Intel Q33 Express Chipset Compatibility with Windows 10

Faisal McMissile · 26 Mar 2018 at 11:15

Good day,

Many months ago, I restored an old HP Business dc5800 Small Form Factor, as shown in the link below:
https://www.cnet.com/products/hp-bu...0-3ghz-2gb-ram-160gb-hd-vista-business/specs/

The desktop is based on Intel Q33 Express Chipset. Below is the summary of the desktop's components before and after the restoration:

Before restoration:
1) Pentium E2200
2) 2 x 1GB DDR2 800MH
3) Intel GMA 3100 integrated graphics
4) Windows XP
5) Western Digital 60GB HDD.

After restoration:
1) Core 2 Quad Q9650
2) 4 x 2GB DDR2 800MHz
3) NVidia GeForce GT 1030
4) Windows 10 Pro
5) Intel 1TB SSD

However, the northbridge becomes overheat, causing the CPU fan to spins noisily. The noise level is only reduced after I replace the thermal paste at the heatsink of the northbridge. I installed the NVidia GeForce GT1030 to lessen the burden of the northbridge, but I think it does not give too much effect. Usually, the CPU fan becomes noisy when I open certain websites on google chrome, such as facbook (when there are too many videos on the newsfeed), certain video streaming websites etc.

I suspect that this happens because one of the following things"
1) The Q33 Express northbridge is faulty.
2) The Q33 Express northbridge is not compatible with windows 10.
3) The driver for Q33 Express northbridge is not compatible with windows 10.
4) Other faulty components (processor, RAM, etc) causes the northbridege to overheat.

My last resort is to replace the existing OEM fanless northbridge heatsink with the aftermarket heatsink that comes with fan, such as below:
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEbXQQY0KAs
2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf60mlGNqEA
3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIXi4pgMd7g

If this aftermarket heatsink that comes with fan does not improve anything, I think I will just dispose the PC and transfer the CPU to a used P45/P43 chipset based motherboard to build another custom PC.

Another option is to downgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 7, but then the desktop will not be usable after Windows 7 expired by the year 2020. In addition, only PC with Windows 10 will be able to use Ms Office 2019, which will be released in few more months.

Please advice if there is anything that I could do to save this baby

Thank you and have a nice day.

wedrum · 26 Mar 2018 at 11:23

Windows 7 will still work after 2020

pandem0nium · 26 Mar 2018 at 12:44

I don't think windows 10 would be the cause of the problem. You can rule that out by booting to linux with a live cd.

The board may have been designed for lower wattage cpus like the one installed originally and the vrms aren't up to the task.

Faisal McMissile · 26 Mar 2018 at 14:27

wedrum said:
Windows 7 will still work after 2020

https://support.microsoft.com/en-my/help/13853/windows-lifecycle-fact-sheet

According to the link above:
1) End of mainstream support for Windows 7, service pack 1 is January 13, 2015.
2) End of extended support for Windows 7, service pack 1 is January 14, 2020.
3) Support for Windows 7 RTM without service packs ended on April 9, 2013.

pandem0nium said:
I don't think windows 10 would be the cause of the problem. You can rule that out by booting to linux with a live cd.

The board may have been designed for lower wattage cpus like the one installed originally and the vrms aren't up to the task.

1) All right, I will try booting with linux live CD. May I know which linux distro that you recommend? Ubuntu?
2) Somebody from the other forum suspect that my motherboard might be using too much voltage for my northbridge/MCH and suggested me to reduce the voltage if possible. However, I never reduce the voltage before and need some time to study about it.

wedrum · 26 Mar 2018 at 16:45

yes end of support but will still keep on working

Faisal McMissile · 26 Mar 2018 at 17:48

Understood. But will it be safe to continue using the windows after the support ends?

Anyway, I think I would like to continue using Windows 10 in this PC (if possible) to standardise the Windows version among all my Windows PC.

mrbazmondo · 26 Mar 2018 at 23:46

Faisal McMissile said:
Understood. But will it be safe to continue using the windows after the support ends?

If you consider how safe it is to be using XP now with no security updates, then it'll probably be just as unsafe. It'll start off ok, then gradually get worse and worse as more security holes are found that are no longer fixed.

Have you got space to add more fans you your case to eject the heat? Older cases usually have mountings for one fan at the front and one at the back that aren't always populated.

Faisal McMissile · 27 Mar 2018 at 05:48

That is what I mean. I think Windows 7 should not be used anymore after the support expires due to security reason.

Btw, this desktop is a small form factor, so it might be difficult to add more fan. I think the more feasible option is to upgrade the fanless OEM northbridge heatsink with aftermarket heatsink with fan.

mrbazmondo · 27 Mar 2018 at 08:27

Watch out for clearance if the chip is near any PCI cards.
You could also replace existing fans with better ones.

