(High Temps) H80 to H100 worth it? (Pics inside) Advice Please

[Reclaimed Soul]

Hey Everyone,

 

So about three weeks back i decided it was time to upgrade my old system i used to have a i5 2500k and a GTX 970, i upgraded to a 6700k with a new Mobo, RAM, CPU Cooler and a new PSU but kept my 970, Drives and Case

 

Here is my specs

 

i7 6700k @ 4.2Ghz

Gigabyte Z170X - Gaming 7 Motherboard

G.Skilll Trident Z 16GB 3200Mhz DDR4 RAM

Corsair H80i V2 CPU Cooler

Samsung Evo 500Gb SSD

WD 1TB HDD

EVGA GTX 970 SC

EVGA 650 G2 PSU

HAF 912 Plus Case

 

All has been great so far except i am not happy with my CPU load Temps (Up to 72°C in game).

I would just like to say that i don't have my CPU cooler fans in the direction stated in the manual that came with the cooler.

I have my CPU cooler pulling warm air from inside my case blowing across the radiator and the fan on the back of the radiator blowing the air out the back of the case...... See below

http://i64.tinypic.com/msye7b.jpg

 

As you can see i also have a 120mm top exhaust fan (Can't fit another next to it as the radiator is in the way) and a 200mm Fan blowing air in from the front.

The problem is i am getting up to 72°C CPU temps when playing games like The Division, i know that 72°C is not the end of the world but i think it is a little hot for everyday use and would like to lower it if possible.

I would just like to say that i have tried everything that i could with regard to my Overclock but i cant get the PC to run on a lower Vcore than 1.345 @ 4.4Ghz (Not the best chip?). If i turn off my XMP profile my CPU temps drop by up to 10°C but i bought this RAM and would like to run it at it's best speed if possible.

 

I also turned the Cooler fans around to draw cool air from outside and blow the warm air inside the case.... This bought the CPU temps down by about 5-7°C :) but my GPU went from 67°C Load to 80°C Load :eek: sometimes over

My general motherboard temps went up around 10°C with this fan config.

 

 

 

Unfortunatly i don't have the room to buy a bigger case (desk too small)

but after doing a little research i would be able to fit a H100i V2 in to my case at the top but the fans would be mounted outside the case, pulling air up through the radiator, see pics below....

 

http://i64.tinypic.com/20gfbqf.jpg

 

I would be able to take my 120mm top exhaust and fit it as exhaust at the rear....

 

http://i65.tinypic.com/4l39qb.jpg

 

Fans mounted on top. (Not the best look) :cool:

 

The reason i am looking for advice is am i likely to see a difference in temps? than my h80? i just can't seem to get my set up right but im happy to do this if i can get say 5-10°C lower CPU temps and keep everything else in the case cool too, my only concern is that the fans would be mounted on my case and not the radiator so i don't know if that little gap would make a difference with regard to cooling the radiator?

 

I am up for any more surggestions with regards to cooling my CPU with my set up , Would going back to a air cooler be better?, thanks to anyone who reads this and offers any advice

 

Cheers

[snapper69]

I would be inclined to temporarily disconnect the top exhaust fan and see if that makes a difference, if it does try flipping it over to try as an intake. Of course, if you were to use it like that regularly it would need a filter.

[Reclaimed Soul]

I would be inclined to temporarily disconnect the top exhaust fan and see if that makes a difference, if it does try flipping it over to try as an intake. Of course, if you were to use it like that regularly it would need a filter.

 

Hi snapper69,

 

Thanks for the reply, i orginally had no fan in the top slot when i first put this build together but i had an issue of the coolent/pump temp getting to 40°C with in 15 mins of playing a game.

 

By installing the top 120mm fan (Unable to fit one next to it due to the radiator)

as exhaust it stopped the pump/coolent temp from going above 37.5°C.

 

I thought about turning the top fan around but thought it would disrupt air flow within the case.

 

At this point i dont really know what is the best option here, should i go ahead and get the H100i but mounting it the way i would have to might not make a difference to what temps i have now. Or should i just turn off my RAM XMP and be done with it? (Don't really want to do this, i bought the 3200Mhz kit and would like to run it at that speed.

 

Another option is to buy a Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU "Air" Cooler this would give me the option of being able to fit a couple more 120mm fans around the two on the cooler itself and might give me better overall temps and airflow.

