After some general views/advice on cooling 5900X

[HangTime]

Bit of weird thread this, maybe in part it's just seeking motivation to get off my backside and sort out a problem, but here goes

Background
Currently, I have a 5900x setup in an old (>20 years) case. It has a very big/heavy air cooler, Alpenhof Olmyp which I bought second hand and has a slightly dodgy bracket, meaning it isn't operating at full efficiency, it also sags a bit (which I've partially rectified with a heath robinson solution, don't ask... but temps are better when I have this applied). For an air cooler, in theory it should be pretty good, it is rated for 340W TDP, massive chunky heatsink sticking out with two giant fans bigger than my case fans etc (I deliberately wanted a high end air cooler to try and stretch the 5900x a bit), but obviously this is compromised the way I have it setup.

Issue
Temps run pretty hot, it has a 6900XT right underneath pumping heat up into it, and my son now has a PC in my office too so ambient temps are only going to increase going into summer. Under load using my tweaked PBO2 settings etc it hits 90C which I understand is the point it will invoke thermal throttling(?).
In short, whilst the system is generally stable it's not great and I feel I could get higher sustained clocks with better cooling.

Options moving forward

1. Reseating the cooler: As I say I got it second hand with a dodgy bracket and I don't think reseating the cooler is a realistic option, I'm not great at this stuff and will probably just make it worse, it's an absolute beast
2. Replace with a 280mm AIO cooler I bought a year or two back but haven't opened, this would be in an existing case. The complication here is I don't have a big modern case, my decent sized cases are pretty oldschool with the PSU at the top, I think mounting the AOI radiator will be hard as there's like 5.25" bays in the way etc. I've never used an AIO before so don't really want to be facing adding complications.
3. Replace with a Hyper H412r cooler. I have one of these still in the box I bought cheap for another project, I think it's only 100W TDP though so not really suitable for a 5900X. Probably a waste of time.
4. Buy a new case and setup the AIO cooler. My head says this is the right option, however I don't really want to invest in a new case (wife already not happy at the amount of towers I have laying around) plus have the hassle of tearing everything down and rebuilding it. Although option 2 would involve a lot of faffing about in the case to get things to fit anyway, so no worse than that.
5. Buy a new air cooler, better than the H412r. Not keen on this option, it would probably be the easiest in terms of faff just swapping out the cooler with everything else in place, but feels like a waste given I have an AIO sat in the box.
6. Do nothing. As mentioned the system is running OK, I could just leave it setup and then in the future when I do an upgrade, sort out the problem at that point

I appreciate it probably looks a bit odd to some to be using a relatively high end CPU alongside a suboptimal cooler and ancient case i.e. imbalanced system. But I've always looked to cut some corners on PC building, that's just how I get mental satisfaction, for better or worse.

 

[Gray2233]

What are you using the machine for exactly?

It sounds like a new cooler might be better, but I feel that a Thermalright Phantom Spirit for £30-ish should fit the bill.

It's within spitting distance if not better than any modern top end air cooler, but please hold in mind your case conditions and ambients are going to impact things too.

I'd also consider PBO offsets, which would also help.

 

[freddie64]

Option 4.

It does involve a bit of work, but overall cooling should be improved.

If you have no DVD/CD ROM drives i can recommend this case.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Lian Li Lancool 216 Mid-tower PC case - Black (SKU: CA-7BG-LL) = £89.99

Total: £97.98 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

Out of curiosity, any chance of a pic of your "Heath Robinson solution"?

 

[Finners]

When you say tweaked PBO2 settings what are you running? I run stock power limits but use curve offset and get pretty decent numbers from 5900x considering.

If you've just pushed the PBO settings higher you probably are making heat and noise with no real world gain.

I would agree with the above about getting an air cooler in the £30-40 range as some have great performance these days.

Could you run cinebench or maybe even a quick cpu-z benchmark and post your results compare.

 

[Bubo]

If any of your big cases have decent air intake grills or meshes on the front, where the hard drives would be or maybe even where the 5.25" bays are, I would just take a drill to the rivets holding any cradle steelwork in place and chop them out and suss out how to fix the AIO. Also, post missing crucial detail on whether you have a Dremel or not.

 

[Disco_P]

My 5900x ran at 90C "stock" on water cause the motherboard lied to the boost algorithms and ran it at about 30% more power than it should. This resulted in a whopping 2-5% performance gain.

