Cooling help for HP Elite system

[ChrisAttebery]

I bought an HP Elite i7 system last year. I have been pretty happy with it overall. At Christmas I installed an MSI GTX460 with the Cyclone cooler. The cooler exhausts internally and the card runs at about 75-80C under load at stock clocks. I can feel a stripe of heat along the side of the case where the card sits. If I remove the side of the case the card runs at about 65C.

Yes, the interior is pretty cluttered. I cleaned mine up by pushing all of the wiring above the HDD cage and zip tying it together when I installed the video card. Also notice that the CPU cooler doesn't have a fan of its own.

There's a perforated area on the case side directly above the CPU cooler. It looks to me like it would let cooling air bypass the CPU cooler somewhat. The CPU never gets above 65C though.

I had a couple ideas to try and get better cooling to the GPU.
1. Block off the vent over the CPU so the case breathes from the front vents.
Either:
2a. Wall off the airflow from the front half of the case over the CPU cooler so it has to pass by the GPU before it hits the CPU cooler.
OR
2b. Make a duct on the case fan so that 1/2 of the air is pulled through the CPU cooler and the other half is pulled from the area below the GPU.

Here are a couple pictures of the case I stole from the manual:

Idea 2A Block added in Yellow

Idea 2B Duct added in Yellow

I'd appreciate any input you guys could give me.


Chris

 

[lsv]

Submerge case in water. Water is great at keeping computers cold.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

Very helpful. I'll get right on it.

 

[BoomerD]

Some actual photos of your case from both sides would help.
Those pics show an absolute spaghetti-mess of wiring...which is terrible for air-flow.

Split loom is handy for corralling messes of wiring, as is the spiral wrap sold by many places.

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...1351f081a15b9e

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...1351f081a15b9e

You can get both products (in black/gray) at Home Depot or Lowe's in their electrical departments if you don't want the nifty colored/UV sensitive types.

Most of the "brand-name" computers have terrible air-flow characteristics right from the factory. They're generally not intended to be upgraded...only replaced. You could possibly add a CPU cooler and power it from a molex connector...IF the motherboard has the mounting holes, and if you have a spare molex power connector. However, since your computer was built w/o a CPU heatsink/fan, it's entirely possible that it doesn't have the mounting holes for a cooler...in which case you're screwed there.

I can't tell from those pics...is there a fan on the back of the case below the power supply? I see a honeycomb area where one might be mounted...

Also, you MIGHT be able to mount a fan to the HDD cage that blows toward the video card.
You'll probably have to use cable ties to mount it, and, of course, it will depend on whether you have any spare power connectors. You can always get a couple of these:

http://www.svc.com/4pinpowsupmo.html

Some fans come with molex adapters, some don't...
http://www.svc.com/3pinto4pinad.html

 

[ChrisAttebery]

BoomerD,

I do have a couple extra fans lying around. I may try adding a fan above the HD cage. That's a great suggestion.

The CPU is always cool enough whether the side is on or not.

I have done a "decent" job of hiding the wiring. My PC does not have all of those white SATA cables BTW. I may try to tuck all of the extra PSU wiring into the lower 5.25 bay. That should get it out of the airflow.

If I could get to the PC without pulling it out of my desk I would shoot some actual pictures. Before someone says "there's your problem" the desk has built in ventilation with USB powered fans that draw hot air out the back. As I said the GPU runs cool enough with the case side off.

There is not a fan above the PCI slots. There is a 92mm at the bottom of the case and a 80mm in the PSU.

Thanks,


Chris

 

[WoodButcher]

There's a perforated area on the case side directly above the CPU cooler. It looks to me like it would let cooling air bypass the CPU cooler somewhat. The CPU never gets above 65C though.

I had a couple ideas to try and get better cooling to the GPU.
1. Block off the vent over the CPU so the case breathes from the front vents.

Chris

I think your right, tape that vent.
Cut out the grill that the rear fan is mounted to, that will improve airflow and reduce noise. If you added / cut an intake into the side panel your issue would be solved.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

Cutting out the grill is another great suggestion. I've got my Dremel ready...

Where would you add the intake? In the area above the GPU?

Thanks, Chris

I think your right, tape that vent.
Cut out the grill that the rear fan is mounted to, that will improve airflow and reduce noise. If you added / cut an intake into the side panel your issue would be solved.

 

[WoodButcher]

If a 120 mm fan would fit between the drive cages as far forward as possible, but another thought that may work equally well as Boomer mentioned mounting a fan between the cages blowing back but fabricate a duct so that it is forced to draw air from the side vent that is there. I'd try that first before cutting the side panel.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

I clipped out the grill on the case fan, swapped the fan for a Zalman Quiet Fan, blew out the dust bunnies out of the CPU cooler, covered over the vent above the CPU and then cut an opening aproximately 1.5" x 4" right over the GPU fan.

There was way too much clutter above the HDD cage to clear a path far a fan, so I gave up on that idea.

It is much quieter than with the case side off. The CPU is a few degees cooler, about 40C at idle and 65C during gaming. The GPU is staying around 60C, which is 5C-10C cooler than when I ran it with the side off. There was just no way to get fresh air to the GPU. Now I can feel the air pulling in though the two front vents in the side panel.

One last thing I did was to add two more Zalman fans to the desk running of a 5V USB cable. They pull about 50CFM quietly though the desk so the PC isn't trying to cool with stagnant air.

 

[BoomerD]

I clipped out the grill on the case fan, swapped the fan for a Zalman Quiet Fan, blew out the dust bunnies out of the CPU cooler, covered over the vent above the CPU and then cut an opening aproximately 1.5" x 4" right over the GPU fan.

There was way too much clutter above the HDD cage to clear a path far a fan, so I gave up on that idea.

It is much quieter than with the case side off. The CPU is a few degees cooler, about 40C at idle and 65C during gaming. The GPU is staying around 60C, which is 5C-10C cooler than when I ran it with the side off. There was just no way to get fresh air to the GPU. Now I can feel the air pulling in though the two front vents in the side panel.

One last thing I did was to add two more Zalman fans to the desk running of a 5V USB cable. They pull about 50CFM quietly though the desk so the PC isn't trying to cool with stagnant air.

A bit of cable management would go a long way toward improving the air flow in that case. Sme split loom or sprial loom would help to clean up some of that spaghetti wiring you have going on.

 

[ChrisAttebery]

I bundled up all of the wiring the best I could. I pushed as much of it as I could into the lower 5.25" drive bay. The problem is that there is a ton of wire and alot of it is "just" long enough to reach where its going.

I used to build my own PCs in the 90's, but I got out of the PC/gaming world for a long time. I've just started playing PC games again in the last year or so. I knew this wasn't going to be an ultimate PC when I got it. It was a decent price for a mid upper system and it was light years ahead of the Celeron 2GHz that it replaced.

A bit of cable management would go a long way toward improving the air flow in that case. Sme split loom or sprial loom would help to clean up some of that spaghetti wiring you have going on.