Thanks for "you are not stronger than these spacers". I've replacement cpu's ordered and was concerned about crushing things when I reassemble, so that was reassuring.
Thank you so much for these instructions. I had my Northbridge running in excess of 100°C for a while and really needed to take care of this situation. When I took it appart, I found out one of the pins had broken so basically, the heatsink was barely touching the chip on one side only. The paste was baked onto it and I had to work a little harder to remove it completely. I just reassembled everything and I’ll go fire it back up to see how it’s doing now.
So after a little more than an hour running, the temps is now around 42C instead of 103C. That is a HUGE difference ! Now that I know how to fix this issue, I will keep an eye on the temp gauge and will act as soon as the temp start rising again. Once again, thank you !
Really good instructing video, much better than so many out there. I found the Northbridge heatsink paste to be nothing but dry flakes. I had to wait a while for the new pins from China and once again your instructions were spot-on. Also had the chance to clean the fan and board, the chip is running much cooler and the system much quieter - thanks again for the great video, as the guy below said "very underrated".
Great tutorial. I was spending so much time figuring out which rivets I should use. Found them on amazon as I didn’t want to wait that long for it to ship from China. The description on cutting them down really helped a lot!!
Hi Phil, I was wondering if you’d be able to share the link on what rivets you accuired from Amazon? I’m not a techie guy and That’ll be a great help. Thank you
The best video buy far so much detail. Thank you so much for posting it. A while back I was able to purchase metal push pins instead of the plastic ones. I would think these are better than the plastic ones you used. They are exactly like the black plastic ones you removed only metal. Your comments please
Thanks Bob. Metal pins should be fine as long as they have spring to ensure even pressure on both sides. Can you email me a link to them? Curious to check them out inbox@thehouseofmoth.com
my 4,1 dual CPU (late 2009 manufacture) I machined 8 washers after carefully measuring the standoff difference difference between unlidded and lidded replacement cpus..I used a micrometer a lathe, and patience. that was flashed to 5,1. and yes the heat sink plug needs to be broken out and reseated. hot glue worked well, but was tricky to achieve the precision necessary. didn't have enough courage (lacking spare pins to touch the north bridge. mine also ran at a stable 73ºC mining crypto). booted first time after 2015 Xeon CPUs were added ran for 18months continuous at 94% cpu until PCB rot at the ethernet ports killed the motherboard. that dual processor daughterboard is now installed on a flashed single processor mother board to 5,1. so it seems apple figured out 5,1 firmware should be common to both single and dual processor Mac pros. note: I noticed the cpu sockets sat slightly unevenly on the PCB so I machined each of the 8 standoff washers slightly differently so that I could be confident I wouldn't crush the pins. and yes if you do not pay attention to leverage pressure you can over tighten the cpu heatsinks by crushing the spacers/stripping threads. it just takes experience, and a good sense of touch to get the torque correct. Metal is plastic, and the type of thermal paste used can also play a part. burn in the cpus at high load for a day, then gently and firmly re-torque to achieve even firm -not tight- pressure. the heat seak screws furthest from the cpu need to done most carefully (fractionally less torque) as they can exert much more leverage than those next to the CPU. some folk find doing cpu A and booting topmost, then B and booting to post allows them confidence that each heatsink is properly installed. if cpu A fails post tighten the heatsink an eighth of a turn more on each screw to even pressure. since and repeat for heatsink b.
The thing about trimming the aftermarket pins, is that wire cutters don't really cut at a straight angle and I had to fine trim them even more to make them straighter. I feel like if the casings are not equal, you will have uneven tension on either side of the heatsink. I noticed that these have more tension and don't poke through as far as the stock rivets when you push down on them. How much give/play should there be?
I recently bought a new motherboard that came with a hefty chipset heat sink. When I opened the packaging for the motherboard I saw that the spring clips were completely broken off. They looked like the black one you have in the video. I'm going to order some of those white spring clips from amazon to see if that fixes my problem. Thanks for the awesome Video!
Certainly an option but it’ll be very hard to keep in place as you wrangle the heatsink back on. If it’s off by just a bit it loses a lot of efficiency. For the CPU’s a pad would be a lot easier to install.
