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Best CPU for easy cooling/low heat with a 1070

Legend

Legend

Legend

Soldato
Joined
31 Dec 2006
Posts
7,224
Helping a friend build a very tiny PC (mini-ITX), which he wants a 1070 in. Space is proving a real issue, and there is no way the GPU in his custom case isn't going to be blocking the CPU... i.e in a horizontal position above it (with a PCI-E riser cable). He's going with one of the mini 1070's. Therefore adequately cooling the CPU is going to be extremely tricky. Is there a CPU that's best suited to a situation like this, where minimal or restricted cooling will not be such an issue to its performance, or is this basically a fools errand? He was hoping to get a 7700 in there, but under the circumstances I can only see it getting roasted alive!
 
Yeah an AIO won't fit, it's just too small a space. It's basically NES size... definitely a major challenge. I'm not sure it can practically be done without something at risk of melting lol!

There's currently less than 20mm gap between underside of GPU (backplate) and CPU cooler, although that could be less depending on the actual cooler chosen. There do seem to be some good options for low profile coolers, but I can't see any of them working very well in such a restricted space with very little airflow.
 
As long as the cpu is at stock it'll be half the battle. Noctua do a decent low profile range, and if you can get half decent intake and extract it'll really help... Even 80mm fans can shift a fair bit of air.

You got any photos?
 
Still very much a WIP, at the drawing board stage at present. He is hoping to put a Kaby system in there, so I was curious about the best CPU to opt for that will still be a good match for a 1070... is one better than any other in respect to heat/temps, or is it all much of a muchness? Delidding would help of course, although it's annoying you have to do this with the Kaby CPU's to get the best temps.
 
I'd say an i5 was your minimum as you'll get a bottleneck otherwise with i3 and lower. I don't think you'll see much difference between i5 and i7 in terms of stock temperatures.

If it's WIP, then I'd be looking at design of air flow through the case as much as the actual heatsink and CPU.

Interesting, let us know how it ends up.
 
Yes, airflow is the focus... looking at trying to implement as much ventilation as possible, and it doesn't seem as though there will be space for much more than 40mm fans... but multiples of those. No idea how noisy that's going to be, or how effective they are lol! Definitely going to be a challenge, but interesting for sure. ;)
 
DragonQ said:
Tricky cos you want one capable of driving the GTX 1070 but not too hot. A delidded Kaby Lake at stock might do the trick?
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Yeah exactly, that's the challenge... if it was a basic low power on-board graphics system then no problem whatsoever, but with a 1070 it has to be able to perform and run games at a reasonably high level.
 
Legend said:
Interesting. Is it compatible with Skylake MITX boards though? Would it be sufficient for a 1070 gaming set-up? And it runs much cooler than the i5 would?
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Yeah, plenty of ITX boards for the Xeons, though you need a C232 or 236 chipset. You probably have a bigger choice of ITX boards for the Xeons.
 
I would go for a delidded 7700K, you can buy a binned 4.9ghz chip which OcUK have delidded and provide a 1yr warranty with for £40 more than a normal 7700K. At stock volts, or undervolting if you want to dabble, and at stock speeds, something like a Cryorig C7 should do a decent job in the tight constraints.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £438.64
(includes shipping: £8.70)



​
 
jigger said:
ASRock C236 WSI looks good. You could build a hell of a NAS out of it too once it's time to upgrade.
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The Xeon route looks interesting, although I'm curious about two things...

1) All else being equal, what would the gaming performance difference be between a Xeon+1070 vs a delidded 7600k/7700k+1070?
2) Heat output vs a delidded 7600k/7700k and how much easier it would be to keep cool?
 
The 1070 will heat the enclosed space up during gaming, even if it's a reference cooler, so shifting air out of there should be a design priority regardless of the chip you go for?
 
The 1260L I use could be passively cooled no problem, and the 1230 I have is at almost 4.8Ghz with a low profile jelos HSF and some ancient AS5. That heatsink and 1260l will go into a HTPC build, similar to the one your planning when I get around to it. I'm using a half high Milo case that has full length PCI slot sitting directly above the CPU. I plan to use a single slot RX 465 or 460.

The 1260L v5 is pretty much a cooler running 45 watt 6700k. Obviously at 45 watts it's not going to match 7700k at 4.2Ghz, but those chips are putting out double the heat and loading up the VRM's. The desktop chipset also pulls a little more power too.

I don't think you would notice much difference in frame rate. You will take a small hit on performance between a 1260L and a 7700K, but that would depend on the resolution of the monitor. I'd say the 1260L v5 with a C236 board will run a hell of a lot cooler than a 7700K with a desktop chipset will be faster. If that makes sense.
 
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