So my rig is a Ryzen 9 5900X on an ASUS mITX B550-i Gaming MB, cooled by a Dark Rock Pro 4, in a Thermaltake V21 chassis. GPU is a 3-fan EVGA RTX 3070 XC3 Ultra. In addition to the front 200mm Thermaltake Pure case fan running at 800RPM with a 130 CFM airflow, I also have a Pure Wings 2 140mm fan at the rear exhausting out (in line with the DRP4) and another PW2 140mm at the rear right exhausting out (to the right of the DRP4).
As you can imagine, things are very tight in that back corner! The rear fan frame is almost touching the DRP4 (the right side fan is about 1cm away). Basically the cooler is blowing in a push/pull config, theoretically exhausting into the rear 140mm fan, with the rear right fan helping to pull some more air out.
With the fan speeds set to Full Speed using the ASUS app, I am consistently seeing 90C max with 89C average on Cinebench R23 multi core tests. I have PBO on, but given Ryzen Master and HWInfo's reporting, I doubt I have any headroom for further overclocking under the current config, though I may be wrong.
In a previous thread, someone suggested this is completely in line with expectations of an air cooler and 5900X under load.
I wonder... does the ITX footprint in this V21 case, and with the rear exhaust fans and cooler packed so close together potentially promote higher temps, i.e the airflow profile is not efficient?
I have been toying with a few ideas:
Does anyone think that any of these strategies would result in markedly lower thermals (say 8-10C?) or is it just best to leave it as is?
Any ideas/feedback are welcome. My goal: provide maximum cooling performance for the dollars spent.
As you can imagine, things are very tight in that back corner! The rear fan frame is almost touching the DRP4 (the right side fan is about 1cm away). Basically the cooler is blowing in a push/pull config, theoretically exhausting into the rear 140mm fan, with the rear right fan helping to pull some more air out.
With the fan speeds set to Full Speed using the ASUS app, I am consistently seeing 90C max with 89C average on Cinebench R23 multi core tests. I have PBO on, but given Ryzen Master and HWInfo's reporting, I doubt I have any headroom for further overclocking under the current config, though I may be wrong.
In a previous thread, someone suggested this is completely in line with expectations of an air cooler and 5900X under load.
I wonder... does the ITX footprint in this V21 case, and with the rear exhaust fans and cooler packed so close together potentially promote higher temps, i.e the airflow profile is not efficient?
I have been toying with a few ideas:
- Add 1 Pure Wings 2 140mm (62 CFM) to the right side of the chassis to pull more air out, though this fan would sit closer to the front end of the case instead of the rear and would thus not be near the cooler, OR
- Replace the front 200mm fan with 2 vertically mounted Pure Wings 2 140mm fans (62 CFM each) connected to the case fan header (for a total of 4 on that header) to get more air blowing into the case (though not sure the CFM math works there), OR
- Replace the DRP4 with a Noctua NH-12A to provide more clearance and theoretically better airflow (but maybe not be able to cool as efficiently as the DRP4), OR
- Replace the DRP4 with a Noctua NH-12A AND add 1 Pure Wings 2 140mm to the right side of the chassis as I mentioned in #1 above, OR
- Remove the rear 140mm fan to provide more clearance (and let the DRP4 just blow through the back unobstructed), but then that would remove one fan that is pulling air out, assuming that fan is actually helping.
Does anyone think that any of these strategies would result in markedly lower thermals (say 8-10C?) or is it just best to leave it as is?
Any ideas/feedback are welcome. My goal: provide maximum cooling performance for the dollars spent.