FX-9590 air cooled

[nlos]

Hi everyone! I'm new to these forums. However I hope to find some expertise here

 

I'm a long time AMD fan. My last 3 computers have been Intel + NVIDIA, but I'm hoping to finally get another full on AMD computer. I've looked into a lot of info on FX-9590. I saw Linus's video about it on youtube and that got me to come here:

 

My setup is the following:

-AMD FX-9590 (the beast AMD CPU now available for a reasonable price)

-ASUS Crosshair V Formula-Z (full support for FX-9590 and comes with extra EPS connector for that 220W TDP)

-2x 16GB DDR3 G.Skill Ares 2400MHz CL11 (low profile, fits under NH-D14)

-Sapphire Tri-X R9 290X OC (very good cooling and relatively quiet)

-Corsair RM1000 (for all that juice!)

-2x 3TB 7200RPM Seagate Barracuda SATA 3

-External BluRay RW drive

 

Case and cooling:

-Noctua NH-D14 (my favourite air cooler)

-CoolerMaster Storm Scout 2 Advanced (my wife likes the looks of this case)

-and some extra case fans on top...

 

Some design decisions:

CPU:

I could buy FX-8350 and overclock it significantly. It is essentially the same chip and for half the price. I did something like that with i7 920. However I just bought i7 4770K and I got a dud. It is in the middle of an RMA process as we speak. Once it gets refunded I'm buying the above setup. Buying FX-9590 means it is factory tested at 4.7GHz and 5GHz, for normal and turbo respectively. It means I can return it for a replacement if it doesn't run on those speeds. I cannot do the same with FX-8350. So I'm paying for the assurance that it is factory tested on those speeds.

 

I also got really excited about this chip: not because it is the most power efficient, but because people struggle running it on stock speeds! How awesome is that?

 

CPU Cooler:

I haven't come across a better CPU air cooler than Noctua NH-D14. It is also the 3rd time NH-D14 finds itself into my setup. Linus also recommends NH-D14 in the above video. I have already bought the the case, HDDs and the NH-D14. I haven't bought the other parts yet.

 

RAM:

I've been buying Corsair RAM for my Intel setups, but I read somewhere that G.Skill works better with AMD. 1600MHz DDR3 G.Skill costs 5% less than 2400MHz. According to AMD the FX-9590 supports up to 1866MHz DDR3, so I'm hoping to get at least that much out of it. Again, I could play dice and hope that the starts align and get away with 1600MHz RAM and FX-8350 and run them at 2700MHz and 5GHz respectively. However if they don't; I cannot replace them, hence the slightly more expensive versions.

 

PSU:

Theoretically I could roll RM850 (850W) PSU, but in case the motherboard, CPU, fans, HDDs and other peripherals suddenly spike in the power: I don't want to run short. Thus the RM1000 (1000W) to play it safe and put less strain on the PSU. I only run this computer when I'm playing games or doing some work (which is pretty much when I'm home and awake) and I don't mind it being power hungry. I've got a low power home server for any remote/overnight stuff.

 

Cooling (problem overview):

Obviously full air, hence this section of the forums. CPU gets the beast NH-D14. The motherboard supports 6 case fans on top of the 2 CPU fans. The case has place for 8x 120mm fans. It comes with 2 at the front, which have LED and one at the back (not LED). NH-D14 radiator grills are placed so that the air can be pulled from/to above the case, but not from the side of the case, which can work perfectly in this setup. The side fans are just below the GPU, which could either exhaust or intake air. The PSU can be placed either way: to pull air from inside the case to help with the cooling or pull it from the bottom of the case to stay away from the case cooling itself.

 

Being a fan of Noctua products (as well as Zalman and Coolermaster), I could invest on some premium fans to help cool down the FX-9590. The aim is to make it not throttle on stock settings if there is room for overclocking - which I doubt when reading how hot FX-9590 runs - I want to get as much kick out of this as possible. I'm willing to underclock it too, but not without a proper fight first! I'd first attempt to under voltage it from stock, if it is running too hot and hope it stays stable.

