AM3+ MSi 970 Gaming board problem

toilet pepper · Aug 9, 2017

When I changed boards a few months ago I changed boards and found out several weird damp spots on the board - particularly where the VRMs are. I was using an FX8320 overclocked to 4.3Ghz and undervolted to around 1.28mv. (below stock) I don't see any reason why the VRMs would melt with these clocks. The board and CPU still works and and they are quite cool. I just want to know what these damp spots are. Otherwise the board still works flawlessly. Thanks!

Cvrk · Aug 10, 2017

For how long have you kept this OC ? 1, 2 year long ?
It looks like melted to me

Vya Domus · Aug 10, 2017

Considering it is an 8-phase VRM it should never even come close to melting components etc. with that OC and voltage.

I would not pay much attention to it probably some residue from factory.

infrared · Aug 10, 2017

I'm fairly sure this is just spooge from the themal pads on the VRMs. Probably seeped through the vias on the motherboard to end up on the back (tiny holes you can see)

I don't think it's anything to worry about, clean it with some iso alcohol if you want, and you could always change the thermal pad, they're not that expensive.

uuuaaaaaa · Aug 10, 2017

Welcome to the real deal with MSI boards. That looks like a MSI 970 Gaming, like mine. These boards use nikos mosfets, 8 of them, (as with all MSI boards for ryzen) which are know to be the worst in the industry, these are also famous for blowing up in flames due to thermal runaway due to dissipating too much heat. Put a fan active cooling the VRM, it is literally melting those thermal pads, or dial down that overclock. My old crosshair III formula was able to easily keep my 1100T at 4.0Ghz. I get stability issues at 3.7Ghz with this board at higher volts than what I would need for 4.0Ghz on my CH III.

Vya Domus · Aug 10, 2017

I don't know what to say , even if they are of poor quality still it should not heat up that much , hell 8 phases don't even need a heatsink for the most part.

My board got 4+1 phases and even with 1.45V the VRM heatsink never gets so hot that it becomes unbearable to the touch , I did eventually put a fan on it and it remains pretty much cool to the touch under load since.

If you really want to be 100% sure about it use the stock fan over the VRMs, although again , it shouldn't really matter , you are not pushing the board/CPU at all really.

uuuaaaaaa · Aug 10, 2017

Vya Domus said:
I don't know what to say , even if they are of poor quality still it should not heat up that much , hell 8 phases don't even need a heatsink for the most part.

My board got 4+1 phases and even with 1.45V the VRM heatsink never gets so hot that it becomes unbearable to the touch , I did eventually put a fan on it and it remains pretty much cool to the touch under load since.

If you really want to be 100% sure about it use the stock fan over the VRMs, although again , it shouldn't really matter , you are not pushing the board/CPU at all really.

It's also about the quality of each phase, and trust me I have one of these boards, the cpu vrm is absolute garbage... Seriously don't get fooled by the 8 phase vrm, i think that it is a doubled up 4 phase. Plenty of discussion on overclock.net about msi boards and their long lasting relationship with nikos mosfets. The oil bleeding out of the thermal pads is a sign that OP should actively cool the vrm, or he may have some magic smoke inside his pc soon.

Vya Domus · Aug 10, 2017

Honestly if they overheat even at a measly 1.28V and just 4.3 Ghz , even with a fan it's still a far cry from being safe.

toilet pepper · Aug 13, 2017

With this experience and GN and Buildzoid's review of MSi boards, I'm staying away from them in the meantime. Thanks everyone for the input!

natr0n · Aug 13, 2017

I got that board no issues. Just keep a fan pointed at the vrm and you wont have to worry about anything.

Keullo-e · Aug 13, 2017

uuuaaaaaa said:
Welcome to the real deal with MSI boards. That looks like a MSI 970 Gaming, like mine. These boards use nikos mosfets, 8 of them, (as with all MSI boards for ryzen) which are know to be the worst in the industry, these are also famous for blowing up in flames due to thermal runaway due to dissipating too much heat. Put a fan active cooling the VRM, it is literally melting those thermal pads, or dial down that overclock. My old crosshair III formula was able to easily keep my 1100T at 4.0Ghz. I get stability issues at 3.7Ghz with this board at higher volts than what I would need for 4.0Ghz on my CH III.

Yeeeeah...

uuuaaaaaa · Aug 13, 2017

9700 Pro said:
Yeeeeah...

Throttling is too boring for nikos mosfets!

