The Mother Board

[foryourjunkmail]

I know that the voltage regulator temperature will vary from mother board to mother board. With that said what is a reasonable ball park temperature for a mother board voltage regulator?

Mine is running at about 65C under load and 53C idle. Intel recommends below 50 and 60 max. Intel tech support is giving me the run around about this number.

Is 90C 'or' 194F too high?

More information at:
Cooling Tips and Tricks > i5 661 , DH57DD , Over heating voltage regulator temperature

[Karlsweldt]

90°C. would be just below borderline for most electronics. Power regulators typically have large heat sinks, the larger they have, the more current they regulate. They depend on air flow to keep them happy. But if in the exhaust stream of the CPU, they can become a bit toasty.
Consider a case fan blowing toward the major heat producing components.. such as the CPU or GPU, and other finned components. Helps to blow away the warm air and maintain a more stable system.
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[foryourjunkmail]

My case is extremely ventilated. I have a positional 120mm pointed right at the voltage regulator that's the only way to keep them near the temp thresholds. CPU temp is very low the voltage regulators are the only problem. Many other people with this mother board have this issue. The voltage regulators don't have heat sinks. Intel tech support said to set the top threshold to 90C. That is not what the specs say. This does not sound normal to me. I'm not over clocking or even gaming the VR shouldn't get this hot just sitting idle should it? Or am i just being paranoid?

http://www.motherboards.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=116400

[Karlsweldt]

The greater the current/voltage regulation, from higher voltage to low, the more heat is dissipated. Doesn't matter the design, that is the 'nature' of the solid-state feature. If there is little difference between the input voltage and output voltage, the dissipated heat will be less. The reason for this is that the semiconductor structure must act in a resistive state, to pass only the desired voltage. Other types of voltage regulators control an input source voltage (exciting a magnetic field) having less current, so the output is not involved with resistive features. Most automotive alternators work this way.
With computers and other electronic needs, there may not be an easy way to regulate the source generator, so solid-state transistors or Thyristors are employed as "valves" in the circuits.
Intel did publish a white paper on voltage regulators some years back.
I would consider 90°C. high for operation. Hopefully, a newer design will soon arrive, which has lower operating temperatures. There are some voltage regulator designs that contend with a higher temperature limit, but they are not immune form "melt-down" if limits are exceeded.
The CPU has internal safety circuits to shut down if temperatures exceed a safe level. But many other control devices (regulators) do not employ such features.
This link may be of interest: CPU temperatures:

Would be interesting to note progress on your posting about the high temperatures noted, on that indicated site.
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F@H.. to solve mankind's maladies.. in our lifetimes!

[cw4cam]

It is also possible that a capacitor following the regulator is starting to go bad and using current. Seen this many times. Leaking capacitors start looking like a resistor, and the worse they get the lower the resistance, hence more current is dissipated in the capacitor causing it to heat up.
You might be able to feel this heat. Check the larger capacitors (the ones in the bigger cans) for unusual warmth or bulging.
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