fan setup without front intakes

[een]

Hi,

i've gone through a lot of threads, all of the cases have front intakes...

Mine is actually blocked...

So I set up my fans to be:
- 1 side intake
- 1 lower rear intake
- 1 upper rear exhaust
- PSU exhaust (Antec true power)

This runs 2600 athlon for 30/53, or 32/59 for full load...

Any thoughts???

 

[dpm]

Well, its not ideal, but your temps aren't too bad, so I'd not stress it that much. Ideally you'd have at least one front intake to get nice airflow throughout the whole case - keeping your drives from getting too hot as well, and one more (non-psu) exhaust fan.

59 under load is a little higher than i'd like, but if you are in a non aircon room at this time of year then its understandable. The best way to make sure if you need better cooling, of course, is to run your pc with the case off for a bit. If your temps drop significantly, then start thinking about better options - if you can't unblock that front intake, then maybe a drivebay intake fan at the front?

 

[beatle]

I've run several computers without front intakes. My overclocked tbird has no front intakes, just 2 intakes on the side (over the cpu and video) and the PSU as an exhaust. My girlfriend's P2-450 is in an A500 with a vertically mounted PSU with a Panaflo L1a in it that acts as the only fan in the case. Temps in her room often top 80 degrees F in the summer.

 

[clarkmo]

Whaddabout a lower front intake? Or, if your case is big enough, get a curved fan duct, cut a hole in the bottom of the case and the fan inside blowing up at an angle. Don't forget the filter!!

 

[EeyoreX]

My girlfriend's P2-450 is in an A500 with a vertically mounted PSU with a Panaflo L1a in it that acts as the only fan in the case. Temps in her room often top 80 degrees F in the summer.

LOL, I'm not sure I'd use a PII to compare here. I had a several PII systems back in the day. All of them were passivly cooled with only PSU fans. They didn't create much heat. You can't get away with that with modern CPUs.

However, I do agree, that the original poster's temps are not so bad for this time of year, and really, a more important measure (IMO) is stability. If the PC is stable at those temps, then you don't really have a problem. While the fan situation isn't really ideal, I wouldn't worry too much. Unless you want a new case, or don't mind hacking your old one...

\Dan

 

[1sikbITCH]

Front intake is necessary for your harddrives, not as much your mobo and chip. Side intake will provide fresh air for the mobo.
Your harddrives will run hot just fine; they will just die sooner. You can resolve this by investing in a harddrive cooler, or buy a case with proper airflow.

Or, as was already mentioned, you can mod the front of your case for an intake fan.

Btw, your PSU and rear exhaust fan blow out hot air. Then you have another rear fan sucking some of that hot air right back in. This defeats the purpose. You should make both rear fans exhaust. Cut another side fanhole if you need more intake.

Just my opinions.

 

[Bluefront]

Look, there are no absolutes when you discuss case design. You do not need front intakes, or side intakes, or top intakes. Intake ports in those locations just make the setup more noisy.

Here's my Lanboy which runs very cool, very quiet without any openings at the front of the case. All the exhausts are at the rear....as is the one filtered intake.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Of course there are no absolutes. When I said "front intake is necessary for your harddrives", I miscommunicated a little. I should have said "if anything, for the harddrives". If he is running at 59C, and letting all that heat just sit there, chances are he might want to think about doing something to cool them off. It's not unreasonable.

 

[een]

I have tried using two rear intakes, temperature shoots up because there is still no airflow on the front, and all the intakes are sucked out by three fans...

I really don't want to cut holes, as the tools I need to buy and all the preparations, the ducting, etc... I rather buy a new case...

I opted for this case as it has a side window and only costs me about 45...

I guess I'll grab some hard drive cooler and treat it as front exhaust...

 

[1sikbITCH]

What case do you have? When you say "blocked", do you mean there is a fanmount, but it's blocked with nowhere for air to come in? If that's what you mean, lay the case on it's side and look at the bottom. You should find a slit at the front for the air to come in.

 

[dpm]

Originally posted by: een
I guess I'll grab some hard drive cooler and treat it as front exhaust...

If you get one and use it as a front intake, putting it in the lowest of your front drive bays might help a fair bit, as the cool air would hopefully then flow straight over your cpu/hsf and lower its temps.

A couple of questions though; Are you overclocking at all? as this will bring your temps up. And when you say your front intake is blocked, do you mean there's a fan mount, but no grill on the front? If that is the case then it'd probably be worth putting a fan there anyway, as a lot of cheaper cases have this, and are designed so the air is sucked from small gaps on the underside of the case. It doesn't work great, but every little helps.

If you mean that its blocked because you have hard drives there, then normally there'll be room to slip a fan in in front of them, although its awkward.

1 more thing. Don't rely on the side intake too much. I've noticed on my last couple of cases that side intakes and top (center) blow holes don't make much of an impact. Of course, that could be because I used such quiet fans