Cooling CPU cooler dilemma

[vyral_143]

I just build my rig in clone of Ghost S1. It includes, Ryzen 3200G, MSI B450i mobo, 16GB RAM, Gigabyte RX570 and Corsair SF450. Right now I am using stock cooler - Wraith Stealth (applied Noctua NT-H1 heat paste) with a 120mm exhaust fan at bottom and a 40mm baby Noctua fan near RAM (affixed to PSU).

Following are my observations for temps; in about couple of mins after boot temps settle at about 45 degrees. Usual load like H265 vid playing in VLC, 5 tabs in Chrome (1 being YT vid), HWInfo running to collect sensor data; loads CPU about 20-35% and bumps temps to avg of 50 degrees with few spikes going as far as 60 degrees. Prime 95 Blend pushed temp from 45 to 75 in a minute, to 85 in 3 minutes and 90 degrees in 6 minutes.

I am debating myself if I need a aftermarket cooler ? How much ID Cooling IS-60 or Thermalright AXP-90 would help ?

Any other area to look ?

 

[Fede]

I just build my rig in clone of Ghost S1. It includes, Ryzen 3200G, MSI B450i mobo, 16GB RAM, Gigabyte RX570 and Corsair SF450. Right now I am using stock cooler - Wraith Stealth (applied Noctua NT-H1 heat paste) with a 120mm exhaust fan at bottom and a 40mm baby Noctua fan near RAM (affixed to PSU).

Following are my observations for temps; in about couple of mins after boot temps settle at about 45 degrees. Usual load like H265 vid playing in VLC, 5 tabs in Chrome (1 being YT vid), HWInfo running to collect sensor data; loads CPU about 20-35% and bumps temps to avg of 50 degrees with few spikes going as far as 60 degrees. Prime 95 Blend pushed temp from 45 to 75 in a minute, to 85 in 3 minutes and 90 degrees in 6 minutes.

I am debating myself if I need a aftermarket cooler ? How much ID Cooling IS-60 or Thermalright AXP-90 would help ?

Any other area to look ?

What is the maximum height for cpu cooler?
Can you upload some pics to see and help better with the air flow and cpu cooler

 

[vyral_143]

Maximum height available in 66mm.

Here are pictures

 

[Fede]

I think the Noctua NH-L9A is a great option and is only 40 mm.
NH-L94

So, you can put a 120mm or 140mm slim fan up the mother to improve the airflow to the cpu, ram, vrm, chipset.

 

[vyral_143]

So, you can put a 120mm or 140mm slim fan up the mother to improve the airflow to the cpu, ram, vrm, chipset.

Do you mean attached to side panel ?

 

[Fede]

Do you mean attached to side panel ?

Yes, or if you have a 3D printer or some frined you can print a support for the fan

 

[AlexTSG]

Noctua has the NH-L9x65 SE-AM4 65mm cooler which should give the best performance, but may be a tight fit.

NH-L9x65 SE-AM4

Having received more than 100 awards and recommendations from international hardware websites and magazines, Noctua’s compact NH-L9x65 has become a standard choice among 65mm tall low-profile coolers. The SE-AM4 version is a dedicated special edition for AMD’s AM4/AM5 (Ryzen) platform featuring...

noctua.at

Alternatively, the NH-L9a that @Fede recommended will fit, and there's an option of replacing the stock 92x92x14mm fan with a thicker 25mm one for extra cooling (or less noise) which still keeps it under 50mm

NH-L9a-AM4 chromax.black

The NH-L9a-AM4 chromax.black is an all-black version of Noctua’s award-winning NH-L9a-AM4 low-profile quiet CPU cooler for AMD Ryzen based HTPCs and Small Form Factor (SFF) builds. Thanks to the same proven heatsink design and NF-A9x14 PWM fan, it stays true to the NH-L9a-AM4’s successful...

noctua.at

 

[tinyitx]

Prime95 generating 90C is pretty much expected (according to a few users' report that I found in the net),considering a stock cooler is not really designed to run Prime95. And I do not think your main interest is running P95 all day long anyway.
Just do some regular heavy duty work (eg your usual gaming) and see what temp you get. Also, unless you plan to overclock, the stock cooler should be enough. Working loads give 60C seems quite acceptable. 95C is the throttle temp of your CPU and it should downclock if it reaches that.

But, if you really want to improve temp, I suggest a first step is to remove the side panel(s), at least the CPU side.
Run a benchmark test and compare temp with having the side panel(s) on.
If there is a drastic drop in temp, then the current high max temp is likely due to inadequate ventilation.
If there is no big temp drop, then it is likely the stock cooler is already maxed out its cooling capacity. In this case, a change of cooler to a 3rd party one is meaningful.

 

[vyral_143]

Prime95 generating 90C is pretty much expected (according to a few users' report that I found in the net),considering a stock cooler is not really designed to run Prime95. And I do not think your main interest is running P95 all day long anyway.
Just do some regular heavy duty work (eg your usual gaming) and see what temp you get. Also, unless you plan to overclock, the stock cooler should be enough. Working loads give 60C seems quite acceptable. 95C is the throttle temp of your CPU and it should downclock if it reaches that.

But, if you really want to improve temp, I suggest a first step is to remove the side panel(s), at least the CPU side.
Run a benchmark test and compare temp with having the side panel(s) on.
If there is a drastic drop in temp, then the current high max temp is likely due to inadequate ventilation.
If there is no big temp drop, then it is likely the stock cooler is already maxed out its cooling capacity. In this case, a change of cooler to a 3rd party one is meaningful.

