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Cooling my rig further


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Hi all,

 

I have recently upgraded my build replacing my gpu with a r9 290 oc and running a i5 3570k. My idle temps started at 20-23c but have risen since installation to 25-30c. Under load the temps of my cpu are roughly 50-58c which I consider to be high given I'm using a water cooler. I thought my corsair h100i would be better than this. What other things can I do to make the temps better and this is without overclocking. I have good airflow in my case running two front fans intake two top fans exhaust one rear exhaust one side intake all 120mm fans in a phantom 410 case.

 

Any ideas

Edited by jonnibravo

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Is your H100i running as an intake or exhaust? If it's set up as an exhaust, flip the fans around the other way. It'll raise your GPU/board temps slightly but drop your CPU temps by a few degrees at least.

 

That said, 50-58C isn't hot. Your chip won't even start to throttle till it hits 100C. :)

 

 

For example - my 2700K @ 4.7 GHz hits almost 70 C under extended load (Intel Burn Test)...and that's with a MUCH more comprehensive cooling system and without the crutch of an Ivy Bridge heatspreader. I wouldn't worry with an Ivy Bridge chip until I was up into the 90s with an IBT load.

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Hi all,

 

I have recently upgraded my build replacing my gpu with a r9 290 oc and running a i5 3570k. My idle temps started at 20-23c but have risen since installation to 25-30c. Under load the temps of my cpu are roughly 50-58c which I consider to be high given I'm using a water cooler. I thought my corsair h100i would be better than this. What other things can I do to make the temps better and this is without overclocking. I have good airflow in my case running two front fans intake two top fans exhaust one rear exhaust one side intake all 120mm fans in a phantom 410 case.

 

Any ideas

As allready said, your CPU is not hot, but obviously the R9 290 is heating up your case.  After all it generates 2-3 times as much heat as CPU does .. most of which is being dumped randomly inside of case and heat up the air going into itself and CPU cooler. 

I would suggest

  • Removing unused PCIe back slot covers and see it that makes any difference. 
  • Try side fan as exhaust instead of intake.
  • Try top as intake.  It will be moving heated air into case but may still lower temps by forcing the hotter air from GPU out.

Here is basic guide to case cooling and how to make an inexpensive monitor for airflow temps inside of case.

 

Case airflow and cooling is not hard to do but can be time consuming.

Setting up the case for optimum cooling is often the hardest and most time consuming part of a build...  And often the most neglected.


  •  
  • There is much more to cooling  than good cases and good CPU / GPU coolers.  Add the fact that many GPU's make more heat than CPU means getting that heat out of the case and keeping a cool airflow to components can be a challenge.  
     
  • There must be more air flowing through case than component fans are using. If the CPU cooler uses 70cfm and GPU uses 80cfm fans we need 180-220cfm.  
     
  • Cases, especially those with filters, usually benefit from fans with higher static pressure ratings than stock fans...  "cooler" fans instead of  "case" fans.
    Intakes are typically have more restricted than exhaust because of air filters, more restrictive grills, HDD cages, etc.  
     
  • I prefer more intake than exhaust.  And don't confuse number of fans with amount of airflow... or airflow with airblow
    • airflow is flowing cool air from intake to component and flowing hot air from component out of case without the hot air mixing with the cool air.
       
    • airblow is lots of fans blowing air with some of hot air from components mixing with cool air making it warmer resulting in warm air not cooling components as well as the cool air will.

     [*] Putting fans in case as intake and/or exhaust is only the first step.  These fans only move air in and out of case.

     [*] This does not mean heated air is not mixing with cool air.

     [*] Nor does it mean cool air is going to where it is needed.

      [*] Getting the air to flow inside of case properly is even more important.  We still need to manage where the air flows inside the case.  We can do this several ways; deflectors, more intake fans.. & exhaust fans, removing PCI slot covers, removing vent grills, removing HDD cage, using fans with higher pressure/airflow, building ducts to or from CPU/GPU cooler, etc.  

     [*] Using a remote temperature sensor to monitor what air temps are is the key to finding out where the  cool air is flowing and knowing heated air is not mixing into it.  By monitoring this we can than make changes to get airflow the way we want it.

 

How to monitor air temperature different places inside of case:


  •  
  • A cheap indoor/outdoor thermometer with a piece of insulated wire and a plastic clothspin works great.  
     
  • Made up with floral wire and tape.  We don't want anything to short out with metal. ;)
    e65759c3-fbf9-414f-9f1f-f5941d540397_zps
     
  • Clip and position sensor where I want to check the temp. Make it easy to see what the air temp going into components actually is relative to room temp. ;)
     
  • When system is working air temps going into coolers will be 2-3c warmer than room..  up to about 5c is okay.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hey there. I know Alot of people are getting results with making many intakes bu i have found that the best way to get good air cooling it to have a better exhaust system to move the heat out.

 

When i was rolling with my haf 932 and cheiftech dragon i found it best to use the side fan as an exhaust rather then an intake. I know this seems off the coller but the goal is to get the heat away from the card before it travels up to the cpu cooler. Having it as an intake only causes there to be a dead spot where heat just rolls around.

 

This will help overall. With my dual or triple gtx 480s i was able to drop the video card temperatures Alot. Its been a while but if i remember correctly 10' cooler with it as an exhaust versus inlet on the side fan.

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  • 4 weeks later...

More exhaust fans or more intake fans .. case only flows as much air as venting allow in and out.  

 

What flow in must flow out.  What flows out must flow in.  Equal and opposite reaction kind of thing.

 

More intake CFM has air leaking  out rather than in. 

With more exhasut unfiltered air .. and dust .. leak into case. 

 

And of course the placement of fans, components, etc. all effect the airflow pattern/s inside (and outside) of case.

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