 

Another thing to note is that my 5.25 inch bays are empty. So I could have something like Lian Li 5.25 inch (BZ-502B) drive bay fan setup, if needed. If there is something that fits this case. At the moment I hope that the existing bays with meshes would let enough air through as they are.

 

Intake fans:

The plan is to move the fan that comes with the case: from the back of the case to the side or to the bottom of the case. If I got the orientation right from the Sapphire Tri-X GPU, it pushes the air into the GPU and don't pull it out. This would mean the 6th case fan may be best situated at the bottom of the case, pulling air in, rather at the side. Hopefully this reduces the turbulence and increases the airflow. Now there would be 3 fans pulling air in: 2 at the front and one at the bottom. The bottom fan cannot help the CPU much, because it is directly underneath the super long GPU. Further the GPU doesn't exhaust the warm air through the back, but from the sides. Putting an exhaust fan at the side could help the GPU, but because it is slightly lower than the GPU, it may cause more interference than help. So bottom sounds good.

 

To get an idea, here's the summary of all the fans:

 

 

Intake (blue):

-Front top: CM 120mm LED fan (comes with the case)

-Front lower: CM 120mm LED fan (comes with the case)

-Bottom: CM 120mm non-LED fan (moved from the back of the case, comes with the case)

 

Internal (orange):

-CPU: Noctua NH-D14

-GPU: Sapphire Tri-X

 

Exhaust (red):

-Back: Noctua NF-S12A

-Top back: Noctua NF-F12

-Top front: Noctua NF-F12

 

Exhaust fans:

The back would be Noctua NF-S12A, which cannot create as much force as Noctua NF-F12, but has much higher airflow when there is low air resistance. (Source: http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=which_fan_is_right_for_me&lng=en). I hope the NH-D14 can create that low air resistance, as there are already 2 fans that get the air moving before it hits the NF-S12A (the back fan).

 

However the top fans would be NF-F12, because they get very close to the NH-D14 grill and they don't have fans directly underneath them that help push the air through. So they would need to be quite strong to suck the air out of the NH-D14 and then push it again through the mesh on top of the case.

 

Aim:

I hope to beat the FX-9590 with air cooling and this is my attempt. What do you guys think? Especially about the fan setup. Any opinions and thoughts are greatly welcome and appreciated. I hope to get to place the order at the end of this week or the next week the latest. But a proper design and fight plan first! I can post some pics once I got it built and some results (temps, clocks, voltages etc.) if any one is interested. I'll be testing the temps with Prime95 and I hope for no throttling in the end.

 

You can probably guess that this will be a gaming PC setup, but I'm also planning to use for work too.

 

The first thing when I get the motherboard is to flash the latest BIOS (version 2002) as it improves "system stability". And then put Windows 7 Professional on it (for games). I'll attempt Ubuntu 14.04 on the second HDD too. Hopefully it has good driver support by now, because the CPU and the chipset have been available since 13.10 came out.

 

Edit:

Good news about Ubuntu support, Asus claims Crosshair V Formula-Z is supported in 12.04: http://www.asus.com/websites/global/aboutasus/OS/Linux.pdf

[ViruZ_HUN]

Nice:D

 

Finnaly a challanger guy who picks the FX9590:D

[thedigitalmilk]

This is actually a pretty good plan, it offers use decades from now, once it becomes obsolete you could use it as an oven. Im just kidding, but its nice to see people opting for air cooling such hot chips because it is possible.

[nlos]

Nice:D

 

Finnaly a challanger guy who picks the FX9590:D

 

FX-9590 shall be tamed with air!

 

I haven't come across a proper article with anyone trying to properly air cool FX-9590 (with full details), so I'm giving it a good shot! I've been doing plenty of research on this and I hope to succeed with the above setup.

