VRM Cooling Gigabyte X370 K7

Ad_Augendae

Ad_Augendae

Ad_Augendae

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Hi all,

New here!
I would like a bit of advice on vrm cooling for two machines that I am building, one has a gtx 1060 and the other has a 1080 both seem to work well with Alpenfohn Broken 3 coolers overclocked using 1800X 3+3 40X (or 4+4 39X) at around 1.375 volts (1.365 idle measured at the vrm caps) and 1.315 under load High LLC. I'm not brave enough to poke around the back of the CPU while unsure where to test properly.
CPU temps under full load top out to around 70c running 8 core @39X and 60c for 6 core @40x
I'm using/testing with a 90mm fan side on to the VRM Soc which seems to bring temps down about 10c from 70+ full load down to around 60+ full load. I'm sort of thinking of using 2 small 40mm fans at around 5000 rpm strapped to the vrm soc, is this an idea that will work or should i try to fit a bigger fan top of the case blowing down ?
I did look at the water block for this board but my budget wouldn't allow for a loop + VRM/CPU block sadly.

Open to any ideas for any other type of vrm air cooling solutions
 
Just a point of interest, it was revealed to me recently that many of the Gigabyte 370 boards have vrm heat issues due to poor heatsink design/seating. It may be worth investigating this in addition to your air cooling solutions. An adjustment of the vrm heatsink and/or replacing the thermal pads may help.

This vid may help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKeGOkJoiIA

Just search Google for 'Gigabyte x370 hot vrm' and I'm sure you will find a number of useful suggestions for taming them.
 
Thanks for the info, I was looking at this site a few weeks back which compares a few types of pads and it would appear that 1mm thermal grizzly pads dropped the temps by -6c If I recall there was none or only 1 left in stock over here. Option 2 would be to use cheaper 1.5mm pads. Any idea's for a quiet ish 40mm fan X 4 ?
 
1.5mm pads may alleviate the poor contact the gigabyte heatsinks have with the vrm's, but I can't say for sure as I have not tested this myself. As you see in that vid, he does mention the lack of imprint on the supplied thermal pads, indicating they need a bit more pressure to make good contact, so maybe those 1.5mm ones could do the job nicely?

As for fans, good old noctua make pretty much the quietest 400mm fans and are here on overclockers.
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £74.53 (includes shipping: £8.70)​
​
 
It's worth removing the stock heatsink to check the contact. I had to remove mine to install a monoblock but I surprisingly found they had very good contact. All the VRMs had nice, full imprints on the stock thermal pad so it's not like they're all bad.
 
@diblob Thanks for taking the time to share those fans, I think what I might do is order 2 fans and see how it fares along with the 1.5mm Arctic pads as suggested above.
@Bugbait I have 2 identical boards with the same temps so I would lean toward It being just a lot for the VRM to deal with. Did you do any testing before deciding on your water block at all ?
In all honesty I'm being very picky with the temps hitting 70+ at full load with that nice 8 pack 3200 B-die kit, 3+3 cores seems more manageable as well @40X and my hope is I only need 1 fan on each. I just need to decide how to mount them in the case, on measuring I have about 30mm between the board and top of the case which is vented for a rad so plenty of scope for air movement and more fans on the top blowing down. I've not tried either board in a case yet. I was looking for custon VRM heatsinks but I've not found any as yet for this board at least. This http://thermalright.com/product/vrm-r5/ being an Extreme example of what I was looking for.
 
Ad_Augendae said:
Did you do any testing before deciding on your water block at all ?
Click to expand...

No I didn't. I knew I was going to go water for CPU and VRMs and didn't want to rip the MB out again. I also read that the VRMs can get quite warm on all Z370s with air anyway. I'm not pushing a big overclock or high volts (only 1.26v Turbo LLC) for daily use anyway. I don't think I've seen the VRMs above mid 40s under Prime testing but again, not hammering the CPU that much.
 
Ad_Augendae said:
Hi all,

New here!
I would like a bit of advice on vrm cooling for two machines that I am building, one has a gtx 1060 and the other has a 1080 both seem to work well with Alpenfohn Broken 3 coolers overclocked using 1800X 3+3 40X (or 4+4 39X) at around 1.375 volts (1.365 idle measured at the vrm caps) and 1.315 under load High LLC. I'm not brave enough to poke around the back of the CPU while unsure where to test properly.
CPU temps under full load top out to around 70c running 8 core @39X and 60c for 6 core @40x
I'm using/testing with a 90mm fan side on to the VRM Soc which seems to bring temps down about 10c from 70+ full load down to around 60+ full load. I'm sort of thinking of using 2 small 40mm fans at around 5000 rpm strapped to the vrm soc, is this an idea that will work or should i try to fit a bigger fan top of the case blowing down ?
I did look at the water block for this board but my budget wouldn't allow for a loop + VRM/CPU block sadly.

Open to any ideas for any other type of vrm air cooling solutions
Click to expand...

X370 ryzen systems are fine - not like Z370 where mounting/design are the issue as Coffeelake draws a lot from VRMs

if you wanted the best temps for your VRMs then Bequiet Rock Rock TF - top down cooler so blows onto the VRMs

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/be-quiet-dark-rock-tf-cpu-cooler-135-135mm-hs-012-bq.html

why B350 platform sells well. cheaper, fewer vrm to add cost and handles max overclocks fine heat wise for Gaming- rendering then yes, X370 chipsets for increase VRMs to spread heat and load

Gigabyte B350 Gaming 3 and Asus Strix B350 fly off the shelves :D

Ryzen isn't the same as intels platform :)
 
Many many boards ( not just Gigabyte ) run with hot VRM's because they can take it. 70 degrees is not that hot for one of those beasties. I would be a bit concerned if you were hitting 100 degrees, and definitely worried if you were hitting 120, but even so this is under full load and in practice you won't go anywhere near that. Unless you intend to overclock I just wouldn't worry about it.
If you really are worried then try talking to some Asus owners! They have a neat stand-off mount for 40mm~50mm VRM fans. Maybe you could buy one off them for a few ££ from someoine who isn't using theirs.
Incidentally, the Z370 Gaming 7 uses a tiny little fan mounted behind the VRM heatsink. That only starts working when the VRM's hit 90 degrees C and it's only fitted at all because it's an overclockers board.
 
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Cheers guys for your thoughts, I'll post a pic up of the temps on my 1800X Overclocked to 3.9 on all cores using 3200 memory 14-14-14-31 AX370 K7
LLC on High/High it dips down a little, by the way I've managed too bring those voltages down a little further since doing the following tests.
As you can see max VRM temps over the 30 minute test was 74 - I guess I'm being a bit dramatic then :)

Capture2.png
 
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