Antec 300 case causing video card to run hot.

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dpro

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Jan 24, 2007
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I am hoping someone can help with this issue I have with my Antec 300 case causing my 460GTX to continually run hot. I am measuring Temps from GPU-Z for my GPU and AMD OverDrive for my CPU.

Here's some quick environmental things: Generally the room the computer runs in, is on average about 21-23C on any given day, up to 30C on very hot days which are fairly rare. The case doesn't have the best airflow around it, but has several inches of clearance on either side and about 10 inches in the back, the front is completely unobstructed.

My 460GTX while idle runs about 39-41C and under any moderate load e.g. Diablo 3 on low @ 1600x900 causes the GPU to heat up to about 65-70C, with other games such as Assassins creed, it gets up to about 80C, and causes the fan to spin up. Most games I have to run at minimum settings and usually under 1400x900 just to keep the GPU card under 70C.

Any ideas why the GPU is running so hot? It's placed at the top PCIe slot, which is close to the CPU and furthest away from the bottom mounted PSU.

The computer:
Antec 300 w/ 4 case fans. 1 intake and 3 blowing out the hot air.
I have an Antec NEO Eco 520 which unfortunately is on the bottom of the case and exhausts hot air up towards the GTX460.
AMD Phenom II 1050T w/ Corsair H50 (runs pretty cool between 23C idle and 34C Max)
8 GB DDR3 ram
single HDD
460GTX
poor cable management as well.
 
1 intake and 3 exhausts do not make sense. That being said those GPU temperatures seem normal for a 400 series card running at full throttle (did you enable V-Sync to limit frame rates while you were turning down settings to keep card usage low, otherwise the FPS will just skyrocket until the GPU is at 100% again). Try two front intakes, one side intake, and one rear exhaust. You can add a top exhaust later if you want but try moving your four fans into this arrangement. I'm going to guess that you were using the side as an exhaust? That could starve the GPU's supply of cool intake air.

Cable management is also a must with the 300. Zip tie everything down using the raised metal loops at the leading edge of the motherboard, and shove as much as you can into the bay beside the hard drives. Here are some images of a GTX 275 SLI setup that I had in my case a while back that, while it ran at ~80C (top card) and ~90C (bottom card) at full load, it still worked and probably created more heat than your GTX 460 does. Note the clear path for the two intake fans that line up with the GPUs.

dscn2698u.jpg

dscn2700u.jpg


I wasn't kidding when I said to use the side bay either for a rat's nest :).
dscn2703cd.jpg


Wow I miss that old build.
 
Yep they seem normal to me too. I ran the top and back fans as exhaust and then had 2 front fans as intake along with the side fan running intake with my old 300 and never had a problem with temps.
 
Clean up your cables, you can run the excess up the back of the mobo tray and even the 24-pin ATX connector and the PCI-E connectors. That's how I have my cables ran in my case, though I had to cut a hole to run all the cables through. I have 6870's in crossfire with 2 intake and 2 exhaust and I see no temp issues at all, even with clogged front filters. I need to clean those:rolleyes:.
 
+1 on Cleaning up the cables,
front fans and side panel fan should be intakes
top and rear are exhaust fans
 
Turns out front and side are intakes. For some reason I thought it was an exhaust fan.

Well the main issue is the horrible noise I get when doing any sort of gaming. Sounds like my case is about to take off due to the 460GTX's "small" fan size. I guess I am wondering if that's just the way things are going to be or if I can lower the temps and therefore my noise level due to the fan.
 
What brand is your 460? I heard the Evga 460 External Exhausts are a fair bit louder then the normal 460s. My wifes 460 in a 300 sounds just fine even under 100% load. Her temps max out at 78c.
 
Yeah I have an evga. Maybe that has everything to do with it. :) I guess if my temps are fine then I am more or less complaining about nothing :)
 
Have 2 front fans drawing air inward along with the one on the side.The top fan and rear blow outward and temps at idle are 32C for video card,while the cpu(1090T oc) runs at 33C when not in use.I have an Antec 300 with a Cosair TX 850W PS that has very long cables.So cable management can be a problem.
 
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