Looking to improve thermals, what steps to take?

[RayJW]

So I built my first PC back in January and I've always realised that I don't get quite the thermals I'd like, but I didn't get bothered enough. Now I think it's time after half a year since I'm mostly worried about the thermals on my HDD, the motherboard and the GPU. So my build looks like this with idle thermals (reported from HWMonitor):

 

Fractal Design Meshify C

MSI B350 Gaming Pro Carbon - 57°C

Ryzen 7 1700 @ 3.8 GHz - 45°C

MSI GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X (zero rpm mode) - 58°C

Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500 GB - 45°C

WD Black 4 TB - 53°C

 

The stock fans of my case (Dynamic X2 GP-12) are currently running at 560 RPM and 650 RPM stock curve and my Scythe Mugen 5 PCGH Edition runs at 710 RPM on one fan (the other runs full afaik since they're connected with only one cable).

So there are multiple things that I researched on but still have no idea how to do it optimally. How about fan curves, how would I configure them (I already checked SpeedFan and my motherboard doesn't work so if anyone knows the MSI utilities or the BIOS that would be useful)? Should I add some more case fans and/or replace the ones on the CPU cooler and if yes with which? Should the intake or outtake run at full speed on my CPU cooler? etc. 

Since this is my first build, I have literally no experience airflow and cooling so any help would be appreciated.

[Guest]

These are all normal temps, excpet for the hdd maybe. The air in your case is hot, which heats the other components. Try setting the fans faster, there should be a manual for your MB on setting the fan curve.

But 58C for a high end GPU is okay, and 45C for a 1700 is good too.

[Guest]

If you can just set the fan speed to 1000rpm. That should help out a lot, becuse at 500rpm the air is barely moving.

All the temps except the SSD and HDD are fine. Is there any fans near them?

[RayJW]

9 minutes ago, timl132 said:

These are all normal temps, excpet for the hdd maybe. The air in your case is hot, which heats the other components. Try setting the fans faster, there should be a manual for your MB on setting the fan curve.

But 58C for a high end GPU is okay, and 45C for a 1700 is good too.

Oh ok, I didn't know that 60°C is usual for a high-end GPU. And I know how to set the fan curve, I'm just not sure how to set it optimal so I have the best of silence and thermals. What should I set the different levels to? 

[RayJW]

8 minutes ago, Some Random Member said:

If you can just set the fan speed to 1000rpm. That should help out a lot, becuse at 500rpm the air is barely moving.

All the temps except the SSD and HDD are fine. Is there any fans near them?

Not really the cages for them are almost in the bottom of the case and all of the fans are in the upper half. But how would an optimal fan curve look then?

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, RayJW said:

Oh ok, I didn't know that 60°C is usual for a high-end GPU.

It is not usual, it is very good. The 1080ti is built to operate at 84C, so 60C is cool.

 

6 minutes ago, RayJW said:

Not really the cages for them are almost in the bottom of the case and all of the fans are in the upper half. But how would an optimal fan curve look then?

Can you add a fan there?

 

I just run my fans at 1000 rpm. But that depends on your fans, i have BeQuiet PureWings 2, and they are right next to my components due to itx nature of my case. If you have a big case there is much more air to move, so naturally you need to run your fans faster/need more fans. Just create a FIXED RPM curve and try different RPM's. 1000 should be barely audible, while still moving lots of air.

 

Also if these are idle temps for you hdd and ssd, i cant even imagine the load temps.

[RayJW]

11 minutes ago, Some Random Member said:

It is not usual, it is very good. The 1080ti is built to operate at 84C, so 60C is cool.

 

Can you add a fan there?

 

I just run my fans at 1000 rpm. But that depends on your fans, i have BeQuiet PureWings 2, and they are right next to my components due to itx nature of my case. If you have a big case there is much more air to move, so naturally you need to run your fans faster/need more fans. Just create a FIXED RPM curve and try different RPM's. 1000 should be barely audible, while still moving lots of air.

 

Also if these are idle temps for you hdd and ssd, i cant even imagine the load temps.

Oh ok, interesting.

I think it should be possible but are the BeQuiet Silent Wings 3 still considered the best or are there any better/cheaper options I could add? And btw. would it be better to fill occupy 3x 120 mm or 2x 140 mm?

[Guest]

24 minutes ago, Some Random Member said:

It is not usual, it is very good. The 1080ti is built to operate at 84C, so 60C is cool.

 

Can you add a fan there?

 

I just run my fans at 1000 rpm. But that depends on your fans, i have BeQuiet PureWings 2, and they are right next to my components due to itx nature of my case. If you have a big case there is much more air to move, so naturally you need to run your fans faster/need more fans. Just create a FIXED RPM curve and try different RPM's. 1000 should be barely audible, while still moving lots of air.

 

Also if these are idle temps for you hdd and ssd, i cant even imagine the load temps.

Yeah, but I don't think those temps were measured when under load.

 

@RayJW I reccomned just experimenting, it's hard to kill anything with controlling case fans.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, timl132 said:

Yeah, but I don't think those temps were measured when under load.

 

@RayJW I reccomned just experimenting, it's hard to kill anything with controlling case fans.

Just put the fans to 100% and see if that helps.

[geo3]

1 hour ago, RayJW said:

Oh ok, interesting.

I think it should be possible but are the BeQuiet Silent Wings 3 still considered the best or are there any better/cheaper options I could add? And btw. would it be better to fill occupy 3x 120 mm or 2x 140 mm?

Noctua fans are better. Just some random cheep fan off Amazon would be cheaper. 

 

1 hour ago, RayJW said:

 And I know how to set the fan curve, I'm just not sure how to set it optimal so I have the best of silence and thermals. What should I set the different levels to? 

Get a pen an paper and make a chart. Record temps and noise (there are smartphone apps that can tell you the sound levels and make sure to record from the same spot from the case each time) First get a base line for your current config. Then each fan max in turn with the rest of them at baseline. The set everything max. Now you have a good idea of what the limits for sound and thermals are for your system. Start tweaking based on this data. 

[LogicalDrm]

Before doing anything drastic, run some stress tests to see what your worst temps are. Idle temps vary A LOT depending on how many background processes you have. Just browser with single empty tab can raise temps by 5C.

 

Now, it's your call if you want lower idle temps, or best settings for noise/performance.