Switch 810 *HOT* Box on top?? Please read.

J

JLangevin

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 13, 2007
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Ok so I have another thread where I have been battling some slightly higher temps than I was hoping for on my watercooling setup. Ill give the cliffnotes version of the specs.

AMD 965BE @ 4.1ghz
GTX580 Reference @ 900mhz /1.1v
EK Copper/Acetal GPU Block
XSPC Raystorm CPU Block
Swiftech Extreme MCR320 Radiator (20fpi)
EK 4.0 800lph pump
Swiftech Micro Res with Fill and Drain ports installed

My temps on my CPU have been idling at 34*c and Loading at 48-50*c
My temps on my GPU have been idling at 30-33*c and loading at 54-60*c depending on ambient temps. Ambient temps are usually in the low 70s in winter and upper 70s in the summer.

People are telling me that my temps are too high and Im going to double check my TIM applications later today, but last night I got to thinking about my Switch 810. Right now I have the fans mounted on the inside of the case at the top pulling air through the radiator and out the top of the case. However since the switch 810 has roughly a 2" gap between the fan mout and the top cover of the case, plus the added restriction of the louvers (even when they are open) I noticed that its acting like a hot box... the hot air seems to just sit in there which I believe to be causing my temps to climb.

Here are some pics for those who dont know what I mean.

Notice the gap between the fan and the top of the case, most noticable at the far side of the pic.
810%2011.jpg


Here is another good pic showing the gap between the top of the case and the top cover (this pic has louvers closed) when the fans are mounted on the inside of the case rather than on top of the case.
nzxt-switch-810-tower-15-b.jpg


Here is my setup
comp9.jpg


Here is what I need advice on.

1. Should I mount the fans on the top of the case, and the radiator under the top of the case basically sandwiching the case between the fans and radiator? To me that seems like it will have a gap around the radiator which would promote air being pulled in from the sides rather than through the radiator, so I would install some sort of seal or gasket to make sure the air passes through the radiator.

2. Should I reverse the fans and pull air in from the top of the case rather than exhausting it and arrange my case fans accordingly for proper pressure equalization?

I know that I dont have air in my system so I dont believe that to be the issue. After feeling how HOT it was around the radiator i believe it to be a poor design at the top of the case when the radiator and fans are mounted inside leading to a heat soak issue where the hot air cant get out.

I did however remove the side of the case and the top louvers and noticed a decrease in temps, but still not as low as I was expecting to see. I only saw maybe a 2-3*c drop, which is why I am going to also focus my attention on the TIM.

Ideas, suggestions on the case/fan/radiator setup?
 
Oh I also forgot to mention that the area around the radiator was so warm that it was soaking in to the case quite a bit too, which makes me think that again the "hot box" affect at the top of the case is creating a sitation where the hot air cant get out, and flows back in to the case.
 
First - throw the hotbox idea out the window. That space at the top isn't affecting your temps at all.

Did you ever stop to think the you do not have enough radiator/fan power for what you are trying to cool?
A 320 could be enough radiator IF you have a lot of airflow. You didn't mention what fans you are using. If you do not feel the air coming out the top of your case then it is doubtful the fans are very strong. 20fpi needs either fast fans or fans in push/pull.

Put 3 of your 140mm nzxt fans up top to act as pull and see what your temps do.

I use gentle typhoon gt-14s in push/pull on a black ice GTX 360 (also high fpi). Even with them slowed down with a fan controller I have quite a bit of air coming out of the top.

For cooling both your cpu and gpu I'd recommend also adding a 240 radiator to the bottom.
 
First - throw the hotbox idea out the window. That space at the top isn't affecting your temps at all.

Did you ever stop to think the you do not have enough radiator/fan power for what you are trying to cool?
A 320 could be enough radiator IF you have a lot of airflow. You didn't mention what fans you are using. If you do not feel the air coming out the top of your case then it is doubtful the fans are strong enough. 20fpi needs either fast fans or fans in push/pull.

Put 3 of your 140mm nzxt fans up top to act as pull and see what your temps do.

I use gentle typhoon gt-14s in push/pull on a black ice GTX 360 (also high fpi). Even with them slowed down with a fan controller I have quite a bit of air coming out of the top.

For cooling both your cpu and gpu I'd recommend also adding a 240 radiator to the bottom.
 
I actually just ordered a second radiator 2x120mm for the bottom and more Yate Loon fans for push/pull. I would love the GT' ap-14/15 but my budget cant afford them as I would need 10 for push pull. With shipping we are talking $200 in fans. But I can drool over those who do have them though...

I am using Yate Loon 1650 RPM fans in pull, 70cfm model. The fans move a decent amount of air.

I had used a Black Ice GT 240 on a C2D 3.6ghz build back in 08 with a heavily overclocked 8800 Ultra and the temps were much lower than this build, but I guess I under estimated how much heat the modern components output compared to 4-5 years ago.

Do you happen to have any pics of your rig, or can you link me to any threads about your build? Id like to see your loop.
 
I have a similiar setup to yours with a 420 rad uptop with 6 140mm bitfenix spetre pro doing push/pull.

