Adding fans

[ryan256]

I think one of the reasons problems I've been having problems with my video card temperatures could be poor air flow. My case is the Silverstone TJ04. Right now I have a single 120mm fan in the front of the case and a 120mm in the rear. I'm thinking about adding two more 120mm fans to the case to create positive pressure inside. Hopefully this will help out alot. I do not however want to put a hole in the case window in order to install another fan. So my idea is something like this. To add a fan to the top and bottom in an effort to push more air in. Would there be any problems adding fans in these locations? Would it mess things up and create a worse air flow?

 

[Zepper]

First just cut out the case metal grill from behind the rear fan (and from in front of the front fan if it has a similarly restrictive grill). That'll free up your air flow significantly. Silverstone got the message in many of their current cases whose grills are wide open. If you really think you need another intake fan, I'd go with bottom only or in the left side panel toward the lower front.

.bh.

 

[balloonshark]

If your using the stock 1200 rpm fans, I would try installing a more powerful rear fan so the case would have negative pressure to evacuate the hot air faster. With negative air pressure, the front intake fan may need a filter to keep out the dust. Another idea would be a top exhaust fan with your existing rear exhaust fan to increase negative pressure.

If your not OCing, adding more intake fans aren't really going to help other than blowing around the hot air. Have you checked your video card for dust accumulation? Also, what video card do you have and what temps are you seeing and how much have they went up? Perhaps others could advise on cooling your video card.

 

[Zepper]

With negative pressure, you can't keep dust out as it will come in thru every pore and vented area in the case, though a fan filter on the front will help block the majority while restricting air flow possibly more than the restrictive grill. Positive pressure does keep the dust out and also requires a filter on EVERY intake fan and blocking off all other extraneous venting. When you add filters on fans you may want a stronger fan to overcome the filters and assure pos pressure. Check my links below for the Cooler Master Y720DCD which is a pwerful yet low noise fan.

.bh.

 

[Lemon law]

Gotta agree with the Zepper bottom line.

But if we fail to address it from the successful automotive prospective, we miss the point. Bottom line, dust is an inevitable rascal, ideally a totally dust fee environment would be ideal, but only a total fool relies on that engineering rascal proof specification assumption.

As a thought experiment , I invite any car owner to lift their hood, and if their car is over six moths old and has ever been driven over 45 MPH during summer insect season, they are likely to find, their primary heat exchanger, namely their radiator , well packed with a generous helping patina of dead insects clogging almost every available square inch of surface radiator real estate.

And from my experience with computers, the difference between a virgin and dust free HSF and a very dust clogged HSF seldom exceeds 4 degrees C.

Bottom line, this dust excuse is a cop out for piss poor engineering and nothing more. And if you think their cop out excuses their piss poor engineering, look in the mirror because you are a fool on a guilt trip.

 

[balloonshark]

Ok, now I'm really confused. I've been told that negative air pressure at about a 2:1 ratio is a good thing. Dust shouldn't be a problem either way as a can of compressed air and a vacuum sweeper with a hose works great.

I know there are situations where you need direct cooling such as on a NB when overclocking. But wouldn't negative air pressure move the hot air out of a case efficiently under normal circumstances. The top chamber of my P182 has 2 exhaust fans with 1 filtered intake hole. I've also blocked off and taped a few holes that would suck in dust and to maximize the negative air pressure.

I'm sorry for getting off topic and I'm really not trying to be augmentative because I want to learn. Why do you all favor positive pressure and in what situations?