Question sTRX4 Cooling Data or Lack Thereof

ExcaliburMM

Senior member
Jan 24, 2009
613
5
81
www.Staredit.net
I've been doing a lot of digging recently trying to compare larger based coolers for an upcoming sTRX4 platform build that I'm planning. Although I've gone through the usual suspects including but not limited to here at Anandtech, FrostyTech, HardOCP/Forums, Toms, and really everyone else, I've yet to see anything I'd consider a fair comparison to judge the best cooler for this build, or even on older X399 reviews. Using the data I have and knowing the basics of the products and lineups it seems like the two most capable air coolers currently in existence for the platform are the Thermalright Silver Arrow TR4 and the Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3. The comparison is tough with reviews that contain both not being consistent on which provides better temps in their results. These reviews are also not testing both with the same fans for a true 1:1 comparison, usually opting for out-of-the-box fan configuration instead.

For my build I've settled on the NF-A14 PPC3000 fans, 2 if Noctua, 3 if Thermalright because dual tower. I think we'd all agree for a pressure focused heatsink fan its hard to pick something much better than the A14s. Even the newer A15s are lower in pressure and although packing 150mm on 120mm mounts, I've yet to see a proper comparison of the two so I'll stick with what I know.

I'm wondering if anyone here has :
-experience with air cooling on this platform,
-experience with or good comparison data for either of the 2 coolers I'm debating, or
-any further data on the A14 vs A15 fans that I might have overlooked.

While doing my research for this build its been a really troubling look at the state of hardware reviewing as a whole as someone who came into this in early LGA775 days. The 'roundups' of old seem to be long gone, and usually missing key products to make the roundup a good source of data. While places like GamersNexus seem to relish very in depth 'PCB level' analysis on some products, I'm seeing an abundance of 'reviews' using questionable methodologies and shying away from deeper technical details of a product. The lack of detail and proper testing in cooling right now seems a bit nuts, and I'm concerned about the space in general right now, though I guess that's a separate topic.

Any help or insight would be appreciated.
 

Atari2600

Golden Member
Nov 22, 2016
1,409
1,655
136
I have the Silver Arrow in my X399/2950X. [had to replace an Enermax TR4 with it]

At 100% fan, its very loud. BUT - at 70% fan its pretty quiet and I can run 16 cores without SMT, sustained at between 3.975 GHz and 4.050 GHz. I basically just set the fan profile to go no higher than 70% regardless of CPU temps and let the CPU throttle itself thermally.

Its my own programming that its running - so not something I can compare to say blender or whatever for clock rates.

I also couldn't fit two additional fans on the heatsink due to memory clearance. My intention was a triple spool fan, but had to give up and just stick to the baseline.


With the additional thermals of the TR3 CPUs, I'd probably advise custom cooling with water loop. I feel I'm near the limit of the Silver Arrow. At this point I wish I'd done custom loop in mine - but can't justify the £200-300 for a good system at this point. So just chalked up as a lesson learned for next build.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,839
3,174
126
Your not going to get that many major accurate reviews because were at a point now where its literally down to a few C's.
So when your down by a couple of C's, your eyes start drifting in places it shouldn't be and you see BLING.

Soon you realized you lost a lot more C's but, your PC now strobes, flashes, and color morphs to all the different power rangers, so who really cares?
:eek:

No but seriously, your not going to see that many good credible reviews, because again, a credible review is very time consuming, and involves at least 5 remounts.

No one is seriously going to invest that much time for a platform where most of the people to read said review do not sit on hardware wise.
Not saying TR isnt popular, but your bound to get more traffic / views off a review for something more mainstream, then a HEDT.

Also if ur not custom watercooling a HEDT, then your not building one properly
:cool: (yes i went there... :eek:)
And yes HEDT's should be watercooled.
High end GPU's should mandatory be watercooled.
I wish my 4K Monitor could be watercooled.... sigh... that thing gets too hot.

Even Mark caved in and watercooled his main HEDT.
Which goes back to my first point... HEDT's should be watercooled period.
 

Muadib

Lifer
May 30, 2000
17,914
838
126
Your not going to get that many major accurate reviews because were at a point now where its literally down to a few C's.
So when your down by a couple of C's, your eyes start drifting in places it shouldn't be and you see BLING.

Soon you realized you lost a lot more C's but, your PC now strobes, flashes, and color morphs to all the different power rangers, so who really cares?
:eek:

No but seriously, your not going to see that many good credible reviews, because again, a credible review is very time consuming, and involves at least 5 remounts.

