Question 1300KF cooling. Upgraded from Noctua NH-D14 to Galahad II 360 Performance, but no change. What gives?

[poohbear]

Hello everyone, I've been on a quest to cool my 13700KF while keeping a silent PC. It regularly goes to 85c-90c while gaming in a silent sound dampening case w/ a P1 & P2 power limit of 150wt in my Bios.

I tried to upgrade my case first, from a Corsair 300R to a BeQuiet SB802, but no differnce. I said it's ok, because atleast the BeQuiet can take a 360mm AIO. So I tried upgrading from a silent Noctua NH-D14 (w/ 2 low RPM 140mm Noctua fans) to the AIO Galahad II 360 Performance expecting 15-20c drops, but nope. It's actually the same temps but MUCH louder (even in its Quiet mode)!

The TomsHardware review said it's the best AIO cooler, but it's worse than my Noctua NH-D14! (but a ton more work to install and much more expensive).

What gives? All the reviews show the Galahad II 360 Performance running 60-70c under load, but mine is 20-30c more. Room temperature is normal at 15-20c, so I have no clue why my system's so hot. I'm running it on a Gigabyte Aorus Master Z690 if that makes any difference. I read that some mobos overvolt the CPUs, might this be my situation? Full specs in my sig.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Phaaze88]

Cpu overclock, asphyxiation by case, or both?

Unlike B & H series motherboards, Z series tend to be preset with overclocks, either with enhanced Multi Core Performance, or EZ OC feature enabled. Turning it off should return the cpu to Intel spec...

BeQuiet SB802

This is a great case, but IF you are utilizing the front and top dampening panels instead of the air permeable ones, then you'd be choking either cooler, as well as increasing the already warmer case ambient values, which most devices run under. Cpu AIOs only use room ambient air when they are used as intakes.

Room temperature is normal at 15-20c, so I have no clue why my system's so hot.

That doesn't say what the case ambient may be. This will affect the operating temperatures of your devices.

 

[Eximo]

With that low of a power limit, something else must be wrong.

You might consider one of the contact frames from Thermaltake/Thermalright/ThermalGrizzly. Boards bending under the strain of large coolers is known with LGA1700.

Have you checked the flatness of your CPU? Every once in a while a very concave heatspreader will get out there, only good solution there is lapping.

It could just have a bad solder job under the heatspreader too, only one way to find out that.

 

[poohbear]

With that low of a power limit, something else must be wrong.

You might consider one of the contact frames from Thermaltake/Thermalright/ThermalGrizzly. Boards bending under the strain of large coolers is known with LGA1700.

Have you checked the flatness of your CPU? Every once in a while a very concave heatspreader will get out there, only good solution there is lapping.

It could just have a bad solder job under the heatspreader too, only one way to find out that.

Thank you Eximo. It could be the CPU heatspreader...my CPU has always been hotter than the avg temps I see in reviews. 70-85c in gaming is normal for me, but I always put the CPU fans on low settings, so I thought it was that. It idles in high 40s to high 50s w/ the Galahad II Performance fan @ 780RPM (inaudible).

 

[poohbear]

Cpu overclock, asphyxiation by case, or both?

Unlike B & H series motherboards, Z series tend to be preset with overclocks, either with enhanced Multi Core Performance, or EZ OC feature enabled. Turning it off should return the cpu to Intel spec...


This is a great case, but IF you are utilizing the front and top dampening panels instead of the air permeable ones, then you'd be choking either cooler, as well as increasing the already warmer case ambient values, which most devices run under. Cpu AIOs only use room ambient air when they are used as intakes.


That doesn't say what the case ambient may be. This will affect the operating temperatures of your devices.

Thank you Phaaze88! I mounted the AIO on the top part of the case, so I'm using the mesh panel on the top and sound dampener on the front. This way the 360 AIO is acting like an exhaust. With the top sound dampener on it gets way too hot in the case. Is that the best way to set it up? Never used an AIO before, always been air coolers for me.


I know the Z mobos overclock a little by default...will have to look into the settings. I put the P1 & P2 limits to 150wts, and I've tried reading about undervolting but there are so many CPU settings that it's confusing. Wish there was a simple guide for undervolting for Gigabyte Z690s cause some of the settings I see referenced online are for Asus or MSI names in the BIOS settings, but Gigabyte uses different terms. Any suggestions?

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[Phaaze88]

Thank you Phaaze88! I mounted the AIO on the top part of the case, so I'm using the mesh panel on the top and sound dampener on the front. This way the 360 AIO is acting like an exhaust. With the top sound dampener on it gets way too hot in the case. Is that the best way to set it up?

There is no best way, 'cause of the catch 22 - you improve one thing, at the cost of something else.
With the AIO up there in that position, it allows for the lowest possible gpu thermals at the cost of warmer cpu ones.

