Shitaki Thermal Paste ['Warm ATX Connector']

9590 / GIGABYTE 990FX UD3A rev 4.0 / 16GB 1866 ECC – no OC.
Corsair RM750

Problem:
ATX connectors getting hot to the touch (near skin burning temp - 3-5 seconds). This is during load.
My PC crashes frequently when it is having temperature issues.

Sequence of events:
4 Months ago system was purchased. System was fine with a Hyper212 evo. (used for 2 days)
Then I switched to the Noctua D14.
The past 2 weeks the system crashes/hangs often when performing intense tasks i.e 3D Modeling/Animation, After Effects, large photoshop documents (while this is normal actually, it’s only normal if windows is can’t handle photoshop right, this appears to be something else), and Playing PUBG (the worst, lots of PC crashing).
Prior to this, a GPU that used to get extremely hot committed seppuku in the machine, so I swapped from an GTX 780TI to an R9 390.

The issue in detail:
Crashing in this situation is always the same - the display image is frozen, there is no response to keyboard inputs, and the PC must be reset by holding the power button for 5-7 seconds.
During this process the system components become extremely hot. The CPU cooler cannot dissipate the heat fast enough. What’s notably hot are the VRMs, the CPU, and the ATX/24PIN power connector. It’s hot to the touch and burns skin after holding hand there for a few seconds…
The system is already very hot before it crashes, the system lockup ends up keeping it stuck in a 100% usage state (or so I believe).
The PSU is also warm.

After reading many forum posts across the net some people have ended up melting their 24PIN connector etc. Here’s one with similar symptoms, but had regressed further into the issue


That could spell the future for my system. Possibly.

3 questions:

  1. Is this PSU strong enough to power my system? PSU calcs say 610W power consumption, so I went with a 750 Watt PSU. I’m using an RM750 750W PSU.
  2. The PSU gets warm under load but that’s supposedly normal. Is it really though? Anyone here confirm when rendering etc their PSU gets warm?
  3. So… if the system in no way is pulling 750W, I’ll get the store to replace it. If the system is underspecc’d in the PSU dept and thats my fault, I’ll probably have to buy a new PSU. How does this sound?

[edit:]
Sidenote re Cooling:
There is plenty of airflow over the VRMs, as the D14’s fans have been positioned extremely low, diverting a 20% airflow over the VRM which keeps them cold to touch under average use.
Chassis intake fans x3 120mm (PLENTY), and the case is lying sideways with the lid off. It feels so nice and cool at the intake.
The exhaust area of the case is warm of course and a lot of heat soaks into the case physically.

Neither the 24-pin nor the 8-pin should get warm or hot.
Looking at the board layout, the cpu power connector is close enough to the heatsink that rising heat could heat it up.

To your questions:

  1. 750W is plenty, according to the BeQuiet PSU calc, you should have 200W unused.
  2. Yep, PSUs get warm. Simple reason beeing that manufactureres decided to have the fan curve optimized for low noise, not low temperature.
  3. Not sure how old your system is. Maybe upgrading to Ryzen is an option for you?

Your response has been very helpful :slight_smile:

After further troubleshooting and tweaking hardware configuration it appears the terrible thermal paste I used has turned into mud and is insulating the processor.
Crashing is due to CPU being around 85C (so not soaking much heat from VRM modules at all), meaning VRMs hit their 105C target and somewhere between here and there something happens and game over.

I remember the paste, it was liquid shit. xD I have AS5 but no point re-applying as the cooler is currently zip-tied down and the machine is going on a trip.

note; the ATX connector probably somehow soaked in heat from the CPU via the copper traces in the board, despite the fact the 24pin is right on the other bloody side!!

1 Like

Which revision of the UD3 do you have? Revisions prior to 4.0 had a lot of issues keeping cool with even a 8350, let alone a 9590.

4.0 [thanks, adding that to OP now]