Cooling a RYZEN 9 3950X

Matrix · 23 Jun 2020 at 18:51

My friend is looking at buying one of these not to overclocked to run stock .

Whats best to cool i was looking at either a NH-D15 DUAL RADIATOR QUIET CPU COOLER WITH TWO NH-A15 FANS or a LIQTECH II 240 RGB CPU WATER COOLER - 240MM ( runa 3 fans one on my threadripper )

Which would be best to run much difference in them ?

Possiblecase would be something like a ENTHOO PRO GLASS MIDI TOWER CASE - BLACK

Thank you

Joxeon · 23 Jun 2020 at 19:04

Matrix said:
My friend is looking at buying one of these not to overclocked to run stock .

Whats best to cool i was looking at either a NH-D15 DUAL RADIATOR QUIET CPU COOLER WITH TWO NH-A15 FANS or a LIQTECH II 240 RGB CPU WATER COOLER - 240MM ( runa 3 fans one on my threadripper )

Which would be best to run much difference in them ?

Possiblecase would be something like a ENTHOO PRO GLASS MIDI TOWER CASE - BLACK

Thank you

Arctic freezer II 280 is a top performer at a decent price if you can find any stock.

MrRockliffe · 23 Jun 2020 at 19:20

Don’t know if I’d trust Enermax coolers - they had some horrendous issues with their liqtech coolers corroding. Not sure if they’ve fixed it yet.

The NH D15 is an excellent cooler as is the arctic. Less failure points on the Noctua and longer warranty but more difficult to install/work with due to ram height limitations

EsaT · 23 Jun 2020 at 19:46

3900X/3950X are ~140W max draw CPUs and don't really need any special heayv duty cooling even if all core loaded.
(unlike Intels starting from half the core count)

PieEater · 23 Jun 2020 at 21:49

EsaT said:
3900X/3950X are ~140W max draw CPUs and don't really need any special heayv duty cooling even if all core loaded.
(unlike Intels starting from half the core count)

But with better cooling they will boost higher and sustain the boost speeds for longer, the latter applies even more so for liquid coolers that take considerably longer to get to peak temperatures. As evidenced by the excellent Gamers Nexus cooler reviews they have done recently.

Matrix · 28 Jun 2020 at 15:53

MrRockliffe said:
Don’t know if I’d trust Enermax coolers - they had some horrendous issues with their liqtech coolers corroding. Not sure if they’ve fixed it yet.

The NH D15 is an excellent cooler as is the arctic. Less failure points on the Noctua and longer warranty but more difficult to install/work with due to ram height limitations

Yeah i have the Enermax on my ripper been fine so far ( famous last words now ) Yeah don't want to be struggling to get RAM with the Noctua.

Will have to have another at things and see thanks for the info so far people much appreciated

doyll · 29 Jun 2020 at 13:37

Matrix said:
My friend is looking at buying one of these not to overclocked to run stock .

Whats best to cool i was looking at either a NH-D15 DUAL RADIATOR QUIET CPU COOLER WITH TWO NH-A15 FANS or a LIQTECH II 240 RGB CPU WATER COOLER - 240MM ( runa 3 fans one on my threadripper )

Which would be best to run much difference in them ?

Possiblecase would be something like a ENTHOO PRO GLASS MIDI TOWER CASE - BLACK

Thank you

A nice air cooler like D15 or D15S . D15S has better PCIe clearance & 1x fan, but 1x fan is only a couple degrees warmer at full speed. In fact at same noise leve they cool the same, so only at fulls speed will you ever see the 2c (maybe 3c) difference .. and I doubt system will ever be running fans at full speed. There are other cooler as good at lower prices, but need to know motherboard, RAM and case to determine what will fit.

Below link may be of interest. It is basic guide to how airflow works and how to optimize case airflow.
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770

Enthoo Pro Glass is a good case and included fans are also good. I would put both as front intakes and block any openings not covered by fans so air fans push into case has to move through case and out, not leak around fans and go in circles never through case.

Remove all PCIe back slot covers increases rear vent area and thus better front to back airflow so lower air temps thus lower component temps and fan speeds meaning less noise as well.