I don't think you're getting a hot box effect, your temp seems reasonable to me.

Mine idle around the low 30s and mid 50s under load.

This is with a 2600k@ 5ghz and 2x 7970s.
 
I installed my fans in the top area (in the venitlated top) and my radiator underneath. I then installed a 120mm raidator between the PSU and the drive cage section. I'm cooling an Intel 3820 and an Aquaero unit both on water.

As for your temps, they're reasonable. Mid 30's is typically room/ambient temp and low to mid 50's on load is not high at all.

Granted, if you live in a cool area (below ground) or it's winter time and your door is open, you should see lower temps than that, but as it is now, no, your temps are decent. They could be better with some tweaks to fan placement/rpm's, but all in all your box is not hot by any means.
 
Thats good to hear. I have a second radiator coming since I live on the CA Desert and things get very toasty in the summer. I also ordered more Yate Loon Medium speed fans to do a proper push/pull on the radiators. Ill have a 3x120 and 2x120 setup now
 
JLangevin said:
I actually just ordered a second radiator 2x120mm for the bottom and more Yate Loon fans for push/pull. I would love the GT' ap-14/15 but my budget cant afford them as I would need 10 for push pull. With shipping we are talking $200 in fans.

you aint kidding about the cost. it's a hard punch to take.

I am using Yate Loon 1650 RPM fans in pull, 70cfm model. The fans move a decent amount of air.

those should be fine in push/pull


Do you happen to have any pics of your rig, or can you link me to any threads about your build? Id like to see your loop.
Click to expand...

during leak test:
 
Nice loop. Ive been debating how I want to run mine and I think I may run the GPU before the CPU like you did in your loop. Since I am running a Raystorm and it is very high flow, it shouldnt matter much with hit being after the GPU.

I know that the order or parts makes no difference in terms of overall cooling, but I always aimed for CPU before GPU if possible on my other builds.

What are your temps like?
 
Ran prime on all 4 cores and Heaven at the same time for an hour.

GPU maxed at 40c and cpu maxed at 51c.

Ambient was upper 70s.
 
JLangevin said:
Nice loop. Ive been debating how I want to run mine and I think I may run the GPU before the CPU like you did in your loop. Since I am running a Raystorm and it is very high flow, it shouldnt matter much with hit being after the GPU.

I know that the order or parts makes no difference in terms of overall cooling, but I always aimed for CPU before GPU if possible on my other builds.

What are your temps like?
Click to expand...

I'm running a Raystorm as well and my CPU is generally about 30-34C depending on the ambient temp (idle). At load I'm seeing about 47-50 again depending on ambient temps.

I'm not running a GPU on water (no waterblocks for the 7870's yet), but my Aquero tends to run really hot. It stays around CPU temp at idle and about 2-3 degrees less on load, I have a 120 rad after the aquaero and a 320 rad after the CPU.
 
Success, I installed my second radiator today, and the new fans in push/pull on my main rad and here is the GTX580 running at 920mhz temps.

I ran Heaven for 30 min at max settings with extreme tesselation and am happy with results. CPU maxed out at 40*c in CPU tests.

temps.png
 
JLangevin said:
Success, I installed my second radiator today, and the new fans in push/pull on my main rad and here is the GTX580 running at 920mhz temps.

I ran Heaven for 30 min at max settings with extreme tesselation and am happy with results. CPU maxed out at 40*c in CPU tests.
Click to expand...

nice, looks like you dropped 10c
 
Yeah, dropping 10 was my goal. I'm really impressed with the build quality of the xspc ex240 rad.
 
Wow. Nice looking setup JLangevin! I JUST saw that you were running a 965BE, not an Intel chip :confused:

So, yeah, your temps were a TINY bit high, lol. But not by much (at Idle), maybe 1-3c. Nice to see that extra Rad dropped you significantly. It's amazing what one more raidator can do.

At any rate, I think your setup looks rather nice!
 
Haha, you aren't hating on AMD are ya? I've built intel systems in the past and went with AMD this time around. My gaming and video editing experiences are just as fast and fluid as I could ask for, at significantly less cost than Intel. As a price conscious buyer, in thankful for AMD!
 
Just tested my CPU for a bit, Prime 95 and CPU-Z showed a max temp of 41*c on the cores, and 29*c idle.

I'm a very happy camper indeed.
 
JLangevin said:
Haha, you aren't hating on AMD are ya? I've built intel systems in the past and went with AMD this time around. My gaming and video editing experiences are just as fast and fluid as I could ask for, at significantly less cost than Intel. As a price conscious buyer, in thankful for AMD!
Click to expand...

Not at all. In fact, I just recently started my new build with Intel, first time ever. I've been an AMD user for ages.

I was just sad that I neglected to see what CPU you were using and thus my advice to you wasn't very accurate. Your temps were good for an Intel Chip, but a bit high for an AMD chip. So I apologize for missing that.

I'm glad to see you've got her running nice and cool now.
 
Yeah, its amazing to me how different the temps between INTEL and AMD are considering the TDPs arent too different.
 
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