Airflow query with Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator

[PrChaos]

Hi guys,

I recently bought a Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator as advised since it's got very good reviews. I have yet to install it as I don't yet have all the correct equipment to clean off the thermal paste on my CPU and reapply more. However, I decided to install the exhaust fan to the back of my case so that I'd be ready to fit the cooler when I have all the correct materials.

I have only one problem. The exhaust fan I'm using (Akasa Viper 120mm High Performance S-Flow) can only be fitted as an intake fan and not exhaust as the 4-pin connector does not reach to my SYS_FAN2 header! (CPU_FAN needs to be reserved for the fans attached to the cooler).

My question is... If I put the exhaust fan in anyway as an intake fan rather than exhaust... Will this affect the airflow and cause things to heat up? If so, can anyone reccomend a better fan with a longer cable? My case is an Antec 902 and mobo is Gigabyte EX58 UD3R.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Grant.

 

[EarthDog]

Teh right equipment to clean off paste? Rubbing alcohol or just wipe it off...

The fan is only an exhaust because of where you put it. It will be fine.

 

[Johan45]

Looks like there's a fan header located between the PCI slots will it reach that? Extensions aren't hard to find most local PC shops will have them.

 

[Blaylock]

Welcome PrChaos. Yes that would cause conflicting airflow. Check and see if it will reach the PWR_FAN header on the board. This should be your first choice and will provide a contant 12v to the fan. If it won't reach that one I would recommend getting an extention cable to allow it to reach or an adaptor to connect it to a standard 4 pin Molex.


EDIT: Man, you guys are quick! LOL

Looks like there's a fan header located between the PCI slots...

Good Eye Johan!

Your Noctua should have come with some paste. It's very good quality stuff. You'll want to use that after removing the old stuff with alcohol as Earthdog mentioned.

 

[PrChaos]

Hi all and thanks for the replies.

Blaylock, I think it will reach it but ill check it out anyway. My only concern is that its a 4pin fan. So will that make any difference when connecting it to the 3pin fan header?

Im going to use some Arctic Silver 5 for the thermal paste. Read really good reviews about it.

 

[PrChaos]

I had a look at extension cables on Amazon and found this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-in...4pin+connector+extension+cable#productDetails

Would that do the trick? I just need to be able to fit the fan with the air blowing outwards rather than in.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

The paste that comes with the NH-D14 is better than Arctic Silver.

 

[Blaylock]

That startech extention is the one to use however, if I'm not mistaken the Noctua NH-D14 fans are 3 pin fans. Why not connect your Noctua to SYS_FAN 1,2 or 3 header and then connect your Akasa Viper to the 4 pin CPU_FAN header? Here's my thinking.

PWR_FAN is likely fixed 12v supply (Full-ON)
NB_FAN is likely fixed 12v supply (Full-ON)
CPU_FAN is PWM controlled likely through BIOS
SYS_FAN 1, 2 & 3 are likely voltage controlled through BIOS

or, you can just get the extention and run the Akasa to one of the SYS_FAN headers like we talked. Either way will accomplish what your looking for.

The paste that comes with the NH-D14 is better than Arctic Silver.

^ +1 This right here. The Noctua Nh-T1 beats AS5 by over 3c. Here's a chart from Skinneelabs.

 

[PrChaos]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'll try putting the Noctua fan in the SYS_FAN header and the Viper in the CPU as advised.

I'll post back with how it goes.

 

[doyll]

Other SkinneeLab testing shows NT- H1 70.95 and AS5 71.69c


http://skinneelabs.com/2011-thermal-paste-review-comparison/2/

Tom's Hardware shows 0.6 - 1.1c difference depending on seat.

 

[PrChaos]

I haven't had a chance to put this in yet but I'm hoping I will have some time tonight or the next few days.

 

[PrChaos]

So I finally fitted it with the help of a friend and it was a tight fit for my case! (Antec 902)

Fits snugly with just enough room to put the side panel back on.

Have decided to go as Blaylock said except pull air into the case. So I have the two Noctua fans connected to SYS_FAN 1 and 2 pulling air in and the third Akasa Viper fan mounted on the back to also pull air through with the idea being that heat escapes through the top 200mm exhaust fan.

I havent pushed it yet but so far on idle it sits around 23-20c which I'm very pleased with.

I'll give it a few more weeks and see how things go.

 

[PrChaos]

So my girlfriend wanted to play Advanced Warfare on it and it worked ok for a while then it started jumping and freezing every so often.

I also did a small data test on OCCT and within a minute or 2 of testing it stopped and returned an error but didnt specify what kind of error.

Any ideas? Is there any way I can find out or shall I just try loading optimised defaults in BIOS and see if that helps at all?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Load optimized defaults and see how it acts. Then you'll know if it's a BIOS setting or not.

 

[PrChaos]

Hi,

Sorry for the very late reply. So I had a look at this issue myself and it did indeed appear to jump and skip every few seconds making it unplayable. I then proceeded to check the system requirements to play the game and didn't realise they are astronomically high. My system consists of: Core i7 920 @ 2.8ghz, 6GB ram and a GeForce GTX 660 Ti.

I tried another test in OCCT (Medium Data Test this time for 30 minutes) and it came back with no errors and peaked at about 50-51c.

Any tips or suggestions at this point? Would it help if I turned down graphics settings on Advanced Warfare? Or do I need an overclock and another stick of 2GB ram?

Also... How long is the burn in period for the NT-H1 paste? I need to know how long I should wait before looking into OC'ing.

Thanks.

 

[Blaylock]

The jumping and skipping could be a few things. It could be a graphics issue or a lag issue.

The NH_T1 doesn't really have a burn in time. You can OC right after mounting. However, I would figure out your stutter issue before creating any potential instability.

 

[PrChaos]

I'm pretty sure it's not a lag issue. We have just had 40mb broadband installed and it's pretty quick. Considering I get a 1ms response time when pinging my nearest server.

I've also tried the likes of COD4, MW2, Left 4 Dead 2 and few others. These run flawlessly, so I'm pretty sure it's a hardware upgrade needed.

I'll try turning the graphics down first and see what happens.

 

[Blaylock]

I then proceeded to check the system requirements to play the game and didn't realise they are astronomically high...

Do you meet the specs to play? Definitely try turning down the details in the game and see if that helps. How old is your 660ti? In truth it's probably still capable fo running most modern games. Those are great little cards. If after turning the settings down it runs smooth it may be time to try a nice OC on your GPU until you can upgrade.

 

[PrChaos]

The card is not that old. Only a 2-3 years. My whole rig is pretty old though. Mobo, processor and RAM are all pushing 6-7 years.

 

[Blaylock]

OK good. A couple of ideas for ya.

1. Before reducing the detail level on the game that's stuttering. Install and run GPU-Z (free) while gaming. After you experience the stuttering tab out of the game and take a screen shot of the sensors tab. This will show us your clock/memory setting of the card as well as temps. We'll be able to determine if you are thermal throttling.

2. Reduce the detail levels and redo the above test again snagging a SS of GPU-Z after a few minutes of gaming(say 15-20mins). This way we can compare to see if droping the detail level helped temps. This of course won't help at all if it's not temp, but that will eliminate that possible concern.)

3. (Not really related) It would be beneficial to us here at OCF if you set up a signature of your rig like the others here. This will keep us from having to scroll up and down the pages to see what we're dealing with.

P.S. You never replied with what the system requirements were.