 

This might be a better option for me and my case setup over a AIO liquid cooler?

 

If anyone has any ideas please let me know thanks

[Aldem]

Your temps are fine. If prime95 max at ~70c, no worries imo.

[c-attack]

Two separate issues. 1) Take a very detailed look at what your BIOS changes when you enable XMP. Memory timings should have no obvious effect on CPU temperature. It is more likely enabling XMP on your board triggers a series of voltage changes besides DRAM and those are responsible for the increased CPU temps. Things to check: Base Clock (BCLK), Strap, System Agent Voltage (VCCSA). Some of the names may have been different on your generation board. A drastic change in your CPU temps makes me think something has been overly adjusted.

 

2) With any cooler in the rear exhaust slot above your GPU, you are going to have warmer CPU temps while gaming, possibly even warmer than CPU only stress tests. The GPU gets hot, warms the area around it, which includes part of the radiator and the air pulled through it. You can't really get around the problem without moving the H80 to a new location and that may not be practical. However, your question was how much can it improve. To know this, you need to look at your H80i Temp in Corsair Link. This is the coolant temperature inside the system. Before you press the power button, it will be the same as your room/case ambient temperature. As soon as you boot, it will start to take on the heat from the CPU and other system waste heat, less what are able to remove with the fans. Most people have water temps about 4-7C above their room ambient temperature at idle. This is both power state, case layout, and radiator placement specific. The final number is your water temperature while/after gaming. If you can give us those three things (Room temp, idle water temp, game water temp), than we can make a better prediction about how much you can lower your CPU temps.

[Reclaimed Soul]

Two separate issues. 1) Take a very detailed look at what your BIOS changes when you enable XMP. Memory timings should have no obvious effect on CPU temperature. It is more likely enabling XMP on your board triggers a series of voltage changes besides DRAM and those are responsible for the increased CPU temps. Things to check: Base Clock (BCLK), Strap, System Agent Voltage (VCCSA). Some of the names may have been different on your generation board. A drastic change in your CPU temps makes me think something has been overly adjusted.

 

2) With any cooler in the rear exhaust slot above your GPU, you are going to have warmer CPU temps while gaming, possibly even warmer than CPU only stress tests. The GPU gets hot, warms the area around it, which includes part of the radiator and the air pulled through it. You can't really get around the problem without moving the H80 to a new location and that may not be practical. However, your question was how much can it improve. To know this, you need to look at your H80i Temp in Corsair Link. This is the coolant temperature inside the system. Before you press the power button, it will be the same as your room/case ambient temperature. As soon as you boot, it will start to take on the heat from the CPU and other system waste heat, less what are able to remove with the fans. Most people have water temps about 4-7C above their room ambient temperature at idle. This is both power state, case layout, and radiator placement specific. The final number is your water temperature while/after gaming. If you can give us those three things (Room temp, idle water temp, game water temp), than we can make a better prediction about how much you can lower your CPU temps.

 

Thanks for the advice, I will do that

[Kippsy]

Two separate issues. 1) Take a very detailed look at what your BIOS changes when you enable XMP. Memory timings should have no obvious effect on CPU temperature. It is more likely enabling XMP on your board triggers a series of voltage changes besides DRAM and those are responsible for the increased CPU temps. Things to check: Base Clock (BCLK), Strap, System Agent Voltage (VCCSA). Some of the names may have been different on your generation board.

 

Its actually quite common these days for the board to auto overclock itself slightly when XMP is enabled (Something to do with the Intergrated memory controller)

 

I would not expect a +10 deg C difference though - As C-attck stated, I would check exactly what changes are being applied (More than likely a slight increase to the vcore voltage and possibly a hefty increase to the cache voltage)

I would also double check the motherboard bios is upto date.

 

EDIT - A quick google search can also be your friend

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1603927/xmp-enabled-on-gigabyte-gaming-7-overclocks-cpu

[Hydroponic]

I have the same motherboard. Sadly with XMP profiles Gigabyte will sometimes overtune values beyond what is needed (this is a problem with most boards, though). As was stated, I would check your VCCSA and VCCIO values under the voltages setting in the BIOS.

