[SOLVED] how to improve cooling for this rig

[fobos8]

Hi guys

My set up is as follows, Fractal Define mini C with 1 stock 120mm fan at back, 1 stock 120mm fan at front, Geforce 1660 ti, Ryzen 3700x with stock Wraith cooler, 1 SSD and 2 HDD.

I use this for gaming and the CPU regularly gets up to 85 degrees Celcius. I know this CPU is well known to have high temps and before anyone tells me to live with it please don't. I'd feel more comfortable if I can bring the temps down.

I'd be very grateful for some advice on how to do it.

The Noctua NH-D15 will fit in there. Also, I can fit another fan on the front. Will this bring the temp down much or should I be looking at other solutions as well. I'm not mad keen to open up the top of the case to put 2 fans there - my kids might spill a drink in the PC.

There is only space for 1 fan at the back.

Thanks in advance, Andrew

 

[rezaul1996]

wow that's quite hot. what have you done so far to reduce temps? or has this always been the case since you built your pc?

 

[EyyMunchian]

Hi guys

My set up is as follows, Fractal Define mini C with 1 stock 120mm fan at back, 1 stock 120mm fan at front, Geforce 1660 ti, Ryzen 3700x with stock Wraith cooler, 1 SSD and 2 HDD.

I use this for gaming and the CPU regularly gets up to 85 degrees Celcius. I know this CPU is well known to have high temps and before anyone tells me to live with it please don't. I'd feel more comfortable if I can bring the temps down.

I'd be very grateful for some advice on how to do it.

The Noctua NH-D15 will fit in there. Also, I can fit another fan on the front. Will this bring the temp down much or should I be looking at other solutions as well. I'm not mad keen to open up the top of the case to put 2 fans there - my kids might spill a drink in the PC.

There is only space for 1 fan at the back.

Thanks in advance, Andrew

I had my Ryzen 7 3800x with the stock wraith cooler hit up to near the same temps you are getting. With the stock cooler you will get those high temps. The newer CPUs on both ends get very HOT and their respective stock coolers are pretty much useless. Now I have an AIO I'm hitting very nice 70 max temps under heavy loads. Put the Noctua cooler in there if you can, it will significantly lower your temps. But please make sure to apply your thermal paste correctly.

ALSO: If you want a good smaller cooler that works very nice, the Cooler Master hyper 212 is a very good go to.

 

[Phaaze88]

Thermals alone are not enough with Ryzen 3000. You should also check cpu frequencies under loads.
These things behave much like Nvidia's gpus and will try to boost frequencies higher when given more thermal headroom, which will in turn, offset the whole point of getting a bigger cooler.

Go ahead and get the NH-D15. It's a great cooler, just don't expect a crazy drop in thermals, because the cpu will then be boosting higher.
ALSO, check memory clearance! Your chassis has a max air cooler height of 170mm.
The NH-D15 is 165mm
A naked stick of ram is 31mm.
Assuming no imperfections in anything, the ram you're currently using need not be taller than 35.99mm. If it isn't, you'll simply have to move the front fan behind the 2nd tower - but if it doesn't fit there, because of the I/O shield(some can be rather bulky), then you'll have to remove it entirely.
That aside, another fan in the front won't hurt at all.

 

[rubix_1011]

I'll leave my opinions here, although they're going to conflict with what is mentioned.

Use the top vents for fans. If you have small children who are not able to understand the importance of boundaries and responsibility, then as an adult, it's a good idea to keep it out of their reach by making that responsibility your own. Let's say you keep it within their reach and they spill something even with these top vents closed, there is still a possibility damage can be caused anyway.

Even the best coolers can perform poorly if case airflow is not considered and evaluated. A great cooler inside a sealed case is just a convection oven. Heat needs a way to dissipate with ambient room air and if airflow is severely impeded, even high-end watercooling can't do its job well and temps will still be high.



Airflow / Fan / Cooling / Overheating - How to test, steps to resolve

High CPU and GPU temperatures:

This could be caused by a few different things, please don't automatically assume 'the cooler is not working' without also checking if the case airflow is sufficient.

Remove the side panel of the PC case. Orient a house fan (desk or box style fan) to blow air into the case, directly over components at the highest setting.

This will represent a case with the best possible airflow possible. For reference, the fans I am providing as examples would look like the items below (just to clarify for anyone who might want reference)

Re-test as you have normally done - play games, run benchmarks, etc. to get to where temperatures were normally seen to be higher than they should. Normal room temperature is usually between 20-24C or 68-75F. Please note that every air or liquid cooler operates as a product of delta-T over ambient, meaning that if the PC is operational (simply turned on), it is impossible for the CPU to display a temperature below ambient room temperatures. If it is, this is likely a bug in software temperature reporting either from the desktop UI or the BIOS reading it incorrectly.

With the fan running at full speed, if temperatures drop by 5-7C or more, case airflow is one major issue to contend with. You will need additional fans or better fans for your setup in order to optimize air in and out of the chassis. This might even require consideration for a new PC case or leaving the side panel partially open during sessions of heavier computing until these items are corrected.

If your temperatures remain relatively the same (difference less than 1-2C), then you likely have an issue with the cooler in question (if CPU is hot, CPU cooler, if GPU is hot, GPU cooler). It would be good to then approach the next steps by thoroughly cleaning the cooler with compressed or canned air and ensuring there are not large blockages in cooling fins or on fans, etc. This might require the cooling fans to be removed from the heatsink or radiator to ensure there is not a buildup of pet hair, dust or even carpet fibers which can trap additional debris. Please ensure the PC is turned off and unplugged during this process to prevent unwanted startup to keep fingers safe from fan blades or accidental shorting if you happen to drop a screw onto other components during fan removal.

