Sanity check before water cooling 3960x

[AngryAnt]

A huge fan of pragmatism and low complexity, I have preferred to avoid liquid cooling. My personal machine runs a 3700x which is kept very nicely cold and silent by Noctua air cooling.

 

My work machine is a different beast. Built around a 3960x, pegged for long periods of time, its tdie span is 80-90C (on ~25C ambient) while a case full of Noctua fans do their very best to fight it. Theoretically (given the AMD specified max temp of 95C) this is fine, but I would really rest a whole lot easier if:

a) The tdie span could be brought down significantly - a bit closer to that of my 3700x.

b) I could bring down the noise levels of the machine some more.

 

After a ton of tweaking of fan configuration, physical & digital, and scratching my head on this for months, I am pretty sure I am at the limit of my options with air cooling. Which is why I have been considering something like an EK waterblock for just the CPU - hooked up to a loop with a 240 and 360 rad. However as mentioned I have absolutely no experience in this area and could really use a sanity check of this whole thing.

 

Does it sound like I may be missing something obvious with the air cooled setup or do those temps sound reasonable given context?

Is it actually realistic that a watercooling setup as described could do significantly better?

 

I am not looking to overclock or go for artistic expression. I just want this to continue running stock settings, in a black box, under my desk, while not slowly melting in the socket and sounding like I left a window open.

[Eighjan]

Threadrippers LOVE water... and if you're more than happy to use a soft tube (custom) loop, instead of an AiO, then go for it.

Any bits you get that have RGB on them can have that bit switched off or disconnected...

[AngryAnt]

Just now, Eighjan said:

Threadrippers LOVE water... and if you're more than happy to use a soft tube (custom) loop, instead of an AiO, then go for it.

Any bits you get that have RGB on them can have that bit switched off or disconnected...

Oh I don't specifically need to _not_ have something designed for artistic expression - it just isn't a consideration Several components in the current build have all kinds of rainbow going on - the motherboard even has a fregging screen attached to it. I can clearly see them if I go under my desk and take off the sidepanel I would definitely go soft tubing and non-coloured water with appropriate additives, but if some component necessary for the best cooling result has non-optional rainbow explosions going on, that is not a problem.

 

I am mostly worried about spending a ton of effort on a 240+360rad setup for a 5C drop and no significant change in noise levels.

[SavageNeo]

8 minutes ago, Eighjan said:

Threadrippers LOVE water... and if you're more than happy to use a soft tube (custom) loop, instead of an AiO, then go for it.

Any bits you get that have RGB on them can have that bit switched off or disconnected...

no they do not. noctua nh D 15 erforms the smae as 240mm aio or custom loop

[Eighjan]

IS there a TRX40 version of the D15...?

 

EDIT:

OK, there's this, but...

[AngryAnt]

Just now, SavageNeo said:

no they do not. noctua nh D 15 erforms the smae as 240mm aio or custom loop

I absolutely _love_ the nhd15 - it is what I use for my 3700x setup. However since it does not cover the IHS, surely it would deliver a worse result than the nhu14s currently on the 3960x system?

[SavageNeo]

4 minutes ago, AngryAnt said:

I absolutely _love_ the nhd15 - it is what I use for my 3700x setup. However since it does not cover the IHS, surely it would deliver a worse result than the nhu14s currently on the 3960x system?

whta about be quiet dark rock pro 4 tr edition? it performs the same as nh D 15

[Eighjan]

Eeek... Denmark doesn't look like a good place to get air coolers for Threadripper, at the moment; https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/products/cpu-cooler/#c=38&W=0

[AngryAnt]

5 minutes ago, SavageNeo said:

whta about be quiet dark rock pro 4 tr edition? it performs the same as nh D 15

Have I understood which model you're referring to here? It was my impression that the Noctua solution was still performing better - in spite of being a single tower?

Ex: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/be-quiet-dark-rock-pro-tr4-cpu-cooler,6126-2.html

[AngryAnt]

3 minutes ago, Eighjan said:

Eeek... Denmark doesn't look like a good place to get air coolers for Threadripper, at the moment; https://dk.pcpartpicker.com/products/cpu-cooler/#c=38&W=0

If I need to order something for import to solve the problem, that is fine - not getting this for my personal setup. I just need to know what I can reasonably expect to be a tangible improvement on the current situation.

[AngryAnt]

Still not clear if a liquid solution with a 240 and 360 rad actually stands a chance of meaningfully reducing the long-term sustained load temp. Or if, as suggested, there may still be an air solution, different from my current one, able to do the same.

[xgiovio]

On 6/20/2020 at 4:00 PM, AngryAnt said:

Still not clear if a liquid solution with a 240 and 360 rad actually stands a chance of meaningfully reducing the long-term sustained load temp. Or if, as suggested, there may still be an air solution, different from my current one, able to do the same.

Custom loop with 2 360 radiators. Stay at stock under 280w usage. Fan to minimum, low noise. Temps will be 70/75 on full load.