CPU/Case Cooling question

[yesyamaha]

Hi

I upgraded my cpu/board to ryzen 2700x + msi pro carbon ac pro recently and I also bought a new case along with it...( https://www.gigabyte.com/Chassis/GB-AC300W-rev-10#kf )

The cabinet came with 2 fans installed and the one behind. I also put in a generic rgb fan (the shop threw it in for free) at top which is an intake fan I think...

I would now like to do something to improve cooling inside my case and for cpu/gpu because they seem to running hot however especially now that I have put my case in a computer desk with very little headroom... (cpu is in 50'sc even in normal usage according to hwinfo and even AMD ryzen master. During gaming, I reach temps up to 75c. However in bios, the temps are in low 40's... this is confusing me... which are the right values?!?)

I am thinking of buying a cooler master evo fan for the CPU as for the case, should I just buy 3 of these ( https://www.amazon.in/Cooler-Master...F8&qid=1537628101&sr=1-6&keywords=cabinet+fan or https://www.amazon.in/Circle-Stay-C...F8&qid=1537628101&sr=1-4&keywords=cabinet+fan )

And then put two on top removing the cheap fan and 1 in front next to the one already there? because 4 is the limit for this case I think...

Or are there any more considerations like intake and exhaust?


p.s can the same fan be used as intake or exhaust fan? how?

 

[dorsetknob]

p.s can the same fan be used as intake or exhaust fan? how?

Fans usualy have two Arrows on them
one indicating Direction of Rotation and the other direction of airflow
Simply Mount your fan so the Air Flow goes in the Direction you want

 

[rtwjunkie]

Well, if you can confirm that the top fan is actually working as an intake, it should be turned around first before moving on to whether you need more fans.

It should blow out, or up toward you, to help the heat in case rise as heat wants to do.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Please fill out your system specs.

However in bios, the temps are in low 40's..

When you are in BIOS, there is no load on the CPU and it will be at its coolest.

I would put 3 fans in the front of that case blowing in, and not worry about exhaust fans other than the one on the back of the case.

I have put my case in a computer desk with very little headroom.

Are you saying that it's in an enclosed space? If that is true, it must be ventilated. If not, adding more fans to the case will not make a difference.

During gaming, I reach temps up to 75c

According to what your room temperatures are, you might need to replace the CPU cooler, but let's see what happens with more intake fans first. 75°C is not bad...

 

[claylomax]

I would put 3 fans in the front of that case blowing in, and not worry about exhaust fans other than the one on the back of the case.

This.

 

[RejZoR]

Ideal setup is 3x front intakes, 2x top exhaust and 1x rear exhaust. It gives the best ventilation and follows thermal rules (heat always going up). If you want positive pressure, just make top fans slightly slower than intake ones. With same speed intake and exhaust you're creating a neutral pressure which is generally the best as there is very little air swirling inside the case, it just goes straight through.

 

[Vya Domus]

Just have the front fans as intakes and the rest as exhaust, if you've done that there is not much else you can improve upon.

A stock 2700X reaching 75c when gaming is a bit high, though still within check. I would also take a look at the settings related to fan speed in the BIOS, on my board for example with the stock fan curve the speed doesn't budge unless really high temps are reached.

p.s can the same fan be used as intake or exhaust fan? how?

Flip them over ? I also noticed your PC is in a rather close space, fans could be drawing in a lot of hot recycled air.

 

[rtwjunkie]

You can either use a slightly damp hand over the fan to tell if it blows in or out, or lay a light piece of paper over the opening (tissue is perfect). It will either be pulled onto the opening or blown away.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

(I cant tell just by putting my hand over the case)

Use a tissue

 

[robot zombie]

I would now like to do something to improve cooling inside my case and for cpu/gpu because they seem to running hot however especially now that I have put my case in a computer desk with very little headroom... (cpu is in 50'sc even in normal usage according to hwinfo and even AMD ryzen master. During gaming, I reach temps up to 75c. However in bios, the temps are in low 40's... this is confusing me... which are the right values?!?)

Low 40's aren't all that unusual in the bios. It's usually gonna be above idle there. For instance, my 2600 runs at 38-42C, but once booted it idles 28-32C.
50s for normal use isn't awful, just a little high. 75 for gaming is definitely kind of high. That's what I see under Linpacks and small FFT's with an overclock. 75C under max load is really no big deal. It isn't harmful. The problem is gaming isn't a max load. 60's, even upper, would be a hell of a lot nicer to see.

Honestly, to me it's a simple matter of no front intake. Pushing out the hot air can only do so much if it isn't being replaced with cool air. Get a couple of intake fans for the front, with decent static pressure to go up against that filter and choked front panel. You should see sizable temperature drops. If you want something that'll really pull some air into the case and noise at high RPM's isn't a huge concern, I can recommend a pair of Corsair ML140's, if your case will fit them. At high loads they'll start to get somewhat loud with air noise, but they can really move some air. And fortunately they don't often need those RPMs. Outside of massive load spikes, they run very quiet. Guarantee if you put something like that in the front, you'll see some pretty big improvements.

If you've got those top and rear you have now as exhaust, keep em that way, you want the hot air to be pulled out of that region. I'd never recommend making them intake, you'd be pushing the hot air back across everything on the way out.

Now, after you've got that front intake going and fan curves set, if you're still seeing too much heat, it may be time to look at an aftermarket CPU cooler. I don't think it will come to that though. The cooler those chips ship with is actually quite good. But then, the 2700x has a lot going on - it's always gonna put out a lot of heat. Still, You should be able to idle in the mid 30's, 40's for light to middling loads, 55-65 for gaming, 70's for extremely CPU heavy tasks. Just a ballpark guess.

