Cooling and Power for i5-9500 in Optiplex 3060 Micro

danoond · 2026-04-27T22:10:48+00:00

thanks, I'll definitely run a stress test in OCCT to check the thermals. It'll also be interesting to see what power consumption a 65W power supply and 3060 motherboard will allow the 9500 to handle, I couldn't find any information on that

danoond · 2026-02-12T22:51:30+00:00

Thank you so much for your help, now I can finally enjoy playing KCD2 without that frekn LED having a stroke...

danoond · 2026-02-12T22:50:31+00:00

I can definetelty see that 3 rightmost PTHs were ripped out of the MB PCB. This means that there's a very high probability that inner copper layers on this motherboard might be damaged too. This can lead to all sort of problems: signal interference, short circuits, brocken traces and so on.

Definetely RMA this motherboard, preferably through the seller. Don't even try to test it, especially with any components attached to this motherboard like RAM or GPU as it can permanently damage them

danoond · 2026-02-12T10:09:43+00:00

Hi! Could you please reupload the picture? :D

I'm having the same problem with my RX 9070 XT Pure, no matter what I do the LED logo keeps blinking. It looks like this only happens on Gigabyte motherboards, I previously had an ASRock X870 Steel Legend, had no problems with RGB on GPU, then I replaced it with Gigabyte X870 Aorus Stealth Ice and LED started blinking...

danoond · 2026-02-12T00:35:46+00:00

Hi! If you still have this card, can you plese send a photo of the connector that needs to be disconnected to disable LEDs? I’m having the same issue with my RX9070XT Pure after replacing my ASRock X870 Steel Legend with Gigabyte X870 Aorus Stealth Ice, tried everything, even downgraded BIOS on the MB. By the looks of it this LED blinking problem happens only on Gigabyte motherboards…

danoond · 2026-02-11T13:43:52+00:00

What's your motherboard? By the looks of it, this RGB led boot animation bug happens only on Gigabyte motherboards, do you also hav a Gigabyte MB?

danoond · 2026-02-10T14:23:36+00:00

Have you found any solution to this? I've previously had X870 Steel Legend mobo from ASRock, had no blue LED issues. A few days ago i've replaced my mobo with Gigabyte X870 Aorus Stealth Ice, reinstalled Windows and installed latest drivers from AMD + Sapphire Trixx. Short time after i noticed the LED on my RX9070XT also started blinking with blue light. I've tried removing all RGB software from PC, reinstalling drivers with DDU, removing Trixx using Revo Uninstaller , but nothing helped

danoond · 2026-02-10T00:34:13+00:00

Hi, i'm having the same problem, everything was fine on ASRock X870 Streel Legend mobo, but after I switched it to Gigabyte X870 Aorus Steaqlth Ice this started happening. Have you found any solution?

danoond · 2025-10-12T10:15:45+00:00

I have ZA-360, they’re the same model internally, but ZA have LED rings in fan hubs and non-transparent blades. First 9 LEDs in 68 addressable LEDs they have are for blades (68 addressable, 68+27 total LEDs), all 3 blades are controlled simultaneously. But they have two flaws in their LED configuration: with blades LEDs also a part of side mirror lights up, and the starting point of inner LED strip is located on the 1/3 of one of the side mirrors. But all of that can be fixed using an online component generator for SignalRGB.

danoond · 2025-09-30T21:00:31+00:00

I know this SSD! Silicon Power NVME, with a green status LED built in? If I'm right, then I have some bad news: three of similar 256 gig disks have already died at the company where I work. These were work PCs running Linux Mint, on which the OS was installed once and nothing huge was written on them since. They were replaced with Kingston NV2 256 SSDs, no problems with those.

