Log Is it an Xbox Series S? No! It's a 4.19L modded K29 PC! (Lots of pics)

[princess_daphie]

Looks great!


You'd be surprised how effective even a tiny amount of extra airflow will be at bringing those temps way down. Test any fan you've got at low speeds over grille or pointing up through the PSU and see if it helps a lot. If it does, then you can think about more permanent mounting.

It could also just be that the AC/DC adapter is far less efficient than you planned for (e.g. 75% vs 90% at 150W converting 120VAC to 12VDC is a fair amount more heat)

Yeah, that was my first question when I decided to integrate this PSU in my case, but no, it really is among the most efficient of all my PSUs actually. I'll run my build for a while and observe temperatures (and odors, loll), both the computer's sensors and by touch and feel, haha! I also hope it doesn't just shut down because of an overheating or something.

If there's any problem, I guess I'll have to fit a fan somewhere

 

[princess_daphie]

Look Ma', no power brick!!!

Still investigating the thermal issues. I've played a low-spec 3D game for a couple hours and things have held up just fine. The temps inside the case are totally fine, all in check:

• SSD: ~35C
• NVME: ~51C
• Chipset: ~60C
• System: ~48C
• CPU: ~65C max
• GPU: didn't even bother to check

My idea of using the case as a heatsink for the PSU really worked, but I didn't expect so much heat to soak in. I guess it takes a long time to dissipate, because there are no fins, even though the surface is quite large? I'd say 75% of the case became hot to the touch, with the regions closest to the PSU getting close to being hot enough to burn the skin. Not just yet, but close. It totally reminds me of the kind of temps I was feeling when touching the PSU directly when it was outside of the case, or when I'm touching my 250w 19V power brick when gaming. Similar kind of feel.

 

[SFFMunkee]

My idea of using the case as a heatsink for the PSU really worked, but I didn't expect so much heat to soak in. I guess it takes a long time to dissipate, because there are no fins, even though the surface is quite large? I'd say 75% of the case became hot to the touch, with the regions closest to the PSU getting close to being hot enough to burn the skin. Not just yet, but close. It totally reminds me of the kind of temps I was feeling when touching the PSU directly when it was outside of the case, or when I'm touching my 250w 19V power brick when gaming. Similar kind of feel.

Yay! Great work

Have you got one of those bargain-basement IR thermometers? Might be worth checking what temps it's seeing, if you can.

Based on the table below, I'd assume maybe it's getting to 40-50C? I wouldn't be hugely concerned if that's the case. If it's getting into the 60s then I'd definitely be putting some sort of mitigation in place or you can burn yourself pretty badly (and prob not great for the electronics long-term but meh)

SOURCE: https://www.boydcorp.com/resources/resource-center/blog/maximum-touch-temperature.html

 

[msystems]

Its probably fine but im sure the psu is derating some from the heat... if by miracle they published a spec sheet you can find out by how much and whether its an issue but you oversized the psu so should be fine even if it derates by 40%

Maybe add a 40mm fan in there somewhere just for the ac/dc stage if you can. Nothing else is particularly temp sensitive

 

[princess_daphie]

Its probably fine but im sure the psu is derating some from the heat... if by miracle they published a spec sheet you can find out by how much and whether its an issue but you oversized the psu so should be fine even if it derates by 40%

Maybe add a 40mm fan in there somewhere just for the ac/dc stage if you can. Nothing else is particularly temp sensitive

It's an actual documented unit, apparently. Many sellers on AliExpress sell it, and they almost all show these charts.

From all these, I seem to infer that "natural cooling", they expect the PSU to reach 60C, giving something like 180w, and with active cooling up to 250w.

 

[princess_daphie]

Okay, so I did a just slightly more scientific thermal testing of my PC today, while playing a modern 3D game, and temps are higher than with a simple game like Mass Effect Remastered, haha, unsurprisingly. I took screenshots of a bunch of logging programs while playing while also screen recording with ShareX that was also sucking up a thread or 2.

This is at the beginning of my gaming session, after PC had been idling/browsing for a while.

And this is after ~25 minutes of gaming.

