GA-MA78GM-S2H -> design fault ??

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › GA-MA78GM-S2H -> design fault ??

aucklander

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#23306 25-Jun-2008 08:35

I got this mobo die to very good reviews, HDMI connection, the best onboard graphic chip at that time...
I will not go into details that I cannot use any of the selling features. Mainly due to bad ATI drivers.

I got the mobo Rev. 1.0, which was the only one available at that time, approx 5 weeks ago. I quickly realised the northbridge is getting extremely hot. I asked a couple of questions, everyone has the same problem, the supplyer advised there is no problem, it is designed to work like that.

Then, I cannot help to ask myself, if it is designed to work like that, why did they put a much bigger heatsink on the NB in Rev. 1.1 ???

Rev 1.0: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2758&ProductName=GA-MA78GM-S2H

Rev 1.1: http://tw.giga-byte.com/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2814&ProductName=GA-MA78GM-S2H

I printed them both and ticked the features one by one. And here si something more shocking: the rev 1.1 has... 1x NB fan header !!! That clearly shows rev. 1.0 might not be up to the task, with a much smaller heatsink and no NB fan header... TBH, I personally had to put a piece of cardboard to divert some of the airflow coming from the cpu heatsink downwards, to the NB. I can say it helps.

Did anyone try to get (at least) the small heatsink replaced with a bigger one as per Rev. 1.1? I consider this is a major change made in just 2-3 months from launching of rev 1.0 (March 2008) and Gigabyte should "come to the party" and help all of us "paying customers", and protect their name for the years to come... IMO, the bigger heatsink on Rev. 1.1 is a clear indication that not enough testing was done before releasing the Rev. 1.0 on the market. I am sure many others and myself, we all bought the product confident they know what they are doing. Maybe a recall of the product would be advisable? I do not know... If there are many other users concerned about this, who knows...

Looks like the people not trusting Gigabyte and having doubts are rewarded with an improved, better tested product.
I do not feel this is fair.

mobo Intel DH55PJ, RAM: 4GB RAM, Nova-T 500 HD + Avermedia Trinity tuner card, Geforce 520 video, 120GB SSD Sandisk + 640 WD + 1000SG, Win7 Home Prem 64-bit, Media Portal 1.15.0; BTC 9019URF Cordless Keyboard, Panasonic 55" (HDMI cable), HTPC Case Silverstone Grandia GD05B.

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#140380 25-Jun-2008 08:55

I've got the same motherboard - sitting in a closed cupboard in a entertainment unit, with very poor ventilation, in a case with equally poor ventilation. Its also currently got a NVidia 8500GT Passive in the same box. Runs 7/24. Haven't had a single issue with it, its about 2 months old ie one of the very first ones.

Curious - What issues have you had with it ie how has the high temp manifested itself? ie is is crashing once it gets hot etc etc etc

Disrespective

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#140399 25-Jun-2008 10:42

RustyGonad: I've got the same motherboard - sitting in a closed cupboard in a entertainment unit, with very poor ventilation, in a case with equally poor ventilation. Its also currently got a NVidia 8500GT Passive in the same box. Runs 7/24. Haven't had a single issue with it, its about 2 months old ie one of the very first ones.

Curious - What issues have you had with it ie how has the high temp manifested itself? ie is is crashing once it gets hot etc etc etc

I'd say that if you were using the onboard gfx you would have had a whole lot of crashes by now if the ventilation is as bad as you describe. The NB does get extremely hot with the onboard option and that's why i opted to go for a passive 8600GT instead of the onboard, even though the board was marketed, and i was sold on, the fact that it has very good onboard gfx.

I fear that Gigabyte won't be doing anything to help us in our time of despair and you might have to investigate a third party solution to the problem or route the extract air to pass over the heatsink as you mentioned.

redjet

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#140403 25-Jun-2008 10:56

I think you should just bite the bullet here and buy a new heatsink.

This one looks pretty good...
http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=364328

It's got a 5/5 rating on NewEgg from 223 reviews as well:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118214

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Disrespective

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#140414 25-Jun-2008 11:42

I would be careful buying the Zalman one posted above, i'm not sure its mounting gear will fit the elongated north bridge on the MA78GM. Have a good look around online to see if someone else has used it.

