Cooling Air cooling a Rocket Lake i7-11700 in a Silverstone ML08 (oh boy...)

[Xorcist]

So I have a build, it's done... here is my PC Part Picker List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/9WGKpH

Good news is... it all runs well for general work, CPU temps are normally between 45-55C.
Light gaming is mostly fine, CPU bounces around between 70-80C.
However any real stress on the CPU and I quickly hit 100C and start to throttle. (games like Hunt Showdown or Jurassic World Evolution for example)

The case wasn't really designed with water cooling in mind, and even the smallest AIO would most likely require a serious case mod (which I'm trying to avoid).

I have disabled ASUS Multicore Enhancement, which I'm hoping will reduce the CPU stress a bit, and I adjusted my fan curve to be more aggressive, but it's clear that lack of exhaust is the issue here. I intend to replace the NH-L9i's slim NF-A9x14 HS-PWM fan with a NF-A9 PWM to increase the intake airflow (reusing whatever ducting I can, might be a tight fit though), but that's still not addressing the elephant in the room... the hot air is not really being exhausted anywhere, and I feel like even it if where to be exhausted CPU cooler would just start to pull that hot air back in.

Thoughts...

There is a slim 12.7mm optical drive bay on the front of the machine, I was thinking a slim drive bay exhaust fan would be awesome, but I don't think they exist (either that or Google has failed me horribly).

Then I was thinking I'd add a slim 120mm exhaust fan to the case (inside or outside, wherever it fits), but I feel I would still need something to redirect the airflow so it pushes the air away from the CPU cooler intake, but once again I can't find a suitable part. I don't have a 3D printer, so rolling my own custom airflow deflector will be limited to what I can find/build with materials from the local hardware store.

I know that undervolting can sometimes reduce overall temps, but I've never attempted it before, if someone knows if a guide to safely undervolt the i7-11700 I'd appreciate a link.

Does anyone have any other recommendations?

Obviously I could rip out the i7-11700 and replace it was a more reasonable CPU for this particular case, but that's kind of admitting defeat, and I feel like I can probably get temps to stabilize in the mid to high 80s if I can get the hot air exhausting out and away from the CPU intake.

 

[Xorcist]

This might be a stupid follow-up, but should I consider reversing the CPU cooler direction? Maybe have it push hot air out of the case instead of pulling cool air in?

 

[BaK]

ML08 cooling system:

Front	--	--
Rear	Passive exhaust vents
Side	Oversized vents over CPU/motherboard and expansion area
Top	--
Bottom	--
Internal	--

Indeed, not so much cooling options!

This might be a stupid follow-up, but should I consider reversing the CPU cooler direction? Maybe have it push hot air out of the case instead of pulling cool air in?

Having the CPU cooler at exhaust should work well in such a low height case, that's what I'm doing with my B01T3 and the cooling is a bit more efficient than with an intake fan.
I would try that first to compare to your actual setup.

I intend to replace the NH-L9i's slim NF-A9x14 HS-PWM fan with a NF-A9 PWM

That's a good idea since you have 58mm for the CPU cooler.

You could even get a little more beefy cooler such as the Black Ridge, if it is compatible with your motherboard components and RAM.

I'm wondering though if these oversized vents should be blocked to prevent hot air recirculation.
But then only the back vents, and a few at the top and bottom (when vertical), remain for the air intake, which is really not a lot.

A crazy idea would be to remove the fan of the CPU cooler and attach a 200 or 250mm fan to the oversized vent.

Final option is modding the case by adding some more vents on top and bottom, or even some 80mm fans.
Maybe something similar could also be done on the front side, but it's hard to tell from the pictures only.
I would try the above along with undervolting first.

 

[Xorcist]

Thanks for the suggestions @BaK, I actually started with a Black Ridge, but it wouldn't fit without taking off one of the VRM heatsinks (which I was kinda unwilling to do at the time). If all else fails I may attempt that, cause I feel the Black Ridge would do a better job overall at cooling this beast.

I'm definitely going to try reversing the airflow once the new fan arrives and see what happens.

And I do have a slim 120mm fan I may also try to affix to the inside of the vent to help push more air out of the motherboard chamber.

After a deep dive of the interwebs, I was actually able to find this: 12.7mm Optical Drive Laptop Cooler (never purchased anything through AliExpress before), gotta research it a bit more though.

 

[Runamok81]

Yeah, crazy that the ML08 doesn't have exhaust fans. But that is a 65W chip and that noctua is rated to cool that chip. It should be fine? Clearly, it isn't.

Start with larger fan first, going from slim 14mm to a deeper 25mm is big improvement. Next - as you suggested - you might want to consider jerry rigging a 120mmx25mm fan! You can get one screw into on that heatsink! The rest, zip ties! Test those, low hanging fruit. Next, try undervolting. I haven't seen an easy guide yet. But a good under should lower temps and not impact performance. After that, try flipping those fans to exhaust... though - having worked in similar tight cases - I don't think that will work. Then (it will require a repaste) but consider a larger CPU heatsink. Get the biggest you can fit, with preference on a 120mm fan of you can.

Good luck! Let us know.