Removal of the cooler and re-application of thermal paste & re-seating the cooler can also be beneficial once cleaning of the cooler is ruled out by retesting the steps above.

 

[geofelt]

For best cooling, you need both a good cooler and sufficient air intake to let the cooler do it's job.

Another thing to check is the temperature at idle.
It should be some 10-15c. over ambient.
If it is much higher, consider the possibility that your cooler is not screwed down evenly.

Try the house fan test as described above. If that does the job, by all means add a second 120mm front intake.
If noise is not a bother, buy a second front fan that has a higher rpm than the usual 1200 rpm.

If you are inclined to buy a top end cooler, the noctua NH-D15 is as good as it gets. But, it may have some clearance issues with tall ram and possibly even with a graphics card backplate.
A NH-D15s is equally good at cooling, costs about the same, and resolves both potential clearance issues.

 

[fobos8]

I'll leave my opinions here, although they're going to conflict with what is mentioned.

Use the top vents for fans. If you have small children who are not able to understand the importance of boundaries and responsibility, then as an adult, it's a good idea to keep it out of their reach by making that responsibility your own. Let's say you keep it within their reach and they spill something even with these top vents closed, there is still a possibility damage can be caused anyway.

Even the best coolers can perform poorly if case airflow is not considered and evaluated. A great cooler inside a sealed case is just a convection oven. Heat needs a way to dissipate with ambient room air and if airflow is severely impeded, even high-end watercooling can't do its job well and temps will still be high.



Airflow / Fan / Cooling / Overheating - How to test, steps to resolve

High CPU and GPU temperatures:

This could be caused by a few different things, please don't automatically assume 'the cooler is not working' without also checking if the case airflow is sufficient.

Remove the side panel of the PC case. Orient a house fan (desk or box style fan) to blow air into the case, directly over components at the highest setting.

This will represent a case with the best possible airflow possible. For reference, the fans I am providing as examples would look like the items below (just to clarify for anyone who might want reference)

Re-test as you have normally done - play games, run benchmarks, etc. to get to where temperatures were normally seen to be higher than they should. Normal room temperature is usually between 20-24C or 68-75F. Please note that every air or liquid cooler operates as a product of delta-T over ambient, meaning that if the PC is operational (simply turned on), it is impossible for the CPU to display a temperature below ambient room temperatures. If it is, this is likely a bug in software temperature reporting either from the desktop UI or the BIOS reading it incorrectly.

With the fan running at full speed, if temperatures drop by 5-7C or more, case airflow is one major issue to contend with. You will need additional fans or better fans for your setup in order to optimize air in and out of the chassis. This might even require consideration for a new PC case or leaving the side panel partially open during sessions of heavier computing until these items are corrected.

If your temperatures remain relatively the same (difference less than 1-2C), then you likely have an issue with the cooler in question (if CPU is hot, CPU cooler, if GPU is hot, GPU cooler). It would be good to then approach the next steps by thoroughly cleaning the cooler with compressed or canned air and ensuring there are not large blockages in cooling fins or on fans, etc. This might require the cooling fans to be removed from the heatsink or radiator to ensure there is not a buildup of pet hair, dust or even carpet fibers which can trap additional debris. Please ensure the PC is turned off and unplugged during this process to prevent unwanted startup to keep fingers safe from fan blades or accidental shorting if you happen to drop a screw onto other components during fan removal.

Removal of the cooler and re-application of thermal paste & re-seating the cooler can also be beneficial once cleaning of the cooler is ruled out by retesting the steps above.

Many thanks for your replies guys. I especially like this from Rubix. It a great logical approach. I took off my cover and stuck a proper fan on it and temp reduced by 3 degrees. I have some dust on the heatsink and fan and have order a can of air to resolve it.

When I installed the CPU I didn't use any past. The Ryzen vid and instructions said that the thermal "sticker/pad" that came with the CPU does the same job.

Maybe I should get some paste on it. I'm getting 60 degrees centigrade just browsing the net.

Cheers, Andrew

 

[fobos8]

I just ran another test. I'm getting 5 degrees cooler with the side panel off and house fan blowing on the PCs innards.

 

[Phaaze88]

I just ran another test. I'm getting 5 degrees cooler with the side panel off and house fan blowing on the PCs innards.

That's not bad at all. This means your chassis isn't having a significant impact on airflow.




EDIT: Oh, that's right! You've got a Ryzen 3000. The cpu also would've tried to boost higher if the cooling was improved... that can be deceptive.
Perhaps the airflow is a little lacking. Someone correct me if I'm wrong though.

 

[fobos8]

That's not bad at all. This means your chassis isn't having a significant impact on airflow.

Bad case or not enough airflow from the fans? The case doesn't have a front grill, just grills at the sides. I'll try 2 noctua 140mm (NF A-15) at the front and a noctua 120mm (NF A-12x25) at the rear and see what happens.

Are we saying a CPU fan upgrade won't do anything or that the biggest effect on my CPU heat is the airflow?

Cheers, Andrew

 

[Phaaze88]

Edited previous post.

 

[geofelt]

Supplied paste on a cooler is a one time use only.

If you remount any cooler, you need to clean off the old paste from both the cpu and the cooler first.
Use alcohol to do the job.
I use paper coffee filters which do not leave any residual threads.
As a tip: Run the processor a bit to heat things up. It softens the paste and makes cooler removal easier.

Always apply new paste. A small rice sized drop in the center will spread out under heat and pressure.