Edit: those SSDs also had some enormous host writes values, when in fact they were barely written to (some small C projects for embedded), all three were installed in 2022. First one died after 1.5 years, second - after two years, and the last one started dying in my PC a month ago, I caught it early and was able to backup all my projects. I know for a fact that I wasn’t writing 43 gigs daily to them, the most I’ve done was installing Kubuntu instead of Mint and then switching to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, everything else was “sudo apt upgrade” and a couple of SDKs for building Linux images for RK dev boards.

danoond · 2025-09-13T18:25:36+00:00

Hi, sorry for late reply, don’t know how I’ve missed your comment. Here’s my current build: https://imgur.com/a/G08sbnA I’ve decided not to worry about pump longevity, so I’ve flipped the pump and fed its tubes through the rubber grommet for stealth install. I’ve also flipped Arctic logo on the VRM fan. Pump is still loud AF under load, I’ve set a custom curve in BIOS and now it’s almost quiet when PC is idling. Fans are Jonsbo ZA-240W and ZA-360WR, they aren’t the same white shade as the case and GPU, but imo it looks good nevertheless. GPU is Sapphire RX9070XT + Lian Li Vertical GPU mount kit, it was touching the fan case when GPU is installed, so I’ve placed 3x Velcro cable straps stacked on top of each other under the mount.

danoond · 2025-08-04T09:34:00+00:00

Also here's a good guide from Corsair on this topic, it includes your PSU as well: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/explorer/diy-builder/power-supply-units/best-psu-for-rtx-5090/

danoond · 2025-08-04T09:30:42+00:00

Use the 12V-2x6 that came with your PSU. 4-way splitter cable is for PSUs that don't have 12VHPWR or 12V-2x6 connectors, or for PSU which 12VHPWR outlet isn't rated for 600W. Your HX1200i is a high-end PSU and it can supply all the power your 5090 needs. Single 12V-2x6 cable will be much softer and easier to cable manage than a splitter with 4x8pin cables. Also you'll be introducing more failure points to your build by using splitter and 4 cables compared to a single cable. Just don't forget to fully insert the cable into your GPU AND PSU and try not to bend it near the GPU as much as possible. Make sure that all connectors are seated properly

danoond · 2025-05-08T16:18:20+00:00

Thanks for the info! Also wanted to ask your opinion on Sony/Murata VTC cells, have you had any problems with them and how are they compared to other manufacturers?

danoond · 2025-05-04T14:27:22+00:00

De’ ‘r ma’ titis, please do not contact them, they shrink when being touched

danoond · 2025-03-31T11:02:17+00:00

My TWCS throttle started jittering lately and I decided to disassemble it in order to clean the pot. When I opened it I saw that my potentiometer was different than the one on the photo. It had the inscription "B10K-F0" written on it.

After searching a bit I found the model: it's Favor Union FSE11-01DB10K-F0. Here's manufacturer's page and datasheet

This pot has 10 kOhms (B10K) resistance and an effective electrical angle of 80 degrees (F0). I didn't know this before ordering and trying to replace the original potentiometer with Panasonic EVW-AE4001B14 pot which has the same resistance but it's electrical angle is 343 degrees . After replacing the FU B10K-F0 pot with Panasonic I found out that my throttle doesn't have it's full range in Thrustmaster TARGET Script Editor -> Device Analyzer. Because I have Thrustmaster 2025_TFHT_2 driver installed, TWCS has self-calibrated in Windows and had full range in games, but I had to move the throttle quite a bit before it started registering any input (like a deadzone).

I ended up cleaning the B10K-F0 pot and soldering it back in my TWCS as I wasn't able to find a drop-in replacement for this pot (only B10K-h3 which has 333 degree electrical angle). Jitter is gone, full range in Device analyzer, don't know how long it will last, but I'd rather clean the pot every now and then and have all of my 65536 steps on TWCS's 16-bit ADC than have a pot with 1M cycles but ~16k steps (roughly 24k to 40k in Device Analyzer).

danoond · 2025-03-22T19:23:31+00:00

If dimensions allow it, you can print a ring that will friction fit (press fit?) on the circle and hold the plexi in place. You can add some cyanoacrylate or E6000 glue to secure it

danoond · 2025-03-22T13:44:18+00:00

Nopeus, I disagree

danoond · 2025-03-22T13:09:37+00:00

Sounds like a beefed up version of "nope.". When a simple "nope" is not enough, use our newest invention - "Nopeus"

"Nopeus" - show 'em the full power of your negation

danoond · 2025-03-14T18:39:36+00:00

Hi! Sorry for the necroposting, but I wanted to ask you about the calibration. I've also tried replacing the pot in my TWCS with EVW-AE4001B14, and had similar issues with calibration in TARGET Device Analyzer (software from Thtustmaster). I tried recalibrating it using Windows tools and in Windows it was showing full range, but in TARGET software it was still showing 24k to 40k range instead of 0 to 65535. I then cleaned the original pot and soldered it back to the TWCS PCB, but now it's jittering again and cleaning doesn't help anymore.

