Corsair HG10 Cooling Mods? (VRM Temps)

[JayRad]

Hey everyone, first post on LTT! 

 

I recently picked up two Corsair HG10 brackets for my reference R9 290's, as well as a pair of Corsair H75 coolers. After doing some research, I have heard many reviews of the HG10 being poor in keeping those VRM temps down. I am a bit timid to install these to say the least, but will likely go through with it.

 

What I would like to know is if anyone has come up with an mods/solutions to help cool the backplate - which is solely in charge of dissipating that VRM heat with help from the reference blower. The NZXT Kraken G10 uses a fan directly above the VRM chip area to help move air across the backplate. Has anyone come across or developed their own mods on the Corsair HG10 to help keeps those temps down, or is the reference blower as good as it's going to get? (Heat sink chips on the backplate?, fans?, etc)

 

Thanks a bunch guy!

 

Jared

 

(Everything is going into an NZXT Switch 810 Case)

 

[W-L]

 

-SNIP-

 

 

I don't think it will be terrible but it probably won't be anything too big to worry about, Corsair designed the bracket so the aluminum plate makes contact to the modules and has a fan cooling over the aluminum plate but the negative effect is there isn't really a way to effectively transfer that heat to the air coming off fan through a fin array of sorts. Overall I think it will be fine but if they added a small fin array near the blower fan end it may have helped.

[Faceman]

Return the HG10 and buy the G10.  The G10 can often be had for $10 on Tigerdirect after discount code and MIR.

 

The G10 cools VRMs almost as well as the HG10, within 3C VRM temps as the HG10, it is $10-$30 less expensive, and it is a lot more versatile.

[JayRad]

Thanks for the insight guys.

Would you say that sticking some "smartly" placed vrm heatsinks on the backplate via thermal epoxy would help, or hinder the heat dissipation? It's hard to say whether id be doing more harm than good; insulating heat or helping increase the surface area.

thanks!

[Imabigmac]

Thanks for the insight guys.

Would you say that sticking some "smartly" placed vrm heatsinks on the backplate via thermal epoxy would help, or hinder the heat dissipation? It's hard to say whether id be doing more harm than good; insulating heat or helping increase the surface area.

thanks!

Best to use double sided thermal tape (yes its a thing) rather than something like an epoxy or thermal compound. However you are attaching them to a piece of metal so not sure whether it would really matter. It would probably help a bit, can't say how much though. 

[Faceman]

Thanks for the insight guys.

Would you say that sticking some "smartly" placed vrm heatsinks on the backplate via thermal epoxy would help, or hinder the heat dissipation? It's hard to say whether id be doing more harm than good; insulating heat or helping increase the surface area.

thanks!

Well, heres the problem with the HG10.  The plate that covers the VRMs isn't getting any airflow over it.  The blower style fan is insulated to just that area.  Adding extra heatsinks to the HG10's plate might help, but not as much as if you had a G10 that blows air all over that VRM area instead of just a small patch like the HG10. Do not use epoxy or anything like that.  Use Sekisui Double Sided Thermal Paste.  Some good tiny heatsinks are the Cosmos Aluminum Heatsinks.  They will probably help to draw heat away from the VRMs, but dissipating that heat is going to be tough without some airflow directly over the heatsinks.

 

One product you could consider is the Antec Spot Cool to get some airflow over the VRMs.  Not as easy because you have two cards, but its something to consider if the VRMs prove problematic.

 

I will just leave this here in case you want to research the competition.

 

  The Kraken G10 gets a lot of bad publicity because people claim that it has insufficient Voltage Regulation Module(VRM) and Video Card RAM(VRAM) Cooling.  For starters, the VRAM never gets hot enough to be worried about, so lets focus on the VRMs.  Does the GPU need additional heat sinks for the VRAM and VRMs?  In short, no.

 

   The whole "insufficient VRAM/VRM cooling" began with a review of the G10 by Puget Systems.  This review is probably the most critical review of the G10 out there.  While it makes an interesting point, I have to explain its critical flaw to a certain extend.  To begin, their Unigine temperature test, which is most closely related to video game performance, their measured temperatures are perfectly fine, they are lower with the G10 than with the stock heat sink for both the GTX Titan and Reference R9 290X(Notorious for high heat).  The only time when we see the temperatures higher with the G10 than the stock heat sink are when they run Kombustor.

    Also, when reading their test setup portion of the review, they state that their X41 is set as intake, which blasts very hot air over the GPU, further increasing the temperatures recorded.  Normally AIOs won't produce much heat on the business end because they are cooling lower TDP CPUs in the 80-90 range, but these are 250-290 TDP cards and the heat being pushed out of the radiator is hot.  It is always, always recommended to set your radiator to exhaust when used in conjunction with the G10 because the air being pushed out is so hot.  The radiator set to intake could very well be increasing the temperatures by an additional 5-10C as witnessed by other members on the G10 Owner's Club.  Switching their radiator fans from intake to exhaust worked wonders for them, so their test system is not set up in a recommended manner.