Good question! I never really watch the heatsink temps so I don’t have an answer. As long as the diode stays in an acceptable range I know the heatsink is doing it’s job and I’m happy :)
Recently revived my 4,1 Mac Pro with X5670s, Vega 56, and NVMe storage for MacOS and Windows. I noticed that while gaming on Windows that the Nortbridge was hitting 90+ degrees Celsius. I noticed that the paste was dried out on the CPUs (a commonly talked about maintenance) but did not even consider the Northbridge chipset. This being said. I set my Exhaust and Intake to start ramping at 70 degree Celcius via Macs Fan Control and it's been holding at 75 degrees during gaming (long sessions 1-4 hours) and during work on MacOS I am holding around the same during long sessions. Is that a healthy temp to be running it at for the next 2 years? If so, I'll keep an eye on it and if I creep into the 80s and 90s I can pop it open and get to work. Thank you so much for your video, one of the only ones out there addressing the Northbridge chipset.
By the way. have you heard of any mods that can help cool the Northbridge better passively? The big advantage, I find, with the Mac Pro is silence. I think the Northbridge would benefit more from a larger thermal mass for less heat soak. That heat sink is small yet it's reaching similar temps to the CPUs with spreaders the size of a tissue box, hehe. A better designed heatsink (maybe half inch taller fins that catch more of the CPU booster booster and a bit more width toward the RAM) That would probably change the game, cause it seems to stay cool when the ambient temperature is lower, which means it's all on the coolers ability to dissipate heat quickly due to it's small mass.
I really don't know why I typed all this without googling it first, haha. It seems a lot of people just put a piece of plastic in between the two aluminum spreaders in order to direct their flow down toward the nortbridge. Makes sense.
Extremely incidentally, where do those dispenser/pump bottles (for all your moistening needs) come from? On the off chance that you haven't seen it yet, "There has been a critical error on your website." ... Wordpress, right?
Yeah I had to crank up the memory limit. Should be all good now :) I got the dispensers from Amazon. Search for “one touch pump” and these kinds of dispensers should pop up.
Thanks for this video its very interesting. I used to have lidded 5680s in my 2009 5,1 no issues and just installed delidded 5690s but I non longer have the cpu spacers in fact I forgot all about them... seems to be ok. What function do the spacers serve? And should I get some and re install the cpus? Also I had never seen the Northbridge re paste before. What temps do you get after repasting it? Thanks
As far as I know the spacers ensure equal pressure on the CPU's and they keep dust away from the chip so it can't contaminate the thermal paste. Not sure if the dust part of it is valid, those heatsinks are on so tight there's no space for dust to even get in there! I repasted my northbridge well over a year ago and get a pretty consistent 50-55C on the diode. That said I use TGPro fan control so my temperature readings are probably useless to ya :P If you really want the spacers back you should be able to find them on ebay cheap or even 3D print them. All that said... if it works it works, no need to go change stuff now right.
@@TheHouseOfMoth Thanks for the reply, I actually found the spacers deep in my desk drawer with the original CPUs. Pulled the new ones out and re installed them with the spacers and all is good so far, but my Northbridge runs at 82c ouch!, I have really never been aware of it until I saw someone mention it in a post recently then saw your excellent video.
Plenty of them available but none from US sellers. While the ones from China are undoubtedly the same, they may take weeks or months to arrive currently. No specific recommendation, it’s a crapshoot. For $3 it’s a small risk though.
Curious how you like those plastic rivets? Do you think they are better than the stock ones from a reliability standpoint? I've heard the original ones suffer from heat and can break. Do you think these are stronger/better in this application or would a stainless screw with spring be better?
Will W I like the original rivets well enough from a functionality standpoint. Reliability not so much. I prefer these replacement thicker ones. Time will tell but it’ll take a lot linger to make this new thick plastic brittle I think. I’d still opt for plastic even if a good steel solution was available. We’re talking semantics here but a steel screw xonnected to the heatsink will just feed heat back into the board.
@@TheHouseOfMoth thanks, i think I will give these a try. my motivation for doing this is to re-paste the 10year old paste (hopefully to see some cooler Northbridge temperatures), and then to have the added peace of mind to have new heatsink rivets on my board.
