[SOLVED] H440 and airflow, should I get a new case?

[frogpuppy]

Hi,

First of all I have the following:

• H440 case (3x120mm nzxt intake fans in the front, 2x140mm out fans in the top, 140mm out fan in the back)
• i7 6700k cpu
• MA610P cpu cooler
• 2080ti msi trio

The problem I have is with the cooling. I used to live in a cold apartment with great AC but now I moved to another city with hotter weather and the ambient temp is usually around 30c.
Due to higher cpu temps (the gpu seems to be fine, 4-5 degrees above the usual but nothing major) which reach higher than 80 sometimes, I had to disable xmp profile to keep the temps at a reasonable level (~68c max after disabling xmp).

The thing is, some of the cpu intense games show a big difference in performance with xmp enabled and disabled (AC odyssey for example) so now I looking to a solution to solve the heat problem.

First Idea I thought of is to get a new 280mm liquid cooler (kraken x62 or something similar).
But I'm not sure if that's enough. I'm worry that's a big part of the problem I have is the airflow.

So before start looking into a new liquid cooler, I want to ask, do I need to get a new case with better airflow? (something like h500m, meshify c)
Or I'm good with the current case if I get a better cooler?
I really like the case because of the ease of the cable management, drive bays (I have 2 ssd and 3 hdd and still can install multiple drives more) while h500m only has 2 ssd and 2 hdd afaik.


td:lr
Should I get a new case to reduce the temps? or installing a new liquid cooler in my current case (h440) is enough?

 

[Darkbreeze]

How many case fans do you currently have installed?

What size is each fan, 120mm or 140mm, and what are the models of each fan that did not come WITH the case originally.

How is each fan oriented, as in, which way is air moving, for each fan, in each location. For example, front fans SHOULD be intake fans, bringing air INTO the case. Rear and top fans should be exhaust, taking air OUT of the case.

What are you able to budget for a cooler and is your heart set on an AIO cooler, because you cannot get a very capable AIO cooler for less than 100 bucks but you can get a fantastic air cooler for between 50-80 dollars and since your case supports coolers up to 180mm tall, you are really not limited by what size CPU cooler you can get and that Cooler Master 120mm fan model is really not a very good example of an air cooler.

Also, what is your motherboard model? How much memory is installed an what speed is the memory?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Should I get a new case to reduce the temps? or installing a new liquid cooler in my current case (h440) is enough?

Remove front panel of your pc case and see, how that impacts temperatures.
If impact is significant, then yes - a new case with mesh front would be an improvement.

 

[frogpuppy]

How is each fan oriented, as in, which way is air moving, for each fan, in each location. For example, front fans SHOULD be intake fans, bringing air INTO the case. Rear and top fans should be exhaust, taking air OUT of the case.

3x120mm nzxt intake fans in the front, 2x140mm exhaust fans in the top, 140mm exhaust fan in the back

What are you able to budget for a cooler and is your heart set on an AIO cooler, because you cannot get a very capable AIO cooler for less than 100 bucks but you can get a fantastic air cooler for between 50-80 dollars and since your case supports coolers up to 180mm tall, you are really not limited by what size CPU cooler you can get and that Cooler Master 120mm fan model is really not a very good example of an air cooler.

I don't have a problem with paying 100 or 200 bucks if it'll make a difference.
The previous cooler did the job at that time but now it's not sufficient anymore.

Also, what is your motherboard model? How much memory is installed an what speed is the memory?

z270 msi tomahawk arctic with 16GB of memory 3000mhz (but 2133 since the xmp is disabled)

Remove front panel of your pc case and see, how that impacts temperatures.
If impact is significant, then yes - a new case with mesh front would be an improvement.

That seems like a good idea.
I'll try to remove the front panel with the air filter and will see if it will make a difference.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Remove one of the exhaust fans in the top. Leave only the rear exhaust fan and the top rear exhaust fan. Often, middle or front exhaust fans on cases that support two or three top fans will "steal" airflow from the CPU cooler. I get better temps, for example, without having a middle or front exhaust fan in the top of my Define S. Sometimes that can leave the CPU cooler with no choice but to pull warmer air directly from what is coming off the graphics card. You want the CPU cooler using the cool ambient air coming in a straight line directly from your top intake fan straight to the cooler, if you can, on cases that have no drive cages installed, or in a fairly straight diagonal past any drive cages.

Also, for the cooler, I'd look at the Noctua NH-U14S. NH-D15 or Thermalright Macho Rev.B, LeGrand Macho RT or Silver arrow IB-E Extreme. Also, those NZXT fans are not great choices for intake fans as they have low static pressure capabilities. That's something you might want to look at as well.

 

[frogpuppy]

Thank you @Darkbreeze
I tried removing the front panel and the air filter. The temps were lower but nothing major.
I'll try to remove the top front exhaust fan and see.
The problem about Noctua coolers that they are not good looking. That why avoid them even while I %100 sure that they are one of the best (if not the best at all) air coolers.

Will do some digging about case fans. Noctua fans seems to be good.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Eh, not so much. If you can wait a little while. They will be coming very soon. Noctua has black coolers coming and they already have black versions of all their popular fan models. They even have high speed versions of their most popular fans, in black, in 2000 and 3000 RPM flavors.

https://www.techspot.com/news/81593-noctua-teases-new-all-black-look-cpu-coolers.html


These are the fans I use, exclusively, in my system.

7 of these, three intakes, one top rear exhaust and two on the heatsink cooler.

https://www.newegg.com/noctua-chromax-black-swap-case-fan/p/1YF-000T-000D6


And one of these in the rear exhaust fan location directly in line with the fans on the CPU heatsink.

https://www.newegg.com/noctua-nf-a14-ippc-2000-pwm-case-fan/p/N82E16835608047


And a chromax cover on my NH-U14S heatsink cooling my 6700k@4.6GHz. Looks pretty good to me.

This is an older picture before I swapped out the Aerocool DS 140 fans in the front for Noctua NF-A14 chromax.black.swap fans recently. Now, even at full stress, with 7 fans, plus the PSU, plus a smaller 40mm Noctua fan on my M.2 drive, you can't hear jack shiznit.

 

[Darkbreeze]

However, Thermalright has cooling products that are nearly, not quite, but almost, as good as Noctua. In fact, I think their heatsinks are likely AS good, but their fans are not quite as good. Still they are probably better than anybody else you'd care to compare them to aside from Noctua.

This cooler would easily handle your 6700k. Even if you dropped a nice overclock on it.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S5VHRXM/?tag=pcpapi-20

Notice that about the only coolers (Among those listed anyhow) that outperform it are those from Noctua OR large water coolers.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/thermalright-macho-revb/6.html


If you REALLY want some great performance, and don't want to wait for the black Noctua coolers, this cooler is right up there with the Noctua NH-D14 and D15.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IYS6RF2/?tag=pcpapi-20


But I don't really think that you NEED something that high performance since you're not overclocking.

 

[frogpuppy]

Thanks again @Darkbreeze
I can wait since my cpu is doing good enough in almost all games except ubisoft games.
I'm thinking about upgrading my cpu in a year or so. Will see how the next Amd and Intel are then see either to upgrade or wait for another generation.
Will keep my eyes open for the upcoming cpu cooler for Noctua. And definitely will get their fans when I decide to upgrade.

I liked the cover you're using with the cooler. Are these the ones you have?
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-D15-heatpipe-NF-A15-140mm/dp/B00L7UZMAK/
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NA-HC3-chromax-Black-swap-heatsink-NH-D15S/dp/B076569Y8X

But what about the size? Wouldn't the NH-D15 cause a problem with RAM slots (with an ATX motherboard)?