My Rig Isn't Staying Cool Enough. Could Use Some Suggestions.

eWOOD29 · Jul 16, 2017

Hey everyone,

So I have a pretty powerful gaming rig and I'm having a lot of trouble keeping it cool. In standby the temps for my CPU and GPU range anywhere from 35°C to 42°C, but when I'm playing a very intensive game such as Player Unknown's Battlegrounds for a few hours and streaming it to Twitch using OBS, my temperatures get to a very worrying 80°C-85°C. My GPU is an EVGA Superclocked (SC) Gtx 1080 which is cooled with EVGA's highly rated ACX 3.0 dual-fan system and my CPU is one of the new i7-7800x's liquid cooled with the Corsair H75 in a push-pull configuration. It's worth mentioning that my 7800x is overclocked to 4.0GHz and while I understand that this could be one of the main factors on why it gets so hot, I would please like some other suggestions than lowering my clock speed if possible because it helps my FPS in games greatly. I currently have the NZXT Phantom 410 case with two of the original case fans(one 120mm and the other 140mm) pulling hot air out of the system and I added 3 more fans (two Arctic F12 120mm's and one Arctic F14 140mm) which blow cool air into the system. The H75 liquid cooler should also be pulling some excess heat out of the system with its two fans. My full system specs can be found here.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this and if anyone has any suggestions on what I can do to lower my temps, that would be greatly appreciated. Once again, I understand that my high CPU clock speed could be the culprit and if absolutely needed, I will lower the speeds, but I'd like to exhaust all my other options first.

Thanks,
Ethan Wood

mdd1963 · Jul 16, 2017

Is the H75 rated for use with 140+ watt cpus?

The 7800/7900 are cranking out some serious heat under full load, easily at 140 watts of dissipated heat while at stock freqs under certain load conditions, and, possibly closer to 200 watts or more if running OC'd....

I'd research if any other users are successful with the H75 and X299 cpus such as yours....

eWOOD29 · Jul 16, 2017

mdd1963 :

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. I'll make sure to do some research on that when I get the chance. Thanks for the reply!

Calvin7 · Jul 16, 2017

The H75 overall offers reasonably good cooling at fairly low noise levels, as long as you do not fiddle around too much with high CPU voltages. For that you will need a little more radiator surface area. However passing 1.30 Volts will make you realize why the industry have invented 240 and 280mm radiators.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/corsair_h75_review,13.html

mdd1963 · Jul 16, 2017

A little more research on the H75...a nice cooler for 90-130 watt TDP cpus of a few years back....

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/corsair_h75_review,12.html

The review here said the smallish radiator of the H75 was perhaps having issues keeping up with heat generated from an overclocked 3770K at 4.6 GHz...

That being the case, now imagine a 150-200 TDP for an OC'd 7700X....; if the temps are gradually climbing higher and higher over the course of several minutes, then the cooler is not keeping up. (I'd suspect once the internal coolant warms to 80C, now it's not really 'cooling' at all.....; the 85C thermals might suggest this as well....

I'd personally set it to stock clocks until a better solution is found...; it will hardly be a slug at 3.5/4.0....

Countgreen · Jul 16, 2017

What are the ambient temps before during and after gaming? The hotter the intake air the less effective it is at cooling.
Try a 240 or a 280mm AIO. I recommend the X62 or H100i.
It may be noisy but try running all of your fans near full speed or a more aggressive curve.
Another, but not so great option, is to delid your CPU and replace their cheap paste.

Sedivy · Jul 16, 2017

Your radiator is presumably up top on exhaust, with 2 or 3 fans, in addition to 2 fans you have on exhaust. And you've got 3 fans on intake. Two tweaks you could try to do to this setup. First, do not use negative pressure (more exhaust than intake) because, especially with radiators set on exhaust, this can be problematic, starving them of air, and making their cooling inefficient. So take one fan off of exhaust so you have equal number of fans on intake and exhaust. Try and adjust their CFM via RPM so that you still have more intake (ie. intake fans working harder than exhaust ones).

