MSI 746FX Board - CPU protection?

[Jkun]

Finally found someone who still has MSI SIS mainboards for sale (expensive though, he asks as much as for an nForce2 mobo - $85)

When I went to the MSI website, I could however find no mention whatsoever of CPU overheat protection (which Asus for example calls A-COP. BIOS monitoring that switches PC off automatically if CPU overheats)

Does MSI have this? Is it BIOS level - i.e. no special Windows programme?

Also, does it use the Athlon onboard thermal probe or has it one of those probes under the socket?

TIA!
J-kun

[Brian Ellis]

I have an MSI P4 board and the CPU thermal protection is set in the BIOS, but can be displayed in a Win applet at any time. I believe it uses the voltage across a constant-current diode within the CPU as sensor. It is very rapid. The repose temp of my CPU is 57°C with a room temp of 28°C. If I start a rendering, the temp may rise to the upper 60's and stay constant there within a few seconds, the fan speed being adjusted accordingly.

There is also a chipset temp monitor.

OK, I know it doesn't answer for Athlon, but I imagine MSI uses similar systems.

[Marshmallowman]

p4's have integrated overheat protection, their is nothing the mobo has to do, the CPU will shutdown &/or throttle down of its own accord.

Wheras athlon XP chips, require motherboard support to operate correctly, my a7n8x does it, I don't know about the msi sis boards...I'll have a look

[Jkun]

Thanks, please let me know.

I know the Asrock boards have it, and that they're pretty good, but I'd rather have the 3-phase powersupply on the MSI over the Asrock's penny-pinching 2-phase.

J-kun

[Sasq]

my msi746FX ultra has Bios cpu temp, and shut down.

Dan

[Jkun]

Thanks!! Ever try it out?

Seriously, can you set the temp where shutdown occurs?

J-kun

[Sasq]

yes I can set the temp, never actually tried it I just have a nice HSF that keeps my temp down.

If you really want, I can set it low and give it a test a bit later. Just up to me eyeballs in Java atm.

Dan

[Jkun]

No, don't risk blowing your Athlon, you never know Thanks for the offer though

But I would like to know one more thing: where is the temp measured? Does it use the on-chip sensor or did MSI build one of those sensors under the socket?

Thx!

J-kun

[Marshmallowman]

Quite a few boards have temperature shutdown, but don't use AMD's "approved" method....which means it will do the job if your CPU fan fails. But if you don't mount the heatsink correclty it will toast before it has time to shut down.

I would think MSI one uses the CPU diode so it will react quite quickly and is probably is quite effective(but I would not guarentee it to worjk if your CPU locks solid)

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I think their qre 2 basic types

1. based on monitering CPU/diode or thermister under the CPU by the CPU itself(part of the bios). IF the CPU is still operating and has enough time to react it will shut down, thermistors take to long to react so if they are based on this they may lock before they have a chance to shutdown.

2.hardware like asus cop (and integrated into the CPU like all intel pentiium or better CPU's), has a seperate circuit that will shutdown the system when the temp is exceeded, the CPU is not involved so if your system locks solid and the fan fails it will shutdwon anyway and has a very good chance of shutting down the CPU before any damage is done even if you forget to put the heatsink on...

It is quite amusing to read some ASUS sites where there are a lot of people complaing about the "bug" where the board shuts down after 4 seconds...invariable the heatsink is mounted incorrectly

[paulw]

By thermal shutdown . Does it do a normal Windows shutdown or just freeze the system??

[Marshmallowman]

I think Bios based thermal protection will do a "yank the plug" shutdown.

I have home server machine which I use MotheBoard Moniter to do the thermal shutdown,as it will do a proper windows shutdown

I think the important bit about setting the shutdown temp on software/bios based control, is to set the temperature low enough that the CPU is still operable and can shutdown. If you set it to high it will crash and lock before it does a shutdown