GPU temp won't go down

jevwashere · 7 Sep 2016 at 04:18

Hello, I am new at PC building have have a very little experience, maybe someone can explain what I have done wrong.

My PC case is: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M Midi Tower Case with Window

I have Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU cooler (two fans at the top of the case [blowing air out])
One fan at the top of the case [blowing air out]

While playing games with this setup my gtx 970 reaches 80 C witch is normal but I still wanted to take temperatures down, so I have installed two fans in front of the case [blowing air in] and after this upgrade, GPU temperature is still same.

What have I done wrong or it's too hard task for case fans to keep CPU temperature down ?

jevwashere · 7 Sep 2016 at 04:20

Just making more noise and has no effect, should I remove them ?

Thanks

Hotwired · 7 Sep 2016 at 04:33

If you want to lower gpu temperatures you need a more powerful gpu cooler.

Case fans waft air around gently and help direct the flow around your case, they have little effect on the actual coolers which are focusing air from a fan strapped to the heatsink. A fan many centimetres from the heatsink is not useful.

If the fan/heatsink combo on your gpu isn't doing the temperatures you want then that is the part you need to change.

Generally this means a larger heatsink/more fans/a variety of water cooling.

jevwashere · 7 Sep 2016 at 04:44

Hotwired said:
If you want to lower gpu temperatures you need a more powerful gpu cooler.

Case fans waft air around gently and help direct the flow around your case, they have little effect on the actual coolers which are focusing air from a fan strapped to the heatsink. A fan many centimetres from the heatsink is not useful.

If the fan/heatsink combo on your gpu isn't doing the temperatures you want then that is the part you need to change.

Generally this means a larger heatsink/more fans/a variety of water cooling.

Hotwired, thanks for your replay. I will leave those two fans I have installed, even if they do more noise and are completely useless for my GPU

Maybe you can explain me another thing: I got 2x Noctua NF-F12 IndustrialPPC 2000RPM 120mm fans witch I installed in from of the case. When I was installing them, the screws was very hard to get inside fans, why is that ? Are they defected or something, I was using a lot of force to twist them inside but managed to get them only half way through.

Thanks You

doyll · 7 Sep 2016 at 12:56

I'm not in agreement with much of what hotwire said. To me it is quite misleading.

This little case airflow and cooling guide might be of interest
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=26159770&postcount=7

The key to cool components is not just good coolers, but supplying those coolers with air as close to room ambient as possible. Every degree warmer the air going into cooler is translates into a degree hotter the component runs.

Phanteks Enthoo Pro M usually works quite well with 2x 140mm front intakes. Did you block all open holes in radiator tray? If not, the heated air coming out top of radiator is likely circling back down through these holes and heating up the air in motherboard compartment. I don't think this is your only problem though.

What fans are you using for front intake? How is their speed controlled? What other fans do you have in the case besides the H100 exhaust fans in top and NF-F12 IPPCs?

I don't think the NF-F12 IPPC at £19.95 each are best for your application. A couple of PH-F140SP all black are £9.95 or PH-F140XP (blk/wte) are £15.95 (same fan but PWM control).

Using motherboard fan headers to control them so they cycle with CPU and GPU cooler fans and supply air as needed should lower your temps.

Have you checked the fan speed curve on your GPU? If GPU fans are not spinning up to speed when it is getting hot it is not going to run cool. Same applies to front intake fans. If they are running fixed speed at like 900rpm they are likely not supplying enough cool air to keep components cool.