PSU Advice on Upgrading due to Overheating

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
H

hobo_fragginz

Reputable
Nov 29, 2014
53
0
4,560
Good Morning People of Toms Hardware!

I recently built a new SFF PC in the Node 202. I was told that I may run into heat issues with the GPU but to be honest, the half of the case which houses the blower style GTX970 is not suffering from overheating at all and is running extremely well so far.

However, the other side of the case (housing the mobo & psu) is a different matter and seems to produce an excessive amount of heat under load and while gaming. I have tried some fixes including increasing fan speed (only one noctua fan installed adjacent to GPU) and disabling CPU turbo boost which has only made a very small impact.

Additionally, I noticed that the PSU itself seems to be producing a lot of heat which is a problem I have not encountered before in previous full ATX builds. It occurs to me that I may have made a poor choice of PSU!

My question is this: is it possible that the PSU is producing excessive heat due to being underpowered for the hardware parts I have selected? Furthermore, if I replaced it with a Corsair SF600 would it work more optimally and produce significantly less heat?

Please feel free to comment on my build and suggest improvements, especially relating to heat reduction.

Thanks in advance for the help
Take it easy
Jack

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£297.95 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler (£34.74 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus Z170I PRO GAMING Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard (£147.49 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£105.59 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Video Card (£414.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Node 202 HTPC Case (£72.95 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair SF 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply
Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 PWM 55.0 CFM 120mm Fan (£16.49 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1090.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-16 10:40 GMT+0000
 
Solution
Supahos
Really hot on a PSU would be like 70-80°C it would be scalding hot by then. Mine rarely if ever runs.its possible it is bad. Ssds don't pull any power hardly at all since there are no moving parts. They don't change anything
Sort by date Sort by votes
J

juanrdp

Honorable
Nov 7, 2012
857
0
11,360
Yes, it could as a PSU on max power looses also some of the efficiency.

But, and it's a great but, that PSU is already a gold rated one (second best efficiency after platinum) and the watts are more or less good to me, the 1070 is a 160w card, with 90w for the CPU it's almost imposible that the rest of the system require more than 200w.

You could get a bit more efficience (and less heat) with 50-100 more wats and a titanium rated PSU but expect to pay a good amount of money.

Edit: Im looking a review of that PSU and you would retain almost the same efficiency (near 85%) almost up to 500w. Or it's defective or if you need to lower the heat output for the psu due the case need a titanum rated one.

r_600x450.JPG
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
cryoburner

cryoburner

Judicious
Oct 8, 2011
5,759
1,373
34,840
The PSU should be dumping most of its heat directly out of the case, so I doubt it would contribute that much to other components overheating. If the PSU were drawing its air from inside the case, it would of course be running hotter if the air in the case is hot from the other components, though I think that case is laid out to get its air from outside. It sounds like you only have the CPU cooler pumping out heat from that side, so maybe you just need an additional fan if there's room for one somewhere. Or as Supahos said, perhaps a different CPU cooler.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
H

hobo_fragginz

Reputable
Nov 29, 2014
53
0
4,560


I laughed out loud when I read this, then I had to double check that I had it round the right way! I can confirm it is correctly installed with the heat being expelled out of the case.

A few people commenting on my choice of cooler. I always had good results with Noctua air coolers in the past (but never in a SFF build), can anyone explain why this is not a good choice? and if so, what cooler would be a good replacement

Cheers for your replies so far
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Supahos

Supahos

Expert
Ambassador
Nov 11, 2013
12,756
48
57,640
Cryorig c7 is the best cooler that will fit. Noctu makes awesome ones that one is just mean to be a stock cooler replacement that's a bit better and silent. Read the details In my link. It has a 65w tdp the c7 has a 100w


Edit holy autocorrect fails Batman
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
cryoburner

cryoburner

Judicious
Oct 8, 2011
5,759
1,373
34,840
I am not particularly familiar with these tiny builds, but I did notice that in this review for the Node 202, they used a cooler that sits elevated above the CPU on its heat pipes (this one). It seems like that kind of cooler might draw in air from around the case more evenly and efficiently, as opposed to something more tightly enclosed, although that's just speculation. ; )

I'd also be curious about how close the cooler you have sits to the vented side panel. If the fan were too far away, some of the heated air from the CPU might be escaping around the edges of the fan instead of leaving the case.

Edit: one other thing I thought of is that warmed air might be getting drawn back in directly around the cpu exhaust fan through the same vent. If there's room around another vent somewhere, adding an intake fan might help keep the air moving in one direction.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
H

hobo_fragginz

Reputable
Nov 29, 2014
53
0
4,560
Just to clarify, the Node 202 has the option of only two fan installations on the GPU side of the case. There is nowhere to install a fan on the mobo/PSU side. Also, it is difficult to install both the fans with a GPU installed due to the GPU support stand and PSU cable which is diverted to the opposite corner of the case. If I add another fan to the empty slot (which I may try) it wont really benefit the mobo/psu as the case is split into two compartments.

I have ordered the Cryorig C7 to see if that makes a difference and will keep you updated
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
H

hobo_fragginz

Reputable
Nov 29, 2014
53
0
4,560
Thanks for all the helpful advice so far guys. I have replaced the noctua fan with a corsair and added an additional corsair fan (after a lot of faffing about rerouting cables etc.) but finally have it done, GPU temps down by about 8-10c under load.

Also, have ordered the Cryorig C7 to see if that helps. Fingers crossed! Will keep you updated.

Also, I should probably have mentioned sooner that I have a 500g Samsung SSD and a 960 evo (M.2) drawing power from the PSU in addition to the parts listed. I forgot to add them to the list (sorry). Does everyone still think my PSU is up to the task?

I have one more concern for which I could use some advice. After removing and cleaning all the dust filters, I realised that the PSU filter is completely clean of dust. After firing up valley benchmark and running it through, I realise that the fan on the PSU isn't working at all. I suspect that it has never operated. I realise that this PSU is a "silent" model and the fan only engages at certain temps.

Is anyone familiar with this type of PSU? Is it possible that I have a faulty unit and is there any way I can check/test that the fan actually works. I have been monitoring it for some time and it has not spun once and its getting really hot!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Supahos

Supahos

Expert
Ambassador
Nov 11, 2013
12,756
48
57,640
Really hot on a PSU would be like 70-80°C it would be scalding hot by then. Mine rarely if ever runs.its possible it is bad. Ssds don't pull any power hardly at all since there are no moving parts. They don't change anything
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
H

hobo_fragginz

Reputable
Nov 29, 2014
53
0
4,560


Ok so my PSU is powerful enough, but is there any way to test that the fan is actually working so I can establish if I have a faulty unit?

Edit: I suspect it is not running quite that hot (70-80c) but it is still producing a lot of heat in a SFF case which is not ideal
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
H

hobo_fragginz

Reputable
Nov 29, 2014
53
0
4,560


You are absolutely right, it does. You legend - thanks a lot for all the help!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom