What sort of case should I get to adequately cool a 1080?

Qxzkjp

Qxzkjp

Qxzkjp

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So a while ago I bought a GTX1080, but I've been hesitant to use it to its full extent because I've noticed it overheats. And I don't mean like 60-70C, I mean like 80-90C. Way, way too hot. I was just going to chance it, but last time I did that I killed a motherboard (? I still don't understand how that was the piece to fail) playing Civ5. I think the problem is that i bought more or less the cheapest case I could, because I don't care about RGB or any of the showy-offy stuff and I assumed expensive cases were just about that :(

So I have the 1080, and a Intel Core i5-6600K. What sort of case should I get to cool them adequately? I assume one with a few more fan slots, but specific recommendations would be appreciated, including what size and amount of fans I should buy. Cooling has always been my weak point. I have neither the brains, the balls, nor the bullion to attempt water cooling, so air-cooling only suggestions would be appreciated if it's possible. Ideally I'd be able to play AC:Origins with the new setup, although I can live with having to turn the settings down.

TIA, and please do let me know if I've left important details out, I'm pretty new to asking for advice on PC building.

PS: Does anyone know if USB3 front-panel connectors can drive a USB-C port? I ask because I know some new cases have front panel USB-C, and I have a few USB-C devices. Thanks!
 
I have to say in general, size is key - more air inside the case means that air will heat up slower. It's easier to cycle new air into the case and eject warm air fast enough if you have more time to do so.

Sorry I don't have specific advice as I haven't bought a retail case for a bit, but in my experience any case that can take a full ATX board tends to have ample volume to accommodate hot components. It's almost like the graphics card, CPU etc don't end up heating each other up because they can draw cool air from different parts of the case.

It's important to see the whole picture though: which card do you have? Is it a reference blower style, or aftermarket with multiple fans? Have you altered the fan curve or is it spinning right up at that temperature? Do you have case fans, and are they also spinning at full speed when the GPU heats up?

There's a lot to be said for configuring your air flow and fan speeds first, before buying a new case.
 
I would think anything with dual front mounted 120/140s would be adequate, I'm currently running 2 1070s in my system temporarily (zotac minis) and have noticed no issues with a single 120mm exhaust, with front mounted intakes of 2x120mm + 140mm in the quite compact Corsair 400c

I would thing a pair of OC'd 1070s would meet or exceed the heat output of a 1080

What style cooler do you have on it?
 
I just checked, and there is one case fan, in the back, with seemingly no room to add more. Also, looking at it now, it's probably mostly blocked by the enormous CPU cooler. The cooler on the GPU is the one that came with it, two fans on the bottom and a vent on the backplate. I've liinked an image in case that helps.

Oh, and I've not touched any fan curves or any such thing, it's really beyond my competency, as I said cooling is my weakest area. I usually just buy nice parts and hope the coolers work :rolleyes:

Actually, I noticed when I took the photos that those fans were not spinning at all... I assume that's normal, this is a card which is more or less powerful enough to render god himself, and I was only using it to look at cat pictures and forum posts at the time. I might double-check they spin up under load in the morning though, to be sure. For now though, it's bedtime where I am, so I'll get back to you in a few hours :o

https://imgur.com/a/godk7ip
 
Yeah I'd be giving that a good clean and moving to a nice new case

Something by Lian-Li could be nice, or a Corsair 600q maybe, Phanteks and InWin also make some good stuff - world's your oyster really, just get something well made with good front and rear intakes and away you go. If you've not self built before - always put the PSU in first - as it garentees you won't drop it onto the motherboard by accident :D

Maybe have a browse of some of the galleries in the Case Central sub forum on here if you need some ideas

New CPU cooler may do you well - get something that blows out toward the rear exhaust rather than down toward your GFX card, Noctua are good, if not the best for air coolers, Thermalright are also excellent but am not sure about UK availability these days.

Edit: From the pics that looks like reasonably modern kit for so much dust - so maybe grab some fan filters if you do get a new case as I assume you must be in a dusty environment - or case sat at floor level in a room with a lot of foot fall maybe
 
Yeah, I was surprised at how much dust was there too. It was so clean and shiny when I opened it up to put the 1080 in :confused:

So I like the look of this case:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/antec-gx1200-full-tower-gaming-case-black-ca-24b-an.html

If I put in an extra front fan and a back fan, that should do it, right? And i think that CPU cooler is blowing upwards, so the vents on he top should help. Although that might just be me not wanting to spend an extra £80 on a new cooler :D

ETA: Oh, also, I only have two 4-pin headers on my motherboard. What's the best way of dealing with that problem?
 
