big coolers

Hardware upgrades, reuse, repairs, and optimizations. Fire hazards and bleeding edges.
Post Reply
StefanR5R
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1661
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:32 pm

big coolers

Post by StefanR5R »

I had been waiting for Noctua to release the SP3/TR4 compatible follow-up to the dual tower cooler NH-D15. At Computex 2019, they said its release was planned for 1st half of 2020 (press release).

What they then actually released were colorful rubber dampers, and t-shirts. :-|

Now I saw this link in the igorslab.de forum: https://noctua.at/en/product-roadmap
I attached a copy of the current graph on that page.
Attachments
noctua_roadmap_V2_2021_frame.png
noctua_roadmap_V2_2021_frame.png (27.67 KiB) Viewed 21785 times
Icecold
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1447
Joined: Thu May 07, 2020 7:46 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by Icecold »

Most of their development seems to be on visual changes to the color of fans and CPU coolers and stuff. I do have one 'Chromax black' NH-D15, and it doesn't seem to cool any better than the original ones that are silver with brown and beige fans. I only purchased it because at the time it was cheaper than the standard NH-D15.
StefanR5R
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1661
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:32 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by StefanR5R »

To be fair, their product developers haven't been merely adding more colors but were also expanding their series of industrial fans. They now have fans with automotive qualifications.

--------

I had first been using a Noctua CPU cooler on an Ivy Bridge-E build, the 14mm dual-tower cooler NH-D14. Satisfied with this one, I later used NH-D15S in several computers, including the dual Broadwell-EP builds. My intent in using these has been quiet cooling, and this was mostly achieved. On smaller CPUs for my main home computers, I used tower coolers with wider fin spacing = lower aerodynamic resistance instead: A Scythe Ninja on a 65 W Phenom II, and a Thermalright Macho on an 84 W Haswell Xeon E3.

A year ago when I built the dual 32-core Rome computer (with the 7452 CPUs with cTDP-low of 155 W, cTDP-high of 180 W), I was worried that the single-tower cooler NH-U14S — which was, and still is, the best performing air cooler for socket SP3 — would not work as quietly as I was used to from NH-D15S. Turned out that this worry was unfounded; the NH-U14S is not breaking a sweat even when the CPUs are set to 180 W TDP/PPT.

There is a downside with the default fan of NH-U14S in combination with the Supermicro mainboard though: When the computer is under light load (happens rarely; the computer is meant to be either BOINCing or off), then the fan speed can fall below the board's "fan fail" threshold, which lets the board go into panic cooling mode and spin all fans up to 100 %. There are a few awkward workarounds for this; mine is to simply disconnect the RPM sensor pin of the CPU cooler fans via an adapter cable.

So, the 32-core server CPUs can be cooled easily and quietly with Noctua's 140 mm single tower cooler. It's harder to keep the rest of the board components cool, notably the VRMs and RAM. I still did not put the computer into a case but have the board lying flat in a shelf or elsewhere. I currently have a 40 mm 5000 RPM fan from Noctua lying on top of the CPU-VRM heatsink, two 80 mm 2000 RPM fans from Arctic on top of one of the RAM banks where also two of the RAM-VRMs are located, and a 120 mm 1300 RPM fan from Noctua on top of the SSD, NIC, and BMC. (All fans are PWM controlled by the mainboard, therefore run at about 60 % speed under load = reasonably quietly.)

But depending on where the computer is located (or if I ever put it into a case), I also need to force air flow externally with more fans, ideally in the front-to-back direction of the mainboard. I am still in the process of trying out different fans for this purpose.

Anyway; back to the topic of CPU coolers: A year ago I had a build with either dual 32-core Rome or single 64-core Rome in mind. One of the reasons which then made me decide for dual 32-core was that the only available SP3 dual tower coolers performed at best as well as Noctua's single tower cooler, if not worse. There were further reasons of course, notably FLOPS per host i.e. density.
Icecold
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1447
Joined: Thu May 07, 2020 7:46 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by Icecold »

I've transitioned almost all of my PC's to Noctua for their CPU heatsink/fan. I still have a lot of less expensive case fans, though. I'm not generally super concerned about how loud my PC's are, but I put a few PC's in my bedroom where I would definitely notice if they're loud, and they've been an acceptable level of noise there.

