General overheating - cooling advice please

NickTheBiz

NickTheBiz

NickTheBiz

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29 Apr 2015
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Chaps

Not done much with my system for a while, but in this summery weather, and on some of the more intense games I play, I'm getting it overheat quite often now, so need to address the cooling.

Recommendations?

Asus Z170-E 1151 socket
Intel i5-6400 (non-K) @ 4.4Ghz
Kingston Fury Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-21300C15 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black
Alpenfohn - Brocken 2
NZXT S340
2 x Samsung 840 Evo 250GB
EVGA 1070 FTW
EVGA 650W G2
 
What is overheating more - CPU, GPU or both? Any hot spots appearing on the case? Typically top corners but sometimes below the graphics card.

That case has two exhaust fans - top and rear. I'd suggest that you're struggling to get fresh air into the case.

Those fans aren't particularly suited for overcoming resistance as they don't generate much air pressure - but before buying new fans, you could try moving one or both to the front of the case. There is more resistance at the front so it makes sense to draw air in using fans, then let it vent naturally via the open grilles at the rear.

Think of it like this - the coolers need fresh air to do their job. After that, heated air can slowly heat the entire case up. So job one is supply cool air, and then either exhaust it or let it escape naturally.

I would try rearranging airflow first. If that helps but not enough, consider upgrading the fans to something pressure oriented.
 
Some tips that helped me in the past:
Try to de-dust components with compressed air or my specialty; a hair dryer
Make sure there's ample airflow by getting enough intake fans and if need be, can be picked up cheap
Reapply thermal paste to the CPU and GPU - can be risky but there's plenty of tutorials

Hope this helped and good luck! :)
 
Many users have found out CLCs don't cool any better than a case with good airflow and decent cooler. Brocken 2 is not a bad cooler, just not as much cooling ability as bigger more expensive ones. But before talking about changing cooler, let us get your case flowing the cool air CPU and GPU coolers need along with removing their heated exhaust.

Lots of good advice.

I would change your intake fans to high pressure fans, remove all PCIe back slot covers to increase rear vent area around GPU and thus give better front to back airflow and lower GPU temps as well as less heated air from GPU moving up into CPU cooler. With good intake fans and enough exhaust venting there is no need for exhaust fans. Below is link to guide to setting up good case airflow. Just open the spoiler: ;)
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/how-to-improve-case-cooling.18549446/#post-25142977
 
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You probably need to find out exactly which component is over heating before a decent answer can be given.

Certainly though re-pasting your CPU, cleaning the internals and providing more/better fans are all certainly options which may help but it'd be a killer not knowing which one was the "one".
 
A low cost digital indoor/outdoor thermometer with remote sensor on wire lead and place outdoor sensor an inch or two in middle area of cooler fan to monitor air temp into cooler and set unit in front of case to monitor room air temp going in. If air temp going into cooler is more than 3-5c above air temp around case after 20-30minutes of heavy load we know case airflow is not what it should be. Keep in mind every degree warmer than room the air into cooler is tranlstates to same degrees hotter CPU is. ;)
 
Steveocee said:
You probably need to find out exactly which component is over heating before a decent answer can be given.

Certainly though re-pasting your CPU, cleaning the internals and providing more/better fans are all certainly options which may help but it'd be a killer not knowing which one was the "one".
Click to expand...

The CPU
 
NickTheBiz said:
The CPU
Click to expand...
If you are using stock case fans, I agree with EsaT about getting a couple good 140mm to use as front intakes. I like Phanteks PH-F140MP 2-pack for £16.26. Very good and reasonable price. I have not used Arctic P14, but from what I've heard they are decent at low price. P14 1700rpm 3-pin is £5.99 and P14 PWM PST is £6.95, so a couple quid cheaper each than PH-F140MP in 2-pack. I really need to get a couple to test and compare to fans like PH-F140MP. ;)
 
It might be that over time the stock thermal paste has set to concrete and not transferring as much heat as it did when new. A delid and fresh TIM may also help.
 
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