Topic: Why Are Unleash Mobo Temps So High... (Read 213 times)

Intensecure · « **on:** May 10, 2004, 09:59:00 PM »

Having recently installed, and started to play with UnleashX (which is truely awesome, and the best alternative dash out there IMO), I have noticed one strange thing.
I am currently running Evox, with UX as an alternative dash.
When I play games, the MB temp rises to usually about 47C, and then in Evox settles to a consistent 44C.
In UnleashX, my usual MB temp rises, and stays at, 48C. CPU, HDD stay the same as in Evox.
So my question/s is this: Is it true that the MB temp is the MCPX temp as stated in some programs (Avalaunch) or the GPU temp as stated in others (XBMC)?
Why would the UnleashX dash cause higher temps? Higher graphics requirements (thus denoting likely GPU temps)? Or what?
Anyone have any ideas on this unusual scenario?
PS - I am *not* worried that 48C is going to kill any of my chips! Purely academic interest

Safety in Nimbus · « **Reply #1 on:** May 10, 2004, 11:23:00 PM »

I think I also noticed this problem before I came to work. When I get home I'm going to compare temps between the different dashboards.

Intensecure · « **Reply #2 on:** May 11, 2004, 09:08:00 AM »

Sorry, got to *bump* cause I'm really curious...
My apologies...

Kthulu · « **Reply #3 on:** May 11, 2004, 12:36:00 PM »

i could be totally off on this and i'm sure someone will come humiliate me if i am, but here's what i think...

MCPX is the GPU of the xbox. since UX is more graphically intensive than EvolutionX, it wouldn't surprise me to see a slight temperature increase like this. if it does concern you, you can always increase the fan speed in UX settings.

Intensecure · « **Reply #4 on:** May 11, 2004, 12:52:00 PM »

I could be equally off on this, but I think the MCPX chip is the motherboard/HD control chip. So I don't see the correlation between UX and higher loads=temps.
The GPU lives under that "other" heatsink" next to the CPU.
Any more ideas? 4C is quite a lot of extra work for some reason....

Kthulu · « **Reply #5 on:** May 11, 2004, 01:41:00 PM »

i'm pretty sure now that the mcpx IS the GPU (or at least a part of it)...
http://www.nvnews.ne...mcpx/mcpx.shtml

but my explanation is still just a guess. my other guess is that is that there is something a little a different in how UX get/computes the temp than EvolutionX. 4C doesn't seem like alot to me, but i'm a fahrenheit man. i know the conversions, but i still have no 'concept' of celsius.

Lugnut · « **Reply #6 on:** May 11, 2004, 01:52:00 PM »

i have an xbox here that the mcpx chip rockets to 124F in unleash ( using electric skin) but if i leave a game running for lets say 10 minutes, when i go back to unleash its down to 109 -111F

If i switfch to evox, the temps read about the same from when i left unleash and entered evox.

but almost immediatly i can see the mcpx temp start coming down.

im gonna try a diff skin with unleash and see what happens.

Intensecure · « **Reply #7 on:** May 11, 2004, 05:12:00 PM »

Thank you, Lugnut - that is exactly what I mean, and what I observe! What is working the MCPX so hard to create those higher temps? Higher even than playing games!
Seems to happen in all the skins I've tried.
Some of you experts out there must know the answer to this....
I cannot rest until I know...

NOTE: Sorry Kthulu, if you read that extract again you will see that the MCPX is a controlller "The MCPX also offers a solution for high density storage devices and the communications arm of the chip has been coined as a router on a chip" for HDs, USBs etc and links to the main GPU which is seperate.
And 4C = 39.200F, which is quite a bit!!