I have a NH-U12S on a 3950X which I was concerned about being not enough, but it seems fine even with AVX workloads. I am running it with a PPT limit set though which makes a huge difference.

I'm using 2 NH-U12DX's in a dual socket Xeon machine and they're working fantastic. They fit perfect with the spacing of where the processor sockets are and seem to cool those processors fine.

The Chromax black NH-D15 I have on a 3900x actually does look pretty cool, but I try to avoid PC's with windows/visible side panels, so you can't even see it anyways :P The NH-D15 is probably overkill for a PPT limited/eco mode Ryzen, but it's nice to have room to upgrade, or change PBO, etc. without having any worries. I also got a pretty good deal on most of them.
crashtech
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1544
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 4:45 pm
Location: Idaho, USA

Re: big coolers

Post by crashtech »

Somewhat related, I would like to find 120mm fans that have durability as their main feature. MTBF is not a spec that is found often when shopping for fans. The priorities in order for 90% of my fan needs:

1. Long life
2. Air flow
3. PWM
4.Noise

Last time I searched for dual ball bearing PWM fans, very few candidates popped up.
StefanR5R
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1661
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:32 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by StefanR5R »

Arctic make some. I don't know if they are worthwhile.
P12 PWM PST CO
F12 PWM PST CO

They have dual ball bearings and PWM. The P12 probably also has some air flow. (The F12 may also have moderate air flow as long as there is not much resistance.)

I guess both models also have noise. ;-) Several years ago I replaced Arctic "Freezer 13 CO" CPU coolers in several office computers because of the noise of the ball bearings of the CPU cooler fans. (I also replaced the loud and slow HDDs by SSDs in these computers, and replaced the fans within the PSUs by quieter ones. I don't recall in which order I did the replacements, i.e. at which point the bearings of the CPU cooler fans became noticeable.)

Here is a brand-new test of the FDB variant of P12: igorslab.de

Added in 17 minutes 43 seconds:
PS,
if long life is the topmost consideration, how about the Noctua IP67 rated industrial fan models? They don't have ball bearings, but (a) the bearings are supposed to be long-lived, (b) they have that IP rating which means fully dust tight, and protected against water immersion of 1 meter x 30 minutes.
User avatar
cellarnoise2
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2020 8:47 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by cellarnoise2 »

I bought a 5 pack of arctic p140mm fans after buying the 420 arctic cooler. I like there wide speed zone from like 300 to 1800. Though they get louder quick above 1,000.

I have tried extra fractal 14s that come with the cases and extra noctua fans that come on the h14 heatsinks and have bought black extra ones as well. Noctua are nice, but under 1500 the arctic are same noise, but the arctic are more brittle plastic.
StefanR5R
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1661
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:32 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by StefanR5R »

StefanR5R wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:00 am https://noctua.at/en/product-roadmap
I attached a copy of the current graph on that page.
What they announced for Q3 2021 and Q4 2021 has now been pushed off to Q4 2021 and Q1 2022. The "next-generation NH-D15" is now scheduled for Q2 2022 (…subject to change; it was once meant to be a 2021 product).

Edit, while I don't see an actual need for any change to the D15 and D15S in themselves, the lack of a socket SP3/TR4 variant is a bother. — I guess the release of the next-generation 150 mm cooler is blocked by the release of the 140 mm sibling of the NF-A12x25 fan.
StefanR5R
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1661
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:32 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by StefanR5R »

StefanR5R wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 5:30 am The "next-generation NH-D15" is now scheduled for Q2 2022 (…subject to change; it was once meant to be a 2021 product).
And now it's pushed back to Q4 2022. This one presumably depends on the release of the "next-generation 140 mm fan" which is pushed back to Q3 2022.

As mentioned, NH-D15 and NH-D15S are fine and don't really need a replacement IMO. But I am keen on an SP4 SP3 variant of them, which the "next-generation NH-D15" supposedly would bring according to old reports on prototypes.* I am loosely thinking of replacing my 4-core Haswell Xeon E3 desktop computer (which has got a big, quiet Macho cooler) by an EPYC based one (to be cooled quietly too). — Then again, any SP4 SP3 based computer would still need comparably high airflow for the VRMs. Watercooling, with a waterblock mounted onto the VRM section (though still with fans to provide some airflow for the RAM areas) might be a better choice for such a project after all.

