Need Help/Advice on Improving Temps...

[Z-Ro_da_Cr0oked]

Ok i plan on o/cing my ram, cpu, and vid card cause im about to hit the one year mark and would like better performance playin halflife2 and rometotalwar and such...

thats the front of my pc...
2 80mm collermaster fans...if i remove the front cover....i see that the metal kinda restricts the intake of air...(i also removed that fan filter)....so if i removed the metal would that be a good idea?

that is the side...
the fan on the window...was customed using a 80mm holesaw....i set the fan as an intake...
the cpu fan is pullin in air at the cpu...
or should i make it pulling air off?

that is the top of my pc...i customed that along with the window couple months back...
using a 80mm holesaw...right now its an exhaust...or should i set it to intake?

that is the back of my pc...
the psu fan is an exhaust and so is the back fan...
should i keep it like that or make it a intake?

and thats the vid card area...
i got a slowblower exhaust and 2 fans blowin air on the video card...

Thanks for answering my questions...

 

[Z-Ro_da_Cr0oked]

btw sorry for bad quality...
i was using my phone
right now im averaging...
30c on my system and 50c on my cpu...
when i first built my pc...
it was much cooler

 

[domoMKIV]

is the heatsink for the cpu covered in dust? or the fan?



anyway, heres my fan setup.


Rear - 2 80mm exhaust fans
Side Window - 1 80mm intake fan, cools right over the video card.
Front - 2 80mm intake fans, cools over the hdd's and then to the back of the case.
Top - 1 80mm exhaust fan
PSU - 1 80mm intake fan (facing the optical drives), 1 80mm exhaust fan (at the rear of the case)
then on the CPU i have a thermaltake silent boost heatsink w/ fan.


im averaging about 46C-48C under load (during the summer time) and around 39C-42C when just using IE/AIM....



during the cold seasons here though, im switching the rear fans to intake (since my tower is near the window) and the front fans to exhaust to see how that goes.

 

[OptPrime]

consider drilling out the back plate where the fans are and making a new template with 2 exhaust fans right next to the proc. other then that you cant go wrong with thermalright air cooling products.

yes and remove whatever stamped fan grills are in the frame of the case... all they do is make your rig louder and more restrictive.

 

[Z-Ro_da_Cr0oked]

consider drilling out the back plate where the fans are and making a new template with 2 exhaust fans right next to the proc. other then that you cant go wrong with thermalright air cooling products.

yes and remove whatever stamped fan grills are in the frame of the case... all they do is make your rig louder and more restrictive.

where are u talking about?

 

[SatinSpiral]

where are u talking about?

i'm pretty sure he means those waffle grids that many cases have in front of intake/exhaust fans mounts.

 

[Z-Ro_da_Cr0oked]

u mean the weblookin metal covering the fans?

 

[IceWindus]

Honestly, your doing more harm then good on your setup. Your suffering from what I like to call "Fan Paranoia" Basically, your shoving fans in every single possible place to keep your equipment as cool as possible. What your doing however is creating basically a nice tornando inside your case with no thought to proper air intake and exhaust, which will make your temps actually worse. Heres why...

As your twin 80mm intakes pull air, they are immediatly met with air from your side panel fans which neglets the intake air from cooling your CPU and video card. not only that, but you have dual fans under your video card which are constantly recycling warmed air from the video card that isn't being replaced because your intake air is being pushed away from your side panel fans. Add to the fact your exhausts fans which are trying to pull air away from the case which is also sucking up your cool intake air because its being thrown all over the place from those fans.

Not to mention, I bet the noise is insane from all those fans. If you want the ideal solution IMO is to do this...

1. Remove the video card cooler. This will greatly reduce the turbulence that thing is causing thereby allowing your video card to recieve cooler air from your side panel and intake fans.

2. Negate the intake fans in front and attach a 120mm fan to the side panel. Much more airflow and alot less noise. Also remove the video card slot cooler.

More is not always better and in this case, more can have a negative effect.

2.

 

[IceWindus]

Dual post

 

[Mickey21]

Some good suggestions just above... Here is what I would do...

Remove any type of stamped steel membranes in front or behind the fans, both the intake and the exhaust... The grill on the top of your top exhaust fan are perfect grills if you want to use any. Other than artistic grills which usually suffer performance, basic thin grills are best...

Remove any of the PCI / VGA fans you are using. They make virtually no difference. I would suggest converting your VGA stock cooling to an Arctic VGA Silencer series. They would also help your cooling because the hot air from the video card is expelled directly outside and not added to the heat of the system.

Converting your window mounted 80mm to 120mm fan would help in both noise and cooling...

That should really position the computer for a good solid cooling. You could possibly reconsider the fans in usage and find lower noise more CFM fans, which are definitely out there.... Usually blue led fans are not the best performance in noise to cfm ratio. Hope that helps... Any further increase in cooling would take you into the realms of cooling like watercooling, TEC's, phase change, etc....

 

[Katiemarie]

My case came with a spot for a blowhole up top, but I never put a fan in there because I didn't think it would do any good, and I thought it would actually divert air that's supposed to be going past the motherboard right out the top.

