Do these temps look bad?

[Slayn]

I have had this set up for a while and it has always been this hot, I just replaced my CM 690 II case with a Fractal R4 because it was a good price on sale, I of course reseated everything and my temps are about the same. I got this H50 a while ago, maybe I expected too much. Do these temps seem bad, or expected for what I got? If these temps are what, what do you recommend? The case is pretty silent and I want to keep it that way, should I stick with a silent cooler or go with something powerful and hope the case keeps it silent? Honestly the computer makes my room heat up a good 10-20F it feels like, and I am kind of sick of it for the Summer. I was thinking Corsair H110.

Also on the side, would I get some extra cooling from adding more fans to the case? The top has 2 openings, the side has an opening, and the bottom has 1-2 spots.

Overclocked idle, overclocked load, stock idle, stock load:

https://imgur.com/ihZ8F83

https://imgur.com/wwASPxR

https://imgur.com/b01k2jI

https://imgur.com/cl7TETZ

 

[Conumdrum]

Making sure on your load tests. No ideaa what load test mean to you.. Are you using Prime 95 small ffts for 30 minutes for the load test? It's kinda what we use here for comparisons.

Yea, the H50 isn't magic. It's a small thin rad with poor fans, many top air coolers beat it easy. It's kinda the bottom of the barrel for AIO watercooling.

Can't do anything about the heat in your room. Watercooling still releases the same amount of heat into the room no matter what setup you have. Basic physics.

Your room temps ain't gonna change but if you looked at a 120x2 AIO unit (highly and kinda ONLY recommend the Swiftech H220) or a 140x2 setup NXCT? It's got the most cooling capability.

Your best bet is to get better cooling for your CPU and a window AC unit. Your temps are about right for what you have. Cut back on the overclock?

 

[Slayn]

Those are running prime95 for literally about 5 minutes haha then I have to turn it off, the tempskind of demonstrates my point. I think I just expected too much, but I got the H50 when it first came out and I thought it was badass.

If I get a better cooler and my CPU isn't always running at 60C while browsing forums, wouldn't my room temperature go down? I mean just browsing forums I am pretty hot.

Anyway I don't think I like how this is performing, go with the Noctua NH-D14 or is the H110 any good? I have decent amount of room in my case, the Fractal is HUGE!

Also the overclock is not finely tuned, I got REAL lazy and use the OC Genie button on my MSI board, so the voltage can probably be scaled down a bit, but I want to get better cooling before I fool around, I know the H50 just isn't cutting it. I think even the Hyper 212 is a better cooler... but I have money to blow, I don't need to go cheap, not wanting to spend much more than $100 though.

 

[Leegit]

In this case (pun intended), I believe going with the Fractal R4 was a bad move. That sound absorbing material also act as a insulator. Since you have a high ambient, you are pulling in hotter air than normal... then you add a OC'd 2600k and dual 660s and you have a large amount of heat being produced in an already hot enviroment. So, in addition to what Conundrum said you should get better and more fans for that case.

The fans that come with R4 are meant for silence over performance. You will need to upgrade these to get better airflow inside the case. Also, I recommend you add a high CFM fan to the side panel in pull config to extract the hot air from the GPUs.

What is your fan setup at right now? Do you just have the two Silent R2 fans included with the case?

 

[Zuzzz]

If you have only about $100 to spend Id just go with the Noctua. These days it or more or less the best as far as high end air cooling. I saw it somewhere for $91 and change. Add a couple good case fans and you should see better temps.

 

[doyll]

If the case air is much warmer than room you need to cool the case better.. and it doesn't make any difference if case is insulated or not.
As already said stock fans are not all that good. Get some good 140mm fans.

I use all PWM fans and comtrol them with PWM signal from CPU fan socket. This way the case fans speed up and move more air as CPU heat up and needs more air. Use a PWM splitter with molex power connecter like a Gelid or Swiftech 8 way splitter.

You can also do this with GPU. But you will need to somehow splice in to get PWM signal. I have a drawing of what it takes if you want it.

 

[Slayn]

I think I took the 140mm fan from the back and added it in the front and reused the 120mm from my Corsair H50 in the back, so I have two in the front 1 in the back, nothing on the top or side of the case. So the stock fans with the Fractal R4 are bad? I should replace all the fans?

And yeah the temps in my bedroom rise substantially when the computer is on, I figured just because the CPU temps are so bad. At this point I am willing to sacrifice noise for better cooling just to get the thing to stay cool, it just makes the room so frigging hot.

I have never actually messed with PWM...\

Here is the exact case: http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=75044&vpn=FD-CA-DEF-R4-BL&manufacture=Fractal Design

 

[Leegit]

If the case air is much warmer than room you need to cool the case better.. and it doesn't make any difference if case is insulated or not.
As already said stock fans are not all that good. Get some good 140mm fans.

I use all PWM fans and comtrol them with PWM signal from CPU fan socket. This way the case fans speed up and move more air as CPU heat up and needs more air. Use a PWM splitter with molex power connecter like a Gelid or Swiftech 8 way splitter.

You can also do this with GPU. But you will need to somehow splice in to get PWM signal. I have a drawing of what it takes if you want it.

