[lug] Seeking thoughts on this crash

[Ed Hill]

On Mon, 2004-01-05 at 16:50, Gary Hodges wrote:
> >
> >I just dug though the archives and my quick greps didn't reveal a
> >mention of the north bridge.  Do you have a fan on the heatsink of the
> >north bridge?  
> >
> There is a fan on the motherboard, but I don't know if it is the north 
> bridge.  Here is a picture of the board:
> 
> http://www.giga-byte.com/Motherboard/FileList/ProductImage/photo_7dx_40_big.jpg


Hi Gary,

Yes, the little fan near the CPU (actually, just below the CPU in a
typical ATX case) is the "north bridge".  The "south bridge" is
generally located farther from the CPU and closer to the PCI slots.


> >I did a similar upgrade to an Asus motherboard and the
> >difference of 2 degrees F would tip the system over the edge.  Dropping
> >a fan on the northbridge blowing down over the heatsink and adding a
> >case fan that would pull in ouside ambient air that just so happened to
> >blow over the north bridge made a huge different.
> >
> I have two fans blowing in and three blowing out (one is the PS fan).  
> The way my computer was situated, heat from the exhaust fans would build 
> up behind the case and get drawn back in some lower vent holes. 

I've seen machines (both P4s and Athlons) lock-up at much higher rates
in hot offices.  One office at a previous employer had a fairly serious
HVAC problem (very high temperatures in winter months).  The machines
inside that office had recurring lock-up problems.  I was able to move
one machine out of that office and the lock-ups (for that machine) went
away immediately and permanently.

Computers are *much* happier in cooler, drier, and well-ventilated
habitats.  ;-)


> Is it reasonable to accept a CPU that operates so close to the temp at 
> which it fails?  I've always been a big supporter of AMD CPU's, but this 
> heat issue bugs me.  Way back when I dug around the AMD web site and ran 
> across a white paper that said the max operating temp of Athlons was 

If you put a machine in a hot room and/or provide poor ventilation then
you should expect problems.  And, in general, I don't think its
automatically the manufacturer's fault.  That said, some machines are
unreasonably flaky.

Good luck with your hardware!

Ed

-- 
Edward H. Hill III, PhD
office:  MIT Dept. of EAPS;  Room 54-1424;  77 Massachusetts Ave.
            Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
email:   eh3 at mit.edu,  ed at eh3.com
URL:     http://web.mit.edu/eh3/
phone:   617-253-0098
fax:     617-253-4464
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