Much higher than expected temps! NH-L9i

xtopher

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Jul 16, 2018
11
6
Hey guys,
I recently built a workstation/gaming PC and have the following:

MSI Z270I GAMING PRO CARBON AC LGA 1151
Node 202
i7-7700K
NH-L9i
2x 16GB DDR4 3200 Ripjaws
Corsair SF600
MSI GTX 1080ti
960 Pro 1TB

Now I know this cooler is a bit undersized for an i7-7700K, but from researching before ordering many people reported they'd only get into the mid 80's rending, 70's gaming, and low 40's idle. What I am seeing is:

47C idle
49C browsing internet
78C gaming
99-100C rendering!?

In addition to this the "rise time" of the temperature is very sharp, within 1-2 seconds it'll jump +30C with a heavy load. I have never seen this before on any system.

I thought maybe the cooler was interfering with one of the heat spreaders on the mobo, I inspected and all seems good. I also re-applied a quality brand thermal paste and saw zero difference.

I am now considering de-lidding or underclocking the CPU. Any other recommendations?
 

stree

Airflow Optimizer
Dec 10, 2016
307
177
Not sure what you mean by unexpected? a CPU rated at 91w-TDP with a cooler that is only really happy at 65w-TDP. Then build into a tight case like the 202, with no real room for substantial secondary case fan cooling
I know what I would expect: To have to go shopping for a CPU cooler that is up to the spec required.
I accept that you have read of instances where similar setups have worked out OK, but seems not to be the case here. Different silicone batches, etc etc.
Oh and I understand that the temp reading of that GPU does not take into account the "hotspot" that may be caused around the vrms, a mid 80s readout could mean a hotspot of 100c ( source Toms Hardware review)

You could try de-lidding and underclocking, but personally I would go for a better cooler first.
 
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jtd871

SFF Guru
Jun 22, 2015
1,166
851
Check to see if MCE is enabled, that would help temps at idle.
I'd remove the cooler and reinstall to see that you don't have a paste issue under load.
I'd then try to undervolt the CPU a bit to see if you could run a couple of GHz less for a lot less thermally. No law says you *have* to crank it up to 11...
 
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NateDawg72

Master of Cramming
Aug 11, 2016
398
302
Stock 7700k is a pretty hot chip for the L9i

I'd say you have 3 options:
  1. A small underclock and a bunch of undervolting. You can probably cut back quite a bit of heat and still run at ~4.2 - 4.3ghz.
  2. Delidding with liquid metal - if you delid with paste it probably won't be worth it.
  3. A bigger heatsink. The Scythe Big Shuriken 2 does *just barely* fit in the Node 202 if you don't use the dust filter :) that's the beefiest heatsink option I'm aware of for the Node 202, though there are other options between scythe and the L9i in performance.
Personally I'd go for 1 and/or 3, with delidding as a last resort unless you already have liquid metal and delidding tools on hand.
 
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loader963

King of Cable Management
Jan 21, 2017
660
568
Stock 7700k is a pretty hot chip for the L9i

I'd say you have 3 options:
  1. A small underclock and a bunch of undervolting. You can probably cut back quite a bit of heat and still run at ~4.2 - 4.3ghz.
  2. Delidding with liquid metal - if you delid with paste it probably won't be worth it.
  3. A bigger heatsink. The Scythe Big Shuriken 2 does *just barely* fit in the Node 202 if you don't use the dust filter :) that's the beefiest heatsink option I'm aware of for the Node 202, though there are other options between scythe and the L9i in performance.
Personally I'd go for 1 and/or 3, with delidding as a last resort unless you already have liquid metal and delidding tools on hand.

This is a pretty good post. Also TC, I'm more inclined to start with removing the dust filter if you haven't already done so. I like them, but they are usually good for a few degrees. And I am assuming you have a good spread on the thermal compound.
 
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xtopher

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Jul 16, 2018
11
6
Little update:

So I set AVX to -2 and the temperature issues are MUCH better during render sessions. Before it'd be int he 90's within 15 seconds now its mid 80's and stable. I also tweaked the fan curve to be more aggressive, 100% fan speed > 75C. Since the little fan on the NH-L9i is so quiet, even at 100% it's acceptable. So that's that for now. Ideally I should probably put a shuriken in it but I'm much happier with it now.

Ambient is AC, which is about 75F.

I did try removing and reinstalling the cooler, everything was 100%

Thanks for all the feedback!
 

xtopher

Cable Smoosher
Original poster
Jul 16, 2018
11
6
Another update:

Delidded my CPU, I was surprised how thick the TIM was. There wasn't a shiny spot indicating it had xlclo contact to the heat spreader. So I cleaned it all up and applied conductonaut. Now temps under render load are in the mid 70's, so 25C improvement! Prime95 got it up to 86C after an hour...