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Update 28th February 2021 : Additional tweaks for CL530 (long-term)!
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Back to my first experiments/builds with CL530, I was negatively surprised that my PSU SX800-LTI (v1.0) was forced to protective shutdown! As solution I switched it by Corsair SF750 and it was working well.
However for long/intense gaming session I was hearing fan noise, that was clearly not from other fans (cases, cpu cooler or RTX 3090 FE)....it was in fact SF750 fan that was screaming...remembering me dark times from Node 202, where PSU was simply too warm. This problem is clearly not not short term.
Worst solution is to replace "so-called" noisy fan by Noctua fan (as I can read a lot of topics) without solving main root cause : case internal is too hot, leading to either lack of exhaust or intake as a direct consequence of hot air recycling!
My 1st action to test if my SX800-LTI was able to support or not RTX 3090 FE, in proper conditions. Thus I put them back to my "all-mighty" Cerberus-X (pre-production sample from early 2017!..
)
What can I say about this experience?
Well very simple..just have a look (if not already done..
) to my video (same benchmark in Control, same parameters on RTX 3090 FE (1800Mhz @0.806v), except fan curve...no need to tweak it!)
RTX 3090 FE is simply so cool on both Core (64°C, time to fan to kick up, -8°C vs best setup in CL530) or GDDR6X (100°C, -6°C/-8°C vs CL530).
This experience was shockingly good as it's proving one more time my cooling concept inside Cerberus-X (rear 92mm AIO intake simply rocks for gaming!!).
I also try to overclock my RTX 3090 FE but with no great success as coil whine was increased due to higher power draw. Balance (Performance/noise-cooling) reached with 1800mhz @0.806v is really good on RTX 3090 FE (still higher clocks than by default!)
Anyway at the end of experience, I was seriously considering to get rid of CL530 for a case similar to Cerberus-X (like NR200P). But thanks to
@Kommando with his additional fan on top of PSU in CL530, I decided to give it another try!
My decision to give another try to RTX 3090 FE in CL530 was also motivated by my experiment of my MSI GTX 1080 ti Gaming X inside CL530...not so "cool" as you will see in incoming lines.
Unfortunately results were not so great (to stay polite) :
- MSI GTX 1080 Ti Gaming X : 83/84°C....at stock settings! As comparison same GPU in Cerberus-X with massive overclock (+17% power) is reaching 76°C....
- CPU : Another side effects of opened air GPU...its hot air is warming also CPU...it's reaching 80°C with NF-A12x25 spinning at max speed!
- Geforce sharpened filter : well only positive output from this experiment : I ran Control in 1080p (high details) on 4K TV (LG CX 55) and to be honest it was looking good! I also tried it on my 27" monitor, even on 1080p it's looking surprisingly good...it will be good to see if I see any massive difference with DLSS 2.0...maybe for another day!
With both issues (PSU overheat & GTX 1080 Ti very bad cooling performance) it was clear CL530 has reached its last trial...if not succesful CL 530 was doomed to be replaced with no remorse.
Here are changes of the last chance build for CL530 :
- Addition of a 120mm x 25mm fan on top of SFX PSU (thanks @Kommando) :
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- I used Fractal Design Venturi HP-12 PWM fan (really goods I'm using since 2016 as far as I remember)
- I appreciate a lot their Rubber corner
- Fan is fixed with cut power cord from PSU plug
- Replacement of Noctua NF-A12x25 by a second Venturi HP-12 PWM fan...but why???!!!
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- 1st reason : vibration! IS-60 EVO with 2 fans tends to vibrate a lot. Rubber corner of HP-12 PWM have proven to be quite effective so far
- 2nd reason : design! HP-12 are not as gray as photo
- Case orientation :
- As stupid as it seems, putting GPU on top (vertical stand) is leading to better overall temperature. Thus I'm back to this setup.
What about results?
For a change, I decide to use Control...
However in this trial run I decide to focus more on more demanding areas (compared to first run) where RTX 3090 FE was using about 320-330W (max consumption reached with 1800Mhz/0.806v)
Cooling results :
- RTX 3090 FE:
- Core : 74°C with spikes to 75°C with fan around 1420 rpm
- GDDR6X : 106°C with spikes to 108°C
- Compared to 1st trial temperatures are higher by 2°C approx
- R7 3800X:
- 73/74°C with HP-12 fan around 1100/1200 rpm (easy comparison versus GTX 1080 ti trial...)
- Compared to 1st trial, CPU was reaching barely 70°C. +3/4°C degress with similar fan speed
- PSU:
- Trial is too short to hear screaming..) Let's move to longer trial
Now time to do long trial...3 hours of Cyberpunk 2077! This should be very representative of new setup performance!
Here are focus on RTX 3090 thermals
Average values are the most interesting one :
- RTX 3090 FE :
- Core :
- Max : 75°C
- Average : 70°C
- GDDR6X :
- Max : 106°C
- Average : 98.3°C
- Power :
- Max : 326W
- Average : 271W
- Fan speed :
- Max : 1443rpm
- Average : 1313rpm
First point : SF750 fan didn't scream during this gaming session! I'm convinced that this additional fan is essential in CL530!
CL530 was very close to anticipated retirement! With this build CL530 won some time!
I'm amazed with my Cerberus-X (4 years later...) but I'm still doubtful with CL530...
Now I still need to check when gaming load is constantly at max power usage, issue I encountered with Twin Mirror, in specific scenes GPU power is reaching 330W and CL530 became really noisy...