So I have recently switched back to elite 110 mITX case as its small, extremely small but this comes with a cost to thermals unfortunately.
Inside the case is a ryzen 1700 and a GTX 1060 6GB which run well but I would if possible like to get the thermals lower.
at idle the system sits at around 36c on the CPU and around 45/50 on the GPU (Fans off) and under load I hit around 45c on the CPU and 75c on the GPU
What could I do to further improve thermals on the system? new AIO perhaps? side fans?
Many Thanks
What is your current cooling setup?
45C and 75C at load really isn’t too bad, especially in a small case.
Some things that might help:
- Shorter cables can reduce clutter and ease air flow. Might require custom ordering/making some though.
- Blower style cards can work better in smaller cases because they exhaust out the back of the case whereas open-air cards exhaust kinda everywhere.
- The larger and faster a fan the more air it pushes, but also louder it gets.
2 Likes
How is your psu oriented?
Mind sharing some pics?
I think pulling air from inside the case would be best
As Skelterz says a few pictures would be very beneficial. Also what’s your current cooling setup?
A blower-style card will most likely improve CPU temps a little, but the card itself will probably run hotter because the cooler design on those just isn’t that good really.
It looks like that case comes with a 120mm fan in the front. If you’re on air, I’d upgrade that to a static pressure optimized 140mm fan, perhaps one of the Noctua Industrial 2000RPM ones.
It doesn’t have to run at that RPM all day, just connect it to the CPU header (using a Y-splitter, of course) so that the fan ramps up whenever the CPU heats up. That way you’ll have the airflow when you need it and silence when you’re just browsing or idling.
If you’re using an AIO, I’d still go with the same fan (but in 120mm flavor to suit the radiator), just to get as much air as possible in there.
If you can use the PSU as an exhaust, by all means do that. Getting cold air into the case is only one part of cooling, you need to pull the hot air out as well.
If it were 10-15mm higher, I’d have slapped a 200mm fan in the front and dremeled away most of the metal there so the fan would have as little obstruction as possible. Then again I’m crazy when it comes to these things. I still would look into the option of putting two 120mm fans next to each other though, even if that means cutting away most of the chassis’ front plate and fabricating custom mounts.
Pictures are attached,
Specifications are as follows
Ryzen 7 1700 Stock clock
CM Seidon 120mm radiator with a noctua NF A12 on the front, another will be going on soon.
GPU is a Zotac GTX 1060 6GB
PSU is currently orientated with fan at the bottom as you can see although I am thinking of changing it to take air in from the top and exhaust out the back.
I may switch the PSU when I come to swap the GPU next generation to something fully modular, due to my currently PSU being semi-modular I cant invest in shorter cables.
Additionally swapping the GPU to a blower style is also not an option at the moment, and I don’t want to swap the thermals on the GPU just yet as its still in warranty.
I am thinking of replacing the AIO as its rather loud due to the pump, I have a NH L9A which I may test and see what happens.
@anon37371794 - I have looked at the industrial series of fans, but are they actually as loud as people say they are? , additionally even with modding you couldn’t get 2 120mm fans due to my GPU, it only just fits in this case.
Many Thanks All
The industrial fans will be loud at full speed, no idea how they are on idle. If you can control them with PWM they should go low enough to become barely audible.
As for the 2nd 120mm fan, I recall seeing pictures of that case where the fan is on the outside of the chassis, you have yours (apparently a Noctua already) on the inside.
Looking at it again, I’m thinking that there just isn’t enough room for a second fan in the front anyway, at least not a 120mm one. So yeah, a single high-performance fan it is.
I think I could fit one on the outside of the case and one on the inside behind the radiator, ill try find another 120mm and see how it turns out.
