Cooling advice 4790K in R4

[M Pat]

Hi All

A long time since I built a pc so grateful for some advice!

Question is around cooling for a 4790K in a Fractal Design R4 case. Primary use will be gaming (e.g. Elite Dangerous which does use multiple cores), a little video editing, will not OC to start with, and if I do so later would potentially look at new cooling options, so what I need right now does not have to be top range performance wise. I’d just like something a bit better/quieter than the stock cooler.

I’ve spent hours looking at all the options, both air and water based. I just hate the idea of hanging 1.1 kg of metal off my motherboard (though I know lots do and it must be safe enough), and though I’m not sold on closed loop WC, I could be tempted that way.

So questions are :

1) any recommended lighter weight but efficient air coolers? I’d like even lighter than the NH-U12S or Zalman 9900 if possible
2) if I go WC I guess I’m looking at H80i or H100i both of which I know will fit, but are there any others known to fit? I might be able to run lower fan speeds with the larger rads, but fitting likely an issue
3) If I go WC, any recommendation on rad location?

Looking at figure below, I would have thought that mounting at D/E will maximise cooling but blow hot air across the rest of the internals, whereas mounting at A or B/C blows warm air through the rad reducing cooling performance. Which is best? I’m thinking the latter, but getting a good throughput of cooler air into the case with extra case fans (eg at F)?

Thanks!

 

[Doomedspeed]

Hi and Welcome.

A very good case choice there, I can only assume you are aiming for silence in this build. That is certainly achievable.

Before I answer you're question I just want to talk about the fan layout. The layout on your picture is Ideal though obviously the more fans you have the more noise they'll make (and its not just fan noise, its the noise of the air moving too, that needs to be considered.

As you won't be Overclocking much (too start with anyway) I would say you could get rid of a few of those fans. (if you're not going to use a H100(I) you can get rid of fans 'B' and 'F'. You could even disregard 'C' too, if you wished but I do like the 'up and out' airflow patterns.

My only concern with that Airflow pattern is fan 'F'. I think that could disrupt the GPU airflow, depending on whether the card is rear or side exhaust. The issue is, do you leave it out and leave the hot GPU air to travel up to the top exhausts or have the bottom exhaust and (potentially) trap hot air under the case.. Im guess you could experiment with that later though.

I’ve spent hours looking at all the options, both air and water based. I just hate the idea of hanging 1.1 kg of metal off my motherboard (though I know lots do and it must be safe enough), and though I’m not sold on closed loop WC, I could be tempted that way.

Before I get stuck into the questions, I have to tell you im a big fan (haha) of air cooling though I have had both Air cooler and Watercoolers.

At the moment I have a D14, which is a good 1kg of metal, and I love it.

1) any recommended lighter weight but efficient air coolers? I’d like even lighter than the NH-U12S or Zalman 9900 if possible

I don't think weight should be an issue at, all motherboards and cases are designed to take the load. At 750g the NH-12S is quite light and a good choice for low noise and great cooling. You won't find any decent air coolers under 500g.

2) if I go WC I guess I’m looking at H80i or H100i both of which I know will fit, but are there any others known to fit? I might be able to run lower fan speeds with the larger rads, but fitting likely an issue

Yeah the H100i is where you're looking for WC really. You MAY be able to fit a H105 (thicker rad) in. I think the H100i with 7v SP120's would be ideal.

3) If I go WC, any recommendation on rad location?

H100i Top mounted exhausting.

Personally I'd go with air cooling, as it will be quieter and as Overclocking isn't a massive issue it would be more price effective. That Noctua cooler will let you get a pretty god overclock but if you are WANTING to push the boundaries (and you don't mind a little extra noise) the H100i is worth looking into.

 

[M Pat]

Hi Doomedspeed,

Wow that is exactly the sort of reply I was after, thanks for taking the time and for the nice welcome!

Good point about not running too many fans. I was thinking maybe more fans at lower speed might be quieter than fewer fans running at higher speed, but thats probably a fallacy. Maybe I need to start with fewer and add more if needed.

I think I'm going to take your advice and go for the NH-12S.

The case comes with 2 silent series R2 140mm fans. I think I might stick these at D and E and remove the drive cages completely for good airflow. Blank F off.

Then maybe add a new 140mm fan at A to deal with CPU fan exhaust, and maybe one at B or C to help pull the incoming air through?

Overkill? Only one at front and one at A or B?

The GPU is a GTX 780Ti, mild overclock by ASUS, the shrouds don't look very close fitting to me, so maybe there is hot air leakage rather than good ducting via the rear grill? Maybe the 4 case fan set-up might deal with that better?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Doomedspeed]

No worries, Theres a lot of people around to help but I just have more time at work than most to trawl the web, for some reason.

Personally less fans more speed is my way of doing it, you can always use PWM or 7v/5v adaptors to adjust the speed if the noise is too much.

I think your right in your thinking, 2 front one rear and one top.

You really do need to front as your providing air for the GPU and CPU, so 'D' (CPU) and 'E' (GPU) are quite important.

Is the card the DCUII by any chance? This one:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 780Ti DirectCU II 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £479.99
Total : £489.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



I don't think you need to worry about a bottom fan with that. If you ever go SLI you may want to consider it then.

I think that noctua is a good choice for the CPU cooler, cool, slim and Quiet:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Noctua NH-U12S Ultra-Quiet Slim CPU Cooler with NF-F12 Fan £52.99
Total : £58.97 (includes shipping : £4.98).



There are cheaper options but for noise you won't get much better.

 

[heighnub]

If you want to use the SSD mounts behind the motherboard tray then don't forget to mount the SSDs before installing the motherboard!

The fans that come with the R4 are pretty quiet at 7V. I was happy with one exhaust at A and one intake at D/E until I got a R9 290...

 

[M Pat]

@ Doomedspeed - yup thats pretty much the GPU, but the DC2OC version. I'm holding it right now, and it looks like it is going to blast hot air all over the place, so as you say, 4 case fans is probably the way to go.
Will order the Noctua tonight.

@heighnub - thanks! exactly the sort of thing I would forget. I like the motherboard tray option, was also looking at PCI options, the motherboard has M2 functionality, but I don't see many PCI express M2 options on the market yet, and they look a bit pricey.

Cheers all!