[SOLVED] Potential cooling issue with Dell tower PC ?

[rc159]

Hey Guys

I have a ~1 year old Dell Precision 3650 tower with an Intel i7-10700. The fan seems to be running faster and louder than it should be at idol / when nothing is running.

• With the power settings at ‘power saver’ and computer at idle, the CPU operates at ~65 deg C and the fan speed seems normal.
• With the power settings at ‘balanced’ and the computer at idle, the CPU operates at ~80 deg C and the fan speed seems a bit louder.
• With the power settings at ‘high performance’ and the computer at idle, the CPU operates at ~83 deg C and the fan speed seems excessive.

Ambient temp is ~25 deg C.

I have been dealing with Dell on WatsApp and they are pretty useless.

Are these temps normal? Any idea on cause? Thermal paste?

Thanks

 

[Darkbreeze]

Are you using the stock Intel cooler?

 

[CountMike]

Small case = hot case, most you can do is to keep voltages in check and maybe change tim paste. Would also be good if you could ad a fan to the case.

 

[CountMike]

Are you using the stock Intel cooler?

Probably stock Dell cooler.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Maybe.

 

[rc159]

Thanks for the responses.

It is a - 384-BCVH 92mm Front Cooling Fan, Precision 36xx

 

[rc159]

Here are some current readings @ idle. Not sure if any of these are normal? Apologies, I'm not great with computers.

https://easyupload.io/rdsfye

 

[Bazzy 505]

no it's not thermal paste problem, gen10 cores run quite hot and dell is more or less known for over engineered cases and so-so thermal solutions.
What you have on 3650 is 3 heatpipe laptop-ish solution which is also not unlike something you would find game consoles. While the solution does
its job for the most part, it's not very quiet, and is prone to geting clogged with dust over time. Mostly around the point where fan blows into tightly packed heatsink
fins on the upper ends of heatpipes.

Since both motherboard and cooling solution are custom, there's not a lot you can do in a way of upgrade. However what you can do is make sure that both the CPU fan and
the case fan just above it are in working order. Other thing you can do is remove the cpu fan so you can get better access to the those fins and give it a good blast with compressed air.
Also clean any dust and hair that may have accumulated on fan blades and dust off the top side mesh ont he case.

The temperates you're seeing now are on the high side, but above should restore it to what it was when new, it will still run hot, and will likely thermal throttle in heavy sustained loads, but that kind of comes with the territory with both precision and alienware systems.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Since both motherboard and cooling solution are custom, there's not a lot you can do in a way of upgrade.

Huh? No, that is not accurate. There is PLENTY you can do. It's a tower system and looking at the images of the Dell Precision 3650 tower internals there is absolutely no reason you can't add aftermarket CPU cooling which will absolutely help improve the situation.

Here we have a perfect example of somebody who has swapped out the piece of crap proprietary Dell cooler with a slightly less piece of crap low profile cooler.

Granted, the amount of space is pretty limited but a low enough aftermarket low profile cooler should work. I can't offer any dimensional advice since I don't have one where I can measure the distance from the top of the CPU (Without cooler installed) to the point where it would interfere with the bottom of the power supply, but since it seems to fit with that cooler which looks to be taller than the height of the standard 47mm stock Intel cooler, then one of those sold by many companies including the IS-47S sold by Id-cooling, should work fine, and ought to be an improvement with it's 4 heatpipe design and much larger surface area on it's heatsink.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING IS-47S 40 CFM CPU Cooler ($19.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $19.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-12-26 16:00 EST-0500


Or maybe one of these by Thermalright which is even better quality.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Thermalright AXP90-X47 42.58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $29.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-12-26 16:01 EST-0500


And if those 47mm high coolers ARE for any reason too tall, there are some pretty good 36mm coolers as well that would certainly work. It might even be possible to rig up a small 120mm AIO liquid cooler that would definitely fit under that power supply and offer much better cooling, but I'm not sure if there would be room anywhere for the radiator unless you could figure out a way to mount it externally or remove some drive cages inside.

 

[Bazzy 505]

Huh? No, that is not accurate. There is PLENTY you can do. It's a tower system and looking at the images of the Dell Precision 3650 tower internals there is absolutely no reason you can't add aftermarket CPU cooling which will absolutely help improve the situation.

Here we have a perfect example of somebody who has swapped out the piece of crap proprietary Dell cooler with a slightly less piece of crap low profile cooler.

Granted, the amount of space is pretty limited but a low enough aftermarket low profile cooler should work. I can't offer any dimensional advice since I don't have one where I can measure the distance from the top of the CPU (Without cooler installed) to the point where it would interfere with the bottom of the power supply, but since it seems to fit with that cooler which looks to be taller than the height of the standard 47mm stock Intel cooler, then one of those sold by many companies including the IS-47S sold by Id-cooling, should work fine, and ought to be an improvement with it's 4 heatpipe design and much larger surface area on it's heatsink.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: ID-COOLING IS-47S 40 CFM CPU Cooler ($19.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $19.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-12-26 16:00 EST-0500


Or maybe one of these by Thermalright which is even better quality.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU Cooler: Thermalright AXP90-X47 42.58 CFM CPU Cooler ($29.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $29.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-12-26 16:01 EST-0500


And if those 47mm high coolers ARE for any reason too tall, there are some pretty good 36mm coolers as well that would certainly work. It might even be possible to rig up a small 120mm AIO liquid cooler that would definitely fit under that power supply and offer much better cooling, but I'm not sure if there would be room anywhere for the radiator unless you could figure out a way to mount it externally or remove some drive cages inside.

what you have on the picture there is old Dell OptiPlex cooler, which is a LOT worse than stock cooler that comes with Precision 3650

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nowhere did I suggest they should use THAT cooler, so I can't imagine why you'd even reference that. The point was, clearly a much larger cooler than that proprietary design that belongs nowhere other than a console, maybe, can be used. That IS the same Precision 3650 that the OP has, not an OptiPlex, based on the details on the page from which I took it. I have no doubt that it might be a cooler from an older unit but it doesn't matter as the cooling mountings are the same for all LGA 115x sockets and some others as well.