 

     Kombustor/Furmark is a program that should NEVER be run.  It puts unnecessary load on the GPU that is completely unrealistic.  It is a card killer.  It is uncommon, but happens enough that it needs to be mentioned.  Kombustor can and will brick your card.  It happened to me earlier this year, and it happens to many others.  I like Tiny Tom Logan's analogy of this stress test.  "It is like the Navy Seals, it is incredibly rigorous and has a low pass rate."

     I like to give my components 2 weeks of break in time before overclocking to make sure everything is working properly.  This is what I did with my brand new, MSi GTX 770 Lightning.  I had used the card for 2 weeks, no problems, everything going fine.  As you know with a Lightning, this is a card built specifically for overclocking.  Without knowing what I know now, I ran Kombustor at stock settings to get a baseline for my overclocks.  It took all of 3 minutes running Kombustor on a brand new, factory settings card for it to die.  I am not the only one this has happened to, so I always tell my story whenever I get a chance because Kombustor is a dangerous program, and should not be used.  If you want to run some benchmarks for your GPU, use Unigine, 3DMark, and In-game benchmark utilities.  Not Furmark/Kombustor.

 

     Back to the Puget review.  They ran Kombustor during their test, which as a reviewer, they should do in order to review the G10 in all scenarios to give the reader an idea of what to expect.  My problem with the review and the negative perception it has created is that it is an unrealistic scenario, one which I would not recommend anyone do at home, and you are unlikely to encounter that type of load during regular use.  I'm not aware of any real world applications where your GPU would be put under that much stress.  So lets look at the part of the review that pertains to real world scenarios, their Unigine portion of the test.  The VRM temperatures are perfectly fine, even lower with the G10 than the stock heat sink.  This is with "naked" cards.  A lot of non-reference cards which a lot of people own come with mid-plates that passively cool the VRAM and VRMs. 

 

     To give you an idea of what VRM temperatures are like for those of us at home, we asked members of the OCN G10 Owner's Club, who have cards that can monitor the VRM temperatures to run some tests.  Simple before and after tests. There are two reviews that I will point to. The Asus DCUII GTX 780Ti, Post #1147 and a reference R9 290 Post #1486 & Post #1500

   You will see that the guy with the Asus GTX 780Ti was getting DCUII temperatures of 86C on the Core and 104C on the VRMs, his card was overclocked.  You can look at the link to see specifics of his OC, nothing major, very average.  Once he did the G10 modification without extra heat sinks, he was able to further overclock his card to the max allowable under stock BIOS and temperatures dropped to 49C on the Core, and 81C on the VRMs.  This tells us two things.  #1, the VRMs can withstand a lot of heat, #2 the G10's Fan does an excellent job of cooling the VRMs on its own. 

     There was another test done with an R9 290.  They went as far as to do a before and after test with heat sinks on their G10. that they went from something like 90C on the core with the reference cooler all the way down to 55C with G10 + H55. VRMs went from 110C down to 75C.  Most importantly, when they added heat sinks the VRM temperatures dropped from 75C to 60C.  So adding heat sinks does help out if you are concerned about VRM temperatures. This was with a reference R9 290, so it was a naked card without mid-plate to passively help cool VRAM and VRMs.  These are just two examples, if you read through that thread, there are many more.

      In summation,VRM temperatures are not a concern as long as you don't run a dangerous program like Kombustor/Furmark.  For awhile now people have been thinking that its a hardware problem, when in reality, its a software problem.  You will be perfectly fine buying just a Kraken G10 + AIO of your choice without extra heat sinks.  Any extras you decide to buy are optional, but I still do recommend picking up a pack of aluminum heatsinks and thermal tape to air on the side of caution.  It is only $10 and will give you the peace of mind that your card is safe.

 

Here is a list of my optional extras you might want to buy to go along with your G10:

 

1 Pack of Cosmos mini Aluminum VGA Heatsinks(20pc) - $6 You can place these on your VRAM and VRMs for peace of mind if you like.  I do encourage readers to do this.  It is what I did, even with a card that has a mid-plate.  My VRMs have never exceeded 54C according to my NZXT Sentry 3 Fan Controller.

 

1 Pack of Sekisui Double-Sided Adhesive Thermal Heatsink Tape(2pc) - $3 The heat sinks listed above come with thermal tape pre-applied, but it is not very good quality and people report them falling off.  Buy this high end thermal tape to get better heat transfer, and to make sure your heat sinks stay on.  You will have to remove the old pre-applied tape before using the good tape.  DO NOT use thermal adhesive.

