Solved Case Cooling

[GeneO]

I have my top fan on my new build blowing into the case. This is in front of my CPU cooler which blows out to the rear exhaust fan. The only other fan I have right now is the front, which cools the hard drives, so the air is warm from it is warmed before reaching the CPU. I figured I needed a source of fresh cool air for input into the CPU cooler fan.

I may try it as input from the bottom of the case (less noise as I can seal the top of the case with a soundproof plug.

So I think it all depends. There isn't a formula - it depends on your case geometry and the other fan placements.

 

[Ciara]

I figured I needed a source of fresh cool air for input into the CPU cooler fan.

You may consider a side case fan (blowing air in close to the CPU cooler) not necessarily with LEDs but something like This

 

[GeneO]

I figured I needed a source of fresh cool air for input into the CPU cooler fan.

You may consider a side case fan (blowing air in close to the CPU cooler) not necessarily with LEDs but something like This

I have a covered side vent on my case. It is not located well for this however. It is located below and a little behind my CPU. I think my best other alternative is from below, though there are some stiff power supply cables down there coming from the supply that may be in the way. UPDATE: I moved the fan to the bottom - works just as well (high 60s under full load), is quieter and there is a filter there too.

Sorry, don't mean to hijack this. Will shut up

 

[Case1]

Can someone give me some recommendations on an after market heat sink fan ? I want to do some overclocking on my system. Does water cooling work better than fan's?

 

[LiquidSnak]

Water cooling allows you to cool more effectively, as liquid transfers heat 10x (or something like that) faster than air does. If you want to go water cooling, someone else will have to help, as I don't use it. Zalman fans are great, as are ThermalTake, Scythe, and Noctua. I have used all of them, but currently use a Zalman, as I get low temperatures, it is low profile, and looks awesome.

 

[Case1]

So the Zalman works better than the Noctua? Which particular Zalman fan do you use?

Props Liquidsnak

 

[Ageeb]

Lots of good advice in here...

One point that get's overlooked sometimes, is when deciding on new fans, and/or placement is case pressures. If you have more CFM exhausting, as opposed to intaking, your case will be under negative pressure and pull air in from any place it can. What that can do is bypass your fan filters (especially if you have unused fan slots/vents) and leave you with a dusty/dirty system sooner than you'd expect.
In short, try to have a positive case pressure using combinations of CFM, placement/direction and rpm (fan controllers are nice!)

Good Luck!

 

[linnemeyerhere]

When you look to air cool, look for coolers that use two fans if space will allow and orient the fans to exhaust towards the rear case fan of even better a top exhaust fan.

 

[rjmach]

Heat Sink

Can someone give me some recommendations on an after market heat sink fan ? I want to do some overclocking on my system. Does water cooling work better than fan's?

CoolIT Systems Vantage Advanced Liquid Cooling (A.L.C.) System Products Model: COOLIT-VANTAGE [COOLIT-VANTAGE] : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come

This is what i use.

 

[Case1]

Can someone give me some recommendations on an after market heat sink fan ? I want to do some overclocking on my system. Does water cooling work better than fan's?

CoolIT Systems Vantage Advanced Liquid Cooling (A.L.C.) System Products Model: COOLIT-VANTAGE [COOLIT-VANTAGE] : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come

This is what i use.

Hi rjmach,

Thanks for the info. Do you have your system OC'ed, if so how much?

 

[Case1]

Lots of good advice in here...

One point that get's overlooked sometimes, is when deciding on new fans, and/or placement is case pressures. If you have more CFM exhausting, as opposed to intaking, your case will be under negative pressure and pull air in from any place it can. What that can do is bypass your fan filters (especially if you have unused fan slots/vents) and leave you with a dusty/dirty system sooner than you'd expect.
In short, try to have a positive case pressure using combinations of CFM, placement/direction and rpm (fan controllers are nice!)

Good Luck!

What is CFM? I have 5 fans all together...one blowing out in back, one blowing in from the front, one in side blowing in, one in the bottom blowing in, and one in top blowing out.

 

[Ageeb]

Lots of good advice in here...

One point that get's overlooked sometimes, is when deciding on new fans, and/or placement is case pressures. If you have more CFM exhausting, as opposed to intaking, your case will be under negative pressure and pull air in from any place it can. What that can do is bypass your fan filters (especially if you have unused fan slots/vents) and leave you with a dusty/dirty system sooner than you'd expect.
In short, try to have a positive case pressure using combinations of CFM, placement/direction and rpm (fan controllers are nice!)

Good Luck!

What is CFM? I have 5 fans all together...one blowing out in back, one blowing in from the front, one in side blowing in, one in the bottom blowing in, and one in top blowing out.

Cubic Feet per Minute. A meausre used to describe how much air a fan (or other devices) can move. Notice the CFM listed on all these fans here? Hopefully that makes more sense now

 

[Nemix]

@ Case1

Just add two top exhaust fans and your good to go [2 x intake (front/side) plus 3 x exhaust (top/back)].

IMO, swapping the side fan to the bottom as an intake would be better but could result with more dust entering the case if there's no fan filter. Having both side and bottom fan would disrupt airflow, it's better to have just one of the two (side or bottom) while keeping two on top as exhaust.

These are great Zalman fans: ::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions :::

Just make sure you get a few of these to go with them to run them in 5v: ::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions :::

 

[tw33k]

For my setup at least, I found having the top 200mm fan as intake lowered temps more than having it as exhaust. I have 2 x 200mm front (bottom) intake, 2 x 140mm front (in the 5 1/4 bays) intake, 140mm bottom intake, 200mm side intake, 200mm top intake. I have the 2 x TY-140s on my Silver Arrow blowing out the back through a 140mm Ultra Kaze 3000 exhaust.

Not the quietest setup but I don't mind a little noise; I like things cool.

 

[Case1]

Thank you Nemix77 and tw33k for the help...now I am confused on which way to go lol.