PCI intake fans and cooling advice.

not sure if that could get in palce since my card is taller than the normal pci slot (those big heatsinks). Have to say that's a pretty nice idea though, keeping the airflow on the card instead of going past it! I had forgotten about the term "expansion slot", I was generally searching for PCI

I'm not so certain I have the same faith that case designers planned for all. I think some of the problem is being caused by the bi-directional exhaused on my graphics card ducts. Most of the cards these days only pump the air out the back and out of the case, but the inward stream seems to be playing games with my circulation. I don't want all my air bypassing my graphics card either. If I had been able to get my processor fan sideways I would have been better off too.

Now I've got that hint that non geeks still call them "expansion slots" i've found some interesting things.

Intake or outtake aside, this interests me: Vantec ? Vantec Spectrum Fan Card - SP-FC70-BL - System Fan Card with Dual 70mm Adjustable UV LED Fans . I do hate this "LED your life" culture though, why not just go lights of?

This could be the do all solution for dead spots: Amazon.com: Antec SpotCool System Cooler: Electronics I guess this gives me the most choice

If only I could get liquid cooling for VGA cards...

We are almost there.....
PNY Pushes Liquid Cooled Graphics Cards to the Masses - HotHardware

interesting that they are FINALLY getting there. Tubes look pretty short though, barely long enough to take the radiator out of the box (always wondered, just where are you going to stick it? need a water cooling case with a 20x45cm heatsink gently lining the tower roof with a couple of 200mm fans on it, then we are talking)

Of course, it's still a little close to the basic design, just make the cards double sided and heatsink both sides instead of focused on one hot side?

Part of my concern is the old technology still used by ATI. I'm increasingly feeling they've been left standing for a couple of years, and will probably take an Nvidia card next time around for the improved performance vs power. That my card is rates as 350W really does say it all: I don't think I'll ever get a rig that will make is possible to comfortably run that at full pelt, yet slowly games are coming out that finally are pushing the card (no complaint about the performance mind). Still, I'll wait for a general all scale upgrade until Intel get their act together on the scaling of their Ivy Bridge processors for desktops. I'm also interested in the hybrid SLI concept, since undoubtedly CPUs have more space and better positioning for cooling than any graphics card.

This is what I think of when I think of water cooling:



(50 seconds in)

tritous said:

The 20cm is just about visible on the picture. I didn't put another 12 in the back because I was moving country that day and didn't have time to get any more parts. I'm likely to put something on the back, just need to decide what.

honestly, the bigger heat sinks terrify me. The idea of putting something that heavy on my motherboard and bending it is something i will never do!. The heat sink I got seems to do an exceptional job and it the lightest on the market save the intel stock cooler. it's just that my motherboard has an annoying number of heatsinks around the cpu (probably to exploit the airflow, but even now they don't get warm) I'm certain I couldn't fit most of the bigger heatsinks, I struggled with my one. my next build in a couple years time I'll be quite careful about heatsink locations I think.

Out of interest....did you seriously build your computer caseless? surely you must suffer from dust (although I get you have decent airflow)

LOL, no, it was assembled on my desk to test it before committing to a case since I have had so much trouble with dead ASRock boards.
The cooler I mentioned has a large backplate and is supported very well with no distortion. An added benefit is that some air bleeds out of the fins on the side onto the back side of my GPU card.

the big sinks still terrify me. remember the force on the boards is multiplied by the height of the heatsink. GFX cards are insane, but at least the back slot screw transfers a large portion of the cantilever into the chassis.

That said, that's a new, £15 heatsink on the psu and even hammering it with everything i have i can't get core 0 past 43C or cores 1-3 past 41C. I really have no problems with CPU or exhaust, only with getting air to my GPU