 

Aftermarket Thermal Compound, it comes pre-applied on most AIO Coolers, but if you want to buy some performance stuff to shave off an additional 1-4C buy your own.  Can also be used on your CPU.  It is also nice to have just in case you need to remount anything.  The Cooler Master Seidon 240M actually comes with a tube that you can apply yourself, so you will have some extra.  This TIM is good, but definitely not "performance" stuff.  I recommend Gelid GC-Extreme - $11  There are many other good brands to choose from, this is simply what I use and recommend, it worked wonders for me.

 

 VGA to PWM Fan Adapter - $5  This Fan Adapter is very nice because it allows you to plug the G10's 92mm fan directly into the GPU instead of into the valuable motherboard fan headers.  Once plugged into the video card, you can control the fan speed in MSI Afterburner.  Set it to a constant speed, not a fan curve.  The reason being is that the temperature in Afterburner is derived from the core, but the fan is for the VRMs.  Set it to a constant value of close to 100%.

 

Cooler Master Blade Master 120mm PWM Fan - $8-$12  A 2nd 120mm fan for your H55 will go a long way in cooling performance, and noise.  Having two fans allows you to run them at lower speeds, keeping the noise down, while maintaining the same awesomely low temperatures as a single fan at high speed, or crank them both up for even better performance.

 

 

Another reason why I advocate the G10 is because it is less expensive.  It is often on sale for only $10 at Tigerdirect.com after $10 MIR and $10 Coupon Code.  That will save you a nice chunk compared to the $35 HG10.  The biggest reason why I recommend the G10 is because it is very universal in comparison to the HG10.  With the HG10, when you buy it, you are stuck with it for that specific card.  If you ever upgrade cards, that HG10 becomes useless to you.  The G10 is very universal.  It can be used with AMD, Nvidia, and non-reference cards.  People who had the G10 on their 700 series were able to easily move it to their new 900 series card without issue.  The G10 is a better investment because it is usable on so many more cards, and likely future releases.  If you read the above analysis of the G10, I explain that VRM problems are not related to the G10, so there is not a very compelling reason I can think of why you would buy an HG10 over a G10.

 

By the way, in order for someone to see that you have replied to them, you need to quote or "@" the person you are trying to talk to.

[JayRad]

Well, heres the problem with the HG10.  The plate that covers the VRMs isn't getting any airflow over it.  The blower style fan is insulated to just that area.  Adding extra heatsinks to the HG10's plate might help, but not as much as if you had a G10 that blows air all over that VRM area instead of just a small patch like the HG10. Do not use epoxy or anything like that.  Use Sekisui Double Sided Thermal Paste.  Some good tiny heatsinks are the Cosmos Aluminum Heatsinks.  They will probably help to draw heat away from the VRMs, but dissipating that heat is going to be tough without some airflow directly over the heatsinks.

 

One product you could consider is the Antec Spot Cool to get some airflow over the VRMs.  Not as easy because you have two cards, but its something to consider if the VRMs prove problematic.

 

I will just leave this here in case you want to research the competition.

 

  The Kraken G10 gets a lot of bad publicity because people claim that it has insufficient Voltage Regulation Module(VRM) and Video Card RAM(VRAM) Cooling.  For starters, the VRAM never gets hot enough to be worried about, so lets focus on the VRMs.  Does the GPU need additional heat sinks for the VRAM and VRMs?  In short, no.

 

   The whole "insufficient VRAM/VRM cooling" began with a review of the G10 by Puget Systems.  This review is probably the most critical review of the G10 out there.  While it makes an interesting point, I have to explain its critical flaw to a certain extend.  To begin, their Unigine temperature test, which is most closely related to video game performance, their measured temperatures are perfectly fine, they are lower with the G10 than with the stock heat sink for both the GTX Titan and Reference R9 290X(Notorious for high heat).  The only time when we see the temperatures higher with the G10 than the stock heat sink are when they run Kombustor.

    Also, when reading their test setup portion of the review, they state that their X41 is set as intake, which blasts very hot air over the GPU, further increasing the temperatures recorded.  Normally AIOs won't produce much heat on the business end because they are cooling lower TDP CPUs in the 80-90 range, but these are 250-290 TDP cards and the heat being pushed out of the radiator is hot.  It is always, always recommended to set your radiator to exhaust when used in conjunction with the G10 because the air being pushed out is so hot.  The radiator set to intake could very well be increasing the temperatures by an additional 5-10C as witnessed by other members on the G10 Owner's Club.  Switching their radiator fans from intake to exhaust worked wonders for them, so their test system is not set up in a recommended manner.

 

     Kombustor/Furmark is a program that should NEVER be run.  It puts unnecessary load on the GPU that is completely unrealistic.  It is a card killer.  It is uncommon, but happens enough that it needs to be mentioned.  Kombustor can and will brick your card.  It happened to me earlier this year, and it happens to many others.  I like Tiny Tom Logan's analogy of this stress test.  "It is like the Navy Seals, it is incredibly rigorous and has a low pass rate."

