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Recommended i7-7700K Mini ITX CPU Cooling?

Discussion in 'Extreme and Water Cooling' started by xiaxk, Oct 24, 2017.

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Recommended i7-7700K Mini ITX CPU Cooling?

1. Current Cooler is fine

   0 vote(s) 0.0%

2. Get a better Cooler

   1 vote(s) 100.0%

1. 

   xiaxk Member

   Joined: Aug 10, 2013 Messages: 31 Location: Melbourne

   Hi guys, I need recommendation on which CPU cooler to buy? I'm new to this. My system specs are: Intel i7-7700k, GTX 1080 Ti mini, 32 GB Corsiar Vengance RAM 2400 MHz, 1 TB Samsung EVO 850 SSD, ASUS Rog Strix Z270i motherboard, Silverstone 600W 80 Gold + PSU. The CPU cooler currently installed is this one: https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Cooling/CPU-Coolers-AIR/48136-NH-L9I I read that this is not sufficient for the i7-7700k. The PC Case is this one: https://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Cases/Mini-ITX/62280-FD-CA-NODE-202-BK I use it primarily for gaming. Not a very heavy gamer though. Thank you!

   Last edited: Oct 24, 2017 xiaxk, Oct 24, 2017 #1
2. 

   juzz86 Member

   Joined: Nov 15, 2013 Messages: 3,483 Location: Forth, NW TAS

   Probably the wrong section mate, to be honest. Worth reporting to a Mod to shift it across to What/Where Should I Buy. In the interest of not just being a dick though - Noctua heatsinks are usually very good, but what you've got is more targetted at HTPC-related duties, as opposed to the persistent high load from gaming - where a higher surface area may help. The heatsink also specifically mentions CPUs with a >65W TDP (7700K is 91W) should be careful. In my experience (shameless plug for Kevin here), the 7700K runs hot stock despite good cooling (custom loop). I'd definitely see how it went under your existing heatsink, but if I saw load temps in the mid-80s or so (this is personal comfort, the chip is fine into the 90s), I'd probably swap it out. That said, you're not going to fit much bigger in your case, either. It's an impressive firepower to volume ratio if you can pull it off. I'm going to refrain from recommending alternative coolers, as I have little familiarity with low-profile units. If it were me, I'd be fucking the case off for something bigger, or plumbing the CPU and GPU into an external radiator

   juzz86, Oct 24, 2017 #2 xiaxk likes this.
3. OP OP

   xiaxk Member

   Joined: Aug 10, 2013 Messages: 31 Location: Melbourne

   juzz86 said: ↑

   Probably the wrong section mate, to be honest. Worth reporting to a Mod to shift it across to What/Where Should I Buy. In the interest of not just being a dick though - Noctua heatsinks are usually very good, but what you've got is more targetted at HTPC-related duties, as opposed to the persistent high load from gaming - where a higher surface area may help. The heatsink also specifically mentions CPUs with a >65W TDP (7700K is 91W) should be careful. In my experience (shameless plug for Kevin here), the 7700K runs hot stock despite good cooling (custom loop). I'd definitely see how it went under your existing heatsink, but if I saw load temps in the mid-80s or so (this is personal comfort, the chip is fine into the 90s), I'd probably swap it out. That said, you're not going to fit much bigger in your case, either. It's an impressive firepower to volume ratio if you can pull it off. I'm going to refrain from recommending alternative coolers, as I have little familiarity with low-profile units. If it were me, I'd be fucking the case off for something bigger, or plumbing the CPU and GPU into an external radiator Click to expand...

   Thank you. While gaming, the temp ranges from 75 to 91. On idle, it stays around 45. Is this normal?

   xiaxk, Oct 24, 2017 #3
4. 

   juzz86 Member

   Joined: Nov 15, 2013 Messages: 3,483 Location: Forth, NW TAS

   Considering the size of your heatsink, that's pretty good indeed. You don't want it to spend a ton of time in the 90s, but your idle temp is good and if you're only seeing the odd spike up that high, you should be right mate. They killed my old 'thumbs up' emoticon

   juzz86, Oct 24, 2017 #4 xiaxk likes this.
5. OP OP

   xiaxk Member

   Joined: Aug 10, 2013 Messages: 31 Location: Melbourne

   juzz86 said: ↑

   Considering the size of your heatsink, that's pretty good indeed. You don't want it to spend a ton of time in the 90s, but your idle temp is good and if you're only seeing the odd spike up that high, you should be right mate. They killed my old 'thumbs up' emoticon Click to expand...

   Thanks. I changed the FAN settings in BIOS (100% after 70 degrees, 70% after 50 degrees) and the temperatures varies from 60 - 68 degrees now.

   xiaxk, Oct 25, 2017 #5 juzz86 likes this.
6. 

   juzz86 Member

   Joined: Nov 15, 2013 Messages: 3,483 Location: Forth, NW TAS

   That's tidy. Nice work mate! What's the noise like on the smaller Noctua fan?

   juzz86, Oct 25, 2017 #6 xiaxk likes this.
7. OP OP

   xiaxk Member

   Joined: Aug 10, 2013 Messages: 31 Location: Melbourne

   I did not see any significant increase in the cpu fan noise after the little BIOS trick; the Noctua fan is quite silent. Further, the CPU noise is drowned in the noise generated by the GPU fan (2 fans) (steady 83 degrees, 70% RPM).

   xiaxk, Oct 25, 2017 #7 juzz86 likes this.
8. 

   juzz86 Member

   Joined: Nov 15, 2013 Messages: 3,483 Location: Forth, NW TAS

   Beauty. Colour me impressed - I was expecting far worse with Noctua's warning on the product page!

   juzz86, Oct 25, 2017 #8
9. 

   bobster Member

   Joined: Nov 11, 2011 Messages: 1,027 Location: Sydney

   https://www.pccasegear.com/products/27422/deepcool-gabriel-low-profile-cpu-cooler

   bobster, Oct 26, 2017 #9
10. 

    juzz86 Member

    Joined: Nov 15, 2013 Messages: 3,483 Location: Forth, NW TAS

    bobster said: ↑

    https://www.pccasegear.com/products/27422/deepcool-gabriel-low-profile-cpu-coolerClick to expand...

    Yeah, I saw that one too but too tall for the case.

    juzz86, Oct 27, 2017 #10
11. 

    bobster Member

    Joined: Nov 11, 2011 Messages: 1,027 Location: Sydney

    juzz86 said: ↑

    Yeah, I saw that one too but too tall for the case.Click to expand...

    I think the case might have 3mm extra, if not just swap out the fan for 15mm Noctua fan. When they have a window for NCASE M1 I think I will get that for my tiny built

    bobster, Oct 27, 2017 #11
12. 

    juzz86 Member

    Joined: Nov 15, 2013 Messages: 3,483 Location: Forth, NW TAS

    NCASE M1 is the business, nice that they're bringing a window to it - firepower/volume ratio is incredible.

    juzz86, Oct 27, 2017 #12
13. 

    Huggy_Bear64 Member

    Joined: Apr 24, 2010 Messages: 3,096 Location: Melbourne, VIC, 3127

    Probably look into building a phase change cooler. Maybe a cascade unit if one stage isn't enough?

    Huggy_Bear64, Oct 30, 2017 #13
14. 

    SSJ4 Member

    Joined: May 16, 2017 Messages: 1,153 Location: Melbourne

    Bitwit has a node 202 build very similar to yours. I think there are 3 videos, 1 of which is mine looking at cooling.

    SSJ4, Nov 1, 2017 #14

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