Faisal McMissile · 27 Mar 2018 at 18:31

mrbazmondo said:
Watch out for clearance if the chip is near any PCI cards.

You mean the clearance between the aftermarket heatsink and the nearby PCI cards, right?

mrbazmondo said:
You could also replace existing fans with better ones.

Beside being a low-profile system, most of the components are also OEM. It might be difficult even to replace the fan. The desktop uses fanless heatsink, as shown in the photo in the following link:
https://ssli.ebayimg.com/images/g/0o...Mm/s-l1600.jpg

This fanless OEM heatsink uses screws instead of using push pin like the standard LGA775. I tried to replace the fanless OEM heatsink with the aftermarket Cooler Master heatsink + fan for LGA775, but the pushpins cannot go into the OEM screwholes on the motherboard.

Lastly, because the fanless OEM heatsink does not have any fan, the desktop has 2 fans that are connected to the motherboard (using the 4-pin connector). 1 fan is at the front of the case acting as intake fan and the other one is inside the psu acting as the exhaust fan. The noisy fan when the northbridge is overheating is the psu fan. Please take note that the PSU fan is also connected to the motherboard using 4-pin connector, this means that the motherboard can control the speed of the psu fan (and the intake fan) via this 4-pin connector. The layout of the inside of the case is shown in the following link (just in case if you want to see the location of the intake fan, exhaust/psu fan, fanless OEM heatsink, northbridge heatsink etc):
http://thegioivitinhcu.vn/Image/Picture/PC/HP/hp DC5800 2.jpg

mrbazmondo · 27 Mar 2018 at 18:42

Faisal McMissile said:
You mean the clearance between the aftermarket heatsink and the nearby PCI cards, right?

Yes.
That first link doesn't work.

I've seen a similar machine before. There's not much room in there. Do you have the machine flat or upright? You could try to inverse if you haven't already.

Faisal McMissile · 27 Mar 2018 at 18:55

mrbazmondo said:
That first link doesn't work.

Sorry about that. Try this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-Hewlett-Packard-450666-450666-001-CPU-DC5800-DC5850/dp/B014PAANVG

mrbazmondo said:
Do you have the machine flat or upright? You could try to inverse if you haven't already.

Sometimes flat, sometimes upright, depends on my mood

. When you mentioned 'inverse', do you mean switching between flat and upright?

mrbazmondo · 27 Mar 2018 at 22:52

Faisal McMissile said:
Sometimes flat, sometimes upright, depends on my mood . When you mentioned 'inverse', do you mean switching between flat and upright?

No, I mean wires at the front

Does it make a difference to your issue which way up it is?

Faisal McMissile · 28 Mar 2018 at 07:49

mrbazmondo said:
No, I mean wires at the front

Are you serious or just joking?

mrbazmondo said:
Does it make a difference to your issue which way up it is?

I think there was no difference whether it was flat or upright.

mrbazmondo · 28 Mar 2018 at 09:40

Faisal McMissile said:
Are you serious or just joking?

No I wasn't joking, or was I?

Faisal McMissile · 28 Mar 2018 at 17:35

Does that means you suggest me to inverse the wire of the fan?

Faisal McMissile · 8 Apr 2018 at 06:00

I took some of the screenshots below, just in case if you would like to see. These screenshots were done when the PSU fan is noisy (even though it is a PSU fan, there is a 4 pin connector connecting the fan to the motherboard - that means that the proprietary PSU fan speed is controlled directly by the motherboard. These screenshots are not taken at the same time, so the temperature displayed will be slightly different from one to another. Please also take note that I only screenshoot the tabs related to CPU and motherboard temperature. Just in case if you need me to screenshoot other tabs, please tell me which software and which tab.

Core Temp

HWiNFO - System Summary

HWiNFO - Sensor Status

Speccy - CPU

Speccy - Motherboard

Speed Fan - Readings

Speed Fan - Exotics

Faisal McMissile · 9 Apr 2018 at 07:32

This is the latest update.

All this time I thought only the PSU/exhaust fan were the one that was noisy, because I only listen to the noisy sound when the case was closed. Last night I opened the case to verify whether the PSU/exhaust fan was the one that was noisy - now I discovered that both the intake/CPU fan and PSU/exhaust fan are noisy. All this time I didn't realised that the intake/CPU fan was also noisy because the case side cover was closed and I can only hear the noisy sound from the rear of the case. After the side cover is removed, the noisy sound is also hearable from the front of the case.

I have downgraded the CPU from Q9650 (95W TDP) to E8600 (65W TDP) and removed the NVidia GeForce GT1030, but the noise is still there.

I think I will try the aftermarket northbridge cooler with fan as the last resort. If still noisy, I will try to install Win 7 or even Linux. If still noisy, I will decide to scrap this desktop.