Prodigy - i5-4570 cooling

hawkhench

hawkhench

hawkhench

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15 Dec 2008
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718
(Reference: Build)
- BitFenix Prodigy
- Intel i5-4570 Stock Cooling
- ASRock B85M-ITX
- 2x8GB Kingston RAM
- 100GB SSD
- 2TB+1TB Seagate HDDs
- Zotac GTX 770 2GB
- 2x stock case fans
- Corsair CX 750W
(/Reference)

I'm happy enough with the above PC, however I want to quieten it down. As it is, it's not massively loud, but it's quite noticeable in the background.

Only one of the case fans is in a PWM fan control at the moment, so I was going to buy a PWM-splitter to sort that out. (Only 1 chassis fan + 1 CPU fan header on mobo).

The CPU and other chassis fan idle at around 65% usually. I've knocked them down the 40% manually in Open Hardware Monitor without a noticeable increase in temps at idle. The fan options in my BIOS are silent/standard/performance (and are currently on standard). Once I get the PWM splitter I'm going to try using silent instead. I did try it without the non-PWMed fan plugged in, and while there was a change in the noise level, it wasn't anywhere near as big as setting them manually to 40%. So first question, is there any good software for manually setting the ramp-up on CPU & chassis fan RPM? tinkered around in BIOS and discovered the customise option allows me to do exactly this, so disregard

The graphics card always idles at 33% (won't go any lower), and doesn't appear to be louder than the other noise. The other thing I wondered is how much of the noise the fan in the CX750 might be contributing. Other than giving it a good dust, is there anything I can do about that? I'm also aware some of the noise will be from HDD spinning too.

Not doing enough research when I bought the CPU then I got a non-K CPU, so I realise my overclocking options are slim-to-nonexistent. With this in mind, what are good options for upgrading the CPU cooler from stock, in a Prodigy case? I don't necessarily want the cooling capacity to be any better than stock, but I would like something much quieter (I do notice the difference going from 40% to 64% on the CPU fan). It obviously also needs to fit. Also, what are regarded as the quietest 120mm fans going at the moment, as upgrading these may also help.

tl:dr
-good software for manually setting the ramp-up on CPU & chassis fan RPM? self-solved
-is a CX750W fan loud, any way to quieten?
-*quiet* CPU cooler for i5-4570 in a Prodigy?
-quietest 120mm case fans?
 
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120mm case fans you probably want to go for SP120 Corsair fans, they are brilliant. There are some other ones around too that are supposed to be good (namely bitfenix ones etc)
 
Brilliant, after playing around with the current BitFenix ones a bit they definitely don't seem to be the source of the noise, I'm thinking fan noise wise it's more the CPU cooler. Think I'll get a 3-way PWM splitter and one of the Corsairs you recommended and just set them all on pretty low RPM. Thinking of combining that with:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-003-BQ (Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Topflow SR1)

and seeing how it goes.
 
Just managed to snag the cooler B-Grade on OcUK, result.

One thing I'm not 100% sure of though is how much orientation matters in a Prodigy (given the cooler is mounted horizontally, so every way is up). The obvious solution seems to be have the heatpipes pointed at the rear fan, with the cooler fins overhanging the RAM. Does it matter in the same way it would in a tower configuration though?
 
hawkhench said:
Does it matter in the same way it would in a tower configuration though?
Click to expand...
Yes it does.
Hot air rising is not applicable when fans are in play.
We want fans flowing cool air to coolers (CPU & GPU) and other components.
We want their heated exhaust air to flow out exhaust vents without mixing with the cool air going to components.
The cooler the air going to components the cooler they will be. For every degree warmer the component intake is translated into a degree warmer the component is. ;)
 
Think I worded it badly. From the instruction manual: "Within cases with tower form factor, please avoid installing the cooler with the heatpipe bending upwards. It might lead to an inferior performance."(link)

Which suggests (and reviews would seem to back up) that when mounted in the way they say not to, thermal performance degrades. That's when mounting in a tower format. In a Prodigy it's mounted horizontally rather than vertically, ergo I wouldn't have thought the same mounting advice was in play.

I do however wonder if there is a "wrong" way of mounting the cooler in a horizontal layout?
 
From what I have seen and done there are very few cases where cooler position relative to mavity have made any difference. The only ones effected were pancake coolers with heatpipe 180 degree "U"turn from heatsink to fins on top. All other orientations and coolers seem unaffected by position.
 
doyll said:
From what I have seen and done there are very few cases where cooler position relative to mavity have made any difference. The only ones effected were pancake coolers with heatpipe 180 degree "U"turn from heatsink to fins on top. All other orientations and coolers seem unaffected by position.
Click to expand...

...for example a Be Quiet Topflow!

Anyway I've got it installed now, dropped my idle temp by about 6-8 degrees already, so pretty happy with that. It was a bit awkward to fit though: if you're using an optical drive (or just haven't removed the ODD cage if you're not), then while it will fit, you pretty much have to take the fan off to get it in place. You also have to be very precise with your cable routing above it, as there's above 2mm clearance max between the exposed fan blades and the bottom of the optical drive.

(Apologies for the awful picture, was in a rush to see if it actually worked or not and only got my phone out. I'll try get some better pictures when I make some changes in a couple of weeks):

topflow2.jpg

edit: Just run a quick 10 min Handbrake encode to test: temp rose to 42 degrees, peaking at 44 and stayed there. Fan (on a custom curve) never needed to get above 50% and isn't audible over case fans. When load dropped once complete, temp was back down below 30 degrees within 2 seconds. Not the most technical benchmarking ever, but a performance I won't quibble with.
 
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