No one is seriously going to invest that much time for a platform where most of the people to read said review do not sit on hardware wise.
Not saying TR isnt popular, but your bound to get more traffic / views off a review for something more mainstream, then a HEDT.

Also if ur not custom watercooling a HEDT, then your not building one properly
:cool: (yes i went there... :eek:)
And yes HEDT's should be watercooled.
High end GPU's should mandatory be watercooled.
I wish my 4K Monitor could be watercooled.... sigh... that thing gets too hot.

Even Mark caved in and watercooled his main HEDT.
Which goes back to my first point... HEDT's should be watercooled period.
Watercooling is not cheap though. I put an aio on my 3900x, and that was $140. How much would it be for a custom loop? I'll even make it easy, and say just for the cpu.
 

ExcaliburMM

Senior member
Jan 24, 2009
613
5
81
www.Staredit.net
No but seriously, your not going to see that many good credible reviews, because again, a credible review is very time consuming, and involves at least 5 remounts.

No one is seriously going to invest that much time for a platform where most of the people to read said review do not sit on hardware wise.
Not saying TR isnt popular, but your bound to get more traffic / views off a review for something more mainstream, then a HEDT.

I feel like when I got into building about 15ish years ago this wasn't the case, and there were a lot more sites and the competition forced more and more in depth reviews.

Also if ur not custom watercooling a HEDT, then your not building one properly
So entertaining this for a minute, and I wouldn't listen to anyone except you or Ruby on this really (I've been lurking these boards a real long time ;o ) I've got a bit of a dilemma with going water. If it isn't already apparent, I'm a details guy. Even if something is just a few Cs in temp, a factor in the build is considered 'marginal' or something 'probably' wont matter, I still want to get it right. Usually this is a good quality but for someone who's never done a loop its a bit of a hindrance because I need to know and consider absolutely every variable.

If I was going to go water, I know I A. don't want hardline and B. will regret my choice entirely if I get absolutely any growth in my loop. Beyond that I need every choice down to the fittings to be the absolutely most optimal choice. On an air build I know how to do this for every piece. On a water build I don't. If you were going to do a soft tube one of these Aigo, what parts would you be looking at? How do I figure out an absolutely 100% effective zero growth solution for coolant? How much radiator is appropriate for a CPU only loop if I want the chip to be voltage limited before thermal limited?

I feel like the only real choice for a block right now is an EK Velocity. Which is fine, its a nice block, seems like it does the job well, from what I know of them you can't ask for much better than EK. And any D5 integrated pump/res combo unit should probably do the job since most of them are just a D5 in a different housing. But beyond those two parts, I am effectively lost. :eek:
 

Atari2600

Golden Member
Nov 22, 2016
1,409
1,655
136
If I was going to go water, I know I A. don't want hardline and B. will regret my choice entirely if I get absolutely any growth in my loop. Beyond that I need every choice down to the fittings to be the absolutely most optimal choice.

Forget about optimal.

10% overspecced is better and cheaper than 10% underspecced. Err on the side of that and you'll be grand.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nnunn

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,839
3,174
126
If I was going to go water, I know I A. don't want hardline and B. will regret my choice entirely if I get absolutely any growth in my loop. Beyond that I need every choice down to the fittings to be the absolutely most optimal choice. On an air build I know how to do this for every piece. On a water build I don't. If you were going to do a soft tube one of these Aigo, what parts would you be looking at? How do I figure out an absolutely 100% effective zero growth solution for coolant? How much radiator is appropriate for a CPU only loop if I want the chip to be voltage limited before thermal limited?

Someone like you will be your own death with it, because to answer all your questions, i can with a a YES.

Yes to all the good ones your asking, and Yes to all the bads, and YES to the price, because the next question after how much is the price, and people like you under most situations say YES, because in watercooling, if it doesn't have LED bling and its expensive, it most likely has a good reason its expensive and totally is worth it.

Meaning your budget, good luck... whatever you set it at, your going to break it, and not even by a small amount, im wagering to be content with your build, you will double what you originally set out as a "Acceptable" budget, and possibly even flatten out at triple.

Also i highly recommend hybrid builds now using both rigid and normal tubing.
Why? because you have less evap though rigid, so that means less top offs / gas exchanges.
I also dont recommend nickel plated stuff unless you just dont care about how they look in wetted parts (the part that gets wet under water).
Reason for is i push silver, and silver + nickel does not really play super nice, because u get silver ions and particles swimming though your coolant. Add how most nickel plating is not marine standard / QoC, the nickel tends to be a budget job.
Add silver ions + nickel + flow = yeah... 70% of the vendors will say corrosion but more like sand blasting, your nickle off.