Second, because your video card is blowing hot air into the case, and this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNAMxZgvves
it might be worth it to try placing your radiator at the front, having therefore two fans at the front (doubt third fan will fit), and then two fans at exhaust.

Just some thoughts...

eWOOD29 · Jul 17, 2017

Calvin7 :

I haven't raised the voltages at all. They stayed about 0.97v even when OCing to 4.2GHz. Thanks for answering!

eWOOD29 · Jul 17, 2017

mdd1963 :

Yeah I see what you mean. I just now put the CPU back to stock clock speeds and the H75 is keeping up a lot better. However, now I have a different issue; my GPU seems to be the one hitting the high temps (80°C to 85°C after a while in-game and streaming) even though my CPU is staying down around 70°C in-game. I appreciate the reply!

eWOOD29 · Jul 17, 2017

Countgreen :

Before gaming, my typical temps for the CPU and GPU are around 35°C to 40°C, and after gaming it sits around 45°C to 50°C. I would really prefer to not buy a huge, pricy liquid cooler if I didn't need to as I actually got the H75 for free with my MSI x299 SLI Plus motherboard. As for the delidding, I really don't trust myself (or anyone else, for that matter) to delid my CPU even though that would drop temps a lot. I already have my fans set at hitting 100% once temps reach 75°C so I'm not sure what else to do. Thanks for the suggestions!

eWOOD29 · Jul 17, 2017

Sedivy :

I love the idea of adding more fans to intake rather than exhaust and I will definitely try it out when I get the chance (I probably can tomorrow). I tried moving my radiator to other parts of the case when I first put it in but it only fits up in the top right of the case. For some insight, I'll do my best to explain how I have my fans set up right now and maybe you could give me some insight on where to move them. I have two 140mm fans on the top of the case, one 120mm fan in the front of the case (in front of my drive bays), and technically the two 120m fans on either side of the radiator in the top right of the case all as exhaust. My intake fans are my PSU which faces towards my GPU, a fan right next to my PSU at the bottom of my case facing towards my GPU again, and a fan connected to my case's side door facing in at everything. I then have my two GPU fans facing down towards my PSU and one of the intake fans. Hopefully this information can help you give me a detailed response if you're still up for it and thanks for the suggestion!

Sedivy · Jul 17, 2017

Ok so while some still do it, it's not a great idea to face PSU towards the gpu because PSU is actually exhaust, not intake. The PSU fan should be intaking air and then exhausting hot air out the back of the case, where you plug in the power cables into the psu. This me ans that not only are you sucking hot air into the PSU from your case which is going to decrease the lifespan of the PSU considerably, and its efficiency, but you're also taking air directly away from the graphics card (psu sucking air in downward, graphics card fans sucking air in upwards), starving the gpu of air needed for its cooling. Luckily you do have a side fan that's blowing in cold air over both so likely it's the reason why you don't have huge issues, but still it's not the best of setups. Does you case not have a cutout on the bottom for the PSU fan to intake cold air from the bottom and blow it out the back?

You also have only the side fan and the 120mm up front as intakes, but you have 2 radiator fans on top as exhaust, then two additional 120 mm fans also as exhaust, creating negative pressure. As I mentioned before, this is not a great setup for your radiator, currently set on exhaust, because there isn't a lot of air getting pumped into the case, so its cooling is going to be affected as well.

I have hard time picturing the 2x120mm fans on either...side of the radiator?

So looking at your case specs here's how I would have the fans. Two 120mm at front, 1x120mm at bottom, 1x140 at the side, all on intake, then 1x120 in the back and 2x140 (radiator) up top as exhaust.
Rotate your PSU so it's sucking in air from the bottom and exhausting in the back, bypassing case altogether.

