AIO Question

[Parptarf]

Hello there forum.

I recently purchased a Define R6, which I'm very, very happy with. I've also recently acquired a 8700K that is baller as hell compared to my old 3770. But the Noctua Dh-9L cooler I have doesn't really cut it and I want to run my CPU colder. My temperatures are fine at 65-71C after a few hours of gaming but I've decided I want better cooling anyways. Then comes the age old question of aircooled or watercooled. I'm well aware of the pros/cons of both systems by themselves, I just need some input on what would fit my application the best. It all comes down to my case and how I've configured it. I'm running three GP-14 intake fans(two front and one bottom) and one GP-14 as exhaust(back). This is fairly effective of cooling everything, plus the added bonus of less dust buildup due to the positive air pressure.


EDIT: I returned my 8700 non-K and got an 8700K.

 

 

So here's my actual question:

If, for example, I run a 280mm cooler up top, pushing air through the radiator and out the top as exhaust. Will I have to add another intake to keep positive pressure in the case? Alternatively, if I remove the rear fan and use the radiator fans as exhaust, will my cooling really be that effective? My case isn't particularly hot inside from what I can tell.

My aircooled alternative is a something like a Noctua DH-15 with the fan pointed towards the rear exhaust and the top port closed off, like my current setup.

 

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Here's a picture of how it currently sits. I do not run any HDD's in the bay except for one at the very top which doesn't block any airflow. It's completely open behind the cover.

[Oshino Shinobu]

If you're running at 65-71C under a fairly intensive load, the cooler is certainly doing its job. 

 

Honestly, you're completely wasting your money on an AIO or large air cooler with a non-K chip. You'll gain nothing from it, other than lower numbers which don't actually make any meaningful difference. 

 

That said, people often overstate the importance of positive air pressure. As long as you have decent air flow and filtered intakes, positive air pressure really isn't very important. You could leave it as it is (in terms of the intake) and it would be fine, but adding another fan would increase fresh airflow, which is basically always a good thing. 

 

EDIT: Basically, my advice would be to stick with your current cooler and either save the money or spend it on something that will actually provide some benefit, like more SSD storage (or a better PSU, judging from the coloured cables)

[Parptarf]

You do have a very good point there.

It's really just aesthetics and "peace of mind" if I'm totally honest. I think that DH-9L looks so weak in there and I want the CPU to sit around 5 degrees colder. I don't really have any way of justifying it economically.


So basically, I wouldn't totally ruin everything airflow-wise if I open up the top cover and add a rad with a couple fans there? I would have three fans in and three fans out, two of them being through a radiator and then a filter so I would still have some positive pressure I guess.


EDIT to reply to your edit: My PSU is gonna be replaced tomorrow regardless, mine has a bad fan and sounds like a WWII fighter plane.

[WoodenMarker]

9 hours ago, Parptarf said:

 I want the CPU to sit around 5 degrees colder.
So basically, I wouldn't totally ruin everything airflow-wise if I open up the top cover and add a rad with a couple fans there? I would have three fans in and three fans out, two of them being through a radiator and then a filter so I would still have some positive pressure I guess.

Have you tried undervolting?

For positive airflow, just run your intakes at higher rpm than your exhausts.

 

Make sure to quote a post or tag a member when replying or else they won't get a notification that you replied to them.

[Parptarf]

2 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Have you tried undervolting?

For positive airflow, just run your intakes at higher rpm than your exhausts.

 

Make sure to quote a post or tag a member when replying or else they won't get a notification that you replied to them.

I have never tried it no. But wouldn't undervolting decrease the performance? I'll do some searching on that. 

If I understand correctly, the 3-pin GP-14 fans I have run at max RPM all the time. Will my options for the rear exhaust fan be to get a 4-pin fan or install some sort of voltage reducer? 

 

 

 

Another thing which I've realized, there really wasn't a single reason not to get the K version. My "I never really overclock anything" mindset doesn't really apply anymore, I tried OC'ing my GPU a few weeks back and it's very interesting.  Now I really want to learn CPU overclocking but I'm stuck with a brand new non-K 8700, dammit.

 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

-snip-

Se the reply in the previous post

[WoodenMarker]

2 minutes ago, Parptarf said:

I have never tried it no. But wouldn't undervolting decrease the performance? I'll do some searching on that. 
If I understand correctly, the 3-pin GP-14 fans I have run at max RPM all the time. Will my options for the rear exhaust fan be to get a 4-pin fan or install some sort of voltage reducer? 

Underclocking can lower performance but undervolting shouldn't. The default voltage setting is usually Auto which will often result in higher voltage than necessary. Setting the core voltage manually can allow for lower temps while maintaining stability.

