Meshify S2 - Are the GPU thermals good enough?

[melete]

I'm looking at cases right now and Meshify S2 is one of my top preferences. I'd like a bigger case than the Meshify C, and ideally I'd like better thermals as well. Reviews of the Meshify S2 suggest the GPU thermals are not great however - fairly average to below-average, despite the case having a mesh front panel. I don't care very much about CPU thermals at all, because of how CPUs throttle compared to GPUs.

 

I'll be putting a 2080 or 2080 Super in that case, likely a three fan model, as well as overclocking both the GPU and CPU. Just air cooling on both the CPU and GPU.

 

Am I worrying too much about the GPU temps in the Meshify S2, or would it potentially throttle my GPU? Does anyone here happen to own that case and have a GPU with similar heat output, and if so what is your experience?

[.Apex.]

2 minutes ago, melete said:

Reviews of the Meshify S2 suggest the GPU thermals are not great however - fairly average to below-average,

Can you provide sources? I really doubt GPU temperature would be an issue in that case

[melete]

5 minutes ago, _Syn_ said:

Can you provide sources? I really doubt GPU temperature would be an issue in that case

https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3441-fractal-s2-meshify-case-review

 

Quote

55.1C GPU dT is just average when considering our whole database of results, but it’s significantly better than the Define S2’s 59-degree result, better than the low-fan-count stock Meshify C’s 57.8-degree result, and better than the Define R6’s 56.4C. In that context, it’s a success. Since removing the front panel doesn’t wildly improve things, it seems that the obstacle to better GPU cooling is the positioning of the fans and their relatively low speed. Comparatively, this case is in the lower-third of our truncated list of results, placing around where the Level 20MT and H500P sit. It’s really not great overall, particularly for the mesh front, but this comes down to static pressure of fans. Fractal is still using fans that overall favor silence to performance, and that shows here. We’ll look at that in the noise section to see if it balances out. It’s better than Fractal’s previous designs for cooling, but this does show us that a mesh front doesn’t mean everything. Other design elements still have to line-up, and PSU shrouds or cramped GPU chambers do limit cooling potential, even when mesh is present.

I could throw fans at the case (it already has 2 140mm front fans) but if the problem is the fan positioning, the PSU shroud, etc., I am worried it may not accomplish much.

[.Apex.]

3 minutes ago, melete said:

I could throw fans at the case (it already has 2 140mm front fans) but if the problem is the fan positioning, the fan shroud, etc., I am worried it may not accomplish much.

Gamersnexus only tests cases at their default configuration, so if a case comes with 1 fan (or 1 crappy fan), he will test it that way, it's really inconsistent and skews the results in my opinion, probably one of the reasons there's a 10C gap compared to the best one is it may have been using high performance fans

just populate all the fan slots, or upgrade the fans and you'll be fine

[melete]

Just now, _Syn_ said:

Gamersnexus only tests cases at their default configuration, so if a case comes with 1 fan (or 1 crappy fan), he will test it that way, it's really inconsistent and skews the results in my opinion, probably one of the reasons there's a 10C gap compared to the best one is it may have been using high performance fans

just populate all the fan slots, or upgrade the fans and you'll be fine

This particular case has 3 140mm fans running at 1000rpm though, not just 1 fan. Hardware Canucks also swapped out the fans with Noctua 120mms and found that even with the same fans being used the GPU thermals still very significantly trailed the case they were comparing it with, Phanteks P600S. I don't like the look and layout of that Phanteks case as much as I do the Fractal, but it's results like those which are making me question buying this case. 

 

It may be that even mediocre thermal performance is good enough for me to avoid GPU throttling, I'm just not sure though.

[.Apex.]

1 minute ago, melete said:

It may be that even mediocre thermal performance is good enough for me to avoid GPU throttling, I'm just not sure though.

your GPU is not gonna thermal throttle regardless, a GPU with 3 fans will be way below throttling temps that an increase of 5C won't affect it at all

[.Apex.]

7 minutes ago, melete said:

Hardware Canucks also swapped out the fans with Noctua 120mms and found that even with the same fans being used the GPU thermals still very significantly trailed the case they were comparing it with

Just watched the video, the difference was only 4C between the P600S..

[melete]

2 hours ago, _Syn_ said:

Just watched the video, the difference was only 4C between the P600S..

Yeah, all of these differences between cases (Meshify S2, Phanteks P600S, Cooler Master H500, etc.) appear to be 4-6C. I'm just hoping it will be 70-76C instead of 80-86C, you know?

[.Apex.]

18 hours ago, melete said:

I'm just hoping it will be 70-76C instead of 80-86C, you know? 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/gigabyte-geforce-rtx-2080-gaming-oc/37.html

 

According to this, the Strix and Gigabyte versions (both 3 fans) perform the best, with that in mind, 4C difference wouldn't reach throttling temps which are 84C, but you can also increase that to 90C or something like that