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air flow, how much is it needed?

S

shankar

n00b
Joined
Apr 18, 2006
Messages
14
In my other thread i ask for advise about my first mod(you can see a pic of the case there), but now, after reading some guides, and what you say in threads, im in doubt about the air flow, appart from the mod itself.
Everybody mention big fans, a couple of them, lots of air in and out of the case...
i remembre my old pc, an athlon 1.3, that used to be really hot, i bought a copper heatsink with a huge n VERY noisy fan, and even with that the cpu was arround 40ºC, but now i have a athlon 64, with the stock HS, and my mobo (as usual) has fan controller, so usually its RPM dont go higher than 1200 with the CPU at 30~40ºC n lovely silent; so my question is, appart from the look they give to the mod, are those extra fans really needed?
 
Different cpu's run at different temperatures... I had an athlon xp that used to run all day at 60C+ under load and idled low 50C. Never crashed, stable for 4 years now. New chips on the other hand, they like to idle in the low to mid 30C's and 50C+ under load is just too hot. If you're within those norms, no need to upgrade your cooling setup. However, also keep in mind that there are other components in your system that are prone to getting hot such as your motherboard chipset and videocard, so good airflow in your case is still important to keep the heat out.
 
A balanced approach to cooler temps:
- Use efficient device coolers (CPU and GPU), which dump warm air into the case interior.
- Configure case ventilation to displace that warm internal air with cooler room temp air.
- Configure air-flow path to cool all devices, not just a discrete device.

In my experience, an optimized front-to-back air flow path is the best configuration. A well designed case with matched-flow 120mm case intake and exhaust fans ought to provide excellent uniform cooling for all components.

Some observed problems:
- Side-vents tend to result in reduced air flow over hard drives.
- Negative case pressure tends to stall air flow through the PS.
- Restrictive case grills, front case bezels and filter media impede air flow.
- Using fans with unmatched flow rates in series, the slower-flow fan impedes air flow.

As for how much air flow is needed, that depends on considerations such as balancing what you consider as 'sufficient' cooling and 'acceptable' noise. Select fans accordingly and consider vibration-isolation methods for reducing fan noise.

Hope this helps!
 
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