Great video. I tried this on my Mac Pro but I have a red light on next to the cpu heatsink. The mac powers up but no chime and no video to the monitor. Are you familiar with this?
Either the CPU isn't seated properly, not enough or too much pressure, or some of the RAM isn't working. Best to disassemble and start over (CPU's only, northbridge is probably fine). My money's on the CPU heatsink being too loose.
This is great! I'm looking to re-paste the CPUs and northbridge on my updated 4,1...I'm worried about setting the CPU's back in place correctly. Any recommendations? Thank you for putting this video together!
hi great video i recently bought a 4,1 upgraded to 5,1 the cpus are lidded and i would rather have the original way so purchased 2 delidded 5680s and will sell the lidded ones my question is im positive that spacer that you show in the video i think you referred to it as a crush plate is not there is it required and do you now where i might find them i would need two of them any help is appreciated thank you
Thanks for the video! The replacement pins link in the description is unfortunately no longer active. Would you have a description of the name of those pins that you suggest? This way i could try and find something on my end. Thank you.
Hi HoM and thank you so much for your advice ! I changed my 2x processors Mac Pro 5.1 (mid 2012) from 2.40GHz to 3.46GHzand notice the Northbrige was wobbly because of the right broken black clip (the one under the processor cooling cage). I then replaced the processors with their respective heatsink and restarted the Mac. I've ever upgraded biprocessors with success and checked if every step was OK, and that was. Unfortunately, I didn't hear the "Bong" sound but the light of the Power Button was continue "ON". Do you think it's because of the wobbly Northbridge ? I ordered the same white clips as you hoping they will fix my Mac Pro. Any advice, any help please ? Thank you in advance 🙏🏻 Guillaume (Paris, France)
I would take it all apart and clean the bottom of the CPU's with ISO, check the sockets under a magnifying glass for bent pins or debris. With one clip broken the northbridge is expected to overheat and start freaking out under a minute but it should at least try to start, so I don't think that's the issue.
Wonderful video. Thank you. I have a 2009 that has been shutting down minutes after login, turning on.. shutting off.. etc. I’m lucky if I get a few minutes with it before it shuts down. Mac fans didn’t say it was overheating, but the rear heat sink is definitely getting hot to the touch when examined. I’ve upgraded my GPU to an rx580 and am using multiple monitors. I’ve recently replaced the logic board and have flashed back to 5,1… so it shouldn’t be a logic board issue that is causing the shutdowns. Any suggestions as to what may be causing the random shutdowns? Overpowering the GPU maybe..?
An rx580 should not overload the system unless it’s going full blast during a render. Even then it should be ok without a pixlas mod. Do you use any temperature or fan control software? Would be useful in keeping an eye on all internal sensors to see if any temps spike right before the shutdown or if a fan is not working as it should
@@TheHouseOfMoth Yes, I use Macs fan control. The NorthBridge diode and CPU A Core from PCECI were acting strangely. Seems like a heat sink issue, I suppose..? I’m running a 12-core, if it makes any difference. I also have the original nvidia 512mb graphics card installed to the port above the rx580 so that I can see the boot screen for dual boot purpose. The random shut off issue comes and goes and has done so for the past few years. It will shut off, then turn itself back on, shut off, turn back on for a little longer, shut off, turn on and will seem fine, but shortly turn off again. Ha. It has put me on edge whenever I’m able to use it for long periods. Mostly for audio.
Can I ask for your opinion on a 2009 Mac Pro that keeps shutting down randomly? I’ve done a nearly full hardware test and have ruled out almost everything. I even have a backup processor bay to test. It’s a recently refurbished logic board which I flashed to 5,1 No issue there… Tested multiple GPU’s too… I thought it was a heat issue, so I followed your video and repasted everything. Macfans says it’s doing well. Tested the PSU as well, and it checks out. Only things I haven’t swapped out are the ram and the power switch. The ram has been working just fine and have been performing well… This has been an ongoing issue with my 2009 Mac Pro since I bought it. It will come and go, which is odd. I’ll be able to work on it for months with no issue, and then it’ll randomly be an issue for a week or two. I’m disheartened. Anything you can recommend?
I would try to thoroughly test the RAM with a Memtest86 boot disk. Apart from that you've tried almost everything I'd think of. Anything useful in the system logs after it boots up again?