 

2, 3, and 4pin fans can all be controlled. Whether or not you can control a fan is dependent on the header you're powering the fan off of and not the fan itself. In most cases, it's the motherboard. You can see what kind of pinouts are used on the fan headers and the type of control available in the motherboard manual.

The R6 comes with an included fan hub that can take in a 4pin pwm signal (usually a header off of your motherboard) and split it to the 4pin headers or provide variable voltage to the 3pin headers.

[Jay Deah]

If you do decide to get an AIO (and I don’t think you should!) then I’d reccomend fitting it in the front and leaving the top panel closed off. You’ll have much better acoustics that way and it won’t affect anything negatively. Loads of videos on YouTube showing how it does NOT affect the gpu temps.

 

also I don’t think the temps will be an different with an AIO vs your air cooler. The temps you are seeing are normal for those chips they get very hot very quickly then stay there. If you want to see lower cpu temperature (which you don’t) then you need to look at delidding, water won’t change anything.

[AngryBeaver]

1 hour ago, Jay Deah said:

If you do decide to get an AIO (and I don’t think you should!) then I’d reccomend fitting it in the front and leaving the top panel closed off. You’ll have much better acoustics that way and it won’t affect anything negatively. Loads of videos on YouTube showing how it does NOT affect the gpu temps.

 

also I don’t think the temps will be an different with an AIO vs your air cooler. The temps you are seeing are normal for those chips they get very hot very quickly then stay there. If you want to see lower cpu temperature (which you don’t) then you need to look at delidding, water won’t change anything.

There is no need to delid a non K chip. 

 

That being said, depending on the air cooler being used there are some gains to be had for moving to a 240/280mm AIO. He could also consider moving to one of the large Air coolers if he wanted.

 

That being said your temps are fine, you can try to use a - voltage offset in your bios to help get your voltages more inline of what is actually needed (auto voltage normally supplies much more than is needed).

 

Also if you do decide to get an AIO, just mount it on top. It will be much easier and I know he mentions noise here, but it will be minimal in most cases. A non k 8700 will put out some heat, but I double it will ever break 120-140watts of heat. So you will have plenty of headroom on an AIO that can easily dissipate 240+ TDP of heat.

[Parptarf]

 

4 hours ago, AngryBeaver said:

There is no need to delid a non K chip. 

 

That being said, depending on the air cooler being used there are some gains to be had for moving to a 240/280mm AIO. He could also consider moving to one of the large Air coolers if he wanted.

 

That being said your temps are fine, you can try to use a - voltage offset in your bios to help get your voltages more inline of what is actually needed (auto voltage normally supplies much more than is needed).

 

Also if you do decide to get an AIO, just mount it on top. It will be much easier and I know he mentions noise here, but it will be minimal in most cases. A non k 8700 will put out some heat, but I double it will ever break 120-140watts of heat. So you will have plenty of headroom on an AIO that can easily dissipate 240+ TDP of heat.

 

Some gains in temperature sounds good, even if it's just 3-5C under load. I'm not expecting a world of difference here, as you say my temperatures are fine. It's mostly for the looks as Noctua aircoolers look kind of bad. And I might get a K somewhere in the near future to play around with OC'ing and the likes.

 

 

 

Thanks for the replies! I'm leaning towards getting a decent looking aircooler that is somewhat comparable to Noctua performance. (Do they make black CPU cooler fans?)

 

 

 

 

In other news, That rank , 6 year old TX750 I had is now replaced by a brand new TX850M, which is way more juice than I need but it's all they had in stock. This sounds and looks way better. The price difference was about the same as a meal at McDonalds, so that doesn't really bother me.

 

 

[WoodenMarker]

9 hours ago, Parptarf said:

Thanks for the replies! I'm leaning towards getting a decent looking aircooler that is somewhat comparable to Noctua performance. (Do they make black CPU cooler fans?)

Noctua has a Chromax line but it hasn't extended to their 92mm fans and heatsinks yet. https://noctua.at/en/products/product-line-chromax

You can replace the fan with a black one if you'd like. PW2's or SW2's would be good.

https://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?p=2529983

https://www.prisjakt.no/product.php?p=1395251

[Parptarf]

I have now returned my 8700 non-K and got a K version instead. But I think I'll go aircooled with a Cooler Master V8 GTS or a Noctua DH-D15 and some chromax covers.

 

 

Thanks all for your insight and advice on this!

 

[WoodenMarker]

4 minutes ago, Parptarf said:

I have now returned my 8700 non-K and got a K version instead. But I think I'll go aircooled with a Cooler Master V8 GTS or a Noctua DH-D15 and some chromax covers.

Thanks all for your insight and advice on this!

Don't get the V8 GTS. It's an old and noisy cooler.