Is that right? Or should I stick a fan up there?

 

[Z-Ro_da_Cr0oked]

cool another austinite but back to the topic at hand...
i really dont want to change that 80mm to a 120mm...
so heres what ill do...
cut the web thing in the front...
and ill remove the slot blowers...
and how much is that artic cooling thing yall talkin bout?

 

[Z-Ro_da_Cr0oked]

Honestly, your doing more harm then good on your setup. Your suffering from what I like to call "Fan Paranoia" Basically, your shoving fans in every single possible place to keep your equipment as cool as possible. What your doing however is creating basically a nice tornando inside your case with no thought to proper air intake and exhaust, which will make your temps actually worse. Heres why...

As your twin 80mm intakes pull air, they are immediatly met with air from your side panel fans which neglets the intake air from cooling your CPU and video card. not only that, but you have dual fans under your video card which are constantly recycling warmed air from the video card that isn't being replaced because your intake air is being pushed away from your side panel fans. Add to the fact your exhausts fans which are trying to pull air away from the case which is also sucking up your cool intake air because its being thrown all over the place from those fans.

Not to mention, I bet the noise is insane from all those fans. If you want the ideal solution IMO is to do this...

1. Remove the video card cooler. This will greatly reduce the turbulence that thing is causing thereby allowing your video card to recieve cooler air from your side panel and intake fans.

2. Negate the intake fans in front and attach a 120mm fan to the side panel. Much more airflow and alot less noise. Also remove the video card slot cooler.

More is not always better and in this case, more can have a negative effect.

2.

so far ive taken out the slot blower and left the pci fans in...
i think ill convert the side panel to an exhause and the the top fan to a intake

 

[OKANG]

so far ive taken out the slot blower and left the pci fans in...
i think ill convert the side panel to an exhause and the the top fan to a intake

I would do away with the blowhole altogether. That'd certainly be better than making it an intake. If you do that, then you're just pushing all of that hot air (which naturally rises to the top) down to your CPU. That's not what you want. Also, making the side panel fan an exhaust will have a negative effect. It will end up fighting the CPU fan, which it trying to move air in the opposite direction. Keep things simple: move the air bottom to top, front to back (or as close as you can get to it). Also, keep in mind that the most efficient designs move air in a straight line and you want to get hot air out of the case using the shortest path possible.

 

[Black Label]

just to add to the topic, i recently installed one of those vantec spectrum pci slot fans and my idle cpu temp is now 3c higher than before. my video card temps are a little lower, but i dont know if thats a good trade. ill look into those vga silencers

 

[mrgstiffler]

I have the same case and I love it. I have green fans in the front and I like how green shows through the front.

 

[IceWindus]

so far ive taken out the slot blower and left the pci fans in...
i think ill convert the side panel to an exhause and the the top fan to a intake

NEVER have a side panel fan in exhaust position. You will create a vacuum between your CPU and the panel fan making temps even worse, leave on intake.

You also NEVER have a blowhole be "intake" What OKANG said, all your basically doing is shoving that warmed air * due to warmed air rising* back down to your hot components, not only that, but your gonna have dust up the ying yang.

You can have a blowhole, but the ideal solution is to have it run at low RPM's, just enough to exhaust that pocket of warm air out of the cases top. To accomplish this, you need a rheo or fan bus or a tempature/fan controller unit.

Also, we said that PCI slot coolers just make things worse, don't use them!

If you want maximum cooling for your videocard, attach a VGA Silencer on it, they are proven time and time again to work very well, alot of people have them, including me. Plus, they are dead quiet. Here's a link for all the models they carry...

VGA Silencer model line

 

[Mickey21]

NEVER have a side panel fan in exhaust position. You will create a vacuum between your CPU and the panel fan making temps even worse, leave on intake.

You also NEVER have a blowhole be "intake" What OKANG said, all your basically doing is shoving that warmed air * due to warmed air rising* back down to your hot components, not only that, but your gonna have dust up the ying yang.

You can have a blowhole, but the ideal solution is to have it run at low RPM's, just enough to exhaust that pocket of warm air out of the cases top. To accomplish this, you need a rheo or fan bus or a tempature/fan controller unit.

Also, we said that PCI slot coolers just make things worse, don't use them!

If you want maximum cooling for your videocard, attach a VGA Silencer on it, they are proven time and time again to work very well, alot of people have them, including me. Plus, they are dead quiet. Here's a link for all the models they carry...

VGA Silencer model line

IceWind, I couldnt have said it any better. It is nice to see other people who know what they are doing... Ditto word for word...

Also to answer another one of the questions mentioned, the VGA silencer (depending on version) should run you about 15-25 dollars (Depending on where you get it). Fry's has it normally for about 19.99 by the way... Not too hard to mount either. Before getting one though, check the Arctic Cooling website on your model VGA card to verify the model you get will fit your particular card (sometimes there is a cap in the way or something else). Or you can just shotgun it and grab and try.... Good luck...