Had a problem: my mishandling took the temp sensor off the n.bridge heatsink - what to do now? any therm paste? just press-fit and/or re-glue wire? something else?
Hi thank you for the video I have a question. I did upgrade on my 5.1 the cpu to x5690 also the gpu to Radeon pulse rx580. The issue I am having is when ever I boot up the computer I go in to any app it will freeze my mouse won’t respond nothing will. Then I have to hold down to power button to shut down and when i do reboot it won’t do it again. I did look at the northbridge temperature is running around 75. Thanks for the help.
75 won’t cause any issues but you can bring that temperature down with a fan control app such as Macs Fan Control or TG Pro if it’s too high for your liking. I’d start by undoing each upgrade one at a time to see if it fixes the issue, that way you can narrow down if it’s caused by a particular piece of hardware
Great video! I just did this, but I had a question. I kinda screwed up when I put the thermal paste, I put too much and it went all over the side too. So I tried cleaning it up with alcohol and q tips, and it's pretty clean now, but there is still a tiny bit of paste residue in between the pins of the transistors surrounding the Northbridge die. I also tried a toothpick, compressed air but there is still paste residue. Is that going to cause any problems later? Thanks
It shouldn’t cause an issue but personally I’d take a toothbrush and clean it out of there as much as you can. 1 drop of alcohol is enough as long ad it doesn’t transport any paste, dust or debris under the chip. That’s just me. If you’re not comfortable with that you can leave it as is. Just make sure to inspect frequently as it can trap dust etc which may build up to a point it shorts some components together.
@@ryanlowseck1164 depends on the GPU's really, as long as the total expected power consumption is within 80% of the PSU's total capacity (to be safe), you should be fine. The wiring can handle it easily, the PSU itself will just shut down if you pull too much juice.
Hi. Thanks for the video. I'm have a 4.1 and upgraded with 2 x5690. Since then the boosters are running between 3500-5200. After an SMC reset they are back at 1700 rpm (idle values). I checked the temps, and the TCAD reports 50-65 as idle. TCAH, TCBD, TCBH are all around 35-40. What should I repaste? The northbridge or processor A? Thanks :)
This is likely not a paste issue, those temperatures are good for idle. Thinking more an issue of heatsink(s) not being tightened all the way which can cause all sorts of odd behavior.
Thanks for "you are not stronger than these spacers". I've replacement cpu's ordered and was concerned about crushing things when I reassemble, so that was reassuring.
Thank you so much for these instructions. I had my Northbridge running in excess of 100°C for a while and really needed to take care of this situation. When I took it appart, I found out one of the pins had broken so basically, the heatsink was barely touching the chip on one side only. The paste was baked onto it and I had to work a little harder to remove it completely. I just reassembled everything and I’ll go fire it back up to see how it’s doing now.
So after a little more than an hour running, the temps is now around 42C instead of 103C. That is a HUGE difference !
Now that I know how to fix this issue, I will keep an eye on the temp gauge and will act as soon as the temp start rising again.
Once again, thank you !
Really good instructing video, much better than so many out there. I found the Northbridge heatsink paste to be nothing but dry flakes. I had to wait a while for the new pins from China and once again your instructions were spot-on. Also had the chance to clean the fan and board, the chip is running much cooler and the system much quieter - thanks again for the great video, as the guy below said "very underrated".
Great tutorial. I was spending so much time figuring out which rivets I should use. Found them on amazon as I didn’t want to wait that long for it to ship from China. The description on cutting them down really helped a lot!!
Glad to hear it was of help Phil :)
Hi Phil, I was wondering if you’d be able to share the link on what rivets you accuired from Amazon? I’m not a techie guy and That’ll be a great help. Thank you
Lmfao 12:27 “ mute ! “ 😂😂😂
This is such clear, concise and easy to follow video. Very underated!
The best video buy far so much detail. Thank you so much for posting it.
A while back I was able to purchase metal push pins instead of the plastic ones.
