Have a GTX 580 - Need a cooler case for it

[Leyawiin]

I just bought a GTX 580 to replace my GTX 460 in anticipation of Skyrim. Its great, but its the Galaxy model with the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme on it and all the hot air is getting dumped in my small case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112218

Even with the 140mm optional blow hole lid it can't keep up. While playing an intensive game the card is hitting over 80C on auto (and staying there) and the power supply is going nuts trying feed it (lots of squealing and heat produced). Even with the fans on max (which is 85%) the temps are in the mid to high 70s. With the side panel off the card is hitting 65C at 60% fan speed and the power supply is quieter.

Obviously I need a roomier case with better air flow. Any suggestions for larger, cooler case? I would like one with clean lines - not too busy or silly looking. Thanks for the suggestions! Oh, budget of up to $200.

 

[fuzzymath10]

I've experimented with fan orientations and if your case is largely sealed except for fan openings and the grilled expansion slot covers, have you tried flipping your exhaust fan orientation?

In both my cases, I have all fans as intake (front + rear/top), and this causes most of the exhaust air to be forced out the bottom of the case through the expansion slots (you can try removing the spare covers unless they have lots of holes). Now at full load, I can feel a ton of very hot air coming out near the expansion slots.

For whatever reason, this seemed to help me, but my setups are with middle-power passively cooled video cards (about ~1/3 the heat output) so YMMV. May as well try and see what happens? Your case has an interesting inverted setup so who knows if having the expansion slots near the top might help?

Also, for a bit more than your budget, you might consider switching your board and CPU for an i5 or i7 which will reduce your heat output quite a bit if you're overclocking a Phenom.

 

[Leyawiin]

I'll try flipping the top 140mm fan to intake instead of exhaust (its an upside-down mobo setup - video card is at the top). There are only two stock 120mm fans. One intake the rear to blow on the CPU and one in the front to exhaust. Don't want to mess with them since that's the way Lian-Li designed for hot hair exhausting. I tried cranking the fans on the AC Accelero to max (85% for this card). It lowered it to 72C max at gaming load. That's not too bad (plus its not even noisy - extremely quiet fans). The CPU only hits 48C, so I don't think there's an issue with the whole case.

 

[Triglet]

I just bought a HAF X to replace a P180, and I really like it for it's space and air flow. Build quality is 90% of what the P180 was, but what are you going to do. The HAF X may be considered silly looking by some I suppose, but it doesn't bother me and you can turn the lights off if needed.

If you're air cooling I don't think you can beat the HAF X for that application.