Chipset Information Error

[rod_]

I just got this M5A78L-M LX motherboard from ASUS and was looking for some information HWINFO could provide me to get the latest driver instead of installing the ones from the CD, when something came up.. HWINFO tells me this is an "AMD RS880 + SB750" chipset. This information confronts ASUS' report, which states this is an AMD 760G (780L)/SB710-chipset-based motherboard. To be honest, I don't know what are the changes -if any- between SB750 and SB710 but clearly, HWINFO pulled me out of my route so I'm reporting this as a bug.

As for the fan speed readings, I also found temperature reading misinformation.
I've played around with EVGA GeForce 9800GT and used PRECISION X (from EVGA) and its information is not the same as HWINFO's. For some reason, PRECISION X's temp readings (in Celsius) are always hwinfo's temp readings +2. Same goes for the processor temp readings, BIOS temp reading is different of HWINFO; However, I'm not sure about this one, so I'm now investigating this issue.

I've attached some pics..hopefully it will be helpful.
Thanks.

 

[Martin]

Thanks for the report.
I'm currently working with AMD to improve chipset model recognition, so I hope I will solve it soon with their help.
As for the GPU temperature, is the temperature under the NVAPI sensor also different?
You cannot directly compare the CPU temperature in HWiNFO with BIOS values, because in BIOS the system runs under different conditions - different CPU load, power management features are different than under Windows, so the resulting CPU temperature is different.

 

[rod_]

Thanks for the report.
I'm currently working with AMD to improve chipset model recognition, so I hope I will solve it soon with their help.
As for the GPU temperature, is the temperature under the NVAPI sensor also different?
You cannot directly compare the CPU temperature in HWiNFO with BIOS values, because in BIOS the system runs under different conditions - different CPU load, power management features are different than under Windows, so the resulting CPU temperature is different.

Hi, sorry for taking so long
I did not know HWiNFO Dev was teaming up with AMD to learn its chipsets. Good to know.
And I didn't notice, but NVAPI temp reading is accurate and its information is correct, at least judging from PRECISION X temp readings. Those are the same.
As for the CPU I just mentioned it because the difference between the BIOS and HWi temp readings are huge. While I get almost 50ºC when booting up, the processor temp goes all the way down to.. 32ºC. Something is seriously wrong here. Or not? Go figure.. As far as I know it should be the contrary. I will be testing the CPU Thermal Sensor with other temp reading apps when I get some time.

Take Care,
-Rod.

 

[Martin]

Sometimes even large vendors care about such tools
It's possible that the BIOS temperature value is higher than in Windows, because the BIOS environment might not support power management techniques, which are commonly supported in operating system, thus it's possible that CPU runs hotter there.
But just to be sure, you can compare the values with the ASUS AI Suite tool for reference. Just note, that on some systems there might be a conflict when running AI Suite with HWiNFO concurrently.

 

[rod_]

Subversion 1730 seems OK. Let me get this straight so basically the app reads northbridge and southbridge temperatures and stimulates the average between the two and then display it? That's the number on my notification area, HWi shows me two temp readings under ITE IT8728F so that must be my Northbridge but it's listed as SuperIO/LPC Chip.
My goal here is to read northbridge temp singularly, I'm working on a good-to-go temperature for overclocking. The default dissipation method is not sufficient to handle it so I'm going to install Akasa's chipset cooler and see how the temperature goes.
In case I'm wrong, does HWi read northbridge temp or that has nothing to do with the motherboard temp value?

 

[Martin]

Let me clarify the situation. Only very few chipset components are featuring a thermal diode which would allow them to measure their own temperature. Yours doesn't belong to this group. So to measure the chipset (NB) temperature, the mainboard would need to have a diode placed near that chip and connected to a sensor monitoring chip. The ITE8728F is a SuperIO/LPC chip, which besides other things (like legacy I/O) has a hardware monitoring subsystem to which such diodes can be connected. This hardware monitoring chip measures values from diodes, voltage probes and fan inputs across the system, converts them to proper units and reports to the system.
Whether the mainboard has a diode placed near the NB is solely in the hands of mainboard designers. So there's no reason to think that every mainboard is able to monitor anything. And usually lower-end mainboards are able to monitor only basic parameters, whereas higher-end ones (and especially those designed for overclocking) feature a more extensive set of sensors and monitoring capabilites. This is also your case - your mainboard is simply not capable of measuring the exact northbridge temperature.
The mainboard temperature you see reported comes usually from a diode placed somewhere on the mainboard. ASUS doesn't specify where this diode is exactly placed. It might be near the NB/SB, or anywhere else... Moreover, many hardware monitoring chips feature their own temperature diode which measures their local temperature. This temperature is often reported as "Mainboard temperature" (since the hardware monitoring chip is placed "somewhere on the mainboard").