Also note that any third party heatsinks you use will block the use of the PCI-e slot. The current heatsink is a low profile one which allows a card to go over the top unhindered.

aucklander

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#140419 25-Jun-2008 12:17

I did not experience anyproblems which might be caused by the overheating of the NB.
By the way, what signes should I keep an eye on?

RustyGonad: did you try to touch it? It is VERY hot, I would say 70-75 C at least. Some users on other forums (USA) measured it with an infrared gun and got 80 up to 100C in some situations. Which is dangerous. As I said, I diverted some of the airflow exiting the CPU cooler towards the NB and it stays at a temp where I can touch it (might be only 50 deg ?). I also have EN8600GT 512/DDR3 silent as well, which adds to my concern. At this stage cover is off and I have a very silent (and old) cpu fan from a small Pentium sitting under the nVidia... I am sure it is quieter than the same graphic card with a fan.

IMO the Zalman posted above will prevent you from using the PCI-e slot. The new heatsink installed on rev. 1.1 is machined in such way to allow a pci-e card to be installed. I come here with two observations:

1] can we just "trim" the part of the Zalman sink which in to high? (assuming the mountings will match the mobo)
2] how come that something with a retail price of US$5 in USA is sold for NZ$30 in NZ?? I understand the "demand and supply" ballance, but still...

Assuming the user wants to replace the NB heatsink, how difficult would be to remove existing one? It is rock solid on the mobo even when hot, not moving at all, like the southbridge heatsink... (that one I would say is quite flimsy, it appears all of them are the same - anyway, that one does not heat at all).

How do you SAFELY remove the old heatsink from the NB?

RustyGonad

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#140541 25-Jun-2008 18:37

I think you could use a passive Snake Oil filled radiator to significantly reduce the temp if you are really concerned.

But seriously - mine has run both with the internal ATI graphics and the Nvidia 8500 GT passive. It hasn't crashed once (that includes playing lots of H.264 content and my 2 boys playing Lego Indiana Jones for hours on end). I think mine works so well because I don't look at it or monitor the temp.

If it blows up I'll return it under our excellent CGA - but somehow I don't think its going too...

As for being to hot to touch - have you ever tried touching the heat sink on a 8500 GT in any motherboard.

As far as I'm concerned, system stability it the only measure of any concern here - mines rock solid, so I'm not complaining. If it doesn't work I can't watch TV - so it gets used more than most.

In relation to it being dangerous - can someone explain to me from an electrical perpective why??? ie risk of fire @ 80-100 deg??? If it gets hot enough to start a fire then we have a serious issue - methinks it will go bang long before then. Has anyone asked Gigabyte what the expected temp range should be?

I really think some of the things being said here need to be put into some serious perspective - this is a low cost motherboard. Its primary design specs place it fairly in the HTPC market.

If you bought it expecting to play the latest 3D games, you got ripped. Why you would want to spend another couple of hundred bucks on a cooling system, mystifies me. If your really that worried go buy a new graphics card, anything you buy over $100 (ie 8500 onwards) would double the speed of the graphics anyway. And like someone already mentioned it will then run colder.

Go sit on an XBox 360 while its working if you want to see HOT!!!

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redjet

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#140643 26-Jun-2008 08:54

Disrespective: I would be careful buying the Zalman one posted above, i'm not sure its mounting gear will fit the elongated north bridge on the MA78GM. Have a good look around online to see if someone else has used it.

Also note that any third party heatsinks you use will block the use of the PCI-e slot. The current heatsink is a low profile one which allows a card to go over the top unhindered.

That's a valid warning, however the objective here is to use on-board graphics therefore in this case it's irrelevant if installing this heatsink means you can't later install a PCI-e graphics card.

There are really only two options:

1. Buy a new heatsink and risk possibly not being able to later install a graphics card

2. Leave the current heatsink as is and buy a graphics card

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Disrespective

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#140673 26-Jun-2008 12:16

redjet: That's a valid warning, however the objective here is to use on-board graphics therefore in this case it's irrelevant if installing this heatsink means you can't later install a PCI-e graphics card.