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Qxzkjp said:
ETA: Oh, also, I only have two 4-pin headers on my motherboard. What's the best way of dealing with that problem?
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You can get fan splitters that let you plug 2 or 3 fans into one header. They're usually fine to use as most headers can supply 1A (ampere/amp) of current, and even chunky fans only pull maybe 0.3 amps or so. But still, do check what the fans demand and don't overload a header.

Alternatively you can get a fan controller which might be independently configured or have drivers for USB control
 
Qxzkjp said:
Yeah, I was surprised at how much dust was there too. It was so clean and shiny when I opened it up to put the 1080 in :confused:

So I like the look of this case:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/antec-gx1200-full-tower-gaming-case-black-ca-24b-an.html

If I put in an extra front fan and a back fan, that should do it, right? And i think that CPU cooler is blowing upwards, so the vents on he top should help. Although that might just be me not wanting to spend an extra £80 on a new cooler :D

ETA: Oh, also, I only have two 4-pin headers on my motherboard. What's the best way of dealing with that problem?
Click to expand...

You just need 1 additional 120mm fan for the rear exhaust - it come with 2 front fans.

If you do decide to change you cpu heatsinks the coolermaster hyper 212's are cheap and effective (less than £30)

As above you can get splitters for motherboard fan headers.

Worth noting that case will not accommodate your optical drive, though there's not much need for them these days
 
I didn't clock that it has no optical bay. If I can, I might get a similar case that has at least one slot. I like being able to play DVDs etc. with it, its sort of a media centre. But it sounds like this is more or less covered -- get a big case, put at least three 120mm fans in, make sure they're blowing the correct way. Use splitter cables. Might get a new CPU cooler, but it's a lot of extra hassle and I probably don't need it.

Thanks for all your help, guys!

ETA: Think I'm going with this case

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aero...tower-gaming-case-black-window-ca-202-ae.html

Has optical bays, and comes with five (!) fans
 
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Yeah that would work fine - the Fractal Design cases are always good too (aerocool build quality hasn't been great in my experience - but I've never had one of their higher end models - that one you picked out does look good!)
 
Qxzkjp said:
I didn't clock that it has no optical bay. If I can, I might get a similar case that has at least one slot. I like being able to play DVDs etc. with it, its sort of a media centre. But it sounds like this is more or less covered -- get a big case, put at least three 120mm fans in, make sure they're blowing the correct way. Use splitter cables. Might get a new CPU cooler, but it's a lot of extra hassle and I probably don't need it.

Thanks for all your help, guys!

ETA: Think I'm going with this case

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aero...tower-gaming-case-black-window-ca-202-ae.html

Has optical bays, and comes with five (!) fans
Click to expand...
Nice, twin fan controllers too and all fans are 140mm! That's a pretty beastly case. Sounds like you have the right idea :)
 
Qxzkjp said:
I think the problem is that i bought more or less the cheapest case I could,
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That AeroCrap was total trash already decade ago!
Barely fit for word processing/web surfing PC, with that lack of cooling with tiny rear fan restricted by mediocre mesh.

Qxzkjp said:
https://imgur.com/a/godk7ip
Click to expand...
That's some serious dust problem.
And with that non-reference high end graphics card dumping all heat into totally inadequately cooled case, I would also start putting that cheap PSU into risk zone.
Cheap components don't like being bathed in heat even without additional dust problem and basing to CPU it has been gathering dust for couple years.

You'll definitely need case with controlled airflow and intake filters you can access easily to clean them often.
(preferably front accessible PSU/bottom filter)
Thousand and one holes magpie nest cases can easily suck in dust from holes unless having "positive pressure" fan setup.
Besides leaking all noises out...
 
I have a Phanteks Enthoo Pro..keeps my Gigabyte GTX1080 nice and cool - running Furmark stress test the temps max out at 70 degrees.

Thats with 2 140mm fans at the front and a 140mm exhaust.
 
Cyclone said:
I've got the Fractal Design R5, and using a 1080. There's a lot of space inside and options for more fans.
Click to expand...

Ooh I do like the R5. They look so nice when you see one for real, so to speak. They are a very wide case with tons of room for heatsinks and a big fat rear fan.
 
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