The interior of a case will ALWAYS be higher than the ambient.


@op:
The included Silent R2 fans are not bad fans persay. They are good for a silent machine. Like I said, they really prioritize silence over preformance. They are like 20 dBA. Anything under 33 dBA is close to silent in my book. So you can still get good preforming fans that are practically silent, read 33 dBA-ish. There is a sale on Cosair fans right now on Newegg.

You could pick up a two pairs of AF120s (Air Flow) for your intake on the front, 1 for the side as exhaust and one on top as exhaust. Cost about 60$ and give you much better air flow. But your high ambient will still limit the cooling preformance.

 

[Slayn]

How about an actual better CPU cooler? Go with the Noctua? H100? H110? Something else?

 

[sobe]

Due to the hot temps, I would go for the Cooler Master Hyper 212 cpu cooler and just get better fans all around for the case, throw some Scythe S-Flex fans in it, Noctuas, or Bitfenix Spectre Pros

 

[doyll]

The interior of a case will ALWAYS be higher than the ambient.

Higher yes.

Much higher means the case is not flowing air properly.

Cases are not designed to radiate heat. That's why we use case fans to move cool air into case to the coolers and heatsinks and to remove hot exhaust air out of case. If this airflow is setup properly it will keep the case a few 2-4c above room temperature depending on CPU and GPU cooler design.

Tower coolers make it much easier to keep the cool intake air separated from the hot exhaust air..

Down flow coolers and most GPU coolers are terrible because the exhaust hot air in all directions, but it is still possible to do.

 

[Slayn]

I am just getting myself more confused. I always figured that the CPU cooler I am using is junk, and that it could not properly cool the CPU, causing an overall increase in temperature. So you guys suggest changing the fans instead? The top and side are currently blocked off, so I guess it would be a substantial increase in airflow.

I am not so sure about using a 212+ though, it seems like a sidegrade at best? Why not just spend the $100 on something good? I don't want to bother changing the HSF for minimal gain.

 

[Leegit]

@Slayn

Check your temps you have now with a Prime 95 run for 5 mins. Then open the top and side vents and rerun the test. Even without fans you should see a difference. The heat in your case wants to rise and go somewhere but with that top vent closed there is nowhere for it to go...

Post back with screenshots of your results.


You aren't seeing the true performance of your cooler right now b/c of the poor airflow. Don't drop money on a new AIO cooler yet. Get a decent fan setup first then re-evaluate if you need to upgrade

 

[doyll]

As a general rule the bigger the cooler the better it will cool. This translates to also being quieter because it needs less air speed though cooler to keep CPU cool. My Silver Arrow SB-E on i7 920 and Phanteks PH-TC14PE on i7 980 both run about 900-1000rpm @ 45-50c when stress testing and idle 25-29c @ 700rpm idle / low load. I use PWM case on same PWM signal as cooler fans so they are running same speed. Both coolers are running TY-14x series fans.. TY-143 & TY-140 respectively.

The 212 is a mid range cooler. Not good, not bad.. and usually cheap to buy. But I consider a good high end cooler an investment that can be used for not only my present build but builds in the future too.. so I don't mind spending more even if I won't use all of it's cooling ability.. and it is quiet.

Edit:
Agree with Leegit. Your system running stock CPU speed should not run hot. I don't know if opening side and top vents will help. I have mine closed with 2 front and 1 bottom intake fans with a duct from my cooler out to back vent so none of the heat from cooler escapes inside of case. What cooler do you have now?

 

[Slayn]

The H50. It was actually a refurbished H50. I went super cheap. Not sure what I was doing....

 

[doyll]

H50 should cool stock CPU.

 

[sobe]

It should, but lol. Can just do what doyll mentioned, go for a top cooler, BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 2 is what comes to mind for leading the pack

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/47...ro_2_dual_tower_cpu_cooler_review/index7.html

 

[Slayn]

The Dark Rock Pro 2 is around $100 and I only see NCIX really selling it, while the Noctua NH-D14 I can get from Amazon with prime shipping for less than $80.

Honestly at this point I am operating under the assumption that the CPU cooler I have is either not working as properly as it should or just plain crap. This is why you don't make refurbished purchases at Fry's Electronics.

I'm kind of surprised that the case fans are getting all the attention. Yeah the top and side are blocked, I just need to do some research and find some decent priced fans. Not really willing to spend $20 on each fan, thus spending more money on the fans than the actual case. I don't mind dropping $100 on a new CPU cooler but $100 on fans is a bit ridiculous.

Also I work graveyard so I post at weird hours.

 

[doyll]

NH-D14 is as good as Dark Rock Pro 2

 

[Leegit]

Slayn: Have a look to the master cooling thread. There are some recommended fans in there. One of them is the Scythe Slip Stream. You can pick them up for 10$ each.

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/026/sy1225sl_detail.html


I still think you need to evaluate your air flow first. It is a simple thing to test. Open your vents, get a few more fans and then still if you need a new cooler (most likely you will need to). But the difference is you can now determine how much more cooling you need and how much you want to spend to get that performance.