Where does this temperature come from?

[BobLoblaw]

I'm totally baffled by this. My system is running fairly cool with my gpu being the hot spot but I have a random temp meter reading almost double the average heat of the rest of my sensors. Does anyone have any idea what it could be?

Here's a screeny!

[Reyzac]

I find that there will be nearly always a glitched reading in HWMonitor. Happens to me all the time, I've checked with an IR, nothing wrong. Just a funny reading.

[Feanor]

I would guess this sensor is your northbridge, Try running a little fan in front of it and see if it lower the temp.

Did you tried aida64? it says more about sensors than hwmonitor.

[PockyMaster]

That might also be the temperature readings of the VRM's on your motherboard. I believe they can generally go as high as 100c, but is not recommended.

Out of curiosity, how many power phases does your motherboard have?

[BobLoblaw]

It has all the power phases ever!

I'm not sure? How would I go about discovering such a thing?

Quick google search sez "The especially small MSI X58M equips 6 phase power design for its PWM which fully supports the Intel Core i7 line of CPUs." so.... 6?

So after PockeyMaster mentioned NB and VRM I proceeded to use the googles a bit more and yes it seems it would be the NB or VRM! There is no heatsink on the VRM's and the NB is passively cooled and poorly at that. Time to point a fan at the board and see what happens!

I have found and attached a image of my MB. Circled Red would be the VRMs?

[PockyMaster]

I think if you shift the red loop a bit to the left, that would be the VRM's. Correct me if I'm wrong, but those 'R50' cubes are ferrite chokes. If you're using an aftermarket heatsink that's not blowing down on it, it might explain why the temperatures are high. I had them hit 130c in my really old emachines case, but it was only a 3+1 power phase board and it had no airflow whatsoever. Nowadays, it's around 70c on load with my undervolted x4 640. Sadly, this is the extent of my knowledge on them.

Gigabyte said my board would support up to x6 phenom II's, but I would never take that gamble with a 3+1 power phase board. (don't let this scare you off, it's just a few AMD board models that seem to be plagued by this)

[Feanor]

Originally Posted by PockyMaster

that would be the VRM's

Agreed. Didn't tough vrm could be detected as well.

Place your finger on the little chips between the square with "R50" in them and the 8-pin connector. If you cannot withstand the heat more than few second, then it is what i consider too hot (70+). These things are designed to work at much higher temps (90+), but i don't believe that kind of temps are good in the long term. Rethink your airflow or add a fan over them to cool a little more.

[Soultribunal]

Wow...thats sparsely cooled.

Yeah get an Antec Spot cool and see if that helps, I know VRM's are monitored (the are you have circled) because my EVGA board X58 polls the temp and reports it to Everest (though that is now AIDA).

I don't think it is NB temperature, last time I saw a NB get that hot was the Nforce Chips 680 and such.

You can also spend a little $$$ and get some Enzotech heatsinks to paste on there (that is what I do on budget boards that don't have VRM cooling. Gives me peace of mind.

EnzoTech

Though finding them is getting harder.

-ST

[KaptCrunch]

yes missing HS (3) and gray silicon t.i.m (2)

most times is the screws are loose or chips uneven

place a fan in area

[BobLoblaw]

Thanks everyone for all the help. I haven't had a chance to crack my case open and aim a fan at the offending spot but it's gonna happen this weekend for sure!

I tried finding the EnzoTech heat sinks. Only NewEgg stocks em and they're on back order. Anywhere else I might be able to find em?

What about a bar heatsink? Would I be able to use some thermal tape and just stick one on there that might match the dimensions?