 

As for the heat issue inside your case, it's the old catch-22 with PC's. Do I want a cooler CPU or a cooler GPU? It's hard to have one without negatively affecting the other. In my case, my GPU massively warms up my case (which warms up my CPU water temp) and there's not much I can do about it unless I decide to water cool the GPU separately (and exhaust the heat). IMO, it's smarter to worry about keeping the GPU cooler since most GPU's use much more power (and produce more heat) than CPU's these days.

 

TL;DR -- Your GPU's heat is rising and warming up your radiator. There's nothing you can do unless you 1) water cool your GPU and exhaust its heat from another rad or 2) try and mount your CPU radiator somewhere else (which I doubt will make much difference, honestly).

[Reclaimed Soul]

Thanks for all the info guys i do appreciate it, this is my second build so im learning new stuff every day.

 

So far i have re seated the h80i V2 block and applied Artic silver 5, after a couple hours gaming max CPU temp according to HWmonitor was 68°C so this has helped a little.

 

I will now have a look at the bios settings as you have said to see if i can see whats happening.

 

Cheers

[c-attack]

If you can give me your room temperature, idle water temp, and gaming water temp, I can make a reasonable guess as to how much you might reduce temperatures with an H100i. I imagine it will be a single digit number and that may make any decision an easier one.

[Reclaimed Soul]

If you can give me your room temperature, idle water temp, and gaming water temp, I can make a reasonable guess as to how much you might reduce temperatures with an H100i. I imagine it will be a single digit number and that may make any decision an easier one.

 

Hi c-attack,

 

Thanks for your help, I will get the details you have asked and post them here

later this evening.

 

Thanks again

[Reclaimed Soul]

c-attack,

 

Here are the temps you asked for.

 

 

Room Temp 24°C

 

Gaming Coolent Temp 38.1°C

(This is the temp the coolent got up to and leveled out at ( Took approx 20-25 mins gaming time to get here)

 

Idle Temp 31.1°C

(Took a good 10-15 Mins to get down to this temp after a couple of hours gaming)

 

Specs

 

i7 6700k @ 4.4Ghz (Vcore 1.345)

Gigabyte Z170X - Gaming 7 Motherboard

G.Skilll Trident Z 16GB 3200Mhz DDR4 RAM (XMP Enabled)

Corsair H80i V2 CPU Cooler (Exhaust Mounted)

Samsung Evo 500Gb SSD

WD 1TB HDD

EVGA GTX 970 SC GPU

EVGA 650 G2 PSU

Sound Blaster Z Sound Card

HAF 912 Plus Case (1 x 200mm Front intake fan, 1 x 120mm top exhaust fan)

 

 

Thanks again for your help

[c-attack]

OK, I was looking for your idle water temperature before you started gaming, but I'll assume it is the same 31C and will adjust if needed.

 

24C to 31C idle - This is your delta over ambient water temperature. It is affected mostly by your case design, layout, and general airflow. CPU model, voltage, and cooling capacity have a low effect, as long as you use your C--states to drop the idle voltage. 4 to 7C is a common range for this value and the delta would likely be the same with an H100i in the top, although I might be willing to give a degree or two for improved airflow through the case with the back fan now free to flow.

 

31 to 38C - This is your load water delta. It is affected by CPU model, voltage, GPU waste heat, and load. Case airflow affects this value to a much lesser degree. This is where having the H100i gives you an advantage. It takes to the radiator out of the immediate GPU waste heat zone. We could probably get someone with an H100i in the roof the play the same game and get an exact number, but a +3C delta over idle is pretty common and it can be difficult to equalize for CPU model and voltage. Based on that, you may gain 4C here.

 

So the very rough estimate is you could decrease your water temps by 5-6C. That is the only way to reduce the CPU temperature. Is that worth the fans on top of the case buzzing all the time? I would say no unless you are down to your last 5C on the CPU temps. Also, you should take a look at your average CPU temps instead of the peak value. A momentary peak to 70C on your cores is completely inconsequential to the longevity of your CPU. Averaging 70C at your cores is something different. Most games and other programs have low average CPU temps, with occasional spikes that skew the charts. Reset HWMonitor or whatever you use right before playing and check the average when you quit. That should allow you some peace of mind about your CPU temps. The next time you upgrade your case, a slightly taller one would give you more options. For now, just make sure you don't push the back end right against the wall. All of your heat comes out the back and you can really make things hot in that 6 inch column against the wall. From experience, that can impact the rear elements of the case, including the water temp.