This seems to happen on some gigabyte motherboards so check it's not happening with your PBO settings.

 

[mickyflinn]

You can still get the AM4 mounting kit for your cooler for £10 Inc delivery.

 

[HangTime]

What are you using the machine for exactly?

Gaming and general desktop usage.

When you say tweaked PBO2 settings what are you running? I run stock power limits but use curve offset and get pretty decent numbers from 5900x considering.

If you've just pushed the PBO settings higher you probably are making heat and noise with no real world gain.

I would agree with the above about getting an air cooler in the £30-40 range as some have great performance these days.

Could you run cinebench or maybe even a quick cpu-z benchmark and post your results compare.

I think the the settings used are somewhat secondary as I'm more concerned about the cooler itself (i.e. it runs hot at stock), but i've boosted the limits, put +200 boost and applied a crude all core negative offset.
cpu-z bench was around 9500 single core and 635 multicore. Looking at an old post (https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/cpuz-benchmark-all-welcome.18946600/post-35574439 ) I used to get about 10000 / 650 2yrs ago but I think it was more tuned for performance then, I've done bios updates and changed settings etc.
To be honest, I might just chuck it all back to stock and let it manage itself but that feels a bit alien to someone who started out with 'traditional' overclocking in the 90s!

If any of your big cases have decent air intake grills or meshes on the front, where the hard drives would be or maybe even where the 5.25" bays are, I would just take a drill to the rivets holding any cradle steelwork in place and chop them out and suss out how to fix the AIO. Also, post missing crucial detail on whether you have a Dremel or not.

Yeah I already drilled out the HDD cages from my Chieftec Dragon to fit a RTX3090 (don't have that any more). I don't have a dremel and I'm pretty novice when it comes to this stuff, that took me ages to do, I'm not particularly practical.

My 5900x ran at 90C "stock" on water cause the motherboard lied to the boost algorithms and ran it at about 30% more power than it should. This resulted in a whopping 2-5% performance gain.

This seems to happen on some gigabyte motherboards so check it's not happening with your PBO settings.

Interesting, I do have a Gigabyte mobo! What exactly am I looking for to know if this is a problem?

You can still get the AM4 mounting kit for your cooler for £10 Inc delivery.

OK that's maybe worth considering, although some of the wires (not sure on proper name) that go round the heatsink are a bit bent, to be honest fitting the thing was a bit of a faff compared to most coolers I've installed recently, so I'm not keen on messing with it in case I can't get it back on but might be worth trying with something else as a backup solution.

 

[Bubo]

Yeah I already drilled out the HDD cages from my Chieftec Dragon to fit a RTX3090 (don't have that any more). I don't have a dremel and I'm pretty novice when it comes to this stuff, that took me ages to do, I'm not particularly practical.

If is a full tower Cheiftec Dragon there should be plenty of room in the top of the case and above PSU to fit that 280mm radiator. I have one myself and before I water cooled I cut a 120mm fan hole on top. I know from experience the top of the case on a Dragon will be too thick to cut with a Dremel, but a jigsaw would blitz it no problem. The idea is you cut a rectangular hole for the radiator, then fit a 280mm rad grill over it to hide the cut lines. Then drill four holes in the case top to secure the grill to the case, and either tap these so you can screw the grill down, or go through so you can put a screw through with a nut. Though really it would be easier to fit it where the HDD cages were. No grill needed and should still be able to cut it with a jig saw and drill some holes for the fan mounts.

I know you say you are not practical, but cutting up and old Cheiftec is the ideal way to give it a go and practice. But if you don't have any tools then option 6 is looking nice.

 

[Disco_P]

On my gigabyte board (b550 vision dp), it can easily be shown with Cinebench and HWInfo 64's "Power Reporting Deviation"

During the cinebench run, if it's less than 100% then your board is under reporting power to the cpu meaning it boosts higher than AMD want, drawing more power and losing a lot of efficiency. HWinfo says anything outside of 100±10% is cause for concern. My board did 75%

 

[Drumroll]

Older coolers, despite their rated TDP may not be as efficient as newer and cheaper coolers available. Also, some coolers perform better on Intel, others on AMD.
Cheapest option, get a Lancool 216 and a Phantom Spirit. The airflow is excellent, and you can reuse any fans you have around.
AIO also an option, but for performance, I would look at least for EK Nucleus 360, Arctic Freezer III 360 or similar. More bling, more money.
The 3900x I had in the past would benefit a lot from undervolt. Some negative offset.
I’m not really familiar with 5000 series, but seems to be tameable using curves.
The 6900 would dump a lot of heat inside the case, and negatively impact any cooler, air or AIO. AIO not as much if the case’s airflow is good and some of the hot air moves away before reaching the AIO, assuming a top mounted AIO.