I would think these are better than the plastic ones you used. They are exactly
like the black plastic ones you removed only metal. Your comments please
Thanks Bob. Metal pins should be fine as long as they have spring to ensure even pressure on both sides. Can you email me a link to them? Curious to check them out inbox@thehouseofmoth.com
Thank you so much for this tutorial and for sharing your knowledge!
my 4,1 dual CPU (late 2009 manufacture) I machined 8 washers after carefully measuring the standoff difference difference between unlidded and lidded replacement cpus..I used a micrometer a lathe, and patience. that was flashed to 5,1.
and yes the heat sink plug needs to be broken out and reseated. hot glue worked well, but was tricky to achieve the precision necessary.
didn't have enough courage (lacking spare pins to touch the north bridge. mine also ran at a stable 73ºC mining crypto). booted first time after 2015 Xeon CPUs were added ran for 18months continuous at 94% cpu until PCB rot at the ethernet ports killed the motherboard.
that dual processor daughterboard is now installed on a flashed single processor mother board to 5,1. so it seems apple figured out 5,1 firmware should be common to both single and dual processor Mac pros.
note: I noticed the cpu sockets sat slightly unevenly on the PCB so I machined each of the 8 standoff washers slightly differently so that I could be confident I wouldn't crush the pins.
and yes if you do not pay attention to leverage pressure you can over tighten the cpu heatsinks by crushing the spacers/stripping threads. it just takes experience, and a good sense of touch to get the torque correct. Metal is plastic, and the type of thermal paste used can also play a part. burn in the cpus at high load for a day, then gently and firmly re-torque to achieve even firm -not tight- pressure. the heat seak screws furthest from the cpu need to done most carefully (fractionally less torque) as they can exert much more leverage than those next to the CPU. some folk find doing cpu A and booting topmost, then B and booting to post allows them confidence that each heatsink is properly installed. if cpu A fails post tighten the heatsink an eighth of a turn more on each screw to even pressure. since and repeat for heatsink b.
Great tutorial !!!
Thanks!
The thing about trimming the aftermarket pins, is that wire cutters don't really cut at a straight angle and I had to fine trim them even more to make them straighter. I feel like if the casings are not equal, you will have uneven tension on either side of the heatsink. I noticed that these have more tension and don't poke through as far as the stock rivets when you push down on them. How much give/play should there be?
Nice video but I don't know why the replacement plugs / rivets need to be cut-down. The ones you recommend fit as they are?
I recently bought a new motherboard that came with a hefty chipset heat sink. When I opened the packaging for the motherboard I saw that the spring clips were completely broken off. They looked like the black one you have in the video. I'm going to order some of those white spring clips from amazon to see if that fixes my problem.
Thanks for the awesome Video!
Thanks! Let me know how it turns out alright? :)
Hey Moth what’s the normal idle temp for the Northbridge after you clean and repaste? Thanks
I can't remember the last time I used a Mac Pro on idle and/or without fan control software. I'd say 40C on the low end but 50-60C is more likely.
why not use a thermal pad? I need to repaste mine and am considering a pad v paste....single processor 09
Certainly an option but it’ll be very hard to keep in place as you wrangle the heatsink back on. If it’s off by just a bit it loses a lot of efficiency. For the CPU’s a pad would be a lot easier to install.
Is there a better set of screws out there in 2023? Ones that I don't have to snip/cut?
I haven't looked but maybe. Let us know if you find any!
Great video! Thanks! What do you consider to be a healthy temperature difference between the Northbridge Heatsink and the Northbridge Diode?
Good question! I never really watch the heatsink temps so I don’t have an answer. As long as the diode stays in an acceptable range I know the heatsink is doing it’s job and I’m happy :)
@@TheHouseOfMoth Thanks :)
great, just got my plastic replacement pins in today :)
great video, keep it going !
Let me know how they work out for you :)
Why would you cut the middle part in half? Can't remember doing that, only the top part I've been cutting in half.
With the sleeve uncut I ran into it being too tall so I just cut those too.
Do you think both need to be cut? Or just the one under heat sink A?
Great video! Thank you!
Recently revived my 4,1 Mac Pro with X5670s, Vega 56, and NVMe storage for MacOS and Windows. I noticed that while gaming on Windows that the Nortbridge was hitting 90+ degrees Celsius. I noticed that the paste was dried out on the CPUs (a commonly talked about maintenance) but did not even consider the Northbridge chipset.
