What combo can cool a i9-12900?

xfan10

Weaksauce
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Are there any solid ITX and cooler combos that can keep a i9-12000 in the 80c's under load? Not just CPU-z stress test but Cinebench too as I will be doing a lot of rendering. I just built a NR2000P and realize it just cant do it without mutilating a Noctua D15 cooler and even then its so so. And the Max with the included AOI cant either. Are there any other options or do I have to move to ATX? Needs to fit a 3090 card, too.
 
I did some quick looking, keeping temps below 90 C on the i9-12900 is gonna be a challenge in pretty much any ITX case running Cinebench and CPU-Z. Many of the builds I read in the Meshlicious and NZXT H1 v2 had the CPUs push 95-100 and a couple even throttled. During gaming they were brought back down into the 80s and even high 70s. Your best bet is probably count on going up to at least mATX. I've used the Fractal Node 304 in the past and it has excellent airflow for an ITX case but you will struggle because there is no official radiator support (some have claimed to fit a 140 or even 240 radiator though).
Get a good mATX case with high airflow, and I would recommend at least a 280mm radiator for your CPU, 360+ would be even better if you can fit it. Your GPU should not be much of an issue in most mATX cases unless it is exceptionally long, and even then they might still fit okay with some minor modification. If you go up to full ATX mid tower you'll be even better off, but if space is a concern I would try to look for a good mATX case.
 
The Sliger S620 can take the D15. Still you may have to tune your 12900 for sustained loads like renders and such.
 
I'm a bit partial to ITX builds because they're my favorite (go compact and save space if you can) but there are some setups that ITX shouldn't be used for, such as extreme overclocking (modest is okay) and maxed out power rigs. The thermals don't really allow for it, even in the best-designed cases, because the sheer amount of cooling those components require is too much for what the case can handle.
 
Nor I. I do a lot of sff building and wouldn’t compromise noise/temps to the levels needed for such a build personally.
I know a lot of mATX cases are not considered SFF, but could you recommend a couple that would be? If OP really doesn't want to upsize much, I can think of a couple ThermalTake cases that might be adequate for spacing, cooling support, and are not too much larger than many of the leading ITX cases. If OP is okay with going to a tower-sized chassis then this point would be null of course.
 
I want to say it’s something like 33 liters so not sff - meaning 20L or less -but the Fractal Meshify C mini was the best all around compact mATX case for a long time. Maybe still is. The Noctua D15 fits as well as 315mm GPUs and has up to 280mm front aio support. This may take some gpu length away though.

I caved on my 12th gen build and went air cooled in the Lian Li 011 Air mini. Definitely not sff but fairly compact for it’s flexibility.
 
Do you guys think a Fractal Torrent Nano could do the job with a D15 and replace the single front 180mm fan with 2 140mm fans?
 
Do you guys think a Fractal Torrent Nano could do the job with a D15 and replace the single front 180mm fan with 2 140mm fans?
Yes, but a couple important things to be cautioned about:
First, with the D15, you're going to be right at the limit for CPU cooler height. D15 height with fans is 165mm, max supported cooler height in the Nano is 165mm. No room for error.
Second, unlike with the Torrent Compact or full size, removing the front fan with two 140mm is a viable option in the Nano, but you'll have to make sure you replace it with adequate fans. Junk fans might not increase the overall airflow enough to make it worth swapping out the 180mm. My suggestion would be to replace it with exactly the same type of Fractal fans (Dynamic X2 GP-14 PWM or Prisma AL-14 PWM if you want RGB). You can also put two 120/140mm fans in the bottom and one 120mm fan in the back for extra peace of mind, provided your GPU would allow enough space for them (mainly referring to the bottom fans). Run them as intake and the rear as exhaust of course, and you should be fine.
 
Yes, but a couple important things to be cautioned about:
First, with the D15, you're going to be right at the limit for CPU cooler height. D15 height with fans is 165mm, max supported cooler height in the Nano is 165mm. No room for error.
Second, unlike with the Torrent Compact or full size, removing the front fan with two 140mm is a viable option in the Nano, but you'll have to make sure you replace it with adequate fans. Junk fans might not increase the overall airflow enough to make it worth swapping out the 180mm. My suggestion would be to replace it with exactly the same type of Fractal fans (Dynamic X2 GP-14 PWM or Prisma AL-14 PWM if you want RGB). You can also put two 120/140mm fans in the bottom and one 120mm fan in the back for extra peace of mind, provided your GPU would allow enough space for them (mainly referring to the bottom fans). Run them as intake and the rear as exhaust of course, and you should be fine.
Yeah. I have 2x 140mm Noctua fans arriving for the front. Then I’ll add a 120 Noctua in the rear. Would I connect the front fans to the chassis fan header or cpu fan header on the mobo since they directly hit the cpu?
 
Yeah. I have 2x 140mm Noctua fans arriving for the front. Then I’ll add a 120 Noctua in the rear. Would I connect the front fans to the chassis fan header or cpu fan header on the mobo since they directly hit the cpu?
Chassis. CPU fan header will be for the Noctua fan(s) on the D15.
Also make sure your GPU is not more than 310mm long or you will have to leave the 180mm fan in the front. If so, put the two 140s in the bottom and leave the 180 in, and you should still be okay.
 
The Sliger S620 can take the D15. Still you may have to tune your 12900 for sustained loads like renders and such.
You can also put a 280mm RAD in there, side mounted. Fans pushing through the RAD, As an exhaust; the temps are barely worse than an open case.

This MATX case fits a 360mm cooler (you could put your ITX mobo in there). I hear the quality on these is good.
https://www.amazon.com/C3-Computer-Water-Cooling-Graphics-Installation/dp/B09BJTGFYH/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2UZ70D77ZSQSL&keywords=c3+case+itx+matx&qid=1656010820&s=electronics&sprefix=c3+case+itx+matx,electronics,102&sr=1-2&th=1


and ultimately, if you unlock the power limit of the 12900 and then manually set it to 170 watts, you will get like 98% of the performance and temps which are manageable by a 240mm AIO or a good air cooler.
 
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That Amazon case looks interesting especially for the price so nice find. OP may want to look hard at that one. I like the proportions but not crazy about the TG.


Yeah plus one for tuning the cpu. I just checked “enforce all limits” in bios for my 12700k and loss in performance in anything but benchmarks is hardly noticeable. Temps are fine all day under a U12S.

I already have the s610 but was tempted to pick up the s620 to fit a Tuf 6800xt I already have and better cpu cooler options.
 
That Amazon case looks interesting especially for the price so nice find. OP may want to look hard at that one. I like the proportions but not crazy about the TG.


Yeah plus one for tuning the cpu. I just checked “enforce all limits” in bios for my 12700k and loss in performance in anything but benchmarks is hardly noticeable. Temps are fine all day under a U12S.

I already have the s610 but was tempted to pick up the s620 to fit a Tuf 6800xt I already have and better cpu cooler options.
I have an S610 and love it. 12700k and reference AMD 6700 XT. I also had a 5950x in there for about 2 months and then a 3900x for several months.
The only real problem I have with the case, is that in order to use a 280mm radiator, you have to put it in the case first, before everything else. There are a couple slight changes they could make, to fix that. But Sliger doesn't seem to update their cases often, if ever.

and then to do any real "work" on the computer, everything has to come out, because the 280 covers everything but the graphics card. The S620 doesn't have this problem, because of the extra depth of the case, for inserting the 280 rad.

240mm rad is a joy in the S610.
 
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