3080 sag -> unorthodox orientation & cooling and performance improvements?

[miscthings]

A preface, my PC expertise is fairly beginner. Some backstory, I bought a customized pre-built system from CyberPowerPC back in Nov 2020 because I figured it was time for a 10-year upgrade. I went pre-built mainly because I didn't wanna snipe/bot a 3080 at the time, and the deals and discounts on CPPC for the rest of the parts back then were more or less comparable in price to hand-picked individual parts. I splurged and went for a Ryzen 9 3900X with an RTX 3080.

 

Full order specs:

HD-505-609      1TB INTEL 665P SERIES PCIE NVME M.2 SSD                 1 
RM-602-114      ADATA 8GB DDR4-3000 XPG Z1 MEMORY                       2
FA-WATER-612    CYBERPOWERPC MASTERLIQUID LITE 240MM ARGB WATERCOOLER   1 
FA-RING-204     AMD AM4 RETENTION RING (COOLERMASTER MASTERLIQUID)      1
CS-450-160      CYBERPOWERPC LIAN LI 008 DYNAMIC ATX MID TOWER GAMING   1
                CASE TEMPERED GLASS SIDE & FRONT RETAIL                                        
FC-CABLE-101    ADDRESSABLE DIGITAL ARGB ADAPTER (3PINS) + REMOTE       1  
MB-477-406      GIGABYTE X570 UD ATX GBE LAN 3 PCIE X16 2 PCIE X1 6 S   1 
                ATA3 1 M.2 SATA/PCIE                                                           
PS-118-141      THERMALTAKE TOUGHPOWER GRAND RGB 750W 80 PLUS GOLD FU   1  
                LL MODULAR POWER SUPPLY                                                        
MISC            ONBOARD 7.1 SOUND                                       1     
CU-155-124      AMD RYZEN 9 3900X 3.8GHZ [4.6GHZ TURBO] 12C/24T 70MB    1 
                CACHE 105W PROCESSOR RETAIL                                                    
VC-270-220      GIGABYTE GEFORCE RTX 3080 GAMING OC 10GB GDDR6X         1  

Upon first boot up, no display. Tried two known good monitors, two different HDMI cables, nothing. Reseated RAM, GPU, reset CMOS battery, no luck. There was power to keyboard/fans but no display so likely GPU problem. It was a stressful few days but eventually I figured out that the issue was caused by GPU sag, so I wedged a piece of paper between the case and card to give it some leverage to stay upright. It worked without issue for months, then I had to move, and upon booting up the PC in my new home, I had to deal with the finicky sag "sweet spot" again. So I said screw it, ditched the paper wedge, and just rested my PC on its front in order to have gravity act on a more structured orientation. I tried googling if this odd position (PC front down) was okay to keep my PC in, and I couldn't find anything dealing with this specific position, only other positions like on-its-side or upside down. Theoretically this position is coincidentally ideal for carpet too since there are no fans on my PC front, so airflow to the bottom (left side in photo), back (top) and top (right) are all unobstructed. It's ugly but i'm an under-desk PC guy anyway so I'm fine with it. Pics attached.

 

I ran the system through userbenchmark and the results are mostly okay, minor improvements to be made for CPU/GPU but RAM not running up to snuff apparently (slots 2/4, XMP enabled). Temps all run fine though

UserBenchmarks: Game 187%, Desk 95%, Work 217%
CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3900X - 89.9%
GPU: Nvidia RTX 3080 - 213.3%
SSD: Intel SSDPEKNW010T9 1TB - 268.4%
RAM: Adata DDR4 3000 2x8GB - 74.3%
MBD: Gigabyte GA-X570 UD

 

So now, some comments and advice I'm looking for about my build:

1.) One concern for the orientation might be for the CPU water cooler but it's a closed loop cooler so it should be fine?

2.) Will this orientation cause long term damage to the PCIe slot?

3.) Will this orientation affect my performance?

4.) After using this PC for almost half a year now, I'm not sure if this is the normal noise for a CPU fan to output and I just have very little reference/experience, but it's louder than I would like. Specifically, the culprit is CPU OPT in Gigabyte SIV, which I'm not sure is part of the AIO cooler or not. If so, would air coolers be quieter?

5.) I should've gotten more case fans in hindsight, the most logical place for some would be in that empty spot beside the motherboard, right? There's no reason not to get 2 for that spot?

 

Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

 

[Jumballi]

The first problem is you used userbenchmark as though we exist in a fantasy world where it's reliable.

The case is pretty bad in terms of fan placement + additional places for fans. That said it's a bit a non-issue unless you're getting egregiously bad temps.

 

If you're that bothered about temps, get a new case and new fans, as the included fans are pretty bad.

 

On sag, reroute the GPU power cables and use them to lift it, but sag is gonna be a thing with these heavy cards.

[wONKEyeYEs]

12 minutes ago, miscthings said:

2.) Will this orientation cause long term damage to the PCIe slot?

I would think that as long as the pcie slot screws are in it should be fine on the slot.

GPUs are getting big which is why I got a CM HAF XB EVO, the MB lays flat.   https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/legacy-products/cases/haf-xb-evo

 

16 minutes ago, miscthings said:

1.) One concern for the orientation might be for the CPU water cooler but it's a closed loop cooler so it should be fine?

That's probably an Astek AIO and their pumps are on the block so it looks good as your pump is not at the highest point.

 

19 minutes ago, miscthings said:

5.) I should've gotten more case fans in hindsight

 

I'd get a new case.

 

[miscthings]

Well the temps have been fine, I set curves and monitored them very closely at the beginning and still regularly up til now. Kept them within 70-80 when I tried raytraced minecraft and otherwise they're low (40 CPU and 55 GPU idle right now).

I just thought that case fans are like, a no brainer to get if you have space? Cheap and virtually no downsides to having more?

36 minutes ago, Jumballi said:

The first problem is you used userbenchmark as though we exist in a fantasy world where it's reliable.

I had no idea haha. First thing I googled.

36 minutes ago, Jumballi said:

On sag, reroute the GPU power cables and use them to lift it, but sag is gonna be a thing with these heavy cards.

You're talking about the 8 pin connector cables? They don't seem that sturdy though, and also the underside of the card is where the fans are, so there's not a lot of non-fan area to rest the cables on. And well, embarrassingly I'm not sure how to remove this "shroud" covering the PSU to get some more cable slack...

[Jumballi]

On 5/5/2021 at 7:07 PM, miscthings said:

I just thought that case fans are like, a no brainer to get if you have space? Cheap and virtually no downsides to having more?

More fans won’t do more at a certain point, especially if the case is as bad as the one it’s currently in.

On 5/5/2021 at 7:07 PM, miscthings said:

I had no idea haha. First thing I googled.

Oh boy, if I had a nickel for every userbenchmark scandal. Just know that it’s so bad that it’s banned on some other forums including popular subreddits.

On 5/5/2021 at 7:07 PM, miscthings said:

You're talking about the 8 pin connector cables? They don't seem that sturdy though, and also the underside of the card is where the fans are, so there's not a lot of non-fan area to rest the cables on. And well, embarrassingly I'm not sure how to remove this "shroud" covering the PSU to get some more cable slack...

The cables are strong enough to lift the GPU, and as of now they’re pulling it down. Do a bit of research on where you can route the cables, it just needs be from an upwards direction, not directly from the fans. 
You should be able to access the PSU via removing the back panel, the shroud is non-removable on most case designs.

[miscthings]

Thanks!