Asus Prime B350M No Heatsinks?

[Darkmatter35]

Anyone know why this is?

 

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/PRIME-B350M-A-CSM/

[The Sloth]

what? 

[Darkmatter35]

2 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

what? 

there aren't power delivery heatsinks

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, Darkmatter35 said:

there aren't power delivery heatsinks

.... maybe because it doesn't need it. 

[paddy-stone]

Buy a board that does have them then, there's a few to choose from now. I have them on my ASrock board, but TBH they're not really needed unless extreme OC'ing, and am unconvinced personally that they are needed at all unless your computer is water cooled completely and not much airflow.

[HelplmChoking]

That's a pretty low end board, it doesn't need a heatsink.

[NumLock21]

1 minute ago, Rangaman42 said:

That's a pretty low end board, it doesn't need a heatsink.

That's not the reason for it. It's due to price.

[Coaxialgamer]

Because it's a lower end board ?

[airdeano]

b-series due to the 'cost conscience' needs only needs a 4+2 power phase. efficient? meh.. but at 160a only 40/50w of heat. its enough to overclock median-wise. until you get into the 50/60a FETs the heat output is easily controlled through case ventilation.

[wzrd]

4 minutes ago, Darkmatter35 said:

Anyone know why this is?

 

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/PRIME-B350M-A-CSM/

There are heatsinks on the MOSFETS themselves, albeit small ones, just not on the chokes, and on the chipset. They are just removed on in the pictures on the ASUS website for illustration purposes - if you look at other images of the board you will see them. Lower end boards don't usually have very beefy heatsinks on the VRM, because they don't expect a huge amount of voltage to be going through them. That particular board is a really solid one for the price, just not designed with extreme overclocking in mind. If cranking the voltage a significant degree beyond stock is in your plans, then an X370 board would probably have a better VRM cooling solution. If it's not, the heatsinking of this board is adequate for its purpose.

 

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

.... maybe because it doesn't need it. 

VRMs run hotter than the CPU itself in some situations. If they get too hot, they become less efficient and can create voltage spikes that damage or even kill components, and at the very least create system instability. They most definitely do need it.

 

Maybe make some semblance of an effort to be helpful and don't completely mislead people.

 

 

[Alexzz_]

power = heat

no power = no heat

[The Sloth]

4 minutes ago, wzrd said:

VRMs run hotter than the CPU itself in some situations. If they get too hot, they become less efficient and can create voltage spikes that damage or even kill components, and at the very least create system instability. They most definitely do need it.

 

Maybe make some semblance of an effort to be helpful and don't completely mislead people.

 

 

 

 

well if things become efficient they take in less power so, less power=less head= no need to cool things more, efficiency also cost saving. 

[NumLock21]

The heatsink mounting holes are there. They just don't put them on because it's a cheap board. Same board but X370 and there will be heatsinks. The holes are right next to the mosfets.

[Darkmatter35]

3 minutes ago, airdeano said:

b-series due to the 'cost conscience' needs only needs a 4+2 power phase. efficient? meh.. but at 160a only 40/50w of heat. its enough to overclock median-wise. until you get into the 50/60a FETs the heat output is easily controlled through case ventilation.

I think I'll wait to see if asus drops a high end am4 matx

[airdeano]

why? other than dual GPU, they are more than capable for power handling. plus being mainstream support will be more forthcoming.

buying the am4 x370 mITX makes no sense. unless there is a x16 cable that can split into x8x8 for dual GPU usage, its pretty much a useless spend.

3.8-4.1GHz can be met on all b250/x370 so far.

[wzrd]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

well if things become efficient they take in less power so, less heat+less power= no need to cool things more. 

That's not how efficiency works. Industrial grade MOSFETS are designed to run at approx. 125C, and peak efficiency is, as a general rule actually around there. The whole point of a MOSFET is to act like a line filter and filter out noise from the incoming current, resulting in a cleaner signal being sent to the CPU. Due to the law of conservation of energy, the energy has to go somewhere, and is dissipated in the form of heat, which is why they kick off so much heat.

 

3 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

The heatsink mounting holes are there. They just don't put them on because it's a cheap board. Same board but X370 and there will be heatsinks. The holes are right next to the mosfets.

Strangely enough, the full size B350 Prime does actually come with heatsinks  Didn't realise that one didn't, good spot.

 

3 minutes ago, Darkmatter35 said:

I think I'll wait to see if asus drops a high end am4 matx

They have, B350 is just a lower end chipset. Higher end AM4 boards have the X370 chipset, and tend to have better heatsinking, beefier VRMs, etc.

 

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, wzrd said:

That's not how efficiency works. Industrial grade MOSFETS are designed to run at approx. 125C, and peak efficiency is, as a general rule actually around there. The whole point of a MOSFET is to act like a line filter and filter out noise from the incoming current, resulting in a cleaner signal being sent to the CPU. Due to the law of conservation of energy, the energy has to go somewhere, and is dissipated in the form of heat, which is why they kick off so much heat.

 

3

 

i fixed it, please teach an engineer how efficiency works. different chipset has different power requirements, ryzen B350 is designed more for low to mid range builds. 

[NumLock21]

1 minute ago, wzrd said:

 

Strangely enough, the full size B350 Prime does actually come with heatsinks  Didn't realise that one didn't, good spot.