So with all that, it means more or less this for temps (Idle~Max):

• SSD: 31~45C
• NVME: 43~55C
• Chipset: 43~67C
• System: 41~53C
• CPU: 51~87C
• GPU: 48~90C (Hot spot/Memory ~95C)

Ambient Temp: 24C

Relevant BIOS Settings:

• CPU undervolted by 75mV
• TDP 100w (with peaks at 120w)
• DDR4 @2933 CL16

If I had an infrared thermometer or a thermal imaging camera, I'd tell you the temperature of the case, since it acts as a heatsink for the AC/DC PSU, but I can't. What I CAN tell you is that you can't touch it more than a few seconds, it starts to be painful, and the heat radiates from the contact point towards the edges, where it's more tolerable, so my best guess is that it DOES manage to dissipate the heat, but it uses almost all the surface of the case, LOL

After running this test, I went back into the BIOS and lowered the TDP to 90w with shorter spikes allowed, and it is a bit more comfortable now. Not the case though, don't touch it, lol

 

[Snerual]

Interesting data! That is on the toasty side, indeed... What is the reason to run the i5 at such high TDP? Out of the box it should be a 65W CPU, no?

 

[princess_daphie]

Interesting data! That is on the toasty side, indeed... What is the reason to run the i5 at such high TDP? Out of the box it should be a 65W CPU, no?

Oh, that's because 11th gen i5 was very initially discovered to need its TDP unlocked to perform to its potential (and most motherboard brands did it by default to make it sound like they were better at handling the CPU, lol, but it caused overheating issues when you didn't have a good cooler). When running at stock 65w, it's pretty much gimped when running multi-core loads. It sticks to 2.6ghz. But if you unlock it, it will take up to 150w or something, and stick to 4.2+ghz on all-core loads, making it like 60% faster. BUT, it does spew out a lot more heat, understandably.

Now that I've dared to make a more proper test, I feel more confident that my PSU and setup can handle it, but I'm going to try running it at stock for a while and see if gimping it has an effect on my workflow or my gaming or anything, and if not, I'll run it that way, that'll put less stress on my build.

 

[BaK]

Look Ma', no power brick!!!

Yes, the way to go!

If there's any problem, I guess I'll have to fit a fan somewhere

If needed, you can add some airflow by switching the CPU fan to a bigger one.
In my B01T3, I have an NF-A12x15 fan overlapping both the RAM sticks and the Pico PDCB (which was getting to hot for my taste). Not sure if your have room above the later in your build, but some air movements above the RAM only should be helpful anyway.

 

[princess_daphie]

Yes, the way to go!


If needed, you can add some airflow by switching the CPU fan to a bigger one.
In my B01T3, I have an NF-A12x15 fan overlapping both the RAM sticks and the Pico PDCB (which was getting to hot for my taste). Not sure if your have room above the later in your build, but some air movements above the RAM only should be helpful anyway.

Yeah, not a bad idea! I might try this eventually!

I looked at the build you referred to and it's really cool! I have the same case, under the name Goodisory A01, and it's a cool little APU case, which is what I'm using it for. Gotta say, I bought a unit of that Pico (Z4-ATX-200) and I've had nothing but trouble, it can't sustain any kind of actual load, LOL

I gotta ask, just out of curiosity, is the name of your build a reference to the french word for box?

 

[BaK]

I looked at the build you referred to and it's really cool!

Thanks!

I have the same case, under the name Goodisory A01, and it's a cool little APU case, which is what I'm using it for.
I gotta ask, just out of curiosity, is the name of your build a reference to the french word for box?

Yes, good catch!
As you say this case is most known as the Goodisory A01 I think, but the Aliexpress shop where I bought it at the time calls it Model B01.
3 for 3 liters, and a T in between (no particular meaning unfortunately) to make its name 'box' in french, boîte!

Gotta say, I bought a unit of that Pico (Z4-ATX-200) and I've had nothing but trouble, it can't sustain any kind of actual load, LOL

Can't remember from where I got it, ebay maybe, but according to my parts list the one I have in this build is the Pico-box Z2-ATX-200.
Apart from getting hot under load, no particular problem with it.

 

[mikejmcfarlane]

Really enjoyed your build log, and your continued quest to make your PC neater and more awesome.

The airflow through the case has really got me thinking :-) It looks tricky. BaKs solution looks good for motherboard and PSU, but not sure if it would help the GPU as maybe the riser would block air? Have you tried a smoke test to see what the airflow is like?

 

[Fa5en]

Nevermind, found you had answered this already

Cool build. Where did you find the riser card??

 

[princess_daphie]

Really enjoyed your build log, and your continued quest to make your PC neater and more awesome.

The airflow through the case has really got me thinking :-) It looks tricky. BaKs solution looks good for motherboard and PSU, but not sure if it would help the GPU as maybe the riser would block air? Have you tried a smoke test to see what the airflow is like?