 

I hope this will also help anyone else who wishes to tackle a hot chip like FX-9590 with air cooling 

[nlos]

This is actually a pretty good plan, it offers use decades from now, once it becomes obsolete you could use it as an oven. Im just kidding, but its nice to see people opting for air cooling such hot chips because it is possible.

 

You're right. A very hot computer with proper air cooling can raise the ambient temperature of a room quite easily. I do have an air cooler that can keep the room temperature under control

[WoodenMarker]

You're right. A very hot computer with proper air cooling can raise the ambient temperature of a room quite easily. I do have an air cooler that can keep the room temperature under control

It's no different for the room with any other cooling solution that has the same cooling power. The method of cooling doesn't change the amount of heat being expelled from the case.

[Cookie Monster]

An NH-D14 can cope with a 9590 comfortably but overclocking would be pushing both the cooler and the silicon to the limits.

[nlos]

It's no different for the room with any other cooling solution that has the same cooling power. The method of cooling doesn't change the amount of heat being expelled from the case.

 

LN2 doesn't heat up the room as much as a well ventilated air cooling solution that uses room's air for cooling.

 

Regardless, I know what you mean. If the room's air is used in any way as part of the cooling solution, let it be with water and radiators or anything else, they all dissipate the same amount of heat in equally hot setups.

[nlos]

An NH-D14 can cope with a 9590 comfortably but overclocking would be pushing both the cooler and the silicon to the limits.

 

I really hope this is the case. I haven't seen any strong evidence to suggest that though. Some people seem to struggle with NH-D14, where as some say it is fine. The aim is just stock speeds, before even attempting to overclock it. 9370 is a piece of cake for NH-D14, but it runs on 4.4/4.7GHz instead of 4.7/5.0GHz that 9590 runs at. I hope you are not talking about the slower chip.

 

Intel's i7 4770k can take up to 105 degrees of celsius.

AMD FX-9590 can take (apparently) only 62 degrees of celsius. I haven't seen an official statement about this value, but this seems to come across very often. Does anyone know an official value?

 

Now there is obviously a huge difference. 3 of my overclocked Intel i7's run around 80-87C when under full load for an hour or so in a synthetic stress test. Even 3+ years down the line they are still running fine without problems in such a heat. It is completely different challenge when you have to cut about 30 degrees of celsius off from that

 

AMD chips apparently cannot take as much heat as Intel chips can. Now, can NH-D14 make the FX-9590 run in a 22C room temperature at max around 57C when under full load in a synthetic stress test for at least an hour? That means only 35C more than the room temperature!  :mellow:

[Sauron]

To answer your question directly, I think it's feasible and your setup should do the job, but I would still like to make a point here.

 

I absolutely recommend you do NOT purchase an fx 9590. You mentioned the issues with it yourself, it is an overclocked 8350, it costs more than it makes any sense to spend on a cpu of the 8350's class, it runs hot as hell and consumes more power than a hairdryer (well maybe not quite, but you get the point). All this to achieve an extreme frequency of 5 ghz and have the guarantee it will work. I am sure you know that frequency is meaningless above a certain limit in multithreaded applications and single threaded ones simply never require such speeds. I understand that you are not necessarily looking for performance but rather for the challenge offered by the cooling setup, but I still think it's wasted money. for that price you can get an i7 4930k, which runs much cooler and with a little oc cn reacu more or less the same performance without lighting up your pc.

You have been warned.

 

That said, if you are willing to cope with this, GO FOR IT. I am very curious to see how it will turn out.

[nlos]

To answer your question directly, I think it's feasible and your setup should do the job, but I would still like to make a point here.

 

I absolutely recommend you do NOT purchase an fx 9590. You mentioned the issues with it yourself, it is an overclocked 8350, it costs more than it makes any sense to spend on a cpu of the 8350's class, it runs hot as hell and consumes more power than a hairdryer (well maybe not quite, but you get the point). All this to achieve an extreme frequency of 5 ghz and have the guarantee it will work. I am sure you know that frequency is meaningless above a certain limit in multithreaded applications and single threaded ones simply never require such speeds. I understand that you are not necessarily looking for performance but rather for the challenge offered by the cooling setup, but I still think it's wasted money. for that price you can get an i7 4930k, which runs much cooler and with a little oc cn reacu more or less the same performance without lighting up your pc.

