9Gen memory controller (IMC) design
9Gen memory controller (IMC) design
I aimed to enhance the airflow within the case and definitely activated the stock fans on the NH-D15, considering they’re among the best quality heatsink fans available. I concur with @HairlessMonkeyBoy about avoiding pushing your LLC too far. Regarding stress testing, what tools do you employ? If you're using Prime95, especially a newer release, make sure to turn off AVX unless you already disabled it, since the workload is so extreme that it’s unlikely you’ll encounter such intense demands in practice. It mainly verifies that your CPU can handle significant heat output, but real-world scenarios rarely match those conditions.
If I recall correctly its 5 out of 7, there's still extreme and super extreme. Ye mine is set 1.265v in bios and it goes to 1.19-1.21v under stress / 1.23-1.24v gaming (vrout values). I once tried to find the minimum voltage for 4.7Ghz all cores and -incredibly- it only crashed at 1.11v while running CinebenchR20 2x times -it passed the first one. I was surprised on how it could work at such lower voltage. I am sure it could be set lower to 1.23-1.25v, but I just don't wanna lose time messing with it to find out later that it will crash, so I leave a little higher. I added a picture of the case in my signature [9900KF] so you can see the setup. I got this Noctua from a friend and the fans didn't fit the case unfortunately, so I had to replace with a 120mm 1300rpm generic one. The other two are also generic and runs around 800-1200rpm, got them mostly for the white ring look if I am being honest because their airflow is really not good. I am open for any recommendation on fans, I used to have an Akasa Apache Black long time ago but couldn't find it, it had a great noise vs airflow ratio and two of them would pair nicely with this Noctua. I did the tests with Aida + Furmark to burn the GPU, no AVX. It handles about 20min under 95C rock solid @4.7 all cores, but once time passes and the internal temperature of the case starts building up it just can't dissipate it, especially Furmark that gets the 1080 crazy hot to 88C, this card never goes past 76C gaming. At around 30min it reaches over 97C on the cores and starts throttling slight, for ex goes from 4.7 to 4.3-4.5 quickly returning to 4.7. Voltage stay fixed all the time 1.19-1.21. I know it sounds alarming saying like that, but on my daily use it will never get anywhere close to those temps, this is just to simulate a worst case scenario. I will keep an eye tough with the new ram to make sure its sitting around the same temps, if I see it getting 80ish I will definitely sacrifice the clean/quiet look for better results.
It helps my thoughts. The design appears appealing. However, the front panel glass isn't helping with cooling much. The gap seems quite narrow. I tend to favor Fractal Venturi fans. Of course, Noctua Chromax fans are excellent... You'd definitely want additional intake fans.
You're correct about the minor issue, based on the stress test results, those two white ring fans operate efficiently only within a certain speed range. Including that information highlights a potential airflow problem in my selection. It's puzzling why the setup feels so quiet. I also ran a brief 15-minute stress test focusing solely on the CPU (excluding the GPU) and found the cores stayed well below 90°C, with the highest reaching around 88°C. Adding good fans could significantly improve performance. Thanks for the feedback! Even though their performance is lacking, I still appreciate their appearance. I'm weighing whether to replace them for better airflow and lower noise, accepting the trade-off for improved temperatures. Let's see how it performs with faster RAM next.