Would an upgrade from 4000d to 5000d help?

[jimZon]

Hello,

I'm running a fairly maxed out system in a quite cramped box and I sometimes suffering from that my system are getting too warm. Getting warnings from both the CPU (+90c and sometimes more) and the GPU (+80c) and sometimes even the SSD disks. The 4000 case (originally 4000x but I swapped the glass front to an airflow one) is getting hot and especially when I run 4K gaming. I have the AIO standing in the front which limits the air-intake. If I push all the fans to 70-80% rpm it gets better but I prefer a more quieter system than that. 

Just to point out: I have checked thermal paste on the AIO/CPU and make sure that the fans are neat and clean.

My thought would be to change the case to 5000d, set the AIO in the top and do a push-pull and then utilise the option to install six fans in the front/side of the case. A bit worried since the spring is on its way and my flat is getting very warm during summer times. 😞 

...changing case or is there any other ways to get this systems cooler? 

Current setup:
Corsair iCUE 4000X (now with airflow front)
ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Corsair AX HX1600i
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
ASUS GeForce RTX 3090 24GB ROG STRIX GAMING-OC
Corsair 32GB (4x8GB) DDR4 3600MHz CL16
2x Samsung 980 Pro 1TB
Corsair: H150i Elite Capellix iCUE 360mm
3x Corsair QL120 RGB 120mm (AIO and back)
2x Corsair QL140 RGB 140mm (top)
 

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by jimZon

[LeDoyen]

putting the AIO as top exhaust with a 3090 below it is a sure way to get your water toasty hot and the CPU throttling. even in a 5000D i wouldn't do it.

The location of the case plays a lot too. if it sits in a room corner, or maybe close to the back wall, it will constantly recirculate warm air.

I believe the 5000D would definitely help since you need a lot of airflow for the 3090, and the AIO would block less airflow.

The QL120 is also a pretty bad radiator fan, but installing fans with acceptable static pressure may not solve the issue as is. This card needs a ton of airflow. When i was waiting for my waterblock i had an aircooled 3090 with 9 fans in the case and it managed to keep a constant 50 - 55°C in a noisy case.

You could try to game with the glass panel off, and see how much temperatures drop, to get an idea of the impact the case airflow has. it should help you decide.

Oh, and if you have an air filter up top, get rid of it ! 

[jimZon]

Thank you for your recommendations. The system is indeed located in a corner of the room. Maybe I should go for some ML fans instead. But I was hoping for setting the AIO on the top with push-pull. Maybe I have to reconsider that? I have 13 fans available in total. 3x ML120 and 10x QL120 (and the two QL140) that I can use for the 5000D case. 

[LeDoyen]

if you set the AIO as top exhaust, the hot air from the RTX will heat up the radiator quite a bit. When you hit 80°C on the GPU; you may be exhausting air over 60°C from the GPU fins.

Setting it as top intake solves that problem. What effect it will have on GPU temps, it varies a lot. sometimes it's better, sometimes a bit worse. testing will tell.

the 4000 and 5000 cases have a very opened back, so heat should work its way out without problem either way.

To start with i would try the free solutions :

-Pull the case away from the wall as much as possible to avoid hot air recirculation (the 5000D will suck warm air from the front AND side, so if you have a bad placement to start with, changing cases may not help at all).

-help airflow as much as possible as a test (remove dust filters, maybe add the MLs on the radiator back side as pull to help the QLs even if the speeds don't match, remove the top filter if it's not already done since it would just restrict airflow for no good reason).

 

 

[c-attack]

If you dig around for some radiator comparisons for custom water cooling, you’ll find that most standard radiators (30-45mm) only pull back 1-1.5C when adding the second layer of fans. Now QL fans are not strong on a radiator but changing fan type or adding a second set of QL might at best change the coolant and Cpu temp by 1-3C. I suspect that’s not what you’re looking for. 
 

Ultimately case ambient temperature rules every component and serves as the baseline possible hardware temp. Most variance between users lies in this value. You didn’t list what the motherboard temp sensor reports during gaming, but if the SSDs are getting up to 70-80C when not writing data, then we have a pretty good idea. While dropping the glass likely helps some, ultimately the radiator itself will cut the airflow in by 40-50%. In the immediate solutions category, addding intake fans to the side slot would help supplement the intake air volume and help push gpu waste heat out. 
 

I am not sure how much the 5000 size will help without taking a hard look at what can fit in the side of the 4000. Ideally you would move the radiator over to the side wall as exhaust. This then opens up the front panel for free air intake. While the side fans do bring air into the case, they won’t do much for active cooling on the gpu backplate and that is definitely an area of concern on a 3090. In that layout the cpu radiator still gets clean air in and mostly stays out of the gpu heat zone, you get to keep the nice RGB fans for the front, and if you want you can then use some radiator specific fans on the side wall radiator. The unrestricted QL120x3 will offer plenty of intake air and you might get a little back on the cpu without needing to resort to push-pull and 3 further additional fans. 

