Alright guys, I was able to pick up a great deal this past weekend, a EVGA X58 classy, i7 960, and 20gb of ram (5 sticks, only using the matching 3 for 12 in practice though) for $75!! That said, I’ve got a couple of questions I’m hoping some of the more experienced guys on this forum can help with. This is my first rodeo with X58, so there’s a bit of a learning curve.
First question: Should I be concerned about taking the NB heatsink off and redoing the TIM? Or is this not an issue. Only really bringing it up because the NB gets damn hot on X58, and at this point these motherboards are pushing 9 years old. There is plenty of airflow in the case (HAF 932 with front/side/top 200mm)
Second: How do I monitor the NB temperatures? Is there a software solution? Or is this another k-probe issue?
Third: Are there any other tips or pointers or advice you guys have? I’m having a blast with this system so far, planning on dropping a x5650 in as soon as possible and playing around with that. Just looking for any advice!!
That was a great deal!
On the x58 SLI(e758) I owned, the northbridge temps did have a sensor, however, it had a generic label by default in most of the temperature monitoring software I tried. As for repasting, I would say go for it, assuming that you have decent non-conductive paste to use.
As for tips, update your BIOS before dropping in newer ram or CPU, expect to have to lower ram speed when overclocking, especially past 4-4.2ghz and running 2 or 4 sticks works great(often even better than 3 or 6).
As for an x5650 or other Westmere chip, if you have one of the older classy’s, you might have an issue. From EVGA’s CPU compatibility page- “Westmere processors are only supported natively on the X58 SLI3, FTW3, and Classified3 Models. A product modification may be needed for older models.” The Classified3 is the model E770, with USB 3 and SATA 6 ports. The older Classified4(E762) and SLI Classified(E760) models without USB 3/SATA 6 are not compatible out of the box. There is a mod available to make them compatible, and there is plenty of info online if you need it. EVGA did do it at request when under warranty, so there is a chance is it compatible because a previous owner did or had the mod done(assuming you have an E762/E760). The easiest way to check is probably to get an e5606(4usd on eBay right now), and see if it works.
This is all really helpful, I would have had no idea about the westmere issue otherwise. I do have the 760, not sure if the previous owner did the mod though. I can message him and ask though, we added each other on steam (said if we played some dota he’d knock some off the price!!) I was aware of needing to update the bios, I dont have the CPU now though so I was just going to wait. Thanks for the heads up!!
As for the NB paste I’ll probably do that this weekend, I’ve got some MX-4 that should be perfect for the job. The only “generic” labels I see in hwmonitor are thrm and system. system is sitting at 32c after a few hours of load, thrm is sitting at 58c, the exact same as the motherboard CPU temp in hwmonitor (not the per core temp in the cpu tab). The only other temp is “vreg”, which i would assume is the vrm, which is sitting right at 61c. Any of those seem to make sense?
thrm is probably the NB, 58c sound just about right for NB temp.
Your motherboard should work with the w36x0 CPU’s, which are basically the i7 hexes with ECC support and lower prices. The w3670 is ~$50(USD on eBay today) while the i7 970 is ~$100 or you could buy the w3680 which is multiplier unlocked and is ~$70.
That is a good deal… 
First I would certainly change TIM on NB heatsink… try to improve airflow on VRM and NB, if you can, mount a fan…
Second just check with few software solutions HWInfo64, HWMonitor,etc. and if you have IR temp. gun or multimeter with temp probe you can compare to that…
Third if you can get any of those W36xx series chips that would be good because they have unlocked multiplier or maybe x5675 if you find it at good price…
These chips can burn a lot of power, make sure you have a good PSU…
I got three x58 motherboards for $75 in total I sold the OEM one only for more than that and kept the Asus P6T Deluxe V2 and Gigabyte X58-UD3R both can hit BCLK of 220, then I got the BeQuiet PSU, 12gb DDR3 and X5650 for $125, the x58 was so good that I sold my Devil’s Canyon build (i5-4690k and MSI Z97 Gaming 5), next thing I’ll just upgrade to NVMe storage…
https://valid.x86.fr/9n3505 this is with a single tower air cooler, tt silent frio 14… but I’m not running it like that all the time, I’m @4GHz that is at 1.335v… but I’ll upgrade the cooler because this platform deserves that… 
@TheCakeIsNaOH
thanks, ill look into the w series. I did a bit of digging on the mods to run the westmere chips too and it seems that its just bridging 2 traces with solder, which wouldnt be bad at all either. Sent EVGA a support ticket question, as there’s a lot on forums and even their own saying that they used to do the modification under RMA. I dont want them to do it, and they wouldn’t since I dont have a warranty, I just wanted to ask about the procedure to make sure I had good info. Their response was that they did not know how to do the modification and did not know where to learn how, So there’s that I guess.