You have been warned.

 

That said, if you are willing to cope with this, GO FOR IT. I am very curious to see how it will turn out.

 

Thanks for the warning, it has been noted   I was actually expecting someone to say it.

 

I would be interested in 4930k, but it is still twice as expensive as FX9590, at least in my country (UK). Also it comes in a special 2011 socket, which indicates that "you've got money". All 2011 parts tend to cost more. Another problem I have is that the NH-D14 that I have isn't the special 2011 version and doesn't thus fit into 2011 socket. 4930k is a beast with 12 logical cores and much cheaper than its bigger brother 4960x! However it is rumoured that Intel may bring 8 physical core CPUs out at the end of 2014 or in 2015. Hyper threading those gives us a nice 16 logical cores. I much rather grab one of those when they come out. In the mean while...

 

Well, most things I do aren't because they are the most optimal or sensible solution. :blink:  I like doing things because are interesting and this setup, I think, is very interesting It makes no sense from many points of views, except: we do these things because we can

 

All things considered: I should build an overclocked 4770k or 4670k with GTX 780ti, only 16GB RAM and a nice SSD. That is what everyone is after. However, a much more interesting setup (in my opinion) is an air cooled, stock, FX-9590 with 32GB RAM, R9 290X and a couple of massive HDDs. Both the GPU and CPU struggle immensely with heat. I believe a right solution can be found to over come this typical problem with both parts and that is what I'm going after here

 

Oh, and I really appreciate the interest! I'm very interested and I'm happy I'm not the only one!

[nlos]

Some updates:

-I finally got the 4770k RMA done (fully refunded).

-I ordered all the rest of the parts today! I should get everything tomorrow 16th or latest by Monday 19th. Then the building can commense!

 

I did some further final investigations before I placed the order. The bottom fan is going to be a problem with RM1000!

 

Bottom fan:

Here I have moved the back fan to the bottom, as planned. RM1000 is 18cm long (source: http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/rm-series-rm1000-80-plus-gold-certified-power-supply). I've only got about 16cm space. So the bottom fan isn't happening.  :angry:  Not to worry, it was only an added bonus:

 

 

 

Side fans:

Here's a photo of the side, with the side panel open, but aligned vertically in the exact right position. On this motherboard, the first PCI Express 2.0 16x is positioned as the first expansion slot. Considering how much lower the expansion slot is from the bottom of the back panel outputs, the PCI slot is going to be on the second expansion slot at the back of the case. Motherboard photo: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/CROSSHAIR_V_FORMULAZ/gallery/

 

As the GPU is only 2 slots high, it sits _just_ above the side fan slots. The side fans may not be usable once the PSU gets in there, but there is hope Because the side fans are _below_ the GPU and the GPU fans take air in; it sounds like the side fan may be best placed as an intake fan, rather than exhaust. :huh:

 

 

Top fans:

There is just enough room for the 2 top fans. It is a shame that they are not about 2-3cm (about an inch) to the left (back of the case). They would be excellent exhaust fans. The fan that is towards the front of the case (right), might have to become an intake fan if it gets much beyond the NH-D14. It might be just OK as an exhaust fan. We shall see when the parts arrive tomorrow or Monday. :huh:

 

 

Front fans:

Now the last, but not least: our very important front fans. The bottom fan is almost purely for HDDs, which is OK. The top fan is purely taking air in for the rest of the components. It would have been great if we could have had a bottom fan to help it out, but our PSU doesn't allow it. He is our sole worker It could get a helper if I could find some kind of 5.25" bay fan mounting gear for 120mm fan. I might have to do some home solution with "zip ties"   That would make it perfect! B)

 

 

 

Updated airflow chart:

In this picture I have fixed some of the fan positionings. The PSU pushes the bottom fan to move to the top front (most likely) or to the side. The 2 exhaust fans at the top are actually a little bit closer to the front, so they have been fixed here too. We shall see if this will be the final fan setup :lol:

 

 

Now to wait for the rest of the parts to arrive....

