MOSFET HEATSINK - WHAT IS IT FOR?

[l3entumbling]

some motherboard have and some don't. What is it and when do I need it?

[don_svetlio]

It cools the VRMs - every piece of hardware will cool the power delivery some way. Some (Asus) will use less on say GPUs whereas others (EVGA) will go overkill on their GPUs

As for motherboards, most have a big-ass heatsink

[KraftDinner]

some motherboard have and some don't. What is it and when do I need it?

Absorbs heat from the chip set, some motherboards have less of these heatsinks because more features such as the northbridge are beginning to become integrated into processors therefore you won't see them on your motherboard any longer.

[zinton]

Some mobos get all hot and bothered, others dont. Its usually the high class ones that get all steamed, but they need the bling considering they work a bit harder and need some help dissipating the heat.

[W-L]

some motherboard have and some don't. What is it and when do I need it?

 

The ones around the CPU are for cooling the VRM modules to keep them running at low temps especially for higher end boards where overclocking can get them fairly hot. For lower end stuff since they will not experience the higher power they usually have small heatsinks or leave them without them if they can to save costs. VRM's on motherboards are good till an absolute max 125C while ideally you want to keep them below 85C during operation.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Not all but some CPU's can throttle with high temps on the chipset/vrm (not the CPU heat giving throttling), so heatsinks reduce this problem.

[l3entumbling]

The ones around the CPU are for cooling the VRM modules to keep them running at low temps especially for higher end boards where overclocking can get them fairly hot. For lower end stuff since they will not experience the higher power they usually have small heatsinks or leave them without them if they can to save costs. VRM's on motherboards are good till an absolute max 125C while ideally you want to keep them below 85C during operation.

 

 

Some mobos get all hot and bothered, others dont. Its usually the high class ones that get all steamed, but they need the bling considering they work a bit harder and need some help dissipating the heat.

 

 

Absorbs heat from the chip set, some motherboards have less of these heatsinks because more features such as the northbridge are beginning to become integrated into processors therefore you won't see them on your motherboard any longer.

 

 

It cools the VRMs - every piece of hardware will cool the power delivery some way. Some (Asus) will use less on say GPUs whereas others (EVGA) will go overkill on their GPUs

As for motherboards, most have a big-ass heatsink

 

So basically, If I don't overclock or my system has low power consumption, I can go with a mobo that doesn't have this?

[W-L]

So basically, If I don't overclock or my system has low power consumption, I can go with a mobo that doesn't have this?

 

Usually yes, if you were to get say an H series board or B series board for non overclockable chips they usually cut back on heatsinking. 

[iamdarkyoshi]

Usually yes, if you were to get say an H series board or B series board for non overclockable chips they usually cut back on heatsinking. 

This is actually what the stock cooler was intended to help with: cooling the mosfets when they dont have a heatsink

[DXMember]

it's a thing where you sink the heat form a MOSFET

you need it when there is heat that should be sinked from a MOSFET

[harrynowl]

Well it's for the same reason as most heatsinks- to aid in taking heat away from the chip and dissipating it to prevent overheating.

[Dabombinable]

some motherboard have and some don't. What is it and when do I need it?

Some motherboards are dirt cheap and as a result costs were cut with the exclusion of them. Though TBH I like LGA 775 motherboards without them, its fun seeing whether or not a Pentium 4 will die before its motherboard.