Assuming that is a Dell Optiplex 89R8J cooler, it is about 88mm tall, which means that practically ANY high performance low profile cooler should fit under that power supply.

And the chances of that cooler working WORSE than a cooler that uses a laptop fan, are just not believable, so without empirical evidence to support that you might as well just be speaking in tongues for all the credibility it has.

 

[Bazzy 505]

Nowhere did I suggest they should use THAT cooler, so I can't imagine why you'd even reference that. The point was, clearly a much larger cooler than that proprietary design that belongs nowhere other than a console, maybe, can be used. That IS the same Precision 3650 that the OP has, not an OptiPlex, based on the details on the page from which I took it. I have no doubt that it might be a cooler from an older unit but it doesn't matter as the cooling mountings are the same for all LGA 115x sockets and some others as well.

Assuming that is a Dell Optiplex 89R8J cooler, it is about 88mm tall, which means that practically ANY high performance low profile cooler should fit under that power supply.

And the chances of that cooler working WORSE than a cooler that uses a laptop fan, are just not believable, so without empirical evidence to support that you might as well just be speaking in tongues for all the credibility it has.

the gap betwen psu and cooler in combination with ridiculously small mesh on the top side for exhaust just doesn't really allow for much airflow to make any real difference, while you can technically fit something like Noctua NH-L9x65 which is arguably the best low profile solution by far and wide, the difference will be within margin of error. the stock one is certainly a terrible solution, but at least it doesn't spit that hot air back into that crammed chasis. Had Dell not gone their usual crazy self and had at least a proper 120 or 140mm fan option on the topside things could have been much different, as it it is it's mostly a fools errand.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I don't agree with that as I've seen plenty of mini ITX configurations that were at least as stuffed up as that is, but everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I think with very few and not particularly in depth modifications, that system could easily shave five or ten degrees off.

 

[rc159]

Hey Guys, thanks to you all for your comments. Appreciated.

After some googling, seems as though others have added liquid cooling (Corsair H60) with success, seems like a good fix. Not sure if a newbie like me could take it on though.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbwf4b5x_4w

Dell Precision 3630 liquid cooling with Corsair H60 | DELL Technologies

Greetings from the Whitsundays, Australia. My rig is a Dell Precision 3630 running a Xeon E-2174g stock voltage of 1.424v @ 4.7ghz or 4.3 on all cores at a boost TDP of 100w and steady at 71w...

www.dell.com

 

[Darkbreeze]

I don't normally recommend single fan width AIO coolers, but for this situation I think it's a good option, all things considered. If you are even minimally handy with things and can be moderately patient it should be doable even if you've never done anything like that before. Everybody has had to start somewhere at some point. The biggest thing might be if you need any special tools like Dremel or anything, whether you have access to that through friends/family or even have whatever you'll need already. Seems very doable.

 

[rc159]

Thanks

I don't normally recommend single fan width AIO coolers, but for this situation I think it's a good option, all things considered. If you are even minimally handy with things and can be moderately patient it should be doable even if you've never done anything like that before. Everybody has had to start somewhere at some point. The biggest thing might be if you need any special tools like Dremel or anything, whether you have access to that through friends/family or even have whatever you'll need already. Seems very doable.

Thanks. I am a mechanical engineer and regularly build all types of things but have never touched computers. Are there any videos or docs you could recommend to make me aware of the basic precautions to take when modifying computers?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nope.

But you can sure as heck familiarize yourself with the processes involved with this, ahem, hobby. More like a way of life for some, but definitely a hobby for others.

Videos: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=case+modding

Start watching them, with specific focus on the ones that indicate they are geared for beginning case modders.

Spend some time on MNPCtech website and just familiarize yourself with some of the processes involved. Videos are the best for this but even the review type blogs with pictures can be very helpful. I'd recommend scrolling down and starting with his OLDEST videos, as he was far less adept back then, more basic principles involved, then now. Consider, Bill Owen started more than 16 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/@Mnpctech_Giveaway_PC_Mods/videos

Watch videos or look for informational sites related to "case mod basics".

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOEGs8BRUtc


If you are a mechanical engineer, then design and fabrication should be second nature to you. The only two major recommendations I can make are:

One, make sure your system is unplugged from power completely anytime you work inside the case.

Two, if you are going to be doing anything that involves cutting, drilling or painting, remove everything from the case first so you don't get any tiny bits of metal or plastic into places where they they might cause, well, problems.

 

[MonsterMawd]

Spend some time on MNPCtech website and just familiarize yourself with some of the processes involved. Videos are the best for this but even the review type blogs with pictures can be very helpful. I'd recommend scrolling down and starting with his OLDEST videos, as he was far less adept back then, more basic principles involved, then now. Consider, Bill Owen started more than 16 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/@Mnpctech_Giveaway_PC_Mods/videos

Recording new series on modding old vintage cases as "Sleepers" for modern hardware, but will be at least one more month before 1st ep,

Thank you for the support guys!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Of course.