There are really only two options:

1. Buy a new heatsink and risk possibly not being able to later install a graphics card

2. Leave the current heatsink as is and buy a graphics card

I think you missunderstood, and i wasn't clear enough. I meant the PCI-e 1x slot. I use mine for a TV tuner so there would be no way i could put a heatsink on my NB without some serious hacking to let it fit.

ajst2duk

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#140728 26-Jun-2008 16:02

I'm with Aucklander - if it ain't broke - don't fix it. Typically overheating VPU's or bridges will evidence a problem by freezing or crashing, my system runs so hot it almost burns to touch, but it runs 24/7 is used heavily for HDTV and the odd game by the family. Until smoke starts coming out, or it becomes unstable, I'm not going to spend a whole bunch of time wasted on it when I can spend it interacting with my family or playing with my other toys.

I'm just a crazy newbie?
My HTPC: www.jenkin.net/HTPC.htm
Silverstone grandis, E8200, Corsair2GB, Seagate 1.5TB + OCZ 30GB SSD, ~~HD3870XT~~ 9600GT Passive Vista HP Hauppauge HVR2200/USB 500T Corsair HX620 modular PSU, Pioneer BDC-S02BK Blu-Ray, Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R, Logitech MX Air Citipulse DA2.03E USB DAC

redjet

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#140736 26-Jun-2008 16:27

Disrespective:
redjet: That's a valid warning, however the objective here is to use on-board graphics therefore in this case it's irrelevant if installing this heatsink means you can't later install a PCI-e graphics card.

There are really only two options:

1. Buy a new heatsink and risk possibly not being able to later install a graphics card

2. Leave the current heatsink as is and buy a graphics card
I think you missunderstood, and i wasn't clear enough. I meant the PCI-e 1x slot. I use mine for a TV tuner so there would be no way i could put a heatsink on my NB without some serious hacking to let it fit.

Ah ok, I'm with you now!

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richms

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#141015 28-Jun-2008 00:16

Since mine is making do as my desktop pc till I can afford to get a new one the onboard has being getting a work out.

It was having major visual glitches when accelerating h264 after a couple of mins, the chipset was hot enough to leave a mark on my finger. While it was glicthing the HD 1080i content, if I tried anything graphics intensive like solidworks that would get issues as well.

I have a 80mm fan in there cabletied to a PCI cards spare hole pointing in the general area - chipsets at 31 degrees now (measured heatsink surface temp)

Richard rich.ms

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kiwijunglist

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#141231 29-Jun-2008 14:50

I also noticed my northbridge was very hot. I used the following solution.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

aucklander

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#141402 30-Jun-2008 10:40

kiwijunglist,
is your setup fairly quiet? I find the stock fan on my Athlon 64 X2 4800+ quite noisy. When everything is off (except the pc), I can clearly hear it in the background. Is there any successful attempt to dampen the sound without replacing it?

The software fan speed control option did not give me good results yet. I will have to do a "hardwired" modification, maybe resistor on the fan... I would really like to know the fan will go 100% up when is required, than setting it at a lower speed for good, but EZ Tune supplied with the board gives an error at startup and Speedfan... well, I did not know how to set the speeds in the configuring window...

anyone got results with Speedfan? The website lists my mobo as accepted. I would like to get in touch with someone and exchange some screenshots regarding Speedfan settings.

kiwijunglist

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#141480 30-Jun-2008 13:18

not quiet enough. the cpu fan is definitely variable speed with cool n quiet enabled in bios, and vista power management using between 5% -> 100% cpu on my custom power management plan. the cpu fan is a bit too noisy i find. also the 1x case fan that i use is not a variable speed because it only has 3 pins. I notice that the mb supports a variable speed 4pin system fan.

Before i used the system fan and when the psu intake was outside the case the system was overheating and the fan would spin very fast and was very very noisy. now my system is fairly quiet but not quiet enough. if you watch tv its ok, but during the silent parts of a movie you can hear it going faintly in the background.

HTPC / Home automation (home assistant) enthusiast.

aucklander

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#141532 30-Jun-2008 15:24

kiwijunglist,

I can see you have the same mobo, but no graphic card in your signature. Are you using the on-board chip?? How is TV3 (and all the other interlaced channels)? I read that hardware acc cannot be obtain with this mobo, this is why I got an 8600GT silent, to ge rid of all the motion blur. It works, but if there is a way to get back to the on-board graphics, I would definetely try it... I tried before and I could not make it work...

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