Passively cooling an i7-6700 (non-K)?

[Synomenon]

So I'm setting up a new system in a Corsair 380T ITX case:
Graphite Series 380T Portable Mini ITX Case

CPU is an i7-6700 (non K).

Motherboard is an ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac:
ASRock > Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac


The Corsair 380T has a max heatsink height of around 150mm. Tried the Cryorig H7, but its massive backplate got in the way of the M.2 drive. I'd rather not use liquid cooling since I'd be adding pump noise to the system.

So now my next choice for heatsink is the Noctua NH-U9B (any of its variants would fit in the case).

I have a 200mm fan on the front of the 380T and a 120mm fan on the exhaust / rear of the case.

The NH-U9B would be sitting directly between the two fans. Since the i7-6700 is only 65W, would this setup be sufficient in cooling the CPU or should I still add a 92mm fan or two (push/pull) to the NH-U9B?

 

[defaultluser]

You'll have to test for yourself. We can't answer for such a tightly-bound to specific system question.

Try it, and fix it if it's not good enough. Worst case, you need a low-speed fan on the heatsink. Show you're [H]ard, and give it a go!

 

[Synomenon]

Yeah, I knew that's what I was going to have to do!

I guess I was hoping someone else had tried the same or similar already.

 

[RazorWind]

So I'm setting up a new system in a Corsair 380T ITX case:
Graphite Series 380T Portable Mini ITX Case

CPU is an i7-6700 (non K).

Motherboard is an ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac:
ASRock > Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac


The Corsair 380T has a max heatsink height of around 150mm. Tried the Cryorig H7, but its massive backplate got in the way of the M.2 drive. I'd rather not use liquid cooling since I'd be adding pump noise to the system.

So now my next choice for heatsink is the Noctua NH-U9B (any of its variants would fit in the case).

I have a 200mm fan on the front of the 380T and a 120mm fan on the exhaust / rear of the case.

The NH-U9B would be sitting directly between the two fans. Since the i7-6700 is only 65W, would this setup be sufficient in cooling the CPU or should I still add a 92mm fan or two (push/pull) to the NH-U9B?

Not having tested on your specific setup, I can't say for sure that this will work, but I passively cooled my 2500K, and later a 3770 for years with a just a cheap heatpipe/fin type tower cooler in a less well ventilated case than yours.

I would be shocked to find that, in a case with as much venting as that one has, you have overheating problems. Worst case scenario, though, you just add a fan to it.

 

[Quix]

If you're looking at passively cooling a Skylake processor, I recommend undervolting it. Skylake chips put out a lot more heat at higher voltages than they do at lower ones. Voltage is the most important thing that affects how much heat they put out and most chips ship with much higher stock voltages than necessary.

Your best bet for a cooler would be something like a Thermalright HR-22, a massive passive tower cooler.

 

[LigTasm]

I can passively cool my 6700k with my BeQuiet Dark Rock TF cooler easily with just a small amount of case airflow, you should be able to do it.

 

[Synomenon]

My case is a Corsair 380T as mentioned in the OP. It won't fit massive air coolers.

Also, as mentioned in the OP, the CPU is a 6700 non-K.

Can you even increase the voltage on this CPU if you wanted to?

 

[LigTasm]

My case is a Corsair 380T as mentioned in the OP. It won't fit massive air coolers.

Also, as mentioned in the OP, the CPU is a 6700 non-K.

Can you even increase the voltage on this CPU if you wanted to?

The cooler I mentioned is a top-down style, so the heatsink area is large but it is not tall. Just a thought, any of the decently sized C-type coolers should do the job passively. Not sure what k or non-k version has to do with it, the non-k has lower clocks by default and should be even easier to keep cool. Heck, the stock intel heatsink should do fine and it isn't very loud either if you're only gaming (something like rendering cranks it up ofc). With ITX you have more size constraints, I was just pointing out it can be done passively if you would like. That noctua cooler would probably work fanlessly as well with that CPU, worth a try.

You can see my example here:

 

[Synomenon]

I would like to stick with tower-type coolers since the airflow from the case fans would follow the airflow that a tower-type cooler's fans would go.

