Question Cooling a Ryzen 2600x in ITX build - CRYORIG M9a or... ?

[AnitaPeterson]

Hi folks,

I put together a Ryzen 2600x/GTX 1660 combo in a Thermaltake F1 case.
The case has a 200mm fan at the front, drawing air from the outside.
The build looks exactly like this: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/M8pG3C

But... I don't like the noise of the stock cooler on the Ryzen. It's too loud.
And the processor hovers at around 50C during basic Windows tasks.
Sadly, I can't put a liquid cooler on it.

So I'm thinking that a tower style air cooler with a large fan is the next best chance to quiet things down. Something that won't break the bank, but would also keep quiet.

But the devil is in the details. Like, for instance, I was looking at the Pure Rock Slim, only to realize that in AM4 systems the fan is mounted sideways, not towards the RAM modules. And the cooler has to be under 140 mm in height, to fit in the case.

I'm looking at CRYORIG M9a... any thoughts on it? Or other suggestions?

 

[ClockHound]

With that height restriction, the M9 is a very good choice. The M9 Plus is even better.

Also, that 200mm thermaltake fan is terrible. I've built a similar system with the V1 - a less restrictive version of the F1. Half of the intake air flow is wasted - spewing into the bottom of the case - hitting the power supply and creating turbulence and noise.

To improve cooling, I removed the weak 200mm stock fan and used a noctua A15 140mm as intake, with much lower temps than the stock 200mm. The new Arctic Cooling P14 is a very good intake fan for low cost.

Also suggest snipping out the restrictive case rear fan grille. With the 2nd fan on the M9, probably won't need the 80mm exhaust fan - once the grille is gone.

In my V1, managed to squish a 1st gen Scythe Fuma into place - it was 148mm. The V1 had the same 140mm limit, but it was more like 149mm. The current Fuma is 154mm high, so some plexi-modding would be required. ;-)

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Here's an update, since things got a bit interesting along the way...

Thanks to the end-of-year sales, I got a 3600x in December, and I moved the 2600x to another machine. I also got a modular PSU (with flat cables), to improve airflow. Of course, the motherboard BIOS had to be updated to work with the new CPU, but that wasn't exactly surprising.

I also ended up getting the bequiet! Shadow Rock LP, since the Cryorig M9 is not available in any Canadian store, and my only option was to order it from overseas.

The only downside was that I had to buy low-profile RAM, since the radiator on the Shadow Rock covers the RAM slots. But, oh, boy, what a difference that 120mm fan makes!

The machine is now extremely quiet - except during intensive gaming - and I rarely see temperatures going above 60 C.

And the 2600x is happily running in another configuration, with a Corsair liquid cooler.