Air-Cooled (Noctua NH-D15) FX-9590 - Log and Notes

[Dr__Zchivago]

Hey all.

As a direct result of the fact that the new graphics card I bought has no water block available (ie: poor planning on my part), I have removed all of the water cooling from my system.

So, I figured I'd run a few tests with the new graphics card and with my CPU all air cooled, and post my results here.

I've read many people asking about air cooling the FX-9590, so this is for you - I will update with information.

Hardware is listed in PC Specs below my name, and a photo of my case's internals is below.

All fans other than CPU cooler are Noctua NF-P12 PWM - two above CPU venting up, three on front of case where radiator used to be pushing in.

Rear vent fan (behind CPU cooler) is Noctua NF-S12A PWM venting out back.



Z

[Dr__Zchivago]

<<< This comment space reserved for updates >>>
Most recent edits appear in red.

I forgot to mention above:

All HDDs are in Case Labs drive cages at the bottom of case w/ Noctua NF-P12 PWM fans pushing air in

BIOS settings are all stock/auto with the following exceptions:
- RAM speed/timings set manually
- FSB/CPU speeds forced to 200/23.5
- LLC and related are all set to "High" and equivalents
- Fan speed profiles for all fans are set to "Silent"

First boot and light-duty work:
Ambient: ~30 °C
CPU @ idle: 42 °C
CPU w/ web browsing, file transfers: 44 °C
GPU throughout: 39 to 44 °C range

15 minutes of stress testing with Aida64:
Ambient: ~30 °C
CPU: 74 °C
GPU: 84 °C

After the stress test was stopped, GPU and CPU CORE temps fell very rapidly (about 5 °C per second) to idle nominal.
However, the CPU socket temperature took almost a full 2 minutes to drop back to idle temps.

Playing The Witcher 3 on Ultra, all extraneous settings at max:
Ambient: ~30 °C
CPU: 68 °C max, 64 °C avg
GPU: 64 °C max

All-in-all, it looks like it is quite possible the large Noctua air cooler can compete with the water cooling setup I used to use. It cannot match the low temperature difference, but it's certainly useable for anyone without water cooling.

After almost a week of normal operation:
Ambient: ~30 °C
CPU @ idle: 34 °C (enabled CPU low-power states)
CPU w/ web browsing, file transfers: 36 °C
CPU after 15 minutes Aida64 stability test: 69 °C
CPU after 30ish minutes Witcher 3, ultra blah blah: 62 °C max, 57 °C avg
GPU: no changes

I didn't really expect to see so large a drop in temps as the TIM settled in. I think my sensors may not be reading correctly.

[blppt]

Yeah, your results pretty mucn mirror what I got when I tried to go with the 14 model of that Noctua on my 9590---the temps were too high for comfort for me.

Although, you are running 5ghz, and I was getting around those temps at stock 4.7 with the 14.

[Dr__Zchivago]

blppt wrote:
Although, you are running 5ghz, and I was getting around those temps at stock 4.7 with the 14.

I didn't update my signature adequately - I'm running stock clock speeds. Signature has been corrected; thanks for the heads-up. 🙂

Z

[jeremiah]

i too was curious how the nh-d15 would fair with the 9590 at stock clocks, thanks

[Imperial_Guards]

May I ask what your fan curve is set to and if you are using the low noise adaptors? I have the same cooler and on a 25 degree C day, I was hitting only around 51 degrees C after a few hours of Star Wars Battlefront on ultra with 150% resolution (at 1920x1200 resolution). Keep in mind that I have my fan curve very aggressive (max speed at 50 degrees) and my cpu_opt fan is a 120mm 3000rpm Noctua exhausting out the top of the case (so it gets loud). Thanks!

[Dr__Zchivago]

Imperial Guardsman wrote:
May I ask what your fan curve is set to and if you are using the low noise adaptors?

Fan curve: I've made some changes that I haven't logged here, yet: CPU fans are fixed at 40% in BIOS setup, run at max above 70 C (never get that high); CASE fans are fixed at 50% duty cycle. Not using any low-noise adapters.

Z

[Imperial_Guards]

Dr. Zchivago wrote:
Fan curve: I've made some changes that I haven't logged here, yet: CPU fans are fixed at 40% in BIOS setup, run at max above 70 C (never get that high); CASE fans are fixed at 50% duty cycle. Not using any low-noise adapters.

Z

Thanks for the information! I'm also glad that you have A: decided to try the Noctua for this cpu and B: have decided to record your experiences. When I decided to go for it (because I did not want to work with a liquid set up) I could find very little information. I look forward to more installments. I'm sure that this could help others in the future who may want to try and air cool these chips. Based upon my experience, it is quite doable.

[IMweasel]

This is nice documentation, i really wondered how it would be with air cooling. I hestitated when i built this system, but went for liquid anyway.
By the way,the AIDA64 CPU stresstesting it way too mild. Could you use IBT on maximum and post the results?

And would you like to try this setup? It's about using the Asus EPU instead of the traditional power saving and regulating technologies onboard. It's hard to reach 50 degrees Celsius for me like this!(liquid) And it avoids frequency throttling from APM,overall sluggishness from Core C6, and errors from Turbo Core Technology. It is 24h IBT stable, and in the meanwhile very energy efficient.
It can run my 9590 at about 1.40V under full load, even 1.39V sometimes.

Make sure that all extra power sockets are populated. The 8-pin, 4-pin, both at the top of the board. And the molex 4 pin socket, middle/left side of the board.
Make sure the 'slow mode' button is set to 'off' (and LN2 jumper also)...Top right side of board.

Enter BIOS and hit F5 to revert to default settings. Reboot.
Enter BIOS and set it up like this;and don't touch any unmentioned voltages or frequencies. No need to set manual LLC values.

[Extreme Tweaker]
Enable AMD Turbo Core Technology
Set it's multiplier to 23.5
Disable AMD Turbo Core Technology

Enable EPU
Set EPU to Auto

[Advanced] [CPU configuration]
Disable APM
Disable Core C6
Always Enable CNQ
C1e should be disabled already

[Tool->Asus SPD information]
Take note of the profile you want to run your memory at. Write down first seven values,and the last one (CR)

[Extreme Tweaker]
Manually choose the memory frequency. (No DOCP)
Enter the Dram voltage that goes with the profile. (more towards bottom of page)
Reboot

Enter BIOS
[Dram Timing Control]
Manually enter the first four timings,and at the bottom set the Command Rate.
Reboot

Once booted up, download the latest AI suite from Asus from the support section of your motherboard.
Install it, but install only EPU. (Fan Xpert is ok too, if you want) Reboot. Set the EPU software to Auto.
EPU now took over voltage and frequency control.

Thoroughly test your system, like 24h of IBT on Maximum.
Should you encounter instability, go to BIOS and set the following value and retry;
[Digi+]
CPU Power Phase;Extreme

And post the results 😉

[Dr__Zchivago]

IMweasel wrote:
This is nice documentation, i really wondered how it would be with air cooling. I hestitated when i built this system, but went for liquid anyway.
By the way,the AIDA64 CPU stresstesting it way too mild. Could you use IBT on maximum and post the results?

I'll try it out this weekend, and let you know.

Z

EDIT: I hate the AISuite, so I don't use it, or any of its features, typically.