 

[sirgallium]

There is a waterpump you can buy that is nearly silent around 15-17dB. I'm planning on building a very quiet water cooled setup so I did some research before I found it. It's a PWM pump so you can put it at low speed when the system isn't hot enough to need more. The pump is a Swiftech MCP655. I'm not allowed to post links until I make 3 forum posts because I forgot my old account info and made a new one.

Also I can't help but recommend the Enermax line of fans that use the Twister bearing. Years ago I bought their 80mm fans with the Enlobal bearing and couldn't believe how silent they were. Well the Twister bearing is basically the Enlobal 2.0 it uses the same concept. The shaft on the fan has a magnet wrapped around it and the fan housing has 4 wire wound cores that repel the shaft magnet so what happens is the spinning fan touches nothing but air so there is no bearing noise at all. I haven't gotten any of the Twister ones yet but if they are like the Enlobal bearings like they say they are (and I hope they are) then they should be amazingly quiet.

The only downside is that they are becoming uglier. There was a T.B. Silence fan that had straight fan blades and no LEDs and no Enermax logo around the rim of the fan housing, and no strange batwing shape to the blades. They were very nice looking and now personally I think they look pretty ugly. The only nice looking ones with straight blades and twister bearing that I can find now is a 140mm version on quietpcusa and that's it. Which is too bad because I really will need some of other sizes like 120mm. I might just end up getting the new batwing style since I won't be looking at my fans a lot anyway and it is such a nice bearing technology that has no friction but air so it's so quiet and long lasting.

There is one other fan company that I can't think of right now that has a new bearing technology that is as quiet or quieter than the Enemax and Noctua fans but they don't go into much detail about how the bearing works or what the design is at all really. Hopefully I can find that article again.

 

[Quix]

Can you even increase the voltage on this CPU if you wanted to?

Of course you can, but I'm not suggesting you do that. I've suggesting you DECREASE the CPU voltage to decrease the heat generated.

 

[Synomenon]

There is a waterpump you can buy that is nearly silent around 15-17dB. I'm planning on building a very quiet water cooled setup so I did some research before I found it. It's a PWM pump so you can put it at low speed when the system isn't hot enough to need more. The pump is a Swiftech MCP655. I'm not allowed to post links until I make 3 forum posts because I forgot my old account info and made a new one.

Also I can't help but recommend the Enermax line of fans that use the Twister bearing. Years ago I bought their 80mm fans with the Enlobal bearing and couldn't believe how silent they were. Well the Twister bearing is basically the Enlobal 2.0 it uses the same concept. The shaft on the fan has a magnet wrapped around it and the fan housing has 4 wire wound cores that repel the shaft magnet so what happens is the spinning fan touches nothing but air so there is no bearing noise at all. I haven't gotten any of the Twister ones yet but if they are like the Enlobal bearings like they say they are (and I hope they are) then they should be amazingly quiet.

The only downside is that they are becoming uglier. There was a T.B. Silence fan that had straight fan blades and no LEDs and no Enermax logo around the rim of the fan housing, and no strange batwing shape to the blades. They were very nice looking and now personally I think they look pretty ugly. The only nice looking ones with straight blades and twister bearing that I can find now is a 140mm version on quietpcusa and that's it. Which is too bad because I really will need some of other sizes like 120mm. I might just end up getting the new batwing style since I won't be looking at my fans a lot anyway and it is such a nice bearing technology that has no friction but air so it's so quiet and long lasting.

There is one other fan company that I can't think of right now that has a new bearing technology that is as quiet or quieter than the Enemax and Noctua fans but they don't go into much detail about how the bearing works or what the design is at all really. Hopefully I can find that article again.

I use white LED Enermax T.B. Vegas fans wherever I can mount 120mm fans. I've used Enermax Clusters in my previous builds.

Enermax does make some good fans.

Of course you can, but I'm not suggesting you do that. I've suggesting you DECREASE the CPU voltage to decrease the heat generated.

I'll have to read the manual. I've never messed with voltages before.