HAF 932 top-mounted radiator w/push-pull setup - not enough room?

[ahdaniels76]

So I just built my first water-cooling setup and it's working well enough with a Case -> Rad -> Fan "pull" setup to pull cool air from above my case in through the rad. But I want to try to get more performance out of the rad with a push-pull setup inside the case.

The case is a HAF 932 Advanced, and the rad is top-mounted. It's a thin rad (Black Ice SR1 3.120), so even with the 25mm "pull" fans on it there seemed to be still be room for push fans. The trouble is when I try to get 25mm push fans between the case and the rad the 5.25" bay metal gets in the way by the tiniest amount (a few mm). It just won't fit on front-case side.

Has anyone modded their case (even something simple) to make room for something like this? Any suggestions? It looks like I can detach the entire 5.25" bay area, but I have 3 things I want to keep there. I'm feeling a little hopeless about it, but this is a popular case and I assume someone's figured out a way. I searched, though, and haven't found anything useful.

Thanks in advance...

 

[Kenmitch]

Correct me if I'm wrong

Removed upper fan
Mounted the SR1 to top of case without issue.
Added fans pulling air into case.
Temps seem to high for you.
Tried adding pull fans above rad but rad hits the drive bay cage.

LMK as I think I see the issues and a easy fix if so.

 

[ahdaniels76]

Pretty much. However, it's the fan nearest the mobo that hit the drive bay cage, not the rad hitting the cage. I suppose I could take off the 3rd fan from the inside, but that's not ideal.

 

[Kenmitch]

The fan is hitting the tabs that the 5.25" drive sits on? Bend or grind it away if so would be the options if you wanna try it the way your describing.

On another note the HAF series has great airflow and most likely will keep the internal temp of your rig at ambient temp of your room unless you mess around with the stock configuration.

Your best bet is push/pull out the top of the case. The way your trying to do it your fighting a loosing battle with the 230mm's which I doubt your gonna win. You might not even need push/pull once you have the 230mm's on your team

 

[Kenmitch]

This is my setup. I'm using only 2 120mm's as exhaust to mount my upper rad. The rear rad is also exhaust but I added another 120mm to make it push/pull.

Here is a pretty long prime run I used to test stability, temps, voltage fluctuations. I reset the data once prime was running which is why the min voltage and temps are so high.

 

[ahdaniels76]

@ Kenmich, the metal is pretty robust, so bending seems a challenge...maybe with a big wrench, but I'm afraid I'll misalign all the bays.

I already removed the top 230 fan, so I'm working in a big open space up there. With only one exhaust fan (a powerful 140, not stock) I've got a lot of air coming in but given the pressure situation (mostly incoming air), I think push-pull would be better than pull-only up top.

The SR1 rad is thin, and I got it with the intention of a push-pull vs. a pull-only on a thicker rad. So I may just use 2 pull fans (assuming only one is creating the problem) and 3 push.

When you say my best bet might be to go out the top of the case, do you mean cut out the case top, or use an exterior rad? Neither is that appealing to me.

Anyway, the more I think about it, the mismatched fan approach might work if I can't get a gentle bend to the cage.

Thanks!

 

[Kenmitch]

When you say my best bet might be to go out the top of the case, do you mean cut out the case top, or use an exterior rad? Neither is that appealing to me.

Mount the upper rad to the case with 3 120mm's fans. But instead of having them blow into the case have them blow out. May or may not need the other fans on the bottom of the rad. If you still want them then they also need to be setup to push thru the rad and out of the case. You could always mod the cage on the 3rd fan to make it clear those metal tabs if needed.

The HAF with the front and side 230mm's as intake has more than enought airflow to keep the internal case at ambient temp of your room....Unless you change the top fans to intake! The rear 140mm wont be able to keep up unless it's ultra high speed makes your ears wanna blead leaf blower beast!

If you look at my rig in the photo above I have 2 whimpy fans in pull. If you look at my temps in the photo above and my 4.8ghz w/HT enabled and view that it's been running for 10hrs or so under that load then you'll see having the rad fans as exhaust has no ill effect on temps.

 

[ahdaniels76]

Oh - I see. I'll give exhausting through the rad a try. That might be a nice improvement.

Thanks

 

[Kenmitch]

No problem

LMK how it works out for you.