Matrix · 29 Jun 2020 at 16:40

doyll said:
A nice air cooler like D15 or D15S . D15S has better PCIe clearance & 1x fan, but 1x fan is only a couple degrees warmer at full speed. In fact at same noise leve they cool the same, so only at fulls speed will you ever see the 2c (maybe 3c) difference .. and I doubt system will ever be running fans at full speed. There are other cooler as good at lower prices, but need to know motherboard, RAM and case to determine what will fit.

Below link may be of interest. It is basic guide to how airflow works and how to optimize case airflow.
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770

Enthoo Pro Glass is a good case and included fans are also good. I would put both as front intakes and block any openings not covered by fans so air fans push into case has to move through case and out, not leak around fans and go in circles never through case. Remove all PCIe back slot covers increases rear vent area and thus better front to back airflow so lower air temps thus lower component temps and fan speeds meaning less noise as well.

Thanks for that very informative post really helpfully much appreciated

motherboard looking at something like this
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...4-x570-chipset-atx-motherboard-mb-57t-gi.html

As for Ram
Possibly this https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...00c18-3600mhz-quad-channel-kit-my-4cs-cs.html

Or 2 x these https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...3200mhz-dual-channel-kit-black-my-4ce-cs.html for 128 GIG

Thank you once more.

doyll · 29 Jun 2020 at 17:03

Can't really do anything without knowing exactly what motherboard and RAM is being used. I'm good but not good enought to get measurements for what might be.

That said, most all motherboards for AMD have plenty of room toward CPU socket and PCIe sockets for big coolers, but are usually too close to RAM for a fan on front of cooler unless it is set back toward back of case.

Matrix · 29 Jun 2020 at 17:10

doyll said:
Can't really do anything without knowing exactly what motherboard and RAM is being used. I'm good but not good enought to get measurements for what might be.

That said, most all motherboards for AMD have plenty of room toward CPU socket and PCIe sockets for big coolers, but are usually too close to RAM for a fan on front of cooler unless it is set back toward back of case.

Yeah he still looking at specs etc but did like the gigabyte-x570-aorus-master and the corsair-vengeance-rgb-pro-128gb-4x32gb .

I know my ripper the ram is right next to the cpu etc have AIO on it but i'm not sure any fan would fit there lol

Thanks

doyll · 29 Jun 2020 at 17:45

Matrix said:
Yeah he still looking at specs etc but did like the gigabyte-x570-aorus-master and the corsair-vengeance-rgb-pro-128gb-4x32gb .

I know my ripper the ram is right next to the cpu etc have AIO on it but i'm not sure any fan would fit there lol

Thanks

Scythe Mugen is offset back with front of fan being 47-48mm from center CPU toward RAM.
Cryorig R1 Universl is 48mm from center to front of fan.
Themralright Le Grand Macho is also 48mm to front of fan.
I think they will all fit no problem.

Of course if RAM is not tall it's not a problem. DDR4 RAM PBC standard size is 31,4mm tall, so when installed in socket it stands 34.4mm above motherboard (socket raises RAM 2-3mm). Problem is many DDR4 RAM have much taller so called heat shinks that are really only show, and don't actually lower RAM temps. DDR4 RAM runs so cool it doesn't need any heatsinks.

StonedPriest · 29 Jun 2020 at 20:01

I went for the Corsair Hydro 115i RGB Platinum in my 3950x build and it's working very well!

KungFuSpaghetti · 29 Jun 2020 at 20:38

I have had a noctua d14 on my xeon (massively overclocked), a 2700x then my 3900x. Performed brilliantly on all. However... my experience on my 3900x was strange, as the motherboard on auto voltages let it run to 78 degrees and would steady out at 4'025 benchmarking. My 360mm aio steadied out at 4'175 all core on the same tests but hit 84 degrees and put even more wattage through the chip. The aio clearly allows for better speeds, but watch the volts at auto, I've set a fixed voltage 1.29175 and it maxed out at 67 degrees and performance is up again. Shame my d14 wouldn't fit my new case as I'd liked to have tried that with fixed voltage...

Anyway, rambling over, I would go with an aio if you want the performance and sustained frequencies, however air coolers are more reliable, not that far off in performance and cheaper.

Aio looks better to me, again that's personal preference, but they each have their merits and flaws.