Re-Ordered the i300

[zguy85]

So just reordered the i300. I ordered a couple weeks ago, but had canceled due to some concerns.  Opted for the 32GB over the 64GB Ram version this time as well thinking DDR5 will progress in the future.  Also updated with my current address. 

I cancelled my order last time due to not being sure about CPU temps from Linus/Jay reviews.  I really like the system and think I will just have to sacrifice CPU performance for small form factor. I also am looking forward again to the challenge of finding a way to drop those CPU temps.

I currently own an older C1 and very curious why they made the radiator for the CPU smaller from the same Rad size of the GPU.  I'm very curious why they would do that especially with all the heat.

I really hope that I am making the right choice with this purchase.  I guess part of me of me is looking for either some support or... a reason not to continue this purchase to ease my worries regarding the CPU temps and additionally a 750W PSU powering both a 12900K(Peaks @ 238W) and 3080TI  (350W AVG 400W Peaks).  So lets say 240+400 (to be safe) = 640

This means we have roughly 100W of power for everything else including NVME/Ram/Fan/Pumps/SSD  Is that enough?

What do you guys think overall??? This would be a big purchase for me, really do love the small form factor. I'm curious.  Thanks gang.

-Justin

Edited January 19, 2022 by zguy85

[zguy85]

So further researching the 12900K can actually peak slightly past 300W with overclock which I don't think will be at all an option with this build.  Thoughts?

[Janejane]

You definitely won’t be able to overclock or even run at stock, the cpu is already throttled so I won’t worry about temperature or power.

 

regardless, i300 still got 23000+ cinebench r23 score which I find to be pretty impressive, per Corsair website. Equivalent Alienware aurora r13 is only achieving 24000+ in a much larger chassis. 
 

 

[zguy85]

Facts Jane. I can only hope to find a way getting those CPU temps further down.  Right now considering TIM replacement/washer trick/lapping the lid possibly swapping in larger radiator / panel from older C1 see if it makes a difference.

[zguy85]

So Jane lol after I reordered only couple days ago I get a notification of shipment with tracking from Taiwan.  I wonder if they saw the same name from the order weeks ago then cancelled, and just shipped out the same unit originally ordered.  Anyway, excited now.

Edited January 21, 2022 by zguy85

[EchoSierra]

Hey zguy85. I'm excited for you! Should be a nice upgrade! It does seem to have some issues but since you're no stranger to tinkering, you should be able to deal with what comes. Meanwhile I'll keep upgrading my OG 2017 C1 for as long as I can. Got my sights on the 12700F and hopefully I'll work out a way to continue using to original liquid cooler which I know is not compatible with alder lake. We'll see. Looking forward to reading on your experiences with the new one.

[zguy85]

Dude what's up Echo, yea man I considered upgrading further past the 3070, but had concerns with a new mobo that would fit the cutout in the back where the connections are properly.  I also like front bottom of the new models with headphone/USB-C Hookups in the front.

Probably could have got creative, but a lot of moves in life right now to tinker that much currently.

The absolute biggest concern are those temps.  Yes they will work but running a CPU 90-100C while the unit is on Gaming 95% of the time is going to wear that CPU fast.  I know honestly this isn't the smartest move, but I am looking forward to the challenge/growth potential to make this unit run better then stock.

If I fail, I will be considering this purchase an absolute mistake, and will probably loose faith in Corsair's One product moving elsewhere.  Just to be honest.

For those who don't tinker. I honestly cannot recommend purchasing the i300 with the temps it's averaging while heavy gaming.

Either way Corsair needs to address this.  Also I believe this will be the last iteration of SFF C1 once the 4000 Series Nvidia Cards come out.  Reports coming they will require 400-450W power. Corsair's largest 750W SFF will no longer suffice and a decision will have to be made.

Only the future will tell.  Will be interesting to see where they go from here.

Edited January 24, 2022 by zguy85

[zguy85]

So talking with James over at Rocket Cool.  He has a new delid kit for the gen12 Series Intels and will soon have a pure copper IHS available and when replaced he is claiming 18-20c drops.