I know the Z mobos overclock a little by default...will have to look into the settings. I put the P1 & P2 limits to 150wts

Have you confirmed that the cpu isn't going over 150w during gaming, via hwinfo?

I've tried reading about undervolting

Shouldn't need to mess with that at all if you're familiar with setting power limits; the end goal of the 2 methods is practically the same, except UV'ing is dependent on silicon quality and can introduce instability if voltage is lowered or offset too much.

 

[poohbear]

There is no best way, 'cause of the catch 22 - you improve one thing, at the cost of something else.
With the AIO up there in that position, it allows for the lowest possible gpu thermals at the cost of warmer cpu ones.


Have you confirmed that the cpu isn't going over 150w during gaming, via hwinfo?



Shouldn't need to mess with that at all if you're familiar with setting power limits; the end goal of the 2 methods is practically the same, except UV'ing is dependent on silicon quality and can introduce instability if voltage is lowered or offset too much.

I see, so then maybe I'll try the placing the AIO in the front. GPU is only at 67c under load, (memory junction 84c), so I really wanna focus on keeping my CPU cool and if that means higher GPU temps so be it.

Yes I confirmed that it doesnt go over 150watts (I use Argus monitor), so I'm at wits end trying to cool this thing.

 

[SkyNetRising]

so I'm using the mesh panel on the top and sound dampener on the front.

Remove sound dampener panel. It basically stops any air flow.
It is not meant to be placed in front of air intake or exhaust.
You're choking off your system.

 

[TerryLaze]

Did you check if it actually sticks to the limit you set in bios?
Did you at least check for performance differences between the coolers?
HWinfo will tell you how much power and volts the cpu is using.
Often a bios will not follow manual settings if there is a specific setting that is set to auto or default.
It could be that the better cooling just allows the mobo to push the CPU even more.

 

[poohbear]

Remove sound dampener panel. It basically stops any air flow.
It is not meant to be placed in front of air intake or exhaust.
You're choking off your system.

I bought the case so I have a quiet PC setup, so removing both the top and front panel sound dampeners would defeat the purpose. I had a quiet PC w/ the Corsair 300r before and temps were the same. I guess w/ a quiet PC there's no way around having a 13700k be in the 80c-90c range under load regardless of the cooling.

Did you check if it actually sticks to the limit you set in bios?
Did you at least check for performance differences between the coolers?
HWinfo will tell you how much power and volts the cpu is using.
Often a bios will not follow manual settings if there is a specific setting that is set to auto or default.
It could be that the better cooling just allows the mobo to push the CPU even more.

Yes I did. The cpu never spikes above 150watts as per the BIOS' P1 & P2 settings I put. The CPU isn't overclocked, the P-cores all run at 5.3ghz under load as per stock settings.


Anyways noob question, if i move the GA II 360 radiator from the top of the case to the front panel to allow for better CPU cooling, do I replace the 2 intake fans of the BeQuiet SB802, or do I install the radiator over them on the inside of the case (i.e. leaving the front intake fans in place)? I tried Googling that, but surprisingly nobody's answered it clearly.

 

[Phaaze88]

if i move the GA II 360 radiator from the top of the case to the front panel to allow for better CPU cooling, do I replace the 2 intake fans of the BeQuiet SB802

You swap them - the rad and its fans are going to the front, the 802's case fans go to the top.

I tried Googling that but surprisingly nobody's answered it clearly.

I could see a couple reasons:
1)Because so many builds out there run top mounted cpu AIO and anything else is blasphemy... when an AIO literally allows for the user to choose where the heat exchange takes place, unlike an air cooler.
2)Out of the small number that do run front cpu AIO, some made their own assumption that stacking is better, because more fans = more better, disregarding any testing that might prove otherwise. Because sometimes, that isn't the case.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I bought the case so I have a quiet PC setup, so removing both the top and front panel sound dampeners would defeat the purpose. I had a quiet PC w/ the Corsair 300r before and temps were the same.

You put sound dampener on closed surfaces - side panels.
It is meant to dampen sound reflection inside case.
You do not put dampener in front of air vents. It stops any air flow then.

 

[poohbear]

You swap them - the rad and its fans are going to the front, the 802's case fans go to the top.


I could see a couple reasons:
1)Because so many builds out there run top mounted cpu AIO and anything else is blasphemy... when an AIO literally allows for the user to choose where the heat exchange takes place, unlike an air cooler.
2)Out of the small number that do run front cpu AIO, some made their own assumption that stacking is better, because more fans = more better, disregarding any testing that might prove otherwise. Because sometimes, that isn't the case.

Thanks for all your help Phaaze88. I found a blog "how-to-place-your-liquid-cooler" on MSI (can't link it here for some reason) wherein they did testing on different AIO setups...turns out the best one is the AIO in the front w/ tubes facing down, lowered CPU temps by 5c and the GPU was only 1.4 c warmer. Definitely gonna try doing that this weekend!