How to tackle VRM temps with water cooled CPUs

Relentless81

Relentless81

Relentless81

Soldato
Joined
18 May 2010
Posts
12,853
Hi,

I was wondering how people go about doing this, what methods they have used.

I have an AIO cooled AMD 8350 and typically for an AIO cooler the CPU is cooled without issue but the VRMs not so much, the temps get very high under load.

Does using a large tower air cooler resolve this issue with the VRMs as some air is blown through the cooler fins? If so I'm not sure if an air cooler can keep the CPU core as low as an AIO so swings and roundabouts?

I have a Corsair H110 and the CPU is OC'd to 5ghz if it helps

I've looked at the hard to find Antec Spot Cool but looks flimsy and apparently noisy, I don't fancy cable tying anything and generally I'm just surprised more solutions don't seem to exist for this problem, I read that VRMs are cooled by the standard top down coolers as part of the ATX format so motherboard manufacturers don't tend to consider that you will replace standard coolers for better CPU coolers which in turn affect the VRM temps

Thanks
 
This is how im cooling mine.

120mm on the back of the MB over the vrm and socket.
80mm noctua.
My max temp for VR T1 is 57c

4y8GuXo.jpg
kHN40z8.jpg
 
Mine are cooled with just case airflow. The rear vrm heatsink on the board is under the rear 120mm exhaust fan running at 660rpm and the top vrm heatsink on the board has the top 200mm exhaust fan above it running at 480rpm. Both heatsinks rarely go over 30 degrees and the vrm's under them are another 4 degree's each on top of that. I believe my cpu doesn't hammer them as much as a FX 8350 though.
 
Thanks Jamie, yes same board. You've definitely gone function over form going there! I'm an OCD freak, cant stand cables but you given me an idea for trying to tie a fan behind the motherboard in my 540 Air where you cant see it, I'll have a think about that

Air flow in the case doesn't touch my VRM's the ram and pump head are in the way unfortunately and the VRMs on this board go north of 80C very easily on a OC this high
 
80 is during gaming in a cold room, throttling starts when the room is warm and I've had full system lock ups once or twice, stressing I've seen them hit 115 but I've made some changes since then and they don't seem to go over 100 anymore, around 80 seems the norm now I've switched the radiator off in the room

I'm definitely going to consider a fan behind the motherboard and see what effect it has
 
Relentless81 said:
80 is during gaming in a cold room, throttling starts when the room is warm and I've had full system lock ups once or twice, stressing I've seen them hit 115 but I've made some changes since then and they don't seem to go over 100 anymore, around 80 seems the norm now I've switched the radiator off in the room

I'm definitely going to consider a fan behind the motherboard and see what effect it has
Click to expand...

What is the cpu temp when gaming as it could be do with that aswell.

I know when my cpu hits over 70c when im benching at 5.4ghz it locks up, i even had the vr t1 @120c for 10 minutes without it throttling.

A fan is a must really and it should bring the temps under 70c.
 
It's the same with X79 the VRM take a pounding once you start overclocking. In the case of the poorly made Gigabyte X79 UD3 the VRM's started smoking taking the motherboard with it.

The best way is to somehow get a 120 fan blowing directly on it as in the picture above. This is what I have to do as well. Didn't look the prettiest but sure does take 40c off the VRM temps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom