Case Improvement

[MrK6]

Essentially that's what I'm trying to do. Here's my case, so far I have put a 120mm up front, added a 92mm stealth with a fan filter to the side panel over the video card, and cut out the the grill of the 120mm fan holders. Here's a pic of my actual case. Basically I want to cool it down a little more. First, I thought I'd cut out the louvers around the 120mm intake (still leaving the filter) to improve intake flow. I also have an 80mm vantec stealth and an 80mm thermaltake CAT (the ones from silent boost heatsinks) lying around. Would adding another intake help much? Where would I put it? I'm just asking around for ideas, thanks :thumbsup:

 

[Demo24]

could put one over or under your hard drive 😛 maybe cut out the top and put one there? That would probably help some.

 

[Davegod]

if you're thinking of adding fans/increasing fan power, i'd probably be thinking about adding to exhaust now you have 120mm and 92mm intakes, with i assume a stock 120mm exhaust plus low-rpm 80mm psu exhausting?

replace the exhaust fan with a more powerful one, or cut in a 80/92mm blowhole maybe? poerhaps cut out the holes for the exhaust a little - either completely and replace with a wire finger guard or trim the existing grill by joining up holes so 3 become 1 larger one (take care to retain some strengh though).

 

[Sonic587]

Actually, that looks pretty good to me as is. 120MM+92MM intake and 120MM+80MM PSU fan exhausting. I think adding anything more would just create turbulance in the case. Generally speaking, you have pretty close to the perfect example of ATX airflow. :thumbsup: Go ahead with cutting away anything obstructing the 120MM intake, however.

 

[xbassman]

Are you having problems with heat?

You have plenty of fans.
One thing that would help would be a VGA Silencer. The one that came with my HIS Excalibur 9800Pro dropped my case temps a bit since VGA heat is directed straight out the back. (about as hot as PSU exhaust)

Other than that all you can really do that would make a REAL difference is removing obstructions (ie. cutting fan grills like you mentioned, and wire management)

 

[MrK6]

Wire management is pretty good, noting obstructing (I'll take a pic later). I also already have a VGA silencer 😀. The reason I ask is I just put a fan filter on the 92mm intake and it upped case temps by 3C or more (up to 37C in 30C ambient), and also the CPU temp by about the same amount. The problem is, my mobo readings are way high, so I really don't have a way to take accurate temp. Just for the heck of it I stuck a thermometer in the case end of a 5.25" bay (typically where heat collects) and I got a 31C rating when my mobo said it was 37C. If that's the case and it's off, I guess I'm alright, but I want to make sure this thing runs well. I'll clear obstructions and see how it goes. Ideally I want this system to run silently, so I'm trying to get the most efficient cooling so I can turn everything down. Right now, the only thing in my case that's above 25dB is my CPU fan, which I want to turn down.

 

[xbassman]

I used to have a Palomino processor that was a HOT sucker. I was using fan filters. I was getting temp increases just as you are. Even hotter when it clogged with dust. I gave up on the filters since temps were always out of line. Then on a suggestion from this board I moved my case to my desptop. (off the floor)
Dust is no longer a problem and neither is cooling.

 

[MrK6]

Yah, but it's so much louder on the desk top :frown:.

 

[xbassman]

Well anyway I would start by first cutting out the stamped fan grills on your case.
In back get one of these so you don't cut off a finger when you reach back there.
This alone will improve your airflow quite a bit and reduce noise a little.

For example here is a pic of the exhaust fans on my HTPC 60mm holes cut w/wire grills

 

[MrK6]

I'll try it, thanks bassman. And what kind of case fans do you use that cut off fingers? Maybe it's just cause I have stealths, but they'll just burn out the motor if I stick in my finger to stop them.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

The case temp reported by your mobo is your north bridge temp, 37C is a good number. unless you have some kind of instability problems I believe your current config is more that fine.

 

[Degrador]

Originally posted by: MrK6
I'll try it, thanks bassman. And what kind of case fans do you use that cut off fingers? Maybe it's just cause I have stealths, but they'll just burn out the motor if I stick in my finger to stop them.

Unless those stealths are special, practically all case fans work with a magnetic burshless motor - as such they don't "burn out". They're quite happy to sit there doing nothing until the obstruction goes away. They may draw more current while blocked, but no where near enough to burn out. They won't generate enough heat of themselves to ruin anything either.