     I like to give my components 2 weeks of break in time before overclocking to make sure everything is working properly.  This is what I did with my brand new, MSi GTX 770 Lightning.  I had used the card for 2 weeks, no problems, everything going fine.  As you know with a Lightning, this is a card built specifically for overclocking.  Without knowing what I know now, I ran Kombustor at stock settings to get a baseline for my overclocks.  It took all of 3 minutes running Kombustor on a brand new, factory settings card for it to die.  I am not the only one this has happened to, so I always tell my story whenever I get a chance because Kombustor is a dangerous program, and should not be used.  If you want to run some benchmarks for your GPU, use Unigine, 3DMark, and In-game benchmark utilities.  Not Furmark/Kombustor.

 

     Back to the Puget review.  They ran Kombustor during their test, which as a reviewer, they should do in order to review the G10 in all scenarios to give the reader an idea of what to expect.  My problem with the review and the negative perception it has created is that it is an unrealistic scenario, one which I would not recommend anyone do at home, and you are unlikely to encounter that type of load during regular use.  I'm not aware of any real world applications where your GPU would be put under that much stress.  So lets look at the part of the review that pertains to real world scenarios, their Unigine portion of the test.  The VRM temperatures are perfectly fine, even lower with the G10 than the stock heat sink.  This is with "naked" cards.  A lot of non-reference cards which a lot of people own come with mid-plates that passively cool the VRAM and VRMs. 

 

     To give you an idea of what VRM temperatures are like for those of us at home, we asked members of the OCN G10 Owner's Club, who have cards that can monitor the VRM temperatures to run some tests.  Simple before and after tests. There are two reviews that I will point to. The Asus DCUII GTX 780Ti, Post #1147 and a reference R9 290 Post #1486 & Post #1500

   You will see that the guy with the Asus GTX 780Ti was getting DCUII temperatures of 86C on the Core and 104C on the VRMs, his card was overclocked.  You can look at the link to see specifics of his OC, nothing major, very average.  Once he did the G10 modification without extra heat sinks, he was able to further overclock his card to the max allowable under stock BIOS and temperatures dropped to 49C on the Core, and 81C on the VRMs.  This tells us two things.  #1, the VRMs can withstand a lot of heat, #2 the G10's Fan does an excellent job of cooling the VRMs on its own. 

     There was another test done with an R9 290.  They went as far as to do a before and after test with heat sinks on their G10. that they went from something like 90C on the core with the reference cooler all the way down to 55C with G10 + H55. VRMs went from 110C down to 75C.  Most importantly, when they added heat sinks the VRM temperatures dropped from 75C to 60C.  So adding heat sinks does help out if you are concerned about VRM temperatures. This was with a reference R9 290, so it was a naked card without mid-plate to passively help cool VRAM and VRMs.  These are just two examples, if you read through that thread, there are many more.

      In summation,VRM temperatures are not a concern as long as you don't run a dangerous program like Kombustor/Furmark.  For awhile now people have been thinking that its a hardware problem, when in reality, its a software problem.  You will be perfectly fine buying just a Kraken G10 + AIO of your choice without extra heat sinks.  Any extras you decide to buy are optional, but I still do recommend picking up a pack of aluminum heatsinks and thermal tape to air on the side of caution.  It is only $10 and will give you the peace of mind that your card is safe.

 

Here is a list of my optional extras you might want to buy to go along with your G10:

 

1 Pack of Cosmos mini Aluminum VGA Heatsinks(20pc) - $6 You can place these on your VRAM and VRMs for peace of mind if you like.  I do encourage readers to do this.  It is what I did, even with a card that has a mid-plate.  My VRMs have never exceeded 54C according to my NZXT Sentry 3 Fan Controller.

 

1 Pack of Sekisui Double-Sided Adhesive Thermal Heatsink Tape(2pc) - $3 The heat sinks listed above come with thermal tape pre-applied, but it is not very good quality and people report them falling off.  Buy this high end thermal tape to get better heat transfer, and to make sure your heat sinks stay on.  You will have to remove the old pre-applied tape before using the good tape.  DO NOT use thermal adhesive.

 

Aftermarket Thermal Compound, it comes pre-applied on most AIO Coolers, but if you want to buy some performance stuff to shave off an additional 1-4C buy your own.  Can also be used on your CPU.  It is also nice to have just in case you need to remount anything.  The Cooler Master Seidon 240M actually comes with a tube that you can apply yourself, so you will have some extra.  This TIM is good, but definitely not "performance" stuff.  I recommend Gelid GC-Extreme - $11  There are many other good brands to choose from, this is simply what I use and recommend, it worked wonders for me.

 

 VGA to PWM Fan Adapter - $5  This Fan Adapter is very nice because it allows you to plug the G10's 92mm fan directly into the GPU instead of into the valuable motherboard fan headers.  Once plugged into the video card, you can control the fan speed in MSI Afterburner.  Set it to a constant speed, not a fan curve.  The reason being is that the temperature in Afterburner is derived from the core, but the fan is for the VRMs.  Set it to a constant value of close to 100%.

