General cooling advice

wimpy · 5 Nov 2017 at 09:09

I have an a10-7860k with a gigabyte mobo, which I built from scratch, using new parts. It has a Radeon R7 250 to complement the onboard R7 - hoping for Crossfire later. It uses a Coolermaster- not sure about the make but it came with the cpu/mobo bundle. The CPU fan faces upward towards a case grill and the Coolermaster sits above the Graphics card. I found that the cpu was shutting down due to overheating. The thermal paste had been applied by the bundle seller - probably with a palette knife. I cleaned it off and used a more moderate bead of AS5. Core temps dropped by 5-7C- still too high. However, when I took off the case side panel, I got an immediate drop of 30C. It's running now showing 5C on all cores but it gets up to a max of 30C when gaming. I would like to be able to put back the side panel but I suppose I will have to incorporate some additional fans to compensate. Should they be set to drag in cool air or exhaust hot air?
I would be grateful for any advice and help.

Pocah · 5 Nov 2017 at 12:58

Most RM 250's don't vent any heat to the outside world, so they are dumping it all in to the case directly under the CPU heat-sink. As you have discovered, this will affect the CPU temp. Typically the effect is about 10 degrees, so the 30 degrees you are getting does indicate that you need to increase the air flow through the case to cool things down. Increasing the air flow, well it may seem that dragging air in or out is about the same, but it is generally considered to be better to drag air in to the case using front mounted fans. The reason for this is that the front case fans usually have a filter on them, so it will reduce the build-up of dust inside the case. Having said that, any air is better than no air. Cases usually have a fan very close to the CPU heat-sink just to make sure all that hot air from the CPU exits as quickly as possible, but usually that fan is a lot less powerful than the ones on the front, to ensure that still most of the incoming air in to the case is filtered. So my advice would be to add at least one fan to the front and another above that CPU heatsink. Ensure that the one at the front is larger or faster (or both!) than the one above the CPU heatsink.

wimpy · 5 Nov 2017 at 13:33

Thanks for the reply and the advice. I wasn't sure whether the build-up of heat with the side panel in place was due to inadequate cool air entering the case or not enough hot air being exhausted. There is room for both types of fan (with some modifications to the case). I'll take your advice and arrange to add a larger intake fan and a normal exhaust one.

doyll · 5 Nov 2017 at 14:18

wimpy said:
I have an a10-7860k with a gigabyte mobo, which I built from scratch, using new parts. It has a Radeon R7 250 to complement the onboard R7 - hoping for Crossfire later. It uses a Coolermaster- not sure about the make but it came with the cpu/mobo bundle. The CPU fan faces upward towards a case grill and the Coolermaster sits above the Graphics card. I found that the cpu was shutting down due to overheating. The thermal paste had been applied by the bundle seller - probably with a palette knife. I cleaned it off and used a more moderate bead of AS5. Core temps dropped by 5-7C- still too high. However, when I took off the case side panel, I got an immediate drop of 30C. It's running now showing 5C on all cores but it gets up to a max of 30C when gaming. I would like to be able to put back the side panel but I suppose I will have to incorporate some additional fans to compensate. Should they be set to drag in cool air or exhaust hot air?
I would be grateful for any advice and help.

Your heat issue is most likely caused by poor case airflow resulting in air going into coolers being much higher than room .. and every degree higher then room the air temp is translates into a degree hotter the component will run. so if your CPU was at 85c and your case iar is 30c warmer than room the CPU will drop to 55-60c with cooler air to cooler fan .. a cooler CPU .. now isnt' that cool? Sorry, got a cool sidetrack going there.

What case do you have?

Here is a basic guide to airflow and how to optimize case airflow for lower temps.
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770

wimpy · 5 Nov 2017 at 16:10

@doyll Thanks for the reply. I've read that link. The case is called a Game Max Nero (fairly cheap), if that's any help. The removed side panel consists of a largish plastic/perspex window, which I am going to modify to accept a 140mm or 200mm fan set to blow air in. In the upright position the mobo is vertical . There is room for a 80mm exhaust fan next to the CPU and cooler.