New case to keep my stuff cool

[Celldweller]

Hi

A friend redirected me here seeing i'm getting all tied up worrying on how i should manage my system which is pretty much a maze of wires and whatnot. So because i am not blessed with the technological knowhow i turn myself to you.

At this time i have an Antec Two Hundred V2 case that holds this:

Antec Quattro 850
Intel DX580SO
Intel I7 920
Asus HD 7970 Direct CU II
2 Harde schijven

Unfortunatly, the guy that put this together (it's a secondhand comp) didn't feel like doing a good job and created a hellhole of wires in which a cat couldn't even find her young.

One of the reasons i'm thinking about changing is my GPU that is kinda worrying me, but maybe i'm just THAT unknowning about stuff. I'll add in a pic to show you but note that the power temperature goes to 100 degrees celcius when playing Battlefield 3.

But anyway, i need something that keeps cool while gaming and yet be affordable.

I'm thinking about getting a CM HAF922 seeing as those are decently priced and add in an optional 200mm side fan to keep it all going cool.

Temperatures GPU

http://tinypic.com/r/jhpx51/5

My personal maze of wires

http://tinypic.com/r/uygeg/5

Thanks in advance

 

[Marduk77]

First off welcome to the forum!

What PSU are you using? You could get another PSU with modular cables to help with cable management issues.

If you're looking for a new case all together which is why you came here in the first place. I would look at the Corsair series cases. They have excellent cable management features that help if you're not using a modular PSU.

Edit* what is your CPU temp? The screenshot only posts GPU temps...

 

[Celldweller]

i have an Antec Quattro 850 so it comes with cables already in it

i'm not overclocking it but it just worries me that my GPU comes with 2 fans and a heatsink and my power temp still goes up
i think that with a good case and better airflow, the power temp goes down and with it my gpu too which could only be better for overall performance

is there any case of corsair that would go best for that setup? mind that my gpu takes up 28 centimeters in space

here's a speedfan screencap of my temps

i think my power's heat goes up to my CPU :/

 

[Marduk77]

For the same price point as the CM HAF 922 I would get the Corsair 400R. It has a black interior, USB 3.0 for future proof and better cable management.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139008&Tpk=corsair 400r

 

[Celldweller]

Think the temperatures will go down with a better cooling case like that one?

 

[Marduk77]

Think the temperatures will go down with a better cooling case like that one?

To much to factor to really say but it probably won't by much. Are those temps at load or at idle? Those temps look fine if thats at load and running for hours with a stock cooler. What is the temperture of the room? Where is your case stored is it in a cabinet or getting good air circulation? What fans do you have on your Antec case? All that comes into play...

 

[Celldweller]

it's standard coolers from the case
it's in my desk with place behind and at the side of the case

temp is at load but as i said
my GPU's power goes to 100 degrees celcius, that part is right under my cpu so i can imagine the heat actually affecting my cpu
my cpu has a stock cooler on it

 

[wtourist]

The trick is getting enough heat out of the box.
You might have to add cases fans, you might not.

A 400R will flow enough air, you might have to adjust airflow, but the 400r with stock fans works well.
The 7970 may complicate air flow but I have not been hearing complaints.

You are not mentioning a CPU cooler. An aftermarket cooler would likely help the most.

 

[Celldweller]

yea i'll prolly get a new case and get a new cooler with heatpipes to dissipate the heat better
cause BF3 might get a bit long... lol

 

[dragonstongue]

An aftermarket cooler will def help the cpu stay cooler idle load, plenty of good ones out there, Hyper 212+ in push/pull is pretty mcuh the best lowest cost one there is, Corsair A70 or Zalman 10x performa are also very good and low enough cost.

For cases, there is so many to choose from, cheap or $, all depends on needs and $. NZXT Source 210 ELITE is probably hands down one of the best low cost cases there is with lots of room, step up the $ range a bit, Carbide 300r/400r/500r, Silverstone Raven 3( I have and love it wicked good cooling) Cougar Evolution Mid Tower Case, Raidmax Blackstorm, Enermax Fulmo Advanced Mid Tower, Raidmax Viper. it all depends on what you as an individual prefer in the looks, spacing etc

I can put a list of full towers as well if need be, but at least there is a few options here for you.

 

[Jorona]

The 200 isn't that bad on airflow. Its certainly no worse then the 210 Elite or an Antec 300. Those cpu temps look to be idle, which leads me to believe you have a poorly seated stock CPU cooler. The rats nest of wires is only good for 2, maybe 3c.

Generally good temperature rules is GPU under 90c, CPU under 70c, and system/chipset temps below 60c.

I'd un hook everything and rewire it just to make it looks better, then grab a trio of 120mm fans and put two in the front and one in the side, all as intake. Have a nice positive pressure situation in the case and your temps should drop a decent bit. I reccomend a filter on the side fan though. the front two have a built in filter so no worries on them.

 

[dragonstongue]

The rats nest of wires, correct, they do not drop temps by that much, but can keep positive airflow a little better and reduce dead spots which can do I say maybe 5c tops in most extents.

The temps you gave Jorona I will argue on for the parts lasting awhile. GPU should never be 90c unless something is terribly wrong with their cooler or very poor airflow/to low of an RPM on the gpu fans. The temps I personally recomend/use myself GPU 75c or below(64% or so fan) CPU 60c tops, motherboard/chipset 50c tops. All of these are easy to do/maintain.

A very well designed case would have no trouble doing this, lots of fans but poorly aimed are not going to help temps, something the HAF/Antec/most of the current cases on market do is have poor airflow design. Positive airflow in a linear fashion is better then a whole whack of fans with non linear routes.

In other words, more air in then out usually helps alot, and the air as best as possible should be in a smooth almost `-_ shaped where the _ is air coming in front and ` is air leaving out the top OR back. Generally air over hard drives being pushed to gpu assisted by side fan this gets sucked up by the cpu cooler(preferably a east to west or south to north tower heatsink) this helps keep all the hot components constantly being cooled and promotes more air to flow through the case and not getting trapped.

for the 200 I would flip the fan on top to act as exhuast and the rear as intake so only one fan is acting as an exhaust, this way most of the air cooling gpu/hdd is coming from front and side and most of the air cooling cpu is being thrown in from side and sucked out the top. IDK to each thier own but just looking at the pics of Antec cases reminds me of my older Centurion 590 which even with carefull wiring lots or little fans etc my Raven 3 in stock config keep the same components 5c-12c-20c cooler(hard drive-cpu-gpu)

Source 210 ELITE comes with a 140mm rear acting as exhuast and dual front 120mm acting as primary intake, so it should have an advantage on cooling, and allows a total of 2 on top 1 in rear 2 in front 1 in side and 1 in bottom. I can tell you from my experiences with the raven 3, the fans on bottom make a huge cooling potential, after all, coldest air is on the floor. If need be, you can also purchase/make meshes to trap dust, Xioxide sells premade magnetic clip on meshes both square and circle shaped

But yes, I would reset the cpu heatsink if you can, clean up the wiring as best you can(zip ties etc) and arrange the fans best you can(smooth lines as well as more air going in the coming out) and you could also turn the fan speed up, I notice from the SS in here, those fans may not be running thier top speed, if they are, you may want to switch the fans to more powerfull/noisier fans, or get used to warmer temps

GPU can handle 100c heat, cpu 65-85c and motherboards 65c, power supplies 40-50c, hard drives 40-50c, but, this is anything but recomended, my recomend 75 or below, 60 or below, 50 or below, 35-40 or so, 25-38 or so. You dont want hard drives to be super cold its hard on them, but everything else will run better the cooler they are kept as they usually require less power and will last longer as well.