Remember to set your fan curves accordingly. Best way to do it is to just run stress testing and do other things, monitoring temps as you go. If temps are too high for certain things, up the fan speed for the temperature range you're seeing when doing those things... ...maybe even a few degrees before so the fans can step up to the load. In your case, with a hotter/more cramped environment, you are going to have to run your fans a little harder. You'll have to make that compromise on noise.

Another thing to consider is just... power consumption. If you're running stock, XMP may be pushing more voltage than is actually needed. And if your board has offset voltage, you may be able to set a slight negative offset without hurting peak boosts. Very much gonna take some tweaking. If you have PBO it might not be a bad idea to familiarize yourself with that. On one end, you can squeeze out more perfomance, but with a little knowledge and acquired skill, you can also improve efficiency and still have performance where you need it. There's improving cooling, and then there's decreasing cooling demands. Take your pick.

 

[John Naylor]

1. Add up all the component watt ratings at the respective OCs .... say 450 watts

2. Use this rule of thumb for a quiet (1250 or so rpm fans) PC ... for 1800 rpm, add 25 watts

One 120mm will take care of 50 - 75 watts .... 6 fans
One 140mm will take care of 75 - 100 watts ... say 4 - 5 fans

3. Aim for 3 intake fans for every 2 exhaust since intake filters will eat up to a third of air flow

Id use 3 intake 140mm fans and two exhausts

 

[yesyamaha]

Thank you all for your input. Your posts have given me a good idea of how I can improve the cooling in my cabinet. So far I removed the cheap fan on top which was taking air in and put it at the front. Though it (edit: CPU) still does hit 75 and above for a second or two but the averages have certainly gone down. Its staying at 68c average while playing PUBG and Kingdom Come Deliverance. It used to be 3-4 degrees higher.

I have ordered 2 120 mm high air flow fans and it will be interesting to see what they can do for my system cooling. I am thinking of putting both of them at the front which will mean I will have 3 fans at front. I will then put the cheap fan on top again but as an exhaust this time. That will mean I have 2 exhaust fans, one at top above the cpu and one behind...

BTW I ordered high air flow fans instead of high static because there are no impediments between the front area and the ram/cpu area in my case because the HD bay is at the bottm next to the PSU. Is that alright?

Oh and my complete specs are :

AMD Ryzen 2700x
MSI B450 AC Carbon Pro Board
16 gb Corsair Vengeance 3000 mhz
Zotac Nvidia 1060 mini (goes up to mid 80's while playing games)
Samsung evo 250 ssd + 2 tb Seagate semi ssd
Corsair cx 650 watt PSU

 

[Caring1]

Hi

I upgraded my cpu/board to ryzen 2700x + msi pro carbon ac pro recently and I also bought a new case along with it...( https://www.gigabyte.com/Chassis/GB-AC300W-rev-10#kf )

The cabinet came with 2 fans installed and the one behind. I also put in a generic rgb fan (the shop threw it in for free) at top which is an intake fan I think...

I would now like to do something to improve cooling inside my case and for cpu/gpu because they seem to running hot however especially now that I have put my case in a computer desk with very little headroom... (cpu is in 50'sc even in normal usage according to hwinfo and even AMD ryzen master. During gaming, I reach temps up to 75c. However in bios, the temps are in low 40's... this is confusing me... which are the right values?!?)...

Your first picture only shows one fan in the front, as intake, one on the rear, as exhaust, and the top fan which you installed.
direction of airflow can be determined by the position of the frame on one side of the mounted fan, if it can be seen at the back, like the front fan, it is an intake, if the frame is hard against the chassis like the rear fan, it is an exhaust. Now look at your top fan and see how that is mounted.
Ideally you should have two decent front mounted fans, not one.

 

[hat]

High flow fans would be better for your situation as opposed to high pressure (those are best used for radiators), but I'm not sure how much of an improvement you would see. A 1060 surely shouldn't be hitting the 80s when gaming though... it's not dangerous, but it is an abnormally high temp. Could the video card cooler be dusty? Do you have really high ambient temps?

 

[Vya Domus]

Not even my blower 1060 reaches 80c.

 

[yesyamaha]

High flow fans would be better for your situation as opposed to high pressure (those are best used for radiators), but I'm not sure how much of an improvement you would see. A 1060 surely shouldn't be hitting the 80s when gaming though... it's not dangerous, but it is an abnormally high temp. Could the video card cooler be dusty? Do you have really high ambient temps?

Not even my blower 1060 reaches 80c.

Well this is the mini version of 1060 with only one fan and its known to run at high temps. It idles in the 40s but gets hot under load. Zotac even made a mini version of the 1080 (which I am eyeing) and that runs quite hot as well...

Anyways if I can cool the card along with the cpu by 5 or more degrees then that will be a real plus.... I am now waiting for the fans to come.

As for my ambient temps, the temp peaks at 32 during the day here this time of the year and averages at around 28-29...

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Zotac even made a mini version of the 1080 (which I am eyeing)

It is noisy. Why not the Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme Edition, or a similar "cool and quiet" model?

 

[yesyamaha]

It is noisy. Why not the Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme Edition, or a similar "cool and quiet" model?

Yeah I heard its noisy and I also read complaints about coil whine but its the version best priced in my location.. (as in I am paying closest to the US$ price for this card on amazon or newegg) The guy I buy from is currently out of the amp edition from zotac which was also nicely priced. If its in stock when I am ready to buy then I will definitely go for that...