 

[HangTime]

If is a full tower Cheiftec Dragon there should be plenty of room in the top of the case and above PSU to fit that 280mm radiator. I have one myself and before I water cooled I cut a 120mm fan hole on top. I know from experience the top of the case on a Dragon will be too thick to cut with a Dremel, but a jigsaw would blitz it no problem. The idea is you cut a rectangular hole for the radiator, then fit a 280mm rad grill over it to hide the cut lines. Then drill four holes in the case top to secure the grill to the case, and either tap these so you can screw the grill down, or go through so you can put a screw through with a nut. Though really it would be easier to fit it where the HDD cages were. No grill needed and should still be able to cut it with a jig saw and drill some holes for the fan mounts.

I know you say you are not practical, but cutting up and old Cheiftec is the ideal way to give it a go and practice. But if you don't have any tools then option 6 is looking nice.

Thanks, amazed someone would still be using the same case as me! To be honest I don't want to get into proper case modding, I know I'll end up doing a bodge job and regretting it, the fan holes would be misaligned or something so I'd end up with only 2 screws holding it in, slicing my hands open on bare metal etc. I'd rather just buy a new midrange case that's designed for modern setups at that point. I think I'll probably try and fit it at the front of the case (I can just about take a power drill to some rivets), the Dragon doesn't currently have a system inside it so I can have a bit of a play about to see how the rad could fit in without having to tear down my current setup. 20+ years ago I was all over building and optimising computers for overclocking etc but I now have a lot more money (albeit I'm still quite frugal) and a lot less free time!

 

[Bubo]

I still have the Chieftec but it is out in the garage at the mo, current system is in a Corsair 700D, which I have chopped up with various power tools even more than the Chieftec. I will be bringing it out of retirement though to be used as a dedicated backing up PC, i.e. just stuff it with drives. Will probably slice it up it even more to fit a USB port somewhere. No worries if case modding is not for you though.

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

from memory which admittedly isnt the best lol
that cooler was an enormous lump
but didnt seem to tighten down totally
was wriggle in it

if the am4 bracket is available for it
that would be worth a try

yes you could fit the AIO but that means
you now have a point of failure as got a pump
and possible permeation over time
unlike your current cooler which is just a lump
of metal

other option as mentioned get a thermalright
and sell the AIO and olymp in MM
thermalright are just dominating the bang for buck
vs perfomance lately

 

[Cyber-Mav]

Best value for money air cooler is the peerless assassin.
5900x runs hot on low core loads since it shoves full power into one ccd and temps will climb.
Curve optimisation helps with some negative offset but make sure cooler has good contact

 

[Raelgun]

So my experience is this with this CPU, PBO curve is a.s.s.

PBO basically is a tuned overclock, it doesnt really lower temps as its designed to try clock up with less volts into it.

What you want to do and its what i did is to use an offset on the DVID

Quick & Dirty MSI Motherboard Ryzen CPU Undervolting Is It Worth It?

#amd #undervolt #undervolting #ryzen5000 Quick and dirty undervolting AMD Ryzen is it worth itYou can do this in the BIOS (with a compatible motherboard) it ...

youtu.be

How to UNDERVOLT Ryzen 5000 series CPUs (FULL Tutorial)

Forget overclocking, let's undervolt! If you want the best performance per watt out of your Ryzen 5 5500, 5600x, Ryzen 7 5800x or Ryzen 9 5900x then today's ...

www.youtube.com

motherboard manufacturers call it sometimes something different and is located differently.

I have a Gigabyte board and ive offset my voltage by -.100, I think -0.144 is the limit before stability issues. but this alone dropped my temps by a solid 10 degrees in actual use.

Granted I use a 360AIO so before I was hitting near 70 degrees with a modest fan curve now its the 50s, the only time it goes over 60 is when I twitch stream using the CPU with h.264 hitting 65 degrees in a game.

Offset does not try to overclock, it literally drops the voltage going in, PBO doesnt do this.

 

[doyll]

As Cyber-Mav said, Thermlalright's Peerless Assassin 120 SE is very good costing less than 1/3rd what a NH-D15 costs