[SOLVED] Dan A4, 10th gen Intel, RTX3070(?) - all air build

[Gintama69]

Hey guys, i'm thinking of building a new tiny ITX gaming system for a friend in near future using Dan A4 case.. should I change any parts?

CPU: *Intel i7 10700K
HSF: Noctua NH-L9i or Alpenfohn Black Ridge
M/B: MSI Z490I Unify
GPU: MSI RTX3070 Gaming X
RAM: 32GB G.Skill Ripjaws V 3200-3600
SSD: 2TB Adata SX8200 Pro NVMe
Case: *Dan A4-SFX v4.1 Black
PSU: Corsair SF750 Platinum
* = got it already

Probably won't build it for another ~2 months, will probably have to underclock 10700K a bit and hopefully 3070 won't be too expensive but still bit faster than 2080S.

 

[Gintama69]

I'm not sure about the CPU cooler at this stage..
Can easily get Noctua NH-L9i cooler locally but I think it'll be only sufficient for 10700(non-K)..
Can order Alpenfohn Black Ridge cooler from OCUK(in stock) but not if it'll fit on Asus/Gigabyte/MSI Z490 ITX motherboard, and I'll also have to use low profile RAM is well.

 

[Phaaze88]

CPU: *Intel i7 10700K (probably need to run it underclocked a bit)
HSF: Noctua NH-L9i

Why would you do this combo knowing its not good?
IMO, you'd be screwing your buddy over, gifting them a gaming PC with a cpu that can't push the speeds that Intel is known for, because you couldn't get a decent enough cooler on it.

Noctua has cooler compatibility lists for the 10-6, 10-7, and 10-9.
With the 10700K, the NH-L9i has just a check mark next to it on the list. What does that mean?
"compatible without turbo/overclocking headroom"
You wouldn't just be underclocking, you'd have to disable turbo entirely... here's an additional note with that cooler:
"if power limits are disabled in BIOS, CPU might not be able to keep maximum turbo clock under prolonged AVX loads, suggested maximum power limit: 130W"
That's just 5w over the 10-7's 125w PL1 limit, which is allocated for base frequencies across all threads.


Oh wait, I just now noticed that you already got the 10700K... crap.
I looked at the Dan A4's spec page, saw the recommended coolers... IMO, NONE of them are adequate for the 10700K's PL2 operation: 229w. You have to disable turbo boost, and that sucks.
I guess 3.80ghz isn't bad, but still...


¯\(ツ)/¯
What do I know though? I've never dealt with SFF builds. Maybe it'll actually be alright... though I can't help but be a bit skeptical.

 

[Gintama69]

Yes I have a spare i7 10700K atm cos I just upgraded to i9 10850KA on my main build.

I think(hope) Noctua NH-L9i should be okay for 10700K(95W TDP), because my friend will mainly use the PC for web browsing and MS Office(95+%) so the CPU shouldn't really run hot. He'll probably use it gaming less than 5% and I'm hoping it'll still be okay especially if I just underclock the CPU a bit.. (to maybe ~46x-48x CPU Ratio in the BIOS)
Another option I have is just downgrade the CPU to 10700(non K) cos I should be able to trade my CPU for a used 10700 with some cash.

Stock 10700K shouldn't have any issue with Alpenfohn Black Ridge cooler, but I need to confirm the compatibility with Z490 ITX motherboards.. I know it fits fine on ASRock Z490m ITX/AC but not sure about the rest.
I'm not a fan of ASRock, so I'd prefer to MSI or Asus or Gigabyte.. (i.e. MSI Z490I Unify or Asus Strix Z490-I or Gigabyte Z490I Aorus Ultra)

Another disadvantage of Alpenfohn Black Ridge cooler is that I'll have to use low profile RAM like Corsair LPX so I'm not too sure at this stage. (cos I already have used 32GB G.Skill Trident Z RGB 3200 RAM lined up)

 

[Phaaze88]

10700K is 125w on PL1, not 95:

https://imgur.com/YwqWtBb

View: https://imgur.com/YwqWtBb


^10th gen power tables.

Alpenfoehn says it's for 95w: https://www.alpenfoehn.de/en/products/cpu-cooler/black-ridge-en

 

[Gintama69]

Thanks for that chart.. looks like 10700K's gonna run very hot on Noctua NH-L9i..
I've used NH-L9i ages ago with i7 5775C(65W TDP) and wasn't happy with the performance.

Meh wish 65W TDP 11th gen i7 CPU were available already.. finally 7-10nm after 50 years of 14nm..