This being said. I set my Exhaust and Intake to start ramping at 70 degree Celcius via Macs Fan Control and it's been holding at 75 degrees during gaming (long sessions 1-4 hours) and during work on MacOS I am holding around the same during long sessions.
Is that a healthy temp to be running it at for the next 2 years? If so, I'll keep an eye on it and if I creep into the 80s and 90s I can pop it open and get to work.
Thank you so much for your video, one of the only ones out there addressing the Northbridge chipset.
By the way. have you heard of any mods that can help cool the Northbridge better passively? The big advantage, I find, with the Mac Pro is silence. I think the Northbridge would benefit more from a larger thermal mass for less heat soak. That heat sink is small yet it's reaching similar temps to the CPUs with spreaders the size of a tissue box, hehe.
A better designed heatsink (maybe half inch taller fins that catch more of the CPU booster booster and a bit more width toward the RAM) That would probably change the game, cause it seems to stay cool when the ambient temperature is lower, which means it's all on the coolers ability to dissipate heat quickly due to it's small mass.
I really don't know why I typed all this without googling it first, haha. It seems a lot of people just put a piece of plastic in between the two aluminum spreaders in order to direct their flow down toward the nortbridge. Makes sense.
Extremely incidentally, where do those dispenser/pump bottles (for all your moistening needs) come from?
On the off chance that you haven't seen it yet, "There has been a critical error on your website." ... Wordpress, right?
Yeah I had to crank up the memory limit. Should be all good now :) I got the dispensers from Amazon. Search for “one touch pump” and these kinds of dispensers should pop up.
Thanks a lot!
Thanks for this video its very interesting. I used to have lidded 5680s in my 2009 5,1 no issues and just installed delidded 5690s but I non longer have the cpu spacers in fact I forgot all about them... seems to be ok. What function do the spacers serve? And should I get some and re install the cpus? Also I had never seen the Northbridge re paste before. What temps do you get after repasting it? Thanks
As far as I know the spacers ensure equal pressure on the CPU's and they keep dust away from the chip so it can't contaminate the thermal paste. Not sure if the dust part of it is valid, those heatsinks are on so tight there's no space for dust to even get in there! I repasted my northbridge well over a year ago and get a pretty consistent 50-55C on the diode. That said I use TGPro fan control so my temperature readings are probably useless to ya :P If you really want the spacers back you should be able to find them on ebay cheap or even 3D print them. All that said... if it works it works, no need to go change stuff now right.
@@TheHouseOfMoth Thanks for the reply, I actually found the spacers deep in my desk drawer with the original CPUs. Pulled the new ones out and re installed them with the spacers and all is good so far, but my Northbridge runs at 82c ouch!, I have really never been aware of it until I saw someone mention it in a post recently then saw your excellent video.
The link to the replacement pins show’s ‘no longer available’. Is there another seller you’d recommend?
Plenty of them available but none from US sellers. While the ones from China are undoubtedly the same, they may take weeks or months to arrive currently. No specific recommendation, it’s a crapshoot. For $3 it’s a small risk though.
The House of Moth thanks for the info
Curious how you like those plastic rivets? Do you think they are better than the stock ones from a reliability standpoint? I've heard the original ones suffer from heat and can break. Do you think these are stronger/better in this application or would a stainless screw with spring be better?
Will W I like the original rivets well enough from a functionality standpoint. Reliability not so much. I prefer these replacement thicker ones. Time will tell but it’ll take a lot linger to make this new thick plastic brittle I think.
I’d still opt for plastic even if a good steel solution was available. We’re talking semantics here but a steel screw xonnected to the heatsink will just feed heat back into the board.
@@TheHouseOfMoth thanks, i think I will give these a try. my motivation for doing this is to re-paste the 10year old paste (hopefully to see some cooler Northbridge temperatures), and then to have the added peace of mind to have new heatsink rivets on my board.
Great video. I tried this on my Mac Pro but I have a red light on next to the cpu heatsink. The mac powers up but no chime and no video to the monitor. Are you familiar with this?
Either the CPU isn't seated properly, not enough or too much pressure, or some of the RAM isn't working. Best to disassemble and start over (CPU's only, northbridge is probably fine). My money's on the CPU heatsink being too loose.
