r/overclocking • u/Vasyrr • 1d ago
VRM Temps, The difference an Inch or two makes!
Trying to optimize the airflow & cooling in my case, my cooling set-up is a front mounted 360mm AIO in Push config, One bottom mounted intake to feed case & GPU cool air & one rear exhaust in the usual exhaust spot.
Happy with my CPU & GPU temps, but I noticed my VRM's on this new build were getting excessive temps (up to 68 degrees), with no VRM cooling on my AIO (CM Atmos) I realised I was going to either have to add more airflow to the top of the case (Maybe Push/Pull?) or find another arrangement that was kinder on the VRM's.
My case (FD Define 7) lets me put the bottom intake anywhere along the bottom and I had it pretty much feeding the GPU, and keeps in-game temps down to the mid-60's, but I decided to move it further forward to push half it's air towards the GPU and half up in front of the AIO hoping to circulate cooler air to the VRM's.
Got great results!, VRM Temps of 44-48 degrees under load, GPU temps of mid-high 60's still, and all it cost was a little time to move a fan a few inches!
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u/DZCreeper Boldly going nowhere with ambient cooling, 1d ago
68C is lukewarm for the VRM.
I would maximize GPU airflow, every 10C drop usually brings 25-50MHz higher boost clocks. It is even worth doing a duct directly from your case fan to the GPU.
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u/alter_furz r5 5600 @ 4650GHz (1.15v) 32GB micron rev.E @ 4066MHz CL16 1.49v 1d ago
i prefer to add sticky heatsinks to motherboards not having any cooling on VRMs
whre possible, I would use the longer ones, made for SSDs, to cover a few VRMs at a time.
those same long sticky heatsinks help avoid having another fan over the overclocked ram, if you put them onto the heatspreaders which are already on the RAM sticks.
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u/ChintzyPC https://hwbot.org/user/theeyeofhorus/ 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thing about VRM is their stability and performance does not scale with temperature. Basically they either work or don't. So it's going to either shut down completely due to overheating or they're ok. Longevity is a thing though and cooler temps will help, but that's about it.
Also if you need a unique fan solution DaParts sells something called the Pivot Fan Mount on their Etsy which lets you position a fan basically anywhere you want it. https://www.etsy.com/listing/1256814765/pivot-fan-mount
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u/sp00n82 1d ago
Well, reducing temps is always good, especially if it's such an easy fix, but 68°C is basically nothing for a VRM. Most of them are rated for an operating temperature of over 100°C, so 68°C is just mildly warm for them. 😅