@dok
Damn!! That’s a hell of a deal, where’d you come across that? And I hadn’t thought to check like hwinfo64 or anything, I’ll double check that. I tested the system with a liveboot linux and sensors detect didnt find anything specifically labeled NB, I’m not sure it even found a temp other than mainboard or something that was like 27c under load, but it might also need a driver or something, I didn’t look too hard. Airflow across the VRM and NB should be fine, I’ve got a 212 on the CPU right now, gonna change that to a TR True Spirit direct 140 here in not too long though. Also got the side mounted 200, rear 140, and top 200, so there should be plenty of air moving in there. As for the PSU im just using my bench/spare/old seasonic 1250w, it was just sitting around so I think it should be fine! 
The general consensus seems to be to redo the paste, so I’ll definitely do that this weekend. I’ve got a temperature probe I can use laying around somewhere, so I may try to check temps that way as well. Also, the advice on the w series and x series and CPU support has been great, this is the kind of stuff I was wondering about guys! As it sits I managed to put a quick and dirty OC on last night, still bringing voltages down and dialing everything in but as it sits 3.8 with max temp of around 75 on the hottest core in IBT. Loving this board so far, I haven’t had this much fun overclocking in a long time 
I dont think that the NB temp would really be something to be concerned about.
Why’s that? I know it normally isn’t a point of concern, but the NB temperatures can get fairly high on X58, or comparatively high. At least from my experience and reading about others.
How hot does it get and how its actually measured?
I dont think that i still have the detailed vrm specs of that particular board arround.
But if they are using IR powerstages, then you shouldnt be worried too much.
The main Vcore vrm will get the hottest.
That’s one of the issues I’m having right now. The only method I’ve found yet to view the NB temp is in the bios, so no measuring in real time. There might be a software solution, this might be a temp probe project.
I couldn’t find the VRM spec for the board, but I do know that the VRM only heats up to around 64c at the hottest I’ve seen.
Its kinda hard to really measure it without specific tools like a thermal laser,
that you could put right on the mosfets itself.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the NB in this instance was separate from the VRM. There are 2 separate heatsinks on the board, and underneath the one in question there’s what appears to be another small CPU (for lack of a better description).
Something like this is how I had been considering it.
Here is an updated bios link. The only tip beyond that is VTT voltage should be at +150 for that amount of ram. And the default cpu voltage is ridiculous. Clock it down. The NB will be under control thereafter.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1_E2jaFAbT2X1owTlVPcl9uc1E
Thanks, I’ll check that out.
I’ve had the VTT at +150 since I started, and I’ve been working the CPU voltage down. The stock voltage was good all the way up to 3.8, and I’ve backed it off from there and it’s still stable. Also have the CPU/IOH PLL under the stock 1.8 as well. Once everything is dialed in voltage wise I’ll probably adjust the switching freq as well to get everything as cool as possible.
I’ve bought x58-ud3r as not working, one of socket pins was slightly bent down, that was a easy fix, the gateway x58 and p6t deluxe v2 I got on local auctions for $20 as not tested, they were both working fine with no issues …
That should do the trick…
Yes that was the same thing I found when I got these x58 MBs, but I didn’t have problems with that…
x58 express thermal design page 13 table 3-2
Check your MB manual for sensors information…
You can check what VRMs are on your MB and google to find specification for them and go deep into this, but I don’t think there is need for that… Just redo the thermal paste, apply some decent airflow… And dedicate your attention to CPU cooling and overclocking this platform is really fun… If you hit any limits then and want to go further then do a more detailed research …
Thats correct.
Like @Jack_Foobar and @dok allready mentioned,
You might want to thinker and play arround with the overclocking settings, by tweaking the voltages.
X58 platform is kinda an old school way of overclocking.
I could highlly recommend to look arround and checkout some X58 overclocking and tweaking guides.
The EVGA X58 Classified is a pretty highend board.
So i wouldnt be too concerned about the vrm personally.
But the X58 platform is also pretty power hungry.
Anytime I get a new platform I’m not familiar with I try to take a look around the web to find some guides. I’ve got a few bookmarked from OCN, EVGA’s forums, hardOCP, etc.
So it seems, this is a super fun platform for tweaking. The oldest platform I’d used before was AM3 with a phenom II in there, similar but not nearly as in depth as this platform.
I’m not too worried, the heatsinks look the part of being designed for this higher heat output. Just makes me a bit nervous not being able to monitor both the NB and VRM like I’m used to. I’ll get the paste redone though and then see about a temp probe under there, but so far it hasn’t seemed like an issue, just trying to be proactive.
Thanks to everyone for all the information and advice. I think I’m out of questions now but if anyone else has anything to add or any tips or advice, links, articles, documents, whatever, I’d love to hear and take a look!