Asus been doing it like this since socket 775. Cheap price board will not have heatsinks on it, even thought you can clearly see the outline for them and their mounting holes. Want heatsinks on them, then pay more for the board.

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, NumLock21 said:

Asus been doing it like this since socket 775. Cheap price board will not have heatsinks on it, even thought you can clearly see the outline for them and their mounting holes. Want heatsinks on them, then pay more for the board.

 

 

 

most of the times it's usually fine in most cases with decent cooling. 

[wzrd]

Just now, nerdslayer1 said:

i fixed it, please teach an engineer how efficiency works. different chipset has different power requirements, ryzen B350 is designed more for low to mid range builds. 

You do realise that the CPU VRM and chipset VRM are on totally different parts of the board? The amount of power drawn through the CPU VRM is determined by the processor and/or BIOS has nothing to do with the chipset VRM, which is a totally, physically separate entity. As explained previously, VRMs just stabilise current, their function has nothing to do with the chipset on which they are installed. I am well aware of that, I was simply saying that the fact that this VRM doesn't need cooling doesn't mean VRMs in general don't need cooling.

 

Not saying anything negative about the board, just pointing out that VRM cooling is necessary in a lot of situations.

[The Sloth]

15 minutes ago, wzrd said:

You do realise that the CPU VRM and chipset VRM are on totally different parts of the board? The amount of power drawn through the CPU VRM is determined by the processor and/or BIOS has nothing to do with the chipset VRM, which is a totally, physically separate entity. As explained previously, VRMs just stabilise current, their function has nothing to do with the chipset on which they are installed. I am well aware of that, I was simply saying that the fact that this VRM doesn't need cooling doesn't mean VRMs in general don't need cooling.

 

Not saying anything negative about the board, just pointing out that VRM cooling is necessary in a lot of situations.

 

 

-

[wzrd]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

you understand most cases have cooling fans right? these VRAM chips don't get hot as they used to be. these boards are made to be cheap, some sacrifices have to be made. most cases have adequate cooling to handle temps. not trying to mislead people, i am just saying not having a heatsink is not going to make the board overheat and die. 

What exactly is your point? VRAM is the RAM used on video cards, and not the subject of this topic at all. VRMs aren't chips, they usually consist of a series of voltage controllers, inductors, doublers, MOSFETS, chokes, capacitors, etc., and are used in many areas of electronics to provide stable voltage signals, as explained above. Are you sure you're an engineer? Because I seem to remember learning this in college.

 

The fact that this motherboard might get away without a VRM heatsink does not mean motherboards in general don't need VRM heatsinks is all I said. I don't believe I ever said anything about it overheating and dying.  

[The Sloth]

14 minutes ago, wzrd said:

What exactly is your point? VRAM is the RAM used on video cards, and not the subject of this topic at all. VRMs aren't chips, they usually consist of a series of voltage controllers, inductors, doublers, MOSFETS, chokes, capacitors, etc., and are used in many areas of electronics to provide stable voltage signals, as explained above

. Are you sure you're an engineer? Because I seem to remember learning this in college.

 

The fact that this motherboard might get away without a VRM heatsink does not mean motherboards in general don't need VRM heatsinks is all I said. I don't believe I ever said anything about it overheating and dying.  

 

 

 

1

messed up on the quote, really distracted. i said that they were efficient enough to not need much cooling, i am going to stand by that statement, even without too many heatsinks in a decent case it shouldn't be a problem. 

 

14 minutes ago, wzrd said:

The fact that this motherboard might get away without a VRM heatsink does not mean motherboards in general don't need VRM heatsinks is all I said. I don't believe I ever said anything about it overheating and dying.

 

 

 

 

 

cheap mobos can get away with it using less heatsink, temps won't be that big of an issue. please get some basic skills. 

 

 

14 minutes ago, wzrd said:

Are you sure you're an engineer?

well coming from you, i am really offended, some 14-year-old kid opinion matters. i hope your day is pleasant as you are. 

[wzrd]

2 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

messed up on the quote, really distracted. i said that they were efficient enough to not need much cooling, i am going to stand by that statement, even without a heatsink in a decent case it shouldn't be a problem. 

I never disagreed with you. Simply pointed out that while it applies to this motherboard, it doesn't apply to higher end boards with larger VRMs, and that some cooling can help power efficiency and give better overclocks, so OP may be better off looking for a board with those features

6 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

cheap mobos can get away with it using less heatsink, temps won't be that big of an issue. please get some basic skill. 

Whoa, relax.

 

7 minutes ago, nerdslayer1 said:

well coming from you, i am really offended, some 14-year-old kid opinion matters. 

I'm 24, and have the BEng. and MEng. (ECS) you claim to have. But OK.

[The Sloth]

4 minutes ago, wzrd said:

I'm 24, and have the BEng. and MEng. (ECS) you claim to have. But OK.

sure i believe you, i must admit you do have an attitude of an engineering student without any internship or experience. being nice is usually a good skill to have usually in engineering, most jobs are usually easy to get with connections. i am a 25 year old with masters in mechanical engineering working in aerospace for the record. 

4 minutes ago, wzrd said:

I never disagreed with you. Simply pointed out that while it applies to this motherboard, it doesn't apply to higher end boards with larger VRMs, and that some cooling can help power efficiency and give better overclocks, so OP may be better off looking for a board with those features

 

 

 

 

i am not talking about a high-end board.