Edited February 21, 2022 by c-attack

[jimZon]

Ok, I'll skip the push-pull on the radiator and install the radiator on the side, with the QL fans. Putting three additional fans in the front with free flow. Maybe put the ML fans that came with the AIO and put them in the top?

Thanks for the all the good advices here. Now I need to find a better place for the desktop instead on my corner. 🙂

[c-attack]

With a definite 9 RGB fans you will need another RGB controller.  I think you have it with the Commander Core from the AIO (6 RGB) and the Lighting Node Core from the case (6 RGB ports), but just FYI.  Each controller will act like a separate lighting group.  Which fans go where may be impacted by how you are going to group them by controller.  So if you have 6 QL and want them front + side sequenced, those should all go on the LNCore for RGB and the SP-Elite, ML-Elite on the Commander Core.  The Commander Core is better if you need to mix fan types on the same controller.  The LNCore is serial, so you'll have to force it to take a specific LED count.  QL fans do not mix well with any other type, except sometimes LL in low numbers.  

 

Based on what I can see from the picture above, I would keep your QL120 x3 + QL140x2 top + QL rear in their current positions and one one RGB controller.  Then use the ML-Elite from the AIO for the radiator.  Besides being a better radiator fan at low to middle speeds, the lighting on them is going to be different than the QL.  Managing the side wall RGB with the rest of the case can be a little tricky.  Putting them on the Com Core for RGB allows easy synchronization with the CPU block and RAM which become one visual plane.  

[jimZon]

Thank you, was thinking of following steps explained here with Corsair 10 fans setup, it seems similar what you just explained. Have a Commander Core and a Commander Pro plus three RGB Lighting Node Core available to work with. 

[jimZon]

(Forgot to add the drawing)

[c-attack]

Don't get too bogged down in the drawings.  It will be hard to find one that is a perfect match to your hardware.  However, the general principles are the same.  Each fan has 1 PWM control wire and 1 RGB wire.  Each needs to go to a controller.  With a few exceptions, you are trying to use the least number of devices possible for both build ease and for daily use.

 

1) You have a Commander Core that you must use since it provides power to the AIO pump.  Not a problem and that is 6 PWM and 6 RGB header.  That is 6 direct connections to the controller on each side.

2) You are going to add 3-4 more fans to make the total 9 or 10 (no hardware differences between 9 or 10).  You will need 2 things for the extra 3-4 fans, PWM control and RGB control.

    a) PWM control

• Option 1 is another controller like a Commander Core XT.  It just like the other Com Core with direct PWM and RGB connections.  Done.
• Option 2 is a PWM repeater hub.  You already may have one in the 4000x or its a $15-20 piece of gear.  It uses 1 PWM header from the Com Core and then powers 4-10 additional fans on its little circuit board via SATA power.  It is a powered fan splitter and all fans run the same speed.  Cheaper than Option 1 
• Option 3 - Run the extra fans to your MB fan headers.  They will not be controllable in CUE for speed, but through the BIOS fan controls.  Free and immediate.

    b) RGB control

• Option 1 - Com Core XT from above - direct connection to new device.
• Option 2 - Lighting Node Core you already have.  This is the logical pairing from Options 2 and 3 above.  

 

The final piece of this is USB 2 connectivity.  Each smart CUE device (controller) needs a USB 2 port.  You are currently using 1 for the Com Core.  Adding another Commander XT or LNCore will require another.  Most boards have 2, but be aware AMD boards sometimes have issues with connectivity.  Many AMD owners need to use a powered USB hub to make up for the boards low power delivery.  If the device keeps dropping in and out of CUE, you know this is a factor.  USB connectivity is required, otherwise there is no control.  

Edited February 23, 2022 by c-attack

[jimZon]

First of all - thank you for taking time to answer in such a detailed way - highly appreciated. If you ever swing by Stockholm, Sweden I'll buy you a couple of beers. 🙂 

It seems that going for the Commander Core and Commander Core XT is the best option here for me. 

[jimZon]

I have now swapped case and the temperature has dropped a significant amount. I ended up with placing the AIO in the roof because I had to stretch the AIO cables quite a lot.

I have one issue thou: Ended up with connecting AIO fans and the exit fan to Commander Core and that works fine. The front fans to Commander Core XT and here it seems that they are not working correctly. They doesn't seem to react if I choose a preset fanspeed like low or balanced. They are all spinning at 1,700 rpm when the fans connected to the Commander Core running as they should. If I choose a custom fan cure it seems to work. Well, hope that it is a iCUE bug and that it will be fixed. Thank you for the help from all of you.