It also lists a pivot fan slot but I'm honestly not sure what that is. Correction, this is an adjustable front fan mount. So you have possibility of 3x120 intake from front, 1x120 from bottom, next to psu, and 1x140 from the side. Then 2x140 and 1x120 up top and back as exhaust. Normally I'd say you only need the 3 front ones and maybe a side or bottom one in addition as intake, to balance out the 2x140+1x120 on exhaust, but you're not going to go terribly wrong with an additional intake fan on this setup, if you want to lower noise. You can adjust fan rpms so that you have slightly positive pressure (more intake than exhaust), and with an additional fan on intake, it means all intake fans can then be lowered in rpm for same airflow, making them quieter. Keep in mind this fine fan control is going to have to be manual, from a utility of some sort.

eWOOD29 · Jul 18, 2017

Sedivy :

Ok so while some still do it, it's not a great idea to face PSU towards the gpu because PSU is actually exhaust, not intake. The PSU fan should be intaking air and then exhausting hot air out the back of the case, where you plug in the power cables into the psu. This me ans that not only are you sucking hot air into the PSU from your case which is going to decrease the lifespan of the PSU considerably, and its efficiency, but you're also taking air directly away from the graphics card (psu sucking air in downward, graphics card fans sucking air in upwards), starving the gpu of air needed for its cooling. Luckily you do have a side fan that's blowing in cold air over both so likely it's the reason why you don't have huge issues, but still it's not the best of setups. Does you case not have a cutout on the bottom for the PSU fan to intake cold air from the bottom and blow it out the back?

You also have only the side fan and the 120mm up front as intakes, but you have 2 radiator fans on top as exhaust, then two additional 120 mm fans also as exhaust, creating negative pressure. As I mentioned before, this is not a great setup for your radiator, currently set on exhaust, because there isn't a lot of air getting pumped into the case, so its cooling is going to be affected as well.

I have hard time picturing the 2x120mm fans on either...side of the radiator?

So looking at your case specs here's how I would have the fans. Two 120mm at front, 1x120mm at bottom, 1x140 at the side, all on intake, then 1x120 in the back and 2x140 (radiator) up top as exhaust.
Rotate your PSU so it's sucking in air from the bottom and exhausting in the back, bypassing case altogether.

It also lists a pivot fan slot but I'm honestly not sure what that is. Correction, this is an adjustable front fan mount. So you have possibility of 3x120 intake from front, 1x120 from bottom, next to psu, and 1x140 from the side. Then 2x140 and 1x120 up top and back as exhaust. Normally I'd say you only need the 3 front ones and maybe a side or bottom one in addition as intake, to balance out the 2x140+1x120 on exhaust, but you're not going to go terribly wrong with an additional intake fan on this setup, if you want to lower noise. You can adjust fan rpms so that you have slightly positive pressure (more intake than exhaust), and with an additional fan on intake, it means all intake fans can then be lowered in rpm for same airflow, making them quieter. Keep in mind this fine fan control is going to have to be manual, from a utility of some sort.

Wow, I'm really grateful as to how in-depth you went here and I'll definitely switch my setup to some of the configurations you suggested when I get the chance (probably tomorrow). I'll let you know what happens!

eWOOD29 · Jul 18, 2017

Sedivy :

Ok so while some still do it, it's not a great idea to face PSU towards the gpu because PSU is actually exhaust, not intake. The PSU fan should be intaking air and then exhausting hot air out the back of the case, where you plug in the power cables into the psu. This me ans that not only are you sucking hot air into the PSU from your case which is going to decrease the lifespan of the PSU considerably, and its efficiency, but you're also taking air directly away from the graphics card (psu sucking air in downward, graphics card fans sucking air in upwards), starving the gpu of air needed for its cooling. Luckily you do have a side fan that's blowing in cold air over both so likely it's the reason why you don't have huge issues, but still it's not the best of setups. Does you case not have a cutout on the bottom for the PSU fan to intake cold air from the bottom and blow it out the back?

You also have only the side fan and the 120mm up front as intakes, but you have 2 radiator fans on top as exhaust, then two additional 120 mm fans also as exhaust, creating negative pressure. As I mentioned before, this is not a great setup for your radiator, currently set on exhaust, because there isn't a lot of air getting pumped into the case, so its cooling is going to be affected as well.