Lugnut · « **Reply #8 on:** May 11, 2004, 05:20:00 PM »

i just tried a motionless skin ( actually a few of them) the temps would go back up to 124F on the mcpx!!! granted the room temp was almost 90 though so it was pretty hot to start off with but anyways. no matter what skin i used temps went up,, i switched to evox when the temps reached its highest ( 124f) and within minutes it would drop back down to (118F). Leave evox and back to unleash and it would go back up. But unleash is my favorite dash i cant settle for any other, so i just popped a heat sink on the mcpx which brought the temp down 10 degrees.

P.S. and to boot i had unleash fan setting on 2.0x so the fan was running even faster in unleash than evox and the temperatures were still higher.

Intensecure · « **Reply #9 on:** May 11, 2004, 05:49:00 PM »

You see, this interests me from the point of the whole MCPX overheating debate, and the lengths people have gone to keep their chip healthy - whether it is heatsinks, or even extra fans.
I agree, I like the dash more than Evox, but *what is this extra work* it is having to do?
I used to read posts where people had "killed" their Mobos due to failed MCPX chips, and even read a post where HSDemonz (hallowed and respected one) "solved" a hardware glitch on someone elses box by just adding a heatsink to the MCPX. Could a dash over-work a chip to the point of failure? Has it done so in the past?
For the record, as I live in a *very* hot country, and before the 12v fan mod my CPU was 66C and my MoBo 50C (*before* UnleashX, just with Evox!!), my temps are always high. CPU 55C, MB 44C-Evox, MB 48C-Unleash! Due to the whole over-heating debate, I stuck a couple of alu ramsinks on my MCPX - see, it's catching!!
I still think there is room for debate here - does anyone know if other dashes such as MXM cause the same effect?
Anyway, thanks for answering Lugnut. Interesting, isn't it?

unleashx · « **Reply #10 on:** May 11, 2004, 11:53:00 PM »

Hmn, interesting. I'll have to check this out, but as far as pushing the hardware's limit, nope, I don't do that. It's the opposite, in fact. I sample the temperature every 10 seconds -not every frame as most apps do and only when requested. That is true for all hardware related info, even the HD space isn't sampled every second. It's only queried when there's a file operation like coy and deletes.

The graphical power requirement of the dash is nothing compared to games which has to render several models consisting of tens of thousands of triangles at 60Hz.

Possible cause would be the way it's calculated. I'm just following the xbox-linux documentation. The value is already in Celcius, and the parameter required is an integer, so I don't know why Evox and some other app can output a non integer value, i.e. 55.4C. Heck, neXgen code was dividing the value by two. I'm outputing whan I'm getting directly from the readout. So, it must be what it is.

Also, 4C difference isn't 39.2F. If your baseline is 44C, it's 7.2F. Remember, we're talking of difference here, not the actual value. 4C is in fact 39.2F, but the conversion isn't linear, like 10C is 50.5F. The difference is 6C or 11.3F, but if you convert 6C, it will yield 43.3F -which ic the straight vonversion value -not the difference.

flattspott · « **Reply #11 on:** May 12, 2004, 12:19:00 AM »

I hope the guys above you understood that last part.

Intensecure · « **Reply #12 on:** May 12, 2004, 12:41:00 AM »

melon · « **Reply #13 on:** May 12, 2004, 01:01:00 AM »

which chip is the mcpx? I might have to put a heatsink on it myself.

Lugnut · « **Reply #14 on:** May 12, 2004, 01:10:00 AM »

it says mcpx on it right in front of the lpc to the right alittle.

I guess when a game runs the graphics chip takes over most of the work that relieves the mcpx when unleashx is running which is what causes the temp to go down.

This has happened on more than one box, but the others were always lower temperatures the most i would ever see out of the mcpx would be 118 and i would have to have the cover off( bad ventilation) for it to happen.

is it possible theres some kind of scripting in unleash thats bogging down the system because once in awhile i will hear music "skip" very slighly like the xbox is being overworked, im gonna try to shut off the music and see what happens. ( i have done 3 box's with unleash they all suffer the very slight music "skip" you can miss it easily if your not paying attention. at first i just thought it was bad wma files.

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