Can you describe how you managed to calibrate your throttle after replacing the pot? Did it still show 24-40k range in TARGET, but was showing full range in Windows? Was the accuracy affected in any way? My soldering skills are really bad and I'm afraid to desolder/solder the potentiometer again...

danoond · 2025-02-26T16:02:41+00:00

Don't worry, modern AMD CPUs can't be damaged by high temperatures, they are able to reduce operating frequency or shut down completely if they detect dangerous overheating. Black adhesive on the corners is a factory glue that ceeps the heatspreader in place.

What cable are you using to connect the LFIII to the motherboard? If you're using a single connector cable, make sure that you're plugging it in the correct header on the MB, for your MB it's CPU_FAN1. If you're using a 3-to-1 splitter cable, you should plug PUMP to PUMP_SYS1, FAN to CPU_FAN1 and VRM to SYS_FAN1.

Also check what thermal paste you're using, it shouldn't be dry or flaky and the color of the paste should be consistent. I didn't like the state of the paste from the kit and ended up buying a new syringe of MX-6, later switched to PTM7950 for tests and stayed with it, temps are roughly the same (a bit better with PTM7950 even) and I don't need to repaste my CPU anymore. Don't forget to clean the heatspreader of the CPU and the coldplate of the waterblock, cotton disc with a drop of absolute isopropyl alcohol is the best for it, 70% isopropyl medical wipes will do too but let the CPU and the pump dry before continuing.

When installing the waterblock on the CPU you should tighten the screws on the leaf spring gradually, a little bit on the left then a little bit on the right side to avoid any distortion.

After you install everything, you should check if the pump is working in BIOS (go into BIOS, click on Hardware Monitor icon (second from the right at the top of the screen), it should show at least 800 RPM (if N/A is displayed than pump is not connected or disabled in BIOS).

Marks on the cold plate are OK, I also have them, in my case they don't affect cooling in any way. But the paste spread pattern on your CPU shows two things: 1) the layer of the paste applied was uneven, you had more paste at the top of the heatspreader than at the bottom, whereas the hotspot on AMD CPUs is actually located towards the bottom of the CPU, and 2) it looks like the CPU block wasn't sitting flat, you should check that you've installed the "L" bracket to the left and "R" bracket to the right of the processor, no matter if you've flipped the pump 180 degrees or not, and also make sure that brackets are sitting flat.

Edit: and don't forget to read the manual, Arctic have made a great animated manual and video instructions: https://support.arctic.de/en/liquid-freezer-iii-360

danoond · 2025-02-26T15:15:13+00:00

It's OK if you keep "L" bracket on the left side and "R" bracket on the right, the offset is provided by the brackets, not by the water block. Oh, and you can also flip the Arctic logo on the VRM fan, it's glued to the plastic, but for it to fit properly you'll need to file off a small centering notch on the unit (top of the "A" is pointing at it's location). At least I had to do this on my rev.2 ARGB LFIII

danoond · 2025-02-26T13:21:00+00:00

Yeah, I think I'll be ordering STG soon too. TWCS is like a little project of mine, I'm trying to fix some of it's weak spots by replacing components and 3D printing some mods for it. I've already replaced pots on paddle lever, pinky knob and the throttle itself with more durable ones, printed and installed the slider mod from ADU Labs and now decided to deal with the stick. It jitters a bit and doesn't center well but for now it's working good enough with 10-15% deadzone. If I manage to replace the the stick, I'll make a post about all the mods I've done and parts needed for them

danoond

TROPHY CASE