Cooling a i7 4770 in HTPC

[Molesy]

Hi Guys,

 

So i have a i7 4770 in my HTPC and i wanted to improve the cooling for it as i only have the stock cooler on it at this time. I have a Silverstone  Grandia Series GD05 case : http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=241&area=en

I have a Blu ray drive installed so i can only have a cooler of max 70mm high. I am looking to get the Noctua nh-l9x65. Will that be sufficient for its cooling, any other cooler recommended? I am open to delidding the CPU if it means i can get even better temps. I am not looking to Overclock. Just gaming and watching movies etc on this PC.  

 

If i need to go the delidding route is the artic silver 5 good enough to be used between the die and IHS as wells as the IHS and Heat sink. will that bring my temps down by a fair bit ?  Also what tools will i need to do this i know i need the new thermal paste ( artic Silver 5 atm) + der8auer Delid Die Mate 2, what do i need to get the IHS to stick back on the PCB so that it is seated well. As well as do i need to do anything on the PCB under the IHS area to protect it from the new paste? 

 

My current temps are around 85*C on a AIDA stress test. I will be replacing the stock case fans with some bitfenix ones to help get some more fresh air into the case. I currently have dual 80mm fans as my exhaust to help get that hot air out. 

 

overall if the temps can sit around 60-70*C on a AIDA stress test that would be great ! but dont really want it to be higher than 75*C on the stress test. 

 

Thanks for all the help ! 

[NelizMastr]

No need for a delid here. You just need more cooling surface than that shitty box cooler has. That Noctua should be better, and combined with some better fans it should be fine. These temps are still outside of the danger zone anyway.

[Molesy]

19 hours ago, NelizMastr said:

No need for a delid here. You just need more cooling surface than that shitty box cooler has. That Noctua should be better, and combined with some better fans it should be fine. These temps are still outside of the danger zone anyway.

I see. So with 2 x  BitFenix Spectre Pro 120mm Black 1200rpm Fan near the CPU cooler, the noctua will be enough to to keep the temps in check ? what temps do you think i should expect. 

 

Also if i do end up wanting to go with delidding is the artic silver 5 enough  between the die and IHS ?  adn how can i stick the IHS back on the PCB once removed ?

[WoodenMarker]

Your temps are already fine. There's no need to replace the cooler unless you find it too noisy.

Have you tried undervolting?

 

Moved to Air Cooling.

[Alcam]

19 hours ago, Molesy said:

If i need to go the delidding route is the artic silver 5 good enough to be used between the die and IHS as wells as the IHS and Heat sink. will that bring my temps down by a fair bit ?  Also what tools will i need to do this i know i need the new thermal paste ( artic Silver 5 atm) + der8auer Delid Die Mate 2, what do i need to get the IHS to stick back on the PCB so that it is seated well. As well as do i need to do anything on the PCB under the IHS area to protect it from the new paste? 

 

I think others have done a fair job at responding to the rest of the post. So to respond to this bit if you do feel compelled to de-lid (although you really don't have to, but then no one ever has to hehe) I'd reccomend a liquid metal product for placement between the chip and IHS. 

 

Such as; https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thermal-Grizzly-conductonaut-heat-compound/dp/B01A9KIGSI

               or

               https://www.amazon.co.uk/Coollaboratory-LIQUID-PRO-Liquid-Pro/dp/B001PE5XAC

 

For re-sealing the lid you can pretty much use any type of high heat resistant silicone, and you don't need much of it. 

 

Something like this would suffice just for reference;  https://www.amazon.co.uk/TEMPERATURE-SILICONE-ADHESIVE-SEALANT-RESISTANT/dp/B006C65ZCO

 

I personally used silicone gasket sealant for car gaskets and it worked perfectly fine as it basically is just a heat resistant silicone. 

 

And finally to protect your PCB you can just put something like sticky tape around the chip to avoid getting liquid metal on areas you don't want it to touch. There are tons of videos on YouTube that will show you how to do this whole process safely. 

[Molesy]

56 minutes ago, WoodenMarker said:

Your temps are already fine. There's no need to replace the cooler unless you find it too noisy.

Have you tried undervolting?

 

Moved to Air Cooling.

yea the nose does get loud at times. I have not tried undervolting it at this time. I think i will get the new fans and the cooler and that should be good enough fr now. the PC does sit in the tv unit so airflow is a bit restrictive.  atm the temps i saw were with the case open outside the unit as i was cleaning it up. 

[WoodenMarker]

10 hours ago, Molesy said:

yea the nose does get loud at times. I have not tried undervolting it at this time. I think i will get the new fans and the cooler and that should be good enough fr now. the PC does sit in the tv unit so airflow is a bit restrictive.  atm the temps i saw were with the case open outside the unit as i was cleaning it up. 

In that case, the NH-L9x65 would help. It might be better to get a lower profile cooler to give more breathing room between the cooler and blu-ray drive. Where are you shopping / located? 

It can still help to try undervolting. I'd suggest manually setting core voltage to 1.2v and testing for stability. If it seems stable, you can try slowly lowering voltage to lower temps further. 

[Molesy]

On 4/21/2018 at 6:09 AM, WoodenMarker said:

In that case, the NH-L9x65 would help. It might be better to get a lower profile cooler to give more breathing room between the cooler and blu-ray drive. Where are you shopping / located? 

It can still help to try undervolting. I'd suggest manually setting core voltage to 1.2v and testing for stability. If it seems stable, you can try slowly lowering voltage to lower temps further. 

I am looking at mwave.com.au  I have some credit there so trying to get all parts from here.

[WoodenMarker]

8 hours ago, Molesy said:

I am looking at mwave.com.au  I have some credit there so trying to get all parts from here.

The NH-L9i should be plenty of cooling and very quiet: https://www.mwave.com.au/product/noctua-nhl9i-low-profile-intel-cpu-cooler-aa16736

Delidding isn't necessary but can drastically lower temps.

That being said, delidding and staying below 75c during a synthetic load is unnecessary.

[Molesy]

On 5/3/2018 at 6:36 AM, WoodenMarker said:

The NH-L9i should be plenty of cooling and very quiet: https://www.mwave.com.au/product/noctua-nhl9i-low-profile-intel-cpu-cooler-aa16736

Delidding isn't necessary but can drastically lower temps.

That being said, delidding and staying below 75c during a synthetic load is unnecessary.

I had looked at that cooler as well but thought that is would be similar performance to a stock cooler so was looking at the other one. 

[WoodenMarker]

14 hours ago, Molesy said:

I had looked at that cooler as well but thought that is would be similar performance to a stock cooler so was looking at the other one. 

It's better than the stock cooler but the biggest difference will be in acoustics. Since you're not oc'ing, the stock cooler should've been already fine for cooling.