Aurora R8, EVGA RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra Gaming, Noctua nf-a12x15-pwm-chromax-black-swap

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   did the same thing. 2 front fans, push pull, and a msi 3070 2x

@AnonymousI also ordered a few other things, inspired by that XPS mod you did for zero dust, 2x120mm square filters and a cheap dremel type tool which will help me do a quick job on that bezel lip and cut off those tabs to avoid destroying the filters

Not so sure about cutting a square out of the R8 front bezel, I do prefer it as it is, (Edit) It is 95mm from grill to the tab inside the bezel so would need to look at options around 75mm or smaller if I do. We shall see, this project is progressive for now.

Order of next installations with tests:

• Install M2 NVME in bottom PCIE above the SSD (coming wednesday), move games to it, check all thermals, if not satisfactory remove SSD and check again all thermals
• Install new thermal paste and maybe filters, check CPU thermals
• Cut up the front bezel lip, maybe 4 triangles, check CPU thermals, if not satisfactory cut 2 more triangles and check again all thermals

Any ideas/improvements on this plan?

@r72019    Do you know how he made the shapes?

fan grill of your choosing and then an appropriate fan filter 

@kianthemann 

That photo hurts my neck 

(click photo to embiggen)

Hi @kianthemann 

Nice upgrade in that R9, Kudos in your thread.

Before I replace the CPU cooler, which I am considering, I will be replacing the thermal paste as this can often make a big difference, Arctic Silver 5 ordered today. At the same time I will dismount, clean and measure things up to see how the contraption is pieced together.

I was at one point considering a 3070, but getting one just took too long as they were never in stock except for the first 20 minutes and I was in a meeting So I started paging thru here and found the EVGA 3090 install results which encouraged me to look up to the EVGA 3080 cards.

How is that 3070 hanging ?

Sorry lol I wont make this mistake again!

The 3070 is doing alright but crashes when I play very all around demanding titles like Metro exodus. I believe it is my Thermaltake PSU as it only has 576W on the 12V rail without accounting for the 80% efficiency. I'm pretty sure this means I only have 460W available for my PC to run on. In pcpartpicker my System draws exactly 460w. I will keep this updated on my 3070 crash thread if you were interested. (through my profile)

Now the serious stuff, thermals

First, my rig was originally:

• Aurora R8
• i9-9900K
• GTX 1060
• 8GB Ram
• NVME M2 516GB

Upgrades so far:

• Memory Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR4-3200
• HDD 4 TB WD Blue
• Front Fan Noctua nf-a12x15-pwm-chromax-black-swap
• GPU EVGA RTX 3080 XC3 ULTRA GAMING
• SSD 1 TB Sandisk
• Upper Front Fan Noctua NF A12x25 PWM

All tests with the following settings:

• Bios XMP1
• AWCC Overclock Off
• System High Performance
• NVIDIA High Performance
• NVIDIA GSYNC Off
• Precision X1 Aggressive Fan Control

Timespy tests

The main thing to understand is that you cannot set the Front fans to more than 67% offset in AWCC, otherwise they stop.

This means that the standard thermal profiles in AWCC, Balanced and Performance are no longer relevant. So I have created the following profiles with the settings above:

• Increased Front - for my poor starved of air CPU while idling, this is my default profile, barely audible
• Low Gaming - for old games like CSGO, thermals around 50°C, audible but a very quiet setting
• Gaming - for intensive games like COD BOCW, thermals around 60°, audible around 50db
• Old Gaming - fans at highest, not used except for testing, loud around 70db

I hope some may profit from these results and config settings.

Aside from that, I stopped the testing after Repasting, case temps were worse idling, not the same time of day, as to Timespy thermals an result, not much difference.

As such I think I shall redo the paste, I will also get to see how sloppy I was this first attempt It has been 15yrs since I last pasted a CPU.

I added the filters, I looked at ways of trying the get then fitted outside the case but inside the bezel, but then with all that uneven surface and what separates the filters from the fans, i.e. the space either side of the case, I decided that was not the best way to go about it.

120mm Filters + Paste + RIITOP PCEILower front fan plus filterLower front fan and filter, slide the plastic ties thruUpper front fan in HDD1 + filter + tiesFans and filters in place, plastic ties tightenedFans, filters, plastic ties, done

Job done, I am pleased with it Hopefully a lot less dust will be inside now 

RIITOP + Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB in PCEI

I added the new NVME M2 thingy in the bottom x8 PCEI, works fine

@Anonymous If you want to keep going; consider a couple ML120 Pro (no LED, no RGB) fans in a push/pull configuration for a radiator sandwich, and while you are there re-paste the CPU with some good quality TIM.

So I have the option to just fix them to the radiator...

The rad is 28mm, so 78mm with 2x25mm fans is nice and would fit just adding 10mm to the current cooling setup.

I found the Corsair CO-9050040-WW, 2400 RPM, 75cfm and 37dba, compared to the Noctua NF-A12x25 PWM 2000 RPM, 60cfm and 22.6dba, I guess the ML Pro makes sense as 37dbA is not a lot, quieter than my silent dishwasher

What do I need apart from the two fans? extra screws?

Sorry for the question, I am spending hours searching here, the best I found was your post here   

I retested all my profiles on Timespy, and have better results, pretty much equivalent to before pasting the CPU. IIRC the paste takes a few days powered on to bed in properly.

More searching here for a sandwich, and reread that  ultimate famous thread containing many insights, sometimes hard to follow

@r72019 used 6-32 x 1.25" to fix the 25mm fan from the outside, 4 for the inner fan to the radiator and 4 through the metal box and the 25mm fan into the top of the radiator on a H60.  Nice! Kudos!

I can confirm they are 6-32 screws in the R8 radiator.

I checked my Noctua 25mm PWM on TOP_FAN with the stock fan to the 3 pin side of the Y cable so that I could test without removing the contraption. Result, BIOS went into diagnostic tests as it failed to recognise a functional Fan. No need to check with the Noctua 15mm, ML120 Pro is the way to go as @Anonymous said.

Conclusion. I think I know what to do now for making a pull/push config without going too high on the budget (H75 or H60+2nd fan) and under 80mm thick.

Ordering 2 ML 120 Pros (no LED no RGB) + Y PLM cables + 16x6-32 30mm (cannot get 8 for cheaper) for next weekend to remake the R8 cooler to a pull/push 155x120x79mm, looking forward to it, gonna be fun   I have high expectations now!

@markburv    I have high expectations now!

Great work modding! I am looking forward to photos of the next phase. This is how cool I am imagining your rig after these mods   

@Douglas729 that image has had me wondering for at least 24 hours   Must give me another -10°C on the CPU maybe  but something doesn't look right