Id rather just either not care for the plating job underside wetted parts, or just run pure copper.
Oh, i prefer derlin over plexiglass as well. Im not a fan of being able to see inside my blocks.
That would make even a non OCD person OCD.

The silver would keep anything from growing inside your loop in check, however again back to my statement above.
I dont like colored aftermarket coolant, because they tend to stain / coat stuff over time, and its just a nightmare clearing all that all off.

If you love LED's i dont push watercooling, unless you tend to run some dark colored tubing, or heavy glycol. (aftermarket coolant).


Also the last answer to radiators.. how large? YES.
No seriously tho, the larger the better, but harder to mount, or requires a very specialized case.
But ideally, more rads = less fan noise required.
Just make sure the rads are raited for low restriction.
These rads have very low FPI, are also typically thick.

Lastly i honestly think you see better results from GPU watercooling, then CPU watercooling, unless your just not a gamer, and dont push videocards higher then a 1660 (960 1060) class.

Oh like any coolant, you should flush it.
So when you build your loop, you should think about a smart drain port, so you can empty your coolant, refill with new distilled and run it back up.

I typically flush my system once every 6 months.
I use straight distilled, so its just a simple matter of draining the system, then refilling / rebleeding it.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Meghan54 and nnunn

KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
8,397
393
126
I know this may be extremely late, but here are a couple videos that may help. Basically, he went with a pre-configured kit and purchased a separate cpu block. I did an EK loop myself, but picked up all the parts separately and built to work with my case. Was pretty easy and my last custom loop (and first attempt) ran for a year without a single issue and was like new after draining the loop. All with EK parts and their clear coolant.



Here is a a picture of the final set. Excuse the power cables. I have a new all-black set coming in. And if you hate LED, all of the lights can be turned off and non-LED Vardar/Noctua fans can be used in place.

1578778767343.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: VirtualLarry

thor23

Member
Jul 13, 2019
80
22
81
I'd prefer the Noctua threadripper fan/heatsink and just reduce ppt a few watts if temps were a problem. That still gives you max single thread performance if you're worried about that.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
20,839
3,174
126
you hate LED

oh you will too when you start noticing you have black dots growing on the inside of your tubing and blocks, and you wonder what it is..

its the ever so imfamous Algae, and silver alone wont save you with that many white LED's.

Id say the only acceptable LED is probably green.

Why? because most plants by nature learn to filter out green light, hence they are green, so, green is mostly reflected.
 

KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
8,397
393
126
oh you will too when you start noticing you have black dots growing on the inside of your tubing and blocks, and you wonder what it is..

its the ever so imfamous Algae, and silver alone wont save you with that many white LED's.

Id say the only acceptable LED is probably green.

Why? because most plants by nature learn to filter out green light, hence they are green, so, green is mostly reflected.

Never had a problem before. The worst that can happen is flushing it out or spending a little on new blocks.
 

DaaQ

Golden Member
Dec 8, 2018
1,280
923
136
I feel like when I got into building about 15ish years ago this wasn't the case, and there were a lot more sites and the competition forced more and more in depth reviews.


So entertaining this for a minute, and I wouldn't listen to anyone except you or Ruby on this really (I've been lurking these boards a real long time ;o ) I've got a bit of a dilemma with going water. If it isn't already apparent, I'm a details guy. Even if something is just a few Cs in temp, a factor in the build is considered 'marginal' or something 'probably' wont matter, I still want to get it right. Usually this is a good quality but for someone who's never done a loop its a bit of a hindrance because I need to know and consider absolutely every variable.

If I was going to go water, I know I A. don't want hardline and B. will regret my choice entirely if I get absolutely any growth in my loop. Beyond that I need every choice down to the fittings to be the absolutely most optimal choice. On an air build I know how to do this for every piece. On a water build I don't. If you were going to do a soft tube one of these Aigo, what parts would you be looking at? How do I figure out an absolutely 100% effective zero growth solution for coolant? How much radiator is appropriate for a CPU only loop if I want the chip to be voltage limited before thermal limited?

I feel like the only real choice for a block right now is an EK Velocity. Which is fine, its a nice block, seems like it does the job well, from what I know of them you can't ask for much better than EK. And any D5 integrated pump/res combo unit should probably do the job since most of them are just a D5 in a different housing. But beyond those two parts, I am effectively lost. :eek:

If the water route, if time still permits. https://optimuspc.com/products/absolute-cpu-block-threadripper-3