 

Cooler Master Blade Master 120mm PWM Fan - $8-$12  A 2nd 120mm fan for your H55 will go a long way in cooling performance, and noise.  Having two fans allows you to run them at lower speeds, keeping the noise down, while maintaining the same awesomely low temperatures as a single fan at high speed, or crank them both up for even better performance.

 

 

Another reason why I advocate the G10 is because it is less expensive.  It is often on sale for only $10 at Tigerdirect.com after $10 MIR and $10 Coupon Code.  That will save you a nice chunk compared to the $35 HG10.  The biggest reason why I recommend the G10 is because it is very universal in comparison to the HG10.  With the HG10, when you buy it, you are stuck with it for that specific card.  If you ever upgrade cards, that HG10 becomes useless to you.  The G10 is very universal.  It can be used with AMD, Nvidia, and non-reference cards.  People who had the G10 on their 700 series were able to easily move it to their new 900 series card without issue.  The G10 is a better investment because it is usable on so many more cards, and likely future releases.  If you read the above analysis of the G10, I explain that VRM problems are not related to the G10, so there is not a very compelling reason I can think of why you would buy an HG10 over a G10.

 

By the way, in order for someone to see that you have replied to them, you need to quote or "@" the person you are trying to talk to.

Wow, thanks Faceman! That was actually a tonne of useful information.

As enticing as the G10 looks, I'll probably just stick to the hg10 and see how it goes first. I totally see your side about it's versatility though. I guess I just see myself using these 290s for a long time before I consider upgrading to anything else.

For the sake of science, I am going to run a controlled experiment (before and after) for the forum to rule out whether adding heatsinks to the backplate of the hg10 is worth the fuss or not. (Maybe even adding that spot cooler) I am going to go ahead and order the heatsinks and TIM pads that you recommended from Amazon. Also, I just noticed the dual fan vantec expansion slot cooler on Amazon, which could slip between both of the GPUs if I'm lucky. I used to have one a few years ago that did wonders for my SLI gets 280s. We shall see!

[Faceman]

Wow, thanks Faceman! That was actually a tonne of useful information.

As enticing as the G10 looks, I'll probably just stick to the hg10 and see how it goes first. I totally see your side about it's versatility though. I guess I just see myself using these 290s for a long time before I consider upgrading to anything else.

For the sake of science, I am going to run a controlled experiment (before and after) for the forum to rule out whether adding heatsinks to the backplate of the hg10 is worth the fuss or not. (Maybe even adding that spot cooler) I am going to go ahead and order the heatsinks and TIM pads that you recommended from Amazon. Also, I just noticed the dual fan vantec expansion slot cooler on Amazon, which could slip between both of the GPUs if I'm lucky. I used to have one a few years ago that did wonders for my SLI gets 280s. We shall see!

I would love it if you recorded your results, seriously.  This mod and others like it get a really bad reputation because people think the VRMs just fry.  If you don't mind, I would love to see some before and after results with the heatsinks, and with the spot cool if you decide to buy it.  Chances are, you won't even need the extra heatsinks, but for just $8 for a pack of 20, and thermal paste to go with it, its a nice peace of mind purchase.

 

Yea, there is an Antec Cyclone Blower, I think it is similar to the Vantec.  Just keep in mind that it is sucking air in, not blowing air out.  Its a good idea to have one just to help exhaust hot air out of your case if temps prove to be too high.

[JayRad]

I would love it if you recorded your results, seriously.  This mod and others like it get a really bad reputation because people think the VRMs just fry.  If you don't mind, I would love to see some before and after results with the heatsinks, and with the spot cool if you decide to buy it.  Chances are, you won't even need the extra heatsinks, but for just $8 for a pack of 20, and thermal paste to go with it, its a nice peace of mind purchase.

 

Yea, there is an Antec Cyclone Blower, I think it is similar to the Vantec.  Just keep in mind that it is sucking air in, not blowing air out.  Its a good idea to have one just to help exhaust hot air out of your case if temps prove to be too high.

 

Will do Faceman

I am very determined to finding a partial solution to the cooling problem. Hopefully it can be of help to others in the same predicament. Here is what I am going to do once I have received the cooling equipment in the mail and begin testing. Documenting of:

 

1.) Idle Temps Benchmark for each of the three configurations below.

2.) Load Temps Benchmark via Unigine Heaven 4.0 20mins for each of the three configurations below.