Can’t agree anymore to each word !

I have tried benchmarking without side panel already. Temps were a bit more infact; like 1-2 degrees. This seems within margin of error and as you mentioned, stock cooler exhibiting limit of it’s cooling capacity.

Any significance of power plan from OS ?

Apart from Noctua, what are my options ? I would like to maintain same cooler for future Zen3 upgrade 1-1.5-2 years down the line.

 

[scatterforce]

Scythe Shuriken 2 is a great cooler, easy to install, and won't interfere with any of your components.

It is OOS on amazon.com, but they have stock on amazon.jp

People have had success ordering from Japan with fairly quick turn around time (compared to Taobao/Chinese sites). It will perform better than the NH-L9a, on par or slightly better than the AXP 90 (it's taller at 58mm) , but the IS-60 with 6 heatpipes and a 120mm fant will be better (if it fits). Your ram looks short enough that the IS-60 should fit without issue.

 

[vyral_143]

Is it good idea to get just heatsink of Thermalright AXP-90 ? I can put either Scythe 120mm or Noctua 140mm fan which I already have.


Noctua 140mm
NF-A14 PWM
(300-1200;1500 RPM/19.2;24.6dBA/68-82.4CFM/1.51;2.08mmH2O)


Scythe 120mm
SM1225GF12SH-P
(600-2400RPM/13.5-39.5dBA/24.2-96.8CFM/0.28-4.55mmH2O)

 

[scatterforce]

You can go that route. Heck, you could try that now with the stock heatsink; I have no idea what kind of results you'd get, but it would be the cheapest no-cost solution.

Also, that tiny Noctua that you have pictured should be exhaust; you want intake from the sides and exhaust from the top and bottom.

 

[vyral_143]

Also, that tiny Noctua that you have pictured should be exhaust; you want intake from the sides and exhaust from the top and bottom.

Yes, I tried it as exhaust in current Build but it increased temps by couple of degrees ! I will check again with new cooler when I get it.

 

[vyral_143]

Heck, you could try that now with the stock heatsink;

How do I mount fan ? Current one just goes into aluminium heatsink thread.

 

[vyral_143]

@tinyitx thanks for posting link to Chiphell mega comparison of coolers. I liked Cooler Master Geminii M5 T520’s performance and it’s VFM-ness. I think I will be going for it.

 

[tinyitx]

@tinyitx thanks for posting link to Chiphell mega comparison of coolers. I liked Cooler Master Geminii M5 T520’s performance and it’s VFM-ness. I think I will be going for it.

You are welcome.

There is another comparison (18 coolers under 65mm) which is more recent (March 2020).
I suppose you can use it to cross check vs the one that I posted earlier.
CM T520 is there.

Video format: https://www.bilibili.com/video/av94871022/

Text+still pics format:
Part 1 https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv5046076
Part 2 https://www.bilibili.com/read/cv5046603

 

[vyral_143]

There is another comparison (18 coolers under 65mm) which is more recent (March 2020).
I suppose you can use it to cross check vs the one that I posted earlier.
CM T520 is there.

I see that AXP-90 (regular version) is better at idle temperature compared to T520 by about 2.5 degrees. That is only positive for it.

Where as in AIDA stress test, Assasins CReed game; T520 is 3 degrees better than AXP-90 (regular version). T520 even exhibits good 5 degrees better performance (89 degrees for 130W load) over AXP-90 FULL Cu (94 degrees for 123W load) in stress test with PBO. Even noise is ~4dB better for T520.

However, overall scoring for T520 is 16+ wheras for AXP-90 is 19.5+. This is bit strange for me. Am I missing any information in that comparison ?

 

[tinyitx]

I see that AXP-90 (regular version) is better at idle temperature compared to T520 by about 2.5 degrees. That is only positive for it.

Where as in AIDA stress test, Assasins CReed game; T520 is 3 degrees better than AXP-90 (regular version). T520 even exhibits good 5 degrees better performance (89 degrees for 130W load) over AXP-90 FULL Cu (94 degrees for 123W load) in stress test with PBO. Even noise is ~4dB better for T520.

However, overall scoring for T520 is 16+ wheras for AXP-90 is 19.5+. This is bit strange for me. Am I missing any information in that comparison ?

The scores shown at the end of Part 2 are composed in 4 of the 5 categories. See 2nd paragraph of Part 1.

5 categories are:- product packaging, quality of heatsink and bundled accessories, physical compatibility with motherboard and ram modules, ease of installation, temp and noise level at idle/stress test.
Each category carries 5 points, giving a max of 25 points.

The table at the end summaries only the first four categories. The '+' sign after a score means you are to add your own (subjective) score regarding how important is the temp/noise to you based on his test numbers.
Eg, say, if temp is absolutely important to you, then T520 might have 16+ 5 =21 final points, while AXP-90 might have 19.5+ 2=21.5 final points.

I suspect, CM T520 gets some points deducted for the potential compatibility issue. The tester mentioned that T520 might have physical conflict with a large rear IO of the motherboard (eg those Asus mobos with an enclosed IO shield).

T520 has one more 6mm heatpipe and a larger fan with higher airflow (120 vs 90) of the AXP-90. So, temp wise, it should win. So, I suppose, if your mobo can accommodate and it clears with your ram, it should be a better choice between the 2.

 

[vyral_143]

Got my hands on T520 finally; will be able to mount by weekend. I am going to attach my ID Cooling 12cm slim fan on this.