computer cooling question

[albionmoonlight]

My son got a Dell desktop that he uses for gaming. He upgraded the graphics card. Now, when he runs graphics-intensive games, the inside of the tower gets hot--both the GPU and the CPU. It seems like the GPU is just venting too much heat into the box.

He wants to get a cooling system for Christmas, but from what I can tell, those just cool the CPU, which might not help the overall problem if most of the heat is coming from the GPU. But possibly if he gets a AIO liquid cooling system and puts the radiator outside of the box, that might remove enough overall heat to help.

Or does he just need a bigger box?

As you can tell, I know very little about this area. Any insights into a solution are appreciated. I am happy to answer questions, send pics, etc. if it would help.

And thank you very much.

[GrantDawg]

Not an expert, but just from what I have experienced he definitely needs a bigger box. I have a large tower with water cooler. My CPU/GPU temps never get out of hand, but my tower sheds enough heat that the room temp goes up 8-10 degrees when playing a heavy load game. A big box that distributes heat is much better than the small towers you usually get from Dell.

[albionmoonlight]

Maybe something like this?

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

[Edward64]

Can you share the model and specs?

[albionmoonlight]

Dell - G5 Gaming Desktop (this is the original tower)
Intel Core i7-10700F 2.9 GHz (original CPU--not overclocked or anything)
32GB Memory DDR4 (upgraded from 16 GB)
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti (upgraded from GTX 1660 Ti)
1TB SSD

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Maybe something like this?

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

I like the venting on that better.This is more like what I have.

Just a moment...

[GrantDawg]

I'll ad that I have a 3080ti, so probably close to the same heat levels/ Maybe a bit more.

[Edward64]

Not an expert but read the PC/laptop stuff and have built PCs from parts before, so take it FWIW ...

The i7-10700F is not as bad as the i7 12th & 13th gen on heat. I assume it was working fine with the 1660 ti and now the new 3660 ti is causing the problem with excess heat.

The G5 is a "compact" desktop so a bigger box will probably help. Maybe also a bigger fan.

The problem with a bigger box is that Dell uses proprietary motherboards & power supply. This means the placement of the holes where you screw down the original G5 motherboard may not work with the new non-Dell case.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews...gaming-desktop

The Dell G5 Gaming Desktop is a compact rig that can play most games at an affordable price. It has got easily accessible ports, but a proprietary motherboard and a power supply meant for a server mean that parts beyond the RAM, CPU and GPU aren't easily upgradeable.

1) I would suggest maybe start off by taking off some of the rear back slot panels/covers (e.g. you take them off to insert new cards).

2) Assume all the desktop and GPU fans are working? If not sure, turn it on with the cover off and you should be able to visually confirm. Also, nothing is blocking the front/back airflow?

3) I've also read some GPU cards of the same model (e.g. 3060 ti) handle heat better than others. So maybe google/read up on that specific GPU card to see if there are any complaints/solutions that others have.

4) Consider applying some thermal paste to the i7-10700F. I do believe the 3060ti is generating most of the heat, but applying paste to the CPU will probably bring down the overall temperature down

5) I don't have any experience with how well external fan solutions work, so no advice there. Maybe get a cheap "fan" and see how it goes

6) Download HWInfo, it will help you monitor the CPU & GPU temperature (e.g. when you try possible solutions)

7) Possibly consider an early birthday present and get him a newer and bigger desktop during Cyber Monday. Probably can eBay the G5 for $200-$250.

Hope this helps some.

[albionmoonlight]

You are right that the problems started with the new card. It seems like the issue is that it is just producing too much heat in too small of a space. Which is an issue if Dell makes it hard to get a bigger space . . .

[Atocep]

Everything said before pretty much covers it. An AOI cooler would probably lower temps since you're removing the heat generated by the CPU, but it's not going to make a significant impact.

The G5 case just doesn't look like it's built with airflow in mind. I watched a video where a guy upgraded every fan in the case and it had a modest, at best, impact on case temps. Just based on the video I watched i'm not sure there's even room to mount a AIO radiator in the case.

The best, and most expensive route, would be new case+MB+PSU. If going that route, would recommend a NZXT case. All of their cases are great, easy to work with, and they have wide range of price options. They can be difficult to find this time of year though. He shouldn't need anything more than a mid-tower case. A full tower would just be preference, room to work with, ease of access, etc.

Lian Li also makes great cases but I haven't personally worked with them. Your top 2 brands for most builders right now are NZXT and Lian Li though.

Some general tips for cooling. AIO coolers are great and easy to install. They can be very affordable too. There's really no reason not to get one. My current build has one that displays the CPU temp on a LED screen inside the case and the NZXT case I'm using comes with software that tracks temps of everything along with some other info. I'm using the NZXT H5 flow ($80 - mid tower) with a i713700k and a RTX 4080 and my idle temps are usually 28-30 for the CPU and 35-38 for the GPU.

Use pcpartpicker.com to select your parts. It makes life way easier as someone else has already done the research for you on whether your parts are compatible and it will also flag any known issues.

[sovereignstar v2]

I'm a big fan of Fractal Design cases. I have a Torrent, which is great for air cooling. I think it came with 5x180mm fans. Not cheap though

[albionmoonlight]

Ok., a year later, but I decided to bite the bullet and get him a new case, PSU, and MB--all blessed by partpicker.