 

Reference Blower Temps 

Stock Clocked : Overclocked (Default Fan Profile)

Stock Clocked : Overclocked (Custom Fan Profile)

 

Corsair HG10 Temps w/ Corsair H75 

Stock Clocked : Overclocked (No Heatsinks, only reference blower airflow)

Stock Clocked : Overclocked (Heatsinks installed, only reference blower installed)

 

Corsair HG10 Temps w/ Corsair H75 

Stock Clocked : Overclocked (Heatsinks installed, PCI expansion slot cooler installed) - Will be either the Spot Cooler or the Vantec Spectrum Cooler

 

 

Btw, HERE is the Vantec Spectrum PCI cooler I meant @Faceman ; Not the blower design models. I hope to see some interesting results from this experiment!

Cheers!

 

Jared

[Faceman]

@JayRad

 

Ohh right right, the Vantec.  I actually even mentioned it in my G10 alternate cooling solutions, that one is even better I think because it does full card.  Totally forgot about that one, good choice.

 

Thats an excellent test, in the G10 Owner's Club, we do a test of Unigine Heaven for 15min to get an idea of performance.  To standardize it, we do either full speed on the fan, or 50% on the fan, its more work for you, but it provides more data for reference.  I really don't think there is a VRM problem at all on even the stock HG10, but adding heatsinks as extras are always a nice peace of mind addition, and collecting data is always good. This is a new product, so you could be one of the pioneers for collecting data for the HG10.

 

Like I did with the G10, you could do an installation guide, and performance guide in these different scenarios to see how the two products stack up, with various extras.  More work, but you get to be the first to do these tests.  I won't lie, I spend a lot of time answering questions about the G10 as a result, and this may happen to you also if you do this guide, but its for a good cause, it helps the community out a tremendous amount, and anyone who types in HG10 review is going to get sent to your review.

[JayRad]

@JayRad

 

Ohh right right, the Vantec.  I actually even mentioned it in my G10 alternate cooling solutions, that one is even better I think because it does full card.  Totally forgot about that one, good choice.

 

Thats an excellent test, in the G10 Owner's Club, we do a test of Unigine Heaven for 15min to get an idea of performance.  To standardize it, we do either full speed on the fan, or 50% on the fan, its more work for you, but it provides more data for reference.  I really don't think there is a VRM problem at all on even the stock HG10, but adding heatsinks as extras are always a nice peace of mind addition, and collecting data is always good. This is a new product, so you could be one of the pioneers for collecting data for the HG10.

 

Like I did with the G10, you could do an installation guide, and performance guide in these different scenarios to see how the two products stack up, with various extras.  More work, but you get to be the first to do these tests.  I won't lie, I spend a lot of time answering questions about the G10 as a result, and this may happen to you also if you do this guide, but its for a good cause, it helps the community out a tremendous amount, and anyone who types in HG10 review is going to get sent to your review.

 

Exactly my thoughts!

I couldn't find anyone on any forum who had done the practical work on this topic and reported some accurate findings. I'd say it's sticky-thread worthy to those on the AMD and Corsair forums Btw @Faceman, could I grab your G10 review/guide link?- It sounds like an interesting read!

[Faceman]

Exactly my thoughts!

I couldn't find anyone on any forum who had done the practical work on this topic and reported some accurate findings. I'd say it's sticky-thread worthy to those on the AMD and Corsair forums Btw @Faceman, could I grab your G10 review/guide link?- It sounds like an interesting read!

Its my How to Water Cool a CPU and Single GPU for Under $200 USD Guide.  Scroll down to the 2nd half of the review to see the specifics of the G10.  I link to the OCN G10 Owner's Club to people who have done these tests that can monitor VRM temps.

[JayRad]

Alright, well I've made some progress with the benchmarks. I haven't done one like this before, so bear with me as more information is added to the thread periodically.

 

So far I have done Idle and Load tests on both the reference cooler and HG10 (default fan profile, and a custom fan profile). The load tests were done in Unigine Heaven 4.0 @ 20min runs. Find the Unigine Heaven settings below. All were done in a 3x1 Eyefinity configuration (27" Benqs), with a total resolution of 5760x1080 (UH scales it down to 4096x1080). I will also provide the setup below.

 

 

The Setup

CPU: 3570K @4.8GHz (H100i) 

Chipset: ASUS Sabertooth Z77 

RAM: 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 1866

GPU: R9 290 Crossfire |  

HDD: ADATA SX900128GB SSD

 

 

 

 

The Benchmark Settings

 

 

 

Overclock Settings

 

 

 

IDLE Temps

 

 

 

Stock Clock Temps Unigine Heaven (Default Fan Profile)

 

 

 

Stock Clock Temps Unigine Heaven (Custom Fan Profile)

 

 

 

Overclock Temps Unigine Heaven (Default Fan Profile)

 

 

 

Overclock Temps Unigine Heaven (Custom Fan Profile)

 

 

 

Stock Clock Temps Unigine Heaven (Default Fan Profile) + VRM Heatsinks 

 

COMING SOON

 

 

Overclock Temps Unigine Heaven (Default Fan Profile) + VRM Heatsinks 

 

COMING SOON

 

 

Stock Clock Temps Unigine Heaven (Default Fan Profile) + VRM Heatsinks + Vantec Spectrum Installed

 

COMING SOON

 

 

Overclock Temps Unigine Heaven (Default Fan Profile) + VRM Heatsinks + Vantec Spectrum Installed

 

COMING SOON

[Faceman]

@JayRad

 

Nice results, nice formatting, nice everything, love it.  Excellent work.  You should really consider making your own dedicated post in the Member's Review section of the forum, as well as post it on OCN so that it gets more traffic and you are able to help out others.