I have hard time picturing the 2x120mm fans on either...side of the radiator?

So looking at your case specs here's how I would have the fans. Two 120mm at front, 1x120mm at bottom, 1x140 at the side, all on intake, then 1x120 in the back and 2x140 (radiator) up top as exhaust.
Rotate your PSU so it's sucking in air from the bottom and exhausting in the back, bypassing case altogether.

It also lists a pivot fan slot but I'm honestly not sure what that is. Correction, this is an adjustable front fan mount. So you have possibility of 3x120 intake from front, 1x120 from bottom, next to psu, and 1x140 from the side. Then 2x140 and 1x120 up top and back as exhaust. Normally I'd say you only need the 3 front ones and maybe a side or bottom one in addition as intake, to balance out the 2x140+1x120 on exhaust, but you're not going to go terribly wrong with an additional intake fan on this setup, if you want to lower noise. You can adjust fan rpms so that you have slightly positive pressure (more intake than exhaust), and with an additional fan on intake, it means all intake fans can then be lowered in rpm for same airflow, making them quieter. Keep in mind this fine fan control is going to have to be manual, from a utility of some sort.

Thanks, Sedivy! You're a miracle worker! I followed all of your instructions as best I could and my GPU now idles somewhere between 35°C and 40°C and it barely hits 70°C in-game. You really earned that best answer. I do, however, have one last question for you: My CPU now sits around 60°C max in-game and around 45°C to 50°C idle. Would you have any suggestions on how to set my fans differently that might help my CPU temps with my current set-up? Thanks to everyone who answered!

Sedivy · Jul 27, 2017

Sorry I haven't been around for a few days. So, according to the video I linked before if you have a video card (yours is evga and falls into this category), which expels warm air into the case, this will considerably raise the temperature of the cpu, as that warm air will rise from the video card up and basically warm the air that your radiator uses to cool itself down, making its cooling much less efficient. According to the video, video card temperatures won't be affected much with positioning either way, but if you mount the radiator up front instead of up top, the cpu temperatures should fall off considerably. So my advice would be to try mounting it up front, and instead take your two front fans, and mount them up top instead (as far towards the back as you can, else you're just sucking the cold air out before it can get to cool the components down). Again try to balance out intake/exhaust. I know you said you tried placing radiator in different positions but how?

Problem with this scenario is that I can't find in specs of your case any word of support for front mounted radiators. I think if you wanted to mount it up front, the drive cages are going to have to go, and even then I don't know if it's going to fit. You may have to rig something to make it fit in that case. If you have only a few drives, a lot of new cases offer some mounting options for ssds and even hdds in the back, behind the motherboard, though not nearly as many slots as the front cages will offer. If you're at only 1-2 ssds or one hdd, this may be doable, allowing you to take out drive cages. (https://www.pcper.com/files/imagecache/article_max_width/review/2012-07-19/32-Hidden-HDD.jpg , https://www.pcper.com/files/imagecache/article_max_width/review/2016-04-17/DSC_0367.jpg)
This has added benefit of no obstruction of the front air flow intake, helping cool down your cpu further.

Alternative would be to switch to a card model that sucks in air at bottom and blows it out the back of the case (founders editions of gtx card are like this). This also may not be a tenable option as you can't easily exchange cards like that (they're usually made by nvidia vs. the ones like evga made which are different style coolers). Other than that, you can also get an aftermarket gpu liquid cooler and if you get the one with a single fan, mount it at the exhaust fan behind the cpu (https://www.arctic.ac/worldwide_en/products/cooling/vga.html, accelero hybrid II or III would be what I mean), and that way avoiding blowing that hot air all over the cpu radiator but that seems a pricey option to solve the cpu problem. I'd rather get a dremel and a radiator mount and try to fit the cpu radiator to the front somehow if possible at all.

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