Need some advise about airflow in R4 case

Omegaman007 · 04 Jan 2015

Hey guys, a couple of questions. New R4 build, really like the case but not sure if I have the best flow setup so please let me know what you think. Also, is there a way to remove the bottom drive tray while keeping the top one? It doesn't really look like it but I thought I'd check as I have too many drives for the bottom case but would like to remove it for better flow for the graphics cards. I don't want to do any modding of the case but I'm open to some strategic application of zip-ties.. LOL

1. I moved the 140mm FD fans to the front as inlets and run them at the lowest speed off of the case fan controller.
2. On top I have a 120mm Arctic F12 and a 140mm F14 acting as exhaust and throttling with CPU temp.
3. Corsair H90 is in the rear acting as an intake (idea is that the top fans will immediately exhaust the warm air from the radiator. I plan to add another fan for push-pull across the radiator. I will also try to add a filter there so it doesn't keep sucking dust and depositing it on the radiator. Unsure if this will be acceptable for airflow or what my options are though.
4. One Arctic 120mm fan acting as intake on the bottom... this is what I'm unsure about since the two GTX670s are blowing air down, this fan may be counter-productive.
5. PS takes air in from the bottom and exhausts it out back so in-case airflow is not affected.
6. No fan on the side and not sure if putting one there will be beneficial for this setup.

I'm happy with the noise-level but I think the graphics card temperatures could be better. Just to establish a baseline while playing some Elite: Dangerous with this setup the max temps, as reported by HWMonitor, were as follows:

Core: 48
Memory: 57
Mainboard: 56
GTX 1: 77
GTX 2: 74

linnemeyerhere · 07 Jan 2015

First thing remove all the unused hard drive carts. I fan on the side panel won't hurt but may need to be thin design for clearance issues. I would keep the GPU's clean from dust and blow out their fans regularly and run the system as you have almost all the bases covered.
For me I prefer premium quiet fans running at the full 12v and not running the top exhaust off the CPU temps could also improve air flow as the water cooling could be fooling the top fans from needed heat extraction?

Omegaman007 · 08 Jan 2015

Thank you for your feedback. Good advice to remove the unused trays. I was actually hoping to remove the bottom 3-bay tray completely but not sure how easy it would be to rig up something that would hold the 5-bay tray sufficiently without it in place. That would give the lower front intake fan a nice straight shot to the GPUs. I also like the idea to put an exhaust fan on the side... I will try it and see if it helps with the GPU temps.
I wasn't clear regarding your last sentence, however. You suggest NOT running the top fans off the CPU temperature, correct? I could hook them up to the case fan controller, that's what I have the front fans connected to.

Thanks again for the advice

linnemeyerhere · 09 Jan 2015

Right or better yet opt for silent fans and run them wide open off the 12v PSU or split them off a 12v mobo three pin header. Just have your CPU cooling running off the CPU four pin header only.

N00berG00ber · 09 Jan 2015

set your rad fan in a push config exhausting out the rear, or move it to the top front slot and again as a push config. it looks ugly, but it does help a lot on rads.