This is great! I'm looking to re-paste the CPUs and northbridge on my updated 4,1...I'm worried about setting the CPU's back in place correctly. Any recommendations? Thank you for putting this video together!
There’s only one way the CPU’s fit in the socket (a notch on both sides) don’t worry about it :)
this is art
hi great video i recently bought a 4,1 upgraded to 5,1 the cpus are lidded and i would rather have the original way so purchased 2 delidded 5680s and will sell the lidded ones my question is im positive that spacer that you show in the video i think you referred to it as a crush plate is not there is it required and do you now where i might find them i would need two of them any help is appreciated thank you
Oof I have no idea Jason. Never searched for any. Asking on the Mac Pro and Xserve facebook groups may give the best results.
Thanks for the video! The replacement pins link in the description is unfortunately no longer active. Would you have a description of the name of those pins that you suggest? This way i could try and find something on my end. Thank you.
Look on ebay for “20pcs-Heatsink-Cooling-Fan-Spring-Rivet-Fastener-Push-Pin-Mounting-Screw-RS” and tons should pop up 👍🏻
@@TheHouseOfMoth super. Thank you for your prompt reply. This is much appreciated!!
Hi HoM and thank you so much for your advice !
I changed my 2x processors Mac Pro 5.1 (mid 2012) from 2.40GHz to 3.46GHzand notice the Northbrige was wobbly because of the right broken black clip (the one under the processor cooling cage). I then replaced the processors with their respective heatsink and restarted the Mac.
I've ever upgraded biprocessors with success and checked if every step was OK, and that was.
Unfortunately, I didn't hear the "Bong" sound but the light of the Power Button was continue "ON".
Do you think it's because of the wobbly Northbridge ? I ordered the same white clips as you hoping they will fix my Mac Pro.
Any advice, any help please ?
Thank you in advance 🙏🏻
Guillaume (Paris, France)
I would take it all apart and clean the bottom of the CPU's with ISO, check the sockets under a magnifying glass for bent pins or debris. With one clip broken the northbridge is expected to overheat and start freaking out under a minute but it should at least try to start, so I don't think that's the issue.
Wonderful video. Thank you.
I have a 2009 that has been shutting down minutes after login, turning on.. shutting off.. etc. I’m lucky if I get a few minutes with it before it shuts down. Mac fans didn’t say it was overheating, but the rear heat sink is definitely getting hot to the touch when examined.
I’ve upgraded my GPU to an rx580 and am using multiple monitors. I’ve recently replaced the logic board and have flashed back to 5,1… so it shouldn’t be a logic board issue that is causing the shutdowns.
Any suggestions as to what may be causing the random shutdowns? Overpowering the GPU maybe..?
An rx580 should not overload the system unless it’s going full blast during a render. Even then it should be ok without a pixlas mod. Do you use any temperature or fan control software? Would be useful in keeping an eye on all internal sensors to see if any temps spike right before the shutdown or if a fan is not working as it should
@@TheHouseOfMoth Yes, I use Macs fan control. The NorthBridge diode and CPU A Core from PCECI were acting strangely. Seems like a heat sink issue, I suppose..? I’m running a 12-core, if it makes any difference. I also have the original nvidia 512mb graphics card installed to the port above the rx580 so that I can see the boot screen for dual boot purpose.
The random shut off issue comes and goes and has done so for the past few years. It will shut off, then turn itself back on, shut off, turn back on for a little longer, shut off, turn on and will seem fine, but shortly turn off again. Ha. It has put me on edge whenever I’m able to use it for long periods. Mostly for audio.
Very interesting 👍
Can I ask for your opinion on a 2009 Mac Pro that keeps shutting down randomly?
I’ve done a nearly full hardware test and have ruled out almost everything. I even have a backup processor bay to test. It’s a recently refurbished logic board which I flashed to 5,1 No issue there… Tested multiple GPU’s too… I thought it was a heat issue, so I followed your video and repasted everything. Macfans says it’s doing well. Tested the PSU as well, and it checks out. Only things I haven’t swapped out are the ram and the power switch. The ram has been working just fine and have been performing well…
This has been an ongoing issue with my 2009 Mac Pro since I bought it. It will come and go, which is odd. I’ll be able to work on it for months with no issue, and then it’ll randomly be an issue for a week or two.
