AsRock motherboard problem.

[BlackThorn]

System Specs:

Motherboard: Asrock 990FX Extreme 3

CPU: AMD FX 8120 @ 3.6GHz

RAM: 16GB Corsair vengeance 1866 @ 1600Mhz (Really don't want to over-clock to 1866 for some reason.)

PSU: Tagen 700W

Heatsink: H100 with 2 Noctua NF-F12's @ 1400 RPM (Plugged into mobo H100 refuses to start them up half the time.)

Sound Card: Creative sound blaster X-Fi titanium fatal1ty champion series

Graphics Card: Gainward GTX 550TI

I'm almost certain I have a defective motherboard I get 34c Idle which is higher than I use to get with the stock cooler and when gaming it never goes above 61c because my motherboard always decides to under-clock its self to 1.5GHz causing my Fps to drop to around 5. I understand it is a feature to protect the chip, but I really doubt it is actually that hot and when I use to use the stock cooler it use to go to about 70c before under-clocking to protect the chip. I have left it on default voltages and today I started undervolting to a stable voltage and it is still doing same thing. So how can my temps be this bad with more than adequate cooling and a cool ambient of around 20c. My windows power options are also not the culprit. My warranties are expiring in a few months so It's time to get it sorted instead of putting up with it. Any thoughts?

[AJRicho]

That normal results from the stock cooler. You could just turn off the power saving features. You could input the speed and timing of the ram manually. make sure the volt is also correct

[BlackThorn]

That normal results from the stock cooler. You could just turn off the power saving features. You could input the speed and timing of the ram manually. make sure the volt is also correct

I don't use the stock cooler any more. I got a H100 With Noctua's and all the power saving features are disabled. When I try to use the ram in 1866 manually it won't even post. I have to overclock the clock speed to get it to increase even then it refuses to post at 1866 most i can get is around 1800, it is incredibly unstable though.

[AJRicho]

Asrock State the Board support it so you my have a faulty board. have you turn of the AMD Quiet and cool tech see if that helps with the other issue. Just a quick question what CPU ??

[BlackThorn]

It's a AMD FX-8120 and that was the first thing I turned off when I got this board.

[NewKID]

cleaned the dust out of your computer?

[mvitkun]

maybe some of the vrm's around the socket,or some of the other things in that area that previously were cooled by the downdraft design of the stock cooler are now overheating.

[BlackThorn]

cleaned the dust out of your computer?

Clean It about every 3 months, hardly ever get any dust in it though because I have filtered intakes.

[BlackThorn]

maybe some of the vrm's around the socket,or some of the other things in that area that previously were cooled by the downdraft design of the stock cooler are now overheating.

I think you might be right, just under where the CPU socket is there is a small heat sink I just touched it and it is hot enough to burn my hand, and I left my PC on idle for about 5 hours whilst I went out before I took the panel of and touched it. Now my question would be would I be better off sending the board back and getting a replacement, attaching a fan, or sending it off and spending about £40 more (If they will even let me do this) and get there top of the range model? I also need a lot more sata ports so it would benefit me a few ways with more sata ports, usb ports etc. Or can you even send this back and get a refund after all this time? Because to be honest, I would much rather go with a Asus board because of all the crap this board has been giving me with overclocking.

[mvitkun]

maybe some of the vrm's around the socket,or some of the other things in that area that previously were cooled by the downdraft design of the stock cooler are now overheating.

I highly doubt you could trade up for a higher model and even more so that you could get even a partial refund.but hey I'm not ASRock customer service so it's always worth a shot.

as to what you should do.depends.are you sure that the motherboard is at fault,this time?

-how good is the airflow in your case

-what case

-what case fans (stock fans,noctua nf-f12,Deltas,etc)

-is the 550 ti heating up enough to cause other components to heat up excessively

-is there dust build up in your system

​-do you have positive pressure airflow?

also how much money out of the pocket would you actually be willing to spend,because unless you buy a high end board it'll be the same thing with most brands.I mean ASRock was a part of ASUS,and according to another user,not sure if it's true or not,ASUS is trying to reacquire ASRock,so that should say what at the very least ASUS thinks of ASRocks quality.

[BlackThorn]

maybe some of the vrm's around the socket,or some of the other things in that area that previously were cooled by the downdraft design of the stock cooler are now overheating.

The 550Ti Is fine I use MSI After burner to crank up the fans when it goes up in temp's, it is normally around 68c When I game and the little bit of heat that drifts up is blocked by my sound card anyway. On the left of that is my radiator which is nearly touching my graphics card which is being pulled by two NF-F12's Which would draw that heat out. The air flow is decent 2 other Noctua's pull air in from the back and front. The case is as far as I know unbranded it has a logo with a A+ In chrome on it though. Dust is minimum I'm a clean freak. The pressure positive I would imagine due to me having so little dust inside.

I just got one of the stock H100 fans and placed it on top of my sound card where the little heatsink is. My temps are now 50-55c when I game and 45c-47c motherboard temp when gaming. Still seems ridiculously high for a 400mhz overclock with less than default voltage on a H100.....

Just closed the side panel I get 77-79c graphics card temps In the same game from 69c and everything else went up a little as well 50c on the motherboard temp.

[AJRicho]

There is some other people just posted recently seem to have the same issue with the downclock of fx 8120. I think it maybe the cpu which is the issue not the board.

[asusfan]

maybe something to do with thermal compound between the cpu and heatsink?

it seems its running hot at idol

you should be able to run your memory at its stock speed (1866) no problem,

I assume all the fans are working and everything is pluged into the right connections (like cpu fan port) etc.

something seems out of the ordenary

[BlackThorn]

The memory causes it to be unstable the only way I have been able to get it to 1866 is to up the frequency which then causes stability issues. I use Artic silver 5 and I'm going to be changing it to IC Diamond when I next upgrade or change out some parts. It does run hot at idle which makes me think that the readings I am getting are false. If it was a chip issue then more people would be having this problem. I think it is due to VRM's overheating and I have a suspicion that it is due to the MOSFETs they are using, are just plain bad. They have done the same thing with a few other motherboards and used outdated MOSFETs which are producing a lot of heat causing similar problems. This thread pretty much explains it and it is on a different board for a Intel platform, but my suspicions are they didn't learn and have done the same thing again.

[asusfan]

Well if you have tried everything i would suggest getting it shipped to Asrock and get them to test it or send a replacment.

[BlackThorn]

The annoying thing is, you have to do it buy e-mail, so I guess I'll have to write them a e-mail trying to explain all this. Looks like I'm in for a fun afternoon.