He mentioned also later down the road, they will have a bracket available to mount directly to the die which will have even greater temp drops.  I plan to work with James on this and see what we can get with both methods.  Exciting!

Edited January 26, 2022 by zguy85

[zguy85]

It arrived today very excited.  Wow Windows 11 will be something to get used to. Side by side 5 years apart. Markings are much more pronounced then were originally. Packaging was excellent. 

 

Edited January 27, 2022 by zguy85

[zguy85]

So been having fun with the system.  Here are my Cinebench Results and this is with fan curve maxed out.  These so far do not match what is advertised either on the corsair website fyi.

This is what is advertised.

 

These are the results Multi-Thread. = 24739  /w 86c Max Temp.

 

These are the results Single Thread.  = 1987  /w 68c Max Temp.

 

I wonder what could have been different for them to achieve those scores.  Maybe system is still settling.  I will re-run a week from now.

Edited January 27, 2022 by zguy85

[zguy85]

Temps are better then expected, thought would hit in the 90's and up from other content I've seen out there, but no didn't break 86.  Room temp was 72f/22.22c when running tests.

[LeDoyen]

the scores are pretty close. i bet if you close a few programs running in the background you'll get the missing points. iCUE is probably the biggest offender:p

When running benchmarks, you want to reduce as much as possible the background CPU usage to get your best score.

HWinfo64 is pretty light so it shouldn't affect too much. I usually keep it opened for the first run just to see how temps are, then do a re-run with HWinfo closed too.

That also allows you to see how much of a hit those programs cause on performances. Now, you will not notice 1000 points in multithread perf in everyday use.

[zguy85]

Good point.  I did have both those programs open but nothing else.  I'll re-run later today closing those two. Don't I need Icue though running in background to control fans/pumps? Had Corsair Link before.  Really loving the system overall.  Windows 11 is so different, but in a good way.

Edited January 27, 2022 by zguy85

[zguy85]

 So tuned the Turbo Boost Power Max from 165W to 180W and set Core Volt from Auto to 1.28V.  Still was only able to achieve 25450 with hitting 90C and then thermal throttling over halfway through.  How the heck did they get a 25936 beats me.  Maybe if I can have it stick at 89c and not thermal throttle I can get a magic number.

[zguy85]

Yea, Corsair has it pretty well optimized.  There really isn't much room at all for tweaking the CPU without thermal throttling it.  Would need to improve CPU temps to push it further.  In all reality, the processor does a wonderful job stock.  Probably could push out another 5% in performance with some increased cooling.  Honestly the juice might not be worth the squeeze.  Product is pretty solid as is.  Still plan to get that 5% though =).

[EchoSierra]

Nicely done!!! Looks mint. Though no much difference from OG which is a testament to the design. I know internally they are very different from each other. I think the performance is there. Corsair might have run those tests in a cold environment to minimise temperature. They might've done other things behind the scenes. Kind of like how some car manufactures set lap time records for their cars but with the spare tire removed, specific tire pressures, etc. But when you try with your own car you don't get the same numbers.

Should be interesting how the system goes long term. If it's not too much trouble, maybe post pictures of the inside if you can. I'm curious about the cooling design on the GPU.

Edited January 28, 2022 by EchoSierra

[LeDoyen]

17 hours ago, zguy85 said:

Good point.  I did have both those programs open but nothing else.  I'll re-run later today closing those two. Don't I need Icue though running in background to control fans/pumps? Had Corsair Link before.  Really loving the system overall.  Windows 11 is so different, but in a good way.

yes you need iCUE. But you can close it just for the cinebench run. that's what i meant. re- start iCUE once it's done.

