entire chipset.

 

My max temperature below



my TZ00 never gets higher than my CPU... but just slightly lower... hope this helps.....

 

Funny that my NB is always higher than core even at stock with P8400.

I am still trying to figure this out.

 

maybe try remove the thermal pad from the NB and apply thermal paste ?

I apply AS5 on it and it's working good.... Ive also orederd thermal pad from ebay and will try to install it when Im free to see if that can even lower the temp as I'm still having some stutter sometimes....

check here : http://cgi.ebay.com/Thermal-Conduct...iewItemQQptZLaptops_Nov05?hash=item2a02dd70cb

 

The gap between the NB and heatsink is quite big for thermal paste, I tried it too, and the temp is still the same.

I guess the thermal design underestimate of some batch of the NB is actually quite hot. The heatsink was designed to not to take away much heat from the NB, as you can notice how the copper ends (it's not even on top of the NB), and use aluminum to to touch the NB instead of copper.

After reading the forum more about QX9300 problem, it's actually quite common for the NB to overheat. But in my case, my NB ran way way hotter than theirs and mine is X9100.

Will investigate further.