 

One thing to keep in mind, at that resolution with multiple monitors, your temperatures are expected to be slightly higher than if you were running just one monitor, but initial temperatures look amazing, so I don't think it is a concern at all.

[JayRad]

@Faceman

 

Thanks! I was hoping that the data made sense by the way I was presenting it, so that's good to hear!

 

I will hopefully have the next set of temps by later this afternoon. In regards to the multi-monitor setup, I probably should have stuck with a one monitor setup to give a more applicable benchmark that related to other users gaming setups. Most people probably aren't running eyefinity, but I suppose if my temps turns out very acceptable in 3x1, other will have the peace of mind in knowing that there is that extra headroom. I will also take your advice and create a better thread dedicated to the topic; OCN included! 

 

PS: Just got the Vantecs in the mail! Awaiting the cosmos heat sinks now.

[Faceman]

@Faceman

Thanks! I was hoping that the data made sense by the way I was presenting it, so that's good to hear!

I will hopefully have the next set of temps by later this afternoon. In regards to the multi-monitor setup, I probably should have stuck with a one monitor setup to give a more applicable benchmark that related to other users gaming setups. Most people probably aren't running eyefinity, but I suppose if my temps turns out very acceptable in 3x1, other will have the peace of mind in knowing that there is that extra headroom. I will also take your advice and create a better thread dedicated to the topic; OCN included!

PS: Just got the Vantecs in the mail! Awaiting the cosmos heat sinks now.

I just reread your post and caught a mistake . Your settings for Unigine Heaven are on High. I don't want you to 're do all of the testing because that would be far too tedious and not entirely necessary. If you could though, could you please redo the HG10 tests with Extreme Preset and 8x anti-aliasing and extreme tesselation please?

On the OCN Owner's Club we have the same test that we encourage everyone to run to get a baseline of performance. It is Unigine Heaven for 15 minutes, everything set to extreme with 8x AA. Then test with radiator fan(s) set to 100% speed and 50% speed. Pump and VRM fan should remain at 100% at all times.

I'm sorry I didn't catch this sooner.

I'm also looking at the Unigine Heaven temps at stock clocks with the HG10. When you do that test, was it choppy at all? According to the GPU-Z graph, the GPU load is bouncing up and down. It should be solid like in the stock heatsink/cooler test.

[JayRad]

I just reread your post and caught a mistake . Your settings for Unigine Heaven are on High. I don't want you to 're do all of the testing because that would be far too tedious and not entirely necessary. If you could though, could you please redo the HG10 tests with Extreme Preset and 8x anti-aliasing and extreme tesselation please?

On the OCN Owner's Club we have the same test that we encourage everyone to run to get a baseline of performance. It is Unigine Heaven for 15 minutes, everything set to extreme with 8x AA. Then test with radiator fan(s) set to 100% speed and 50% speed. Pump and VRM fan should remain at 100% at all times.

I'm sorry I didn't catch this sooner.

I'm also looking at the Unigine Heaven temps at stock clocks with the HG10. When you do that test, was it choppy at all? According to the GPU-Z graph, the GPU load is bouncing up and down. It should be solid like in the stock heatsink/cooler test.

Ah crap, alright I have updated the new temps on the HG10. (Unigine is now set to extreme on all and 8x AA) The stock clock "custom fan profile" benchmarks are now up as well.

 

I'm not sure why the previous graph was so up and down - as I don't recall any substantial frame drops or stutters. The new HG10 benchmark seems to be consistent on the graph. Also, the VRM's are looking really good... I thought i'd be way higher at this point.

 

I'll continue running these presets on all future benchmarks. Thanks for catching my mistake!

[JayRad]

So far the VRM's are looking pretty decent. Can't wait to see what temps we record once we get the PCI cooler and memory heat sinks installed.

 

Prior to installing the HG10, VRM2 was reaching higher temperatures than VRM1 under load. With the HG10 now installed, temps indicate that VRM1 is now running a bit hotter than before; evening surpassing VRM2's temps. The blower in the HG10 seems to do a decent job for the VRM's according to the custom fan profile benchmark - around 8C cooler on VRM1 (@47% fan speed)  

 

@Faceman , I just received the VRM heatsinks in the mail. They come with their own bonding adhesive on the backs - would you recommend installing them as is, or getting some of that sekisui double sided thermal paste? (I've already ordered the sekisui but didn't anticipate the stock adhesive)

[Faceman]

So far the VRM's are looking pretty decent. Can't wait to see what temps we record once we get the PCI cooler and memory heat sinks installed.