Is this the kind of thing that I can expect to be able to do myself? Or would I save myself a lot of heartburn by getting someone in to swap things around?

To give you a sense, I am able to do things like install RAM and the new GPU with the help of youtube. Is this like that, or is it another level? I admit that taking the CPU out of the motherboard intimidates me. Should it? Or it is pretty much pop out, pop in?

Thanks for any insights.

[dubb93]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Ok., a year later, but I decided to bite the bullet and get him a new case, PSU, and MB--all blessed by partpicker.

Is this the kind of thing that I can expect to be able to do myself? Or would I save myself a lot of heartburn by getting someone in to swap things around?

To give you a sense, I am able to do things like install RAM and the new GPU with the help of youtube. Is this like that, or is it another level? I admit that taking the CPU out of the motherboard intimidates me. Should it? Or it is pretty much pop out, pop in?

Thanks for any insights.

It’s pretty much pop in pop out. But the MB and case is basically building a new PC from scratch so that’s down to your comfort level. I think you can easily do it but I’d caution as we get older this things that you don’t expect can really take a toll on us. The last MB swap I did my back hurt for a full week due to the amount of time I spent bent over the case.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Ok., a year later, but I decided to bite the bullet and get him a new case, PSU, and MB--all blessed by partpicker.

Is this the kind of thing that I can expect to be able to do myself? Or would I save myself a lot of heartburn by getting someone in to swap things around?

To give you a sense, I am able to do things like install RAM and the new GPU with the help of youtube. Is this like that, or is it another level? I admit that taking the CPU out of the motherboard intimidates me. Should it? Or it is pretty much pop out, pop in?

Thanks for any insights.

It's a YMMV type of thing. I work in IT and have built 100 PCs probably and I hate doing it. I'd gladly pay someone to do it for me at this point.

With that said if you have some tech savviness and you watch a YouTube walk through or two it's not difficult. The biggest pain in the ass for me is getting the case lights and fans properly plugged in and it seems like most motherboards and cases have improved in that area recently.

[RainMaker]

It's fairly easy to build your own. There are hundreds of YouTube tutorials which is what I did many years ago. In fact, my neighbor wanted his 11 year old to build his own and I recommended a YouTube video and he built it himself.

Here's a good one but there are so many. If you follow along, it's pretty idiot-proof.

- YouTube

[RainMaker]

I take that back, this is the exact video I used and have sent to others over the years.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Is this the kind of thing that I can expect to be able to do myself? Or would I save myself a lot of heartburn by getting someone in to swap things around?

If pcpartpicker has blessed the build (saying everything's compatible) and you looked in the notes section that there wasn't anything odd like mobos requiring a bios update to handle, say, 48GB RAM sticks, then yes, it's pretty much just screwing stuff in.

To give you a sense, I am able to do things like install RAM and the new GPU with the help of youtube. Is this like that, or is it another level? I admit that taking the CPU out of the motherboard intimidates me. Should it?

The hardest part with CPUs is usually putting them in, not taking them out. The force requires to close the lever that locks them into place seems like a lot more than is necessary.

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I take that back, this is the exact video I used and have sent to others over the years.

I'm sorry, but why wouldn't you link this classic: - YouTube


I'll agree with dubb that it can do a number on your back. Try to do it on an elevated surface where you don't have to bend over.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

To give you a sense, I am able to do things like install RAM and the new GPU with the help of youtube. Is this like that, or is it another level? I admit that taking the CPU out of the motherboard intimidates me. Should it? Or it is pretty much pop out, pop in?

Did you really mean CPU? Meaning you bought a new motherboard and are going to transfer/take out an older CPU from original motherboard into new motherboard?

I can maybe think of a few use cases to do this but in most new PC builds, you'd want a new motherboard + new CPU.

If you are going to transfer an old CPU into new motherboard, potentially an added complexity is either putting on some new "heat paste and/or heat sink".

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Did you really mean CPU? Meaning you bought a new motherboard and are going to transfer/take out an older CPU from original motherboard into new motherboard?

That is what I mean. Didn't seem worth paying for the CUP when all I wanted was a motherboard that fit into a new case.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

That is what I mean. Didn't seem worth paying for the CUP when all I wanted was a motherboard that fit into a new case.

Okay.

From what I recall, most CPUs are easy enough to pop off/on and CPU only goes in one way. Don't forget to touch something metal before touching the CPU or RAM.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Okay.

From what I recall, most CPUs are easy enough to pop off/on and CPU only goes in one way. Don't forget to touch something metal before touching the CPU or RAM.

Thanks. I'll do my best and watch about a billion youtubes before I touch anything :-)

[albionmoonlight]

Just wanted to thank y'all for the help.

I got him the stuff, and it turns out that he has a friend who knows his way around a build. So his friend came over, we got some pizza, and they built the new machine. And my son feels more comfortable doing it himself in the future

Thanks again!

[GrantDawg]

My power supply went out the other day, and all I have to say is thank God my son is here. He replaced it while I held the flashlight (complete role reversal). Part of why I would have had a problem was dealing with the liquid cooler. I didn't realize it had like a complete radiator system, and it was right in the way of the CPU power connector. He figured it out and got it in much sooner than I would have. I have replaced power supplies before, but not with as much stuff that is going on with this type of case.