[Cookie Monster]

I really hope this is the case. I haven't seen any strong evidence to suggest that though. Some people seem to struggle with NH-D14, where as some say it is fine. The aim is just stock speeds, before even attempting to overclock it. 9370 is a piece of cake for NH-D14, but it runs on 4.4/4.7GHz instead of 4.7/5.0GHz that 9590 runs at. I hope you are not talking about the slower chip.

 

Pistol at teksyndicate is using a 9590 with a NH-D14.

 

[nlos]

Pistol at teksyndicate is using a 9590 with a NH-D14.

 

 

I hadn't seen that video before! Thanks a lot for sharing! I took a look at some of the other videos of Pistol's computer and she ended up with the same GPU also, that I'm going here!

 

Unfortunately they weren't talking about temperatures. I'm wondering how hot it runs in her case and with the R9 290X that she has. I will find these out very soon in my case anyway, but it would be nice to compare.

[ElDracBou]

You can set a FX-8350 up to 5 Ghz... with that moterboard is possible the only thing that changes are frequencies and voltage and a hard cooler solution, that's all.

 

The FX 9590 it's not so far overclockable above that 5 ghz.

[atrash]

nlos, on 12 May 2014 - 11:36 PM, said:

FX-9590 shall be tamed with air!

 

I haven't come across a proper article with anyone trying to properly air cool FX-9590 (with full details), so I'm giving it a good shot! I've been doing plenty of research on this and I hope to succeed with the above setup.

 

I hope this will also help anyone else who wishes to tackle a hot chip like FX-9590 with air cooling 

 

I think someone already mentioned above on Pistol's rig.

 

nlos, on 16 May 2014 - 3:55 PM, said:

I hadn't seen that video before! Thanks a lot for sharing! I took a look at some of the other videos of Pistol's computer and she ended up with the same GPU also, that I'm going here!

 

Unfortunately they weren't talking about temperatures. I'm wondering how hot it runs in her case and with the R9 290X that she has. I will find these out very soon in my case anyway, but it would be nice to compare.

 

Considering it's her main editing rig,and they never mentioned anything about throttling,I'd say the temp is a problem with that cooling setup. Yours have far more case fans so i think you shoud be fine. Good luck!

[DICKWAHD]

Very interested to see how this goes.  I am currently doing a similar build.

-Silverstone ft02.  90 degree spin on mobo.

-Noctua nh-d15

-Asus Sabretooth

-Seasonic 850

-XFX 7970

-12 gigs Gskill ripjaws

 

I hope to get away with this PSU using a single GPU.  I will not be using this as a daily but it should be fun to play with  With the rotated mobo and the three massive case fans blowing from bellow should make the best airflow pattern.  All the heat comes out the top and the whole board is cooled.  Not prepared to upgrade gpu as I have not found a need to.My ram is from an old build and cannot see a need to exceed  this as I am happy with my penis size.  The only worries are the heat and power.  I hope this works but I'm just using parts I have including case.  As water cooling has become mainstream my case seems obsolete so I really want to test this out.  This is the largest psu I have so we will see, never needed more before but like I said it's mostly used parts so if needed I will pick up 1000+.

 

If anyone is interested I can post my build with pics but otherwise I won't bother.  There is such limited info on this I am glad to see something and I got my idea from Pistol on Tek Syndicate.

Being as this looks like an end to this platform should we not celebrate it as the Crowning achievement it is.  These people took it to the end and it IS the top of the line.  No need to hate, I do this for fun.  Thank you to Linus and the team for being regular nice guys and keeping dorkiness fun.