[Reclaimed Soul]

OK, I was looking for your idle water temperature before you started gaming, but I'll assume it is the same 31C and will adjust if needed.

 

24C to 31C idle - This is your delta over ambient water temperature. It is affected mostly by your case design, layout, and general airflow. CPU model, voltage, and cooling capacity have a low effect, as long as you use your C--states to drop the idle voltage. 4 to 7C is a common range for this value and the delta would likely be the same with an H100i in the top, although I might be willing to give a degree or two for improved airflow through the case with the back fan now free to flow.

 

31 to 38C - This is your load water delta. It is affected by CPU model, voltage, GPU waste heat, and load. Case airflow affects this value to a much lesser degree. This is where having the H100i gives you an advantage. It takes to the radiator out of the immediate GPU waste heat zone. We could probably get someone with an H100i in the roof the play the same game and get an exact number, but a +3C delta over idle is pretty common and it can be difficult to equalize for CPU model and voltage. Based on that, you may gain 4C here.

 

So the very rough estimate is you could decrease your water temps by 5-6C. That is the only way to reduce the CPU temperature. Is that worth the fans on top of the case buzzing all the time? I would say no unless you are down to your last 5C on the CPU temps. Also, you should take a look at your average CPU temps instead of the peak value. A momentary peak to 70C on your cores is completely inconsequential to the longevity of your CPU. Averaging 70C at your cores is something different. Most games and other programs have low average CPU temps, with occasional spikes that skew the charts. Reset HWMonitor or whatever you use right before playing and check the average when you quit. That should allow you some peace of mind about your CPU temps. The next time you upgrade your case, a slightly taller one would give you more options. For now, just make sure you don't push the back end right against the wall. All of your heat comes out the back and you can really make things hot in that 6 inch column against the wall. From experience, that can impact the rear elements of the case, including the water temp.

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to explain these things, you are right with regard to the avarage gaming temps, they are no where near 70°C and this has given me peace of mind.

 

Long term im going to change my case after i have modded my desk to allow a full tower case were i could fit a H100i V2 with no issues.

 

Thanks again.

[c-attack]

By the way, if one of the obstacles in this equation is sliding the case under a desk or table, then moving to the top mount H100i might not even bring those gains. If the fit is tight, then you get the same issue with a hot spot between the top of the case and the desk. In a very open style desk that may not be an issue, but otherwise it is just like pushing the case against the wall. That may be one more reason you are better with what you have now.

 

AND: Keep that top fan as exhaust. Even with two fans pushing through the 49mm radiator, you can't move a ton of air. The top fan should help with the exhaust duties and provide a little cooling for some other motherboard components, including your memory. That would be the case as intake or exhaust, but there is an exhaust deceit when you block the rear slot with a cooler.

[Reclaimed Soul]

By the way, if one of the obstacles in this equation is sliding the case under a desk or table, then moving to the top mount H100i might not even bring those gains. If the fit is tight, then you get the same issue with a hot spot between the top of the case and the desk. In a very open style desk that may not be an issue, but otherwise it is just like pushing the case against the wall. That may be one more reason you are better with what you have now.

 

AND: Keep that top fan as exhaust. Even with two fans pushing through the 49mm radiator, you can't move a ton of air. The top fan should help with the exhaust duties and provide a little cooling for some other motherboard components, including your memory. That would be the case as intake or exhaust, but there is an exhaust deceit when you block the rear slot with a cooler.

 

Hi c-attack,

 

My desk is an open one with no air restriction as far as im aware, the issue is that this desk was custom built with my case size in mind. I could fit a full size tower on there now but the back of the case would be against a wall, so im looking make it a bit deeper.

 

Thanks again for your help.

[c-attack]

I had a second thought on the top fan. At some point when you are feeling experimental, remove it entirely so there is nothing blocking the top venting. When I ran this configuration previously, the saving grace on my incredibly poor intake design was the H80i's ability to pull fresh air in from the top. The area above the case was unrestricted. This helped quite a bit with CPU temps while gaming and you are still drawing air across the motherboard for some cooling. My GPU was the reference style casing. Now your 970 is likely the ACX dual fan model, but 970's are not super heaters. It is possible it may work for you.

[snapper69]

Isn't the Vcore value of 1.345V a bit high? I dropped my overclocked 6600K down to 1.27V and temps dropped about 5 degrees.