9950x3d in a "silent" build? Case choices

[Jens]

I want to replace my old xeon machine at home with a 9950x or 9950x3d (the price difference doesn't bother me, I just want the fastest one and the 3x version seems to perform better in corona render benchmarks I've found + single core speeds seem to be same too.

I found a reddit guy who managed to run 192gb ram with the 9950x and a msi tomahawk x870 board stable at good speed (6000mhz). So that's what I think to copy.

Now, usually I'd just stick with my good old noctua NH-DH15 cooler, but after seeing some tests and reviews (including the new G2 noctua cooler), I'm blown away that coolers 1/3rd of the Noctua price is actually performing almost just as nice.

Now, I have most of the hardware lined up on my list, but the case is a tough one. Ideally I just want a simple black box, no fancy rgb etc. I couldn't care less. But I want it to have some sound dampening qualities and maybe have space for a new big GPU sometime in the future.

Many of the "silent" cases will however restrict airflow and there seems to be a consensus online that it's better to go with a case focused on airflow and then get good fans that can run slower.

I don't want to OC or anything, just have a fast stable rig with as little noise as possible. Will reuse my 4060ti gpu.

Any recommendations?

[maru]

I don't want to ruin your plans, but here is a thread where multiple 9950X users reported performance issues with this CPU. Perhaps it would be better to consider a different model, or wait until this is fixed by Microsoft.

[Jens]

cheers Maru, I'm pretty sure I read one of the win11 updates some weeks ago had fixed these performance issues. But maybe you are right and I should search a bit more for people to confirm this :)

[RecentSpacesSam]

One other thing to consider when looking at coolers is the reliability & warranty.

Yes some of the newer brands of coolers may be cheaper but what is their failure rate like? How well do they handle incredibly high loads?

Personally I'd rather spend more on a Noctua, or even more on a AIO cooler from Corsair/Coolermaster etc. and be safe in the knowledge that it isn't going to suddenly crap out on me, reducing productivity while I wait for a replacement.

[Jens]

One other thing to consider when looking at coolers is the reliability & warranty.

Yes some of the newer brands of coolers may be cheaper but what is their failure rate like? How well do they handle incredibly high loads?

Personally I'd rather spend more on a Noctua, or even more on a AIO cooler from Corsair/Coolermaster etc. and be safe in the knowledge that it isn't going to suddenly crap out on me, reducing productivity while I wait for a replacement.

Good point. I will probably go for the new G2 noctua. I've had zeo issues with my old one that's around 8 years old now. The thought of having a pump die or leak from an AIO system is enough to put me off them.

[Nejc Kilar]

Honestly I'm not sure if these cheaper coolers are "that bad" to begin with in terms of reliability. From my understanding the biggest issue can pretty much only be the fan itself - which on most of the coolers I think you can replace anyway. The other issues I can't help but think are pretty rare like the liquid inside the heat pipes evaporating... But someone can correct me if I'm wrong :)

That said, I do always buy Noctua just in case because I am under the impression they double check things, have multiple proper mounts for multiple sockets etc...

Oh and I guess I should mention that I do also have a 9654 Epyc for which there's like only 2 air coolers out there that aren't jet engines - and there I opted for a completely unknown firm but hey, it works fantastic on a 400W CPU for half a year now already. Pleasantly surprised to say the least.

[Jens]

Honestly I'm not sure if these cheaper coolers are "that bad" to begin with in terms of reliability. From my understanding the biggest issue can pretty much only be the fan itself - which on most of the coolers I think you can replace anyway. The other issues I can't help but think are pretty rare like the liquid inside the heat pipes evaporating... But someone can correct me if I'm wrong :)

That said, I do always buy Noctua just in case because I am under the impression they double check things, have multiple proper mounts for multiple sockets etc...

Oh and I guess I should mention that I do also have a 9654 Epyc for which there's like only 2 air coolers out there that aren't jet engines - and there I opted for a completely unknown firm but hey, it works fantastic on a 400W CPU for half a year now already. Pleasantly surprised to say the least.

Made me curious, what was the "unknown firm"? :) Also, what cases are you running and are you happy with the noise?

[Nejc Kilar]

Hah, the company name is "CoolServer" which seemed a bit cheeky to me plus you can't really find their website online so I bit my teeth really hard when making the purchase... But alas, here I am with a nicely cooled 96 core CPU running at 400W. And its been doing so for a couple of months so it seems like a cool purchase I guess.

The other Epyc node has Noctua U14s tower coolers because they actually have an SP3 cooler, there ain't one (or hasn't been, haven't rechecked) for SP5 that isn't a jet engine.

The other company btw was Silverstone and their XE04-SP5 cooler - which I thought was what I was going to end up with but the "CoolServer" thingy seemed bigger and thus quieter. Backup plan was to order the Silverstone one in case the other one was giving me trouble.

As for cases, I am using Fractal Design Torrent for all my builds at the moment. Airflow is quite nice as its pretty much the best rated airflow case out there? Plus you can do multi GPU (if thats your thing especially given how Nvidia is lately) as there isn't a PSU blocking you at the bottom so that bottom card can have more of an overhang (you might need to remove the bottom fans though). Depends on your motherboard as well of course.

For my next set of builds I think I might try the Fractal Design North XL. If you don't mind loosing that GPU overhang because of the PSU then the North XL also imho seems like a cool choice for a CPU build...

One, if you're crazy enough, you can slot 3x 140mm fans in the front and 2x 180mm at the top. I'm pretty sure that creates some turbulence but it also probably slaps for when it comes to bringing in fresh air or taking it out (depending on the orientation).

On top of that, especially if you're running a 2S (2 CPUs on one motherboard) Epyc system you can use the mesh side panel + the little fan bracket thingy that mounts to the side. That thingy would then direct the airflow straight onto the VRMs which are problematic with those types of builds as its all server gear that expects 8000RPM fans blowing pretty much directly over those components.

Even my 9654 in the Torrent tends to reach 80c (maxes out at like 82c) on its VRMs. That is still in spec (100c is the limit) but it also isn't exactly miles away from passing it. I currently don't have AC in my office though so keep that in mind lol :)

Also, there's other cases out there that are really cool as well. I'm just sticking to Fractal Design because they've been quite reliable for me.