I’m disheartened. Anything you can recommend?
I would try to thoroughly test the RAM with a Memtest86 boot disk. Apart from that you've tried almost everything I'd think of. Anything useful in the system logs after it boots up again?
@@TheHouseOfMoth Thabks for your quick reply. It turned out to be the PSU. Replaced it last night and it’s working flawlessly. Yay.
Had a problem: my mishandling took the temp sensor off the n.bridge heatsink - what to do now? any therm paste? just press-fit and/or re-glue wire? something else?
Contact the sensor with the metal and glue around it with a glue that can handle 100C or more, should be ok that way.
@@TheHouseOfMoth Thanks. So definitely no thermal paste or epoxy on the sensor face?
@@restcure I'd say no. But if you see traces of a paste on there, apply a little bit. Those that built the thing know more than I do :P
@@TheHouseOfMoth heh - noted.
Hi thank you for the video
I have a question. I did upgrade on my 5.1 the cpu to x5690 also the gpu to Radeon pulse rx580. The issue I am having is when ever I boot up the computer I go in to any app it will freeze my mouse won’t respond nothing will. Then I have to hold down to power button to shut down and when i do reboot it won’t do it again. I did look at the northbridge temperature is running around 75. Thanks for the help.
75 won’t cause any issues but you can bring that temperature down with a fan control app such as Macs Fan Control or TG Pro if it’s too high for your liking. I’d start by undoing each upgrade one at a time to see if it fixes the issue, that way you can narrow down if it’s caused by a particular piece of hardware
Great video! I just did this, but I had a question. I kinda screwed up when I put the thermal paste, I put too much and it went all over the side too. So I tried cleaning it up with alcohol and q tips, and it's pretty clean now, but there is still a tiny bit of paste residue in between the pins of the transistors surrounding the Northbridge die. I also tried a toothpick, compressed air but there is still paste residue. Is that going to cause any problems later? Thanks
It shouldn’t cause an issue but personally I’d take a toothbrush and clean it out of there as much as you can. 1 drop of alcohol is enough as long ad it doesn’t transport any paste, dust or debris under the chip. That’s just me. If you’re not comfortable with that you can leave it as is. Just make sure to inspect frequently as it can trap dust etc which may build up to a point it shorts some components together.
@@TheHouseOfMoth ok thank you for the tip!
Could you do this twice for two GPU, or would it be to much on the power supply?
Sorry this was for the splicing the gpu directly to the power supply.
@@ryanlowseck1164 depends on the GPU's really, as long as the total expected power consumption is within 80% of the PSU's total capacity (to be safe), you should be fine. The wiring can handle it easily, the PSU itself will just shut down if you pull too much juice.
great instructions!
Thanks Harald!
Hm, the eBay link for the replacements pins is dead - care to share the exact model of the pin, so I could hunt it down elsewhere?
Look on ebay for “20pcs-Heatsink-Cooling-Fan-Spring-Rivet-Fastener-Push-Pin-Mounting-Screw-RS” and tons should pop up 👍🏻
@@TheHouseOfMoth Thanks, gonna have a look!
Hi. Thanks for the video. I'm have a 4.1 and upgraded with 2 x5690. Since then the boosters are running between 3500-5200. After an SMC reset they are back at 1700 rpm (idle values). I checked the temps, and the TCAD reports 50-65 as idle. TCAH, TCBD, TCBH are all around 35-40. What should I repaste? The northbridge or processor A? Thanks :)
This is likely not a paste issue, those temperatures are good for idle. Thinking more an issue of heatsink(s) not being tightened all the way which can cause all sorts of odd behavior.
great video!!! many thanks for making it!!
The House of Moth have you write down which chip the northbridge is?
I have not
@@TheHouseOfMoth it is the Intel® ac5520 I/O Hub
Single and dual the same?
Yes sir
Northbridge and northbridge heatsink-wise yes. CPU and heatsink wise different.
Why would they fail?
Heat most likely, they’re pretty flimsy
The northbridge diode on my mac pro 4,1 always stays between 50-60°C is it normal?
Sounds about right. Means the. Ooling is doing it’s job well :)
@@TheHouseOfMoth OK then! 😊
Nice Video
PLIERS *triggered* :P