Prior to installing the HG10, VRM2 was reaching higher temperatures than VRM1 under load. With the HG10 now installed, temps indicate that VRM1 is now running a bit hotter than before; evening surpassing VRM2's temps. The blower in the HG10 seems to do a decent job for the VRM's according to the custom fan profile benchmark - around 8C cooler on VRM1 (@47% fan speed)

@Faceman , I just received the VRM heatsinks in the mail. They come with their own bonding adhesive on the backs - would you recommend installing them as is, or getting some of that sekisui double sided thermal paste? (I've already ordered the sekisui but didn't anticipate the stock adhesive)

Yea, remove the stock adhesive and apply the sekisui. Grow your fingernails out for a few days. Makes it easier to pull off the backs.

I'm not as familiar with the HG10, but the G10's 92mm VRM fan is meant to be run at or near 100% speed at all times. How loud is the blower fan? The included G10 fan isn't audible even at full speed, I'm wondering how the blower compares.

[JayRad]

Yea, remove the stock adhesive and apply the sekisui. Grow your fingernails out for a few days. Makes it easier to pull off the backs.

I'm not as familiar with the HG10, but the G10's 92mm VRM fan is meant to be run at or near 100% speed at all times. How loud is the blower fan? The included G10 fan isn't audible even at full speed, I'm wondering how the blower compares.

Alright I'll wait until the sekisui arrive.

 

The blower fans are not as bad as they were before, but still louder than most fans. I just ran a little test to see when the blowers become audible - which is right above the 40% mark. (According to my ears) The vantec spectrum is quite inaudible, but only on the low speed setting. I'm going to run a decibel test and get back on that.

 

UPDATE:

Okay so my room measures about 45db with nothing on and in "total silence". With the PC on and running with default fan speeds, I get about 64db from 3ft away. When up close to the PC, I get about 72db (Right behind the GPU vent) and finally 81db with the fans at 100%. So it's still very loud past 50%.

 

 

For reference...

[Faceman]

@JayRad

 

Damn dude, thats loud.

 

What are you using to measure dBa?  Maybe you are using something much better than I am.  I have just been using the Sound Meter Lite app.  My room without the PC on is 34dBa.  When I turn my PC on, I go up to 46dBa.  This is measured from two feet away, and my computer is at ear level.

 

Pumps in my X31 and Seidon 240M are both at 90% speed.

 

Front fans, Cougar Vortex 120mm PWM are both attached via rubber grommets are running at 1500rpm

Inside bottom two front fans, Aerocool Dead Silence White are screwed in, both running at 1000rpm

Inside top front fan, Phanteks 140mm is not screwed in, just sitting upright, running at 1000rpm

Top Radiator(Seidon 240M) Cooler Master Blade Master 120s are running at 1250rpm

Top front most fan, Cougar Vortex 120mm PWM is running at 1000rpm

X31 has two fans in push/pull, Cooler Master Blade Master 120s running at 1200rpm

The rear bottom fan is the included 92mm fan from the G10, it is running at full speed, 1500rpm

The G10, I replaced the VRM fan with a Cooler Master Blade Master 92mm fan, it is running at 2200rpm

 

In total, 2 pumps, and 12 fans

[JayRad]

@JayRad

 

Damn dude, thats loud.

 

What are you using to measure dBa?  I have just been using the Sound Meter Lite app.  My room without the PC on is 34dBa.  When I turn my PC on, I go up to 46dBa.  This is measured from two feet away, and my computer is at ear level.

 

Pumps in my X31 and Seidon 240M are both at 90% speed.

 

Front fans, Cougar Vortex 120mm PWM are both attached via rubber grommets are running at 1500rpm

Inside bottom two front fans, Aerocool Dead Silence White are screwed in, both running at 1000rpm

Inside top front fan, Phanteks 140mm is not screwed in, just sitting upright, running at 1000rpm

Top Radiator(Seidon 240M) Cooler Master Blade Master 120s are running at 1250rpm

Top front most fan, Cougar Vortex 120mm PWM is running at 1000rpm

X31 has two fans in push/pull, Cooler Master Blade Master 120s running at 1200rpm

The rear bottom fan is the included 92mm fan from the G10, it is running at full speed, 1500rpm

The G10, I replaced the VRM fan with a Cooler Master Blade Master 92mm fan, it is running at 2200rpm

 

In total, 2 pumps, and 12 fans

Same here, Sound Meter Lite.

 

The absolute lowest db level I can get from the PC from two feet away at ear level is 58db. That is with all fan controllers set to low, and the H100i set to quiet-mode in Corsair Link. I have a total of 11 fans in the case, and the two r9 290 blowers. Yeah, it is a little on the loud side lol.