[bennjjee]

I signed up to the forum to say thanks for sharing your experiences with this zguy85! I'm interested in this product, but it is such a lot of money that I want to be sure it's right for me before committing. Like you, those CPU temps are the thing most interesting me right now. Have you managed to try some gaming at stock specs to get a feel for average temp during 'normal' use? I think I read that TJMax is something like 100 degrees c for the 12900K so based on your stress tests seems like there is a bit of headroom there

[zguy85]

I'll be honest. lol I mainly play Destiny 2 pretty much exclusively and dam the frames are nice now.  I can run whatever test you guys want just let me know.  The fan doesn't  even go half full throttle while playing Destiny turned up all the way so that's a good sign.  As previously stated also. I have been in contact with James from Rocket Cool and looking forward to performing a IHS replacement which he claims has potential of up to 20c reduction with his modification.  I already have his de-lid kit for the 12900K just awaiting his release of his copper IHS which should be sometime in the next month or so according to him.  This will absolutely make the difference even if only half that at with a 10c drop.

Yea guys just let me know here what u want me to run if it's free I'll go dl it and get you the numbers got nothing much going on today so yea.  Gonna run Cinebench right now without ICue.

Edited January 29, 2022 by zguy85

[zguy85]

Ok just re-ran Cinbench without Cue loaded and not much to say.  Did run the test environment at 70f opposed to 72f and lol did see a result there.  with a 2f degree difference, we went from maxing at 86 now to 84 lol so that followed lol.

Cinebench went from 24739 to now 24746.  A 7 point increase without ICue running in the background.  I call either BS on those numbers... orrr those tests were previously ran with and without certain Drivers/Windows Updates.  By the way I currently am running all the latest Windows 11 updates... all of them.  Also by the way ALL these tests have been ran with fan curve set to MAX.  Let me know if you would like to see otherwise.

But was nice to see the 2f following with 2f environmental drop lol.

Edited January 29, 2022 by zguy85

[zguy85]

Previously stated 2f for 2f.  To correct ran at 70F opposed to 72F for a decrease of 2C. Which is pretty good could also be the factory TIM settling now that had been heating up over time.

[bennjjee]

On 1/29/2022 at 5:14 PM, zguy85 said:

I'll be honest. lol I mainly play Destiny 2 pretty much exclusively and dam the frames are nice now.  I can run whatever test you guys want just let me know.  The fan doesn't  even go half full throttle while playing Destiny turned up all the way so that's a good sign.  As previously stated also. I have been in contact with James from Rocket Cool and looking forward to performing a IHS replacement which he claims has potential of up to 20c reduction with his modification.  I already have his de-lid kit for the 12900K just awaiting his release of his copper IHS which should be sometime in the next month or so according to him.  This will absolutely make the difference even if only half that at with a 10c drop.

Yea guys just let me know here what u want me to run if it's free I'll go dl it and get you the numbers got nothing much going on today so yea.  Gonna run Cinebench right now without ICue.

Thanks - that's great to hear. Don't know if you have PC Game Pass but if so it might be worth testing MS Flight Sim as that can really test a PC. I'll be interested in how your IHS replacement goes. Presume that would void the warranty though

[jupiterstar]

On 1/27/2022 at 2:05 AM, zguy85 said:

It arrived today very excited.  Wow Windows 11 will be something to get used to. Side by side 5 years apart. Markings are much more pronounced then were originally. Packaging was excellent.

When you say that packaging was excellent, how well protected was the pc against any accidents during transportation (stuff like being dropped or having some other packages on top of it, etc) ?

[zguy85]

It was handled and packed very well coming all the way from Taiwan to Alaska to Indiana To California to San Diego.  Not a single dent or damage mark on the box.  Packed tight inside.

[Its_Immunechain]

Hi guys, Just took my order of the corsair i300, having a few issues im hoping you lovely people maybe able to shed some light on.

The 3080ti in icue on the temp 2 sensor is showing when playing a modest game 106'c is that normal? sensor 1 and 3 are typically 82'c under full load. Getting alot of stuttering in games, wondering if it worth getting a pro out to replace thermal compound and see if there is a way of installing a slim fan on either the cpu rad or gpu rad?? Im mega familiar with these systems but love the form factor.

Thank you all for your time.