________
*) edit: Oh wait, by the end of 2022, SP4 SP3 should already be a legacy socket, and SP5 should be the new kid in town, which will require an even larger coldplate.
Icecold
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1447
Joined: Thu May 07, 2020 7:46 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by Icecold »

StefanR5R wrote: Sat Feb 12, 2022 5:25 am Then again, any SP4 based computer would still need comparably high airflow for the VRMs. Watercooling, with a waterblock mounted onto the VRM section (though still with fans to provide some airflow for the RAM areas) might be a better choice for such a project after all.
What would be your recommendation for air cooling the VRM's? I currently have a not great 120MM fan pointing at the VRM's in my SP3 build but there's not a good way to mount it that I could figure out and they still get hotter than I would like.
StefanR5R
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1661
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:32 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by StefanR5R »

My dual SP3 boards are sitting horizontally in a shelf and have a broader than usual VRM heatsink, such that I simply laid a 40 mm × 20 mm fan on top of that heatsink. (I also tried a 40 mm × 10 mm fan but that didn't really move any air.) Other than that, I don't have a good idea how to air-cool server board VRMs without a lot of noise.

OTOH, those small but finned server board VRM heatsinks still make more sense physically than the lumps of metal which are put onto consumer mainboards.
crashtech
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1544
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 4:45 pm
Location: Idaho, USA

Re: big coolers

Post by crashtech »

I have a 140mm fan hanging from a twist tie that cools the VRMs on my water cooled rig. I can't hear it since it is so big and slow. But it's definitely a kludge, a lot uglier and half-assed than most would tolerate.
Skillz
Site Admin
Reactions:
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 3:03 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by Skillz »

Since you have a dedicated space for your hardware now why not just stack 3 or 4 20" box fans on top of one another and attach them to the side/front/rear or whatever of whatever shelf you're using to hold all the equipment?
Icecold
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1447
Joined: Thu May 07, 2020 7:46 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by Icecold »

Skillz wrote: Sun Feb 13, 2022 11:41 am Since you have a dedicated space for your hardware now why not just stack 3 or 4 20" box fans on top of one another and attach them to the side/front/rear or whatever of whatever shelf you're using to hold all the equipment?
I may do something like that at some point but I do still have some machines spread around the house too. It saves on heating costs a bit since they are machines I would be running anyways. The SP3 is in my bedroom since it's pretty quiet and puts out a lot of heat.

It looks like Pututu in his build maybe velcroed or used double sided tape or something to put a single noctua fan blowing towards the VRM heatsink. I may try something similar.
Skillz
Site Admin
Reactions:
Posts: 1854
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 3:03 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by Skillz »

When I ran my 4P builds, I had the motherboard sitting on hard surfaces with blocks keeping it raised up slightly (about half the height of a 120mm fan) and then I'd set 2 or 3 120mm fans on one side blowing across the motherboard with the fans placed in the most strategic location to cover everything

I am working on buying one of those metal/wire shelves ~4ft tall and just placing two 20" box fans on one side blowing through them (maybe even placing some sort of wall/blockage on the back to help force the air to blow through to the other end)

That's a little ways out though.
StefanR5R
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1661
Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 4:32 pm

Re: big coolers

Post by StefanR5R »

While some of my 2P computers don't have cases either, they do have fans providing airflow in the front-to-back direction of the boards. This airflow is well guided by the shelf and dividers in the shelf. Furthermore, besides the mentioned 40 mm fan on the VRM cooler, there are two 80 mm fans and a 120 mm fan lying on top of certain warmer areas of the board.

Putting these computers into cases would allow me to move them to a different room on occasion. But for that I would have to invent mounting mechanisms for said 40/ 80/ 80/ 120 mm "onboard" fans.
User avatar
biodoc
TAAT Member
Reactions:
Posts: 1014
Joined: Sun Sep 15, 2019 3:22 pm
Location: Massachusetts, USA

Re: big coolers

Post by biodoc »

Don't laugh but maybe this potential solution has merit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdFZsodqDOk

EDIT:
@StefanR5R already uses a 40 mm fan
StefanR5R wrote: Mon Feb 14, 2022 12:48 am besides the mentioned 40 mm fan on the VRM cooler,
Post Reply