Processor	AMD Ryzen R7 5800x
Motherboard	B550i Aorus Pro AX
Cooling	Custom Cooling
Memory	32Gb Patriot Viper 3600 RGB
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 3080 Ventus Trio OC
Storage	Samsung 960 EVO
Display(s)	Specterpro 34uw100
Case	SSUPD Meshlicious
Power Supply	Cooler Master V750 Gold SFX
Mouse	Glorious Model D Wireless
Keyboard	Ducky One 2
VR HMD	Quest 2
Software	Windows 11 64bit

Processor	Ryzen 5700x
Motherboard	MSI B350 Gaming Pro Carbon
Cooling	be quiet dark rock pro 3
Memory	GSKill Aegis 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 3200MHz CL16
Video Card(s)	PowerColor Radeon RX 7800 XT Hellhound 16GB GDDR6 256-bit
Storage	Seagate Barracuda SATA-II 1TB , HyperX Savage 240GB SATA 3
Display(s)	Benq EX2780Q
Case	Be Quiet! Dark Base Pro 900
Audio Device(s)	Sound BlasterX G6
Power Supply	Seasonic prime TX-650
Mouse	Marvo Scorpion G981
Keyboard	Razer Blackwidow Elite - Yellow Switch
Software	Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Good enough
Processor	AMD Ryzen R9 7900 - Alphacool Eisblock XPX Aurora Edge
Motherboard	ASRock B650 Pro RS
Cooling	2x 360mm NexXxoS ST30 X-Flow, 1x 360mm NexXxoS ST30, 1x 240mm NexXxoS ST30
Memory	32GB - FURY Beast RGB 5600 Mhz
Video Card(s)	Sapphire RX 7900 XT - Alphacool Eisblock Aurora
Storage	1x Kingston KC3000 1TB 1x Kingston A2000 1TB, 1x Samsung 850 EVO 250GB , 1x Samsung 860 EVO 500GB
Display(s)	LG UltraGear 32GN650-B + 4K Samsung TV
Case	Phanteks NV7
Power Supply	GPS-750C

System Name	Box of Distraction
Processor	Ryzen 7 1800X
Motherboard	Crosshair VI Hero
Cooling	Custom watercooling
Memory	G.Skill TridentZ 2x8GB @ 3466MHz CL14 1T
Video Card(s)	EVGA 1080Ti FE. WC'd & TDP limit increased to 360W.
Storage	Samsung 960 Evo 500GB & WD Black 2TB storage drive.
Display(s)	Asus ROG Swift PG278QR 27" 1440P 165hz Gsync
Case	Phanteks Enthoo Pro M
Audio Device(s)	Phillips Fidelio X2 headphones / basic Bose speakers
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova 750W G3
Mouse	Logitech G602
Keyboard	Cherry MX Board 6.0 (mx red switches)
Software	Win 10 & Linux Mint
Benchmark Scores	https://hwbot.org/user/infrared

System Name	No name / Purple Haze
Processor	Phenom II 1100T @ 3.8Ghz / Pentium 4 3.4 EE Gallatin @ 3.825Ghz
Motherboard	MSI 970 Gaming/ Abit IC7-MAX3
Cooling	CM Hyper 212X / Scythe Andy Samurai Master (CPU) - Modded Ati Silencer 5 rev. 2 (GPU)
Memory	8GB GEIL GB38GB2133C10ADC + 8GB G.Skill F3-14900CL9-4GBXL / 2x1GB Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC4000
Video Card(s)	Asus R9 Fury X Strix (4096 SP's/1050 Mhz)/ PowerColor X850XT PE @ (600/1230) AGP + (HD3850 AGP)
Storage	Samsung 250 GB / WD Caviar 160GB
Display(s)	Benq XL2411T
Audio Device(s)	motherboard / Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Pro + Front panel
Power Supply	Tagan BZ 900W / Corsair HX620w
Mouse	Zowie AM
Keyboard	Qpad MK-50
Software	Windows 7 Pro 64Bit / Windows XP
Benchmark Scores	64CU Fury: http://www.3dmark.com/fs/11269229 / X850XT PE http://www.3dmark.com/3dm05/5532432

System Name	natr0n-PC
Processor	Ryzen 5950x/5600x
Motherboard	B450 AORUS M
Cooling	EK AIO 360 - 6 fan action
Memory	Patriot - Viper Steel DDR4 (B-Die)(4x8GB)
Video Card(s)	EVGA 3070ti FTW
Storage	Various
Display(s)	PIXIO IPS 240Hz 1080P
Case	Thermaltake Level 20 VT
Audio Device(s)	LOXJIE D10 + Kinter Amp + 6 Bookshelf Speakers Sony+JVC+Sony
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III ARGB 80+ Gold 650W
Software	XP/7/8.1/10
Benchmark Scores	http://valid.x86.fr/79kuh6

System Name	4K-gaming
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X up to 5.05GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite
Cooling	Custom loop (CPU+GPU, 240 & 120 rads)
Memory	32GB Kingston HyperX Fury @ DDR4-3466
Video Card(s)	PowerColor RX 6700 XT Fighter OC/UV
Storage	~4TB SSD + 6TB HDD
Display(s)	Acer 27" 4K120 IPS + Lenovo 32" 4K60 IPS
Case	Corsair 4000D Airflow White
Audio Device(s)	Asus TUF H3 Wireless
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse	Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	It runs Crysis remastered at 4K

AM3+ MSi 970 Gaming board problem

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