ITX Gaming/HTPC Heat Issues

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frankhuzzah

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
96
I recentely put together a new build in a Node 304 case. So far I'm very happy with it, except the CPU temps seem a bit high. I'm not overclocking and am using the stock cooler, but they still seem to idle around 40C and were maxing in the upper 80s while playing Bioshock Infinite. The GPU seems to stay rock solid at 30C idle and 60C while gaming.

Part of the issue is that the PC sits in my media cabinet, which is wide open on the front, but closed on the back. This was causing the temps around the case to be around 95F. I switched the directions of the case fans so that the rear fan is intaking and its exhausting out the front, and this has helped some. About 45 minutes of Bioshock and the cabinet was staying around 77F and the CPU was hovering around 78C.

I know these temps are 'ok', but I'd like to try to improve things so that it doesn't sound like a jet when gaming. Would I get better results from adding a fan to my media console to try and get some of that hot air out of there? Or would it be better to upgrade the CPU cooler to better dissipate that heat?

For coolers, I'm debating between the Thermalright AXP-100 or a True Spirit 120m (or equivellant). The tower cooler would need to be turned 90 degrees to get on the ITX board with a graphics card.

My specs:

Node 304
Intel i5 3470
Sapphire 7870 XT

Any suggestions or opinions would be greatly appreciated.
 
I used to have the opposite setup, my computer was in a cabinet that was open in the back but closed in the front. I basically ended up always leaving the cabinet door open when gaming. There were significant differences in temperature and fan noise, even with a full size ATX case (this was a while ago, so I don't remember any of the actual numbers).

So yeah, I would say the cabinet is definitely the cause here. Anything to improve the airflow in the cabinet would help, but finding a way to open up the back would be the best. Most components are probably fine with high temperatures, but it's probably best to keep them down a little lower (I imagine HDDs and the power supply would be the most likely parts to get damaged).

A better cooler would help a lot too (you can see that with the GPU, which always has a better cooler than the stock CPU). I have the i5 3470 too. Mine is in a Lian-Li PC-Q12 case (very small, 88mm wide) with a Samuel 17 and a slim 120mm fan. I never have temperatures above 70C or so at the most, and the fan is very quiet (never above 1400-1500RPM). A decent cooler, with better airflow in the cabinet, should keep the CPU, and overall temps down.
 
That's about what I was thinking too. The console is an old Ikea thing that the wife loathes, so I'm sure it isn't long for this world and she won't mind me cutting a hole in the back.

As far as the CPU coolers go, would you go with a tower cooler blowing on the graphics card or the top down type of cooler? I'm not going to overclock this PC, I just want it to stay nice and cool. Right now I'm kind of leaning towards the top down cooler to keep the posibility of moving into a smaller case open in the future. (I've been lurking in the M3A2 thread over in the SFF sub-forum)
 
I like the top down coolers. They push air over most of an mITX board and they are much easier to deal with in smaller cases.
 
Just a quick update, I haven't cut into the back of the media cabinet yet, but I did replace the stock cooler with and AXP-100 and I'm super happy. That alone has dropped my CPU temps at load by about 12-15 degrees and it now idles right around 35C. I am still planning on opening up the cabinet though, just to increase the airflow.
 
OP, I wish you would've tried blowing in colder air into your media cabinet before switching coolers. That way we (ok just I) could've known if air flow is the issue. But I understand, blowing a fan wouldn't be a viable long-term fix.

Happy the cooler did work out for you.
 
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