No smoke test yet, no, haha, I've never done very extensive tests before, I've always "played" my builds "by ear", haha! I did buy an IR thermometer though, so I'll be checking my exterior case temperature in more details soon. And I'll also try the larger fan thing, if possible, soon.

Nevermind, found you had answered this already

Cool build. Where did you find the riser card??

I did mention it before as you're not the first one being curious about it ^_^

Log - Is it an Xbox Series S? No! It's a 4.19L modded K29 PC! (Lots of pics)

So, as I was saying in my other build post, I already put my black modded Goodisory A02 case on my shelves and started working on my new love, the K29 I ordered from Amazon for like 67$CAD a while ago, quite the steal for such steel! Even though the modded acrylic panel was like too perfect on...

smallformfactor.net

 

[princess_daphie]

So I jerry-rigged a 120mm fan on top of my CPU cooler to try improving the global cooling, especially the AC/DC PSU, here's how it looks:

I don't know how much it'll help, but as far as I can see already, it seems to have a substantial positive effect!

Oh!

And FYI, if anyone was wondering about the PCIe riser, my A2000 has been running at PCIe 4.0 speeds since the beginning and I haven't had any bad jeebees with the connection!

 

[BaK]

So I jerry-rigged a 120mm fan on top of my CPU cooler
it seems to have a substantial positive effect!

If you can manage to put the fan in exhaust orientation, you should shave some more °C off from my experience.

You could maybe attach the fan to the case panel through the vent holes. This will however not look as clean as the case is now, and could also brings turbulence/noise.
Another option could be using the riser as a support to attach the fan to somehow. I see for instance two holes in the riser PCB where to screw a right angle bracket with matching holes for the fan.

 

[princess_daphie]

If you can manage to put the fan in exhaust orientation, you should shave some more °C off from my experience.

You could maybe attach the fan to the case panel through the vent holes. This will however not look as clean as the case is now, and could also brings turbulence/noise.
Another option could be using the riser as a support to attach the fan to somehow. I see for instance two holes in the riser PCB where to screw a right angle bracket with matching holes for the fan.

I won't reverse the fan direction, as i think it's gonna go against which panels have filter and which don't.

But all the other suggestions are very good ideas. Maybe use some standoffs from the side panel to attach the fan from a slight distance, if I can get very close to the heatsink, it would work well.

Or L brackets on the riser card is genius. I didn't think of those holes, they may work really well.

I'll check these suggestions the next time I open my build and fiddle with it. I think I'm gonna stick with it as is for a while now, haha, maybe wait until I wanna upgrade to modify it further. I should note my ideas to get them off my mind though, hahaha!

-- EDIT: UPDATE --

So I played a demanding game for about an hour and the max temps were:

CPU: 78C
GPU (Set to fixed 700mv, 1400mhz, +225mhz Mem, custom fan curve to make it run a bit faster than stock):
78C (Hotspot probably ~10C more or so)
System: 45C
Chipset (or socket, not sure): 61C
NVME: 47C
SSD: 39C

Exterior case (I bought an IR thermometer): 45C (really not as hot as before)

So yes, CPU @stock and bigger fan on CPU cooler, makes a huge difference for PSU heat dissipation!!

 

[BaK]

CPU: 78C
GPU (Set to fixed 700mv, 1400mhz, +225mhz Mem, custom fan curve to make it run a bit faster than stock):
78C (Hotspot probably ~10C more or so)
System: 45C
Chipset (or socket, not sure): 61C
NVME: 47C
SSD: 39C

Exterior case (I bought an IR thermometer): 45C (really not as hot as before)

So yes, CPU @stock and bigger fan on CPU cooler, makes a huge difference for PSU heat dissipation!!

Thanks for the feedback and confirmation, glad the bigger CPU fan trick works in your case (pun intended) too!

 

[princess_daphie]

I bought a new cooler, out of necessity (had to use this one in my other build, ) and hopefully this one doesn't require me to change the fan to provide some airflow inside the case! It's so pretty!

When I go back to using this build, I'll put the nvme ssd back

 

[SFFMunkee]

I bought a new cooler, out of necessity (had to use this one in my other build, ) and hopefully this one doesn't require me to change the fan to provide some airflow inside the case! It's so pretty!

When I go back to using this build, I'll put the nvme ssd back

I just got the same cooler ! It really is pretty

I haven’t actually used it yet, of course, because I have to drill out a stock backplate or cut the TR backplate, to make it fit!