Heat Concerns w/ Bottom Mount PSU and Video Card

[kedoch]

Hello,

Recently my video card decided to stop working, out of warranty so I need to buy a replacement and am leaning towards a 38*0 or 4850 from AMD/ATI.

My concern is that from what I've seen none of the cards are a dual slot cooling solution that spits their air out the back of the case like my old X1900 XT.

Additionally I had issues mounting a GamerXStream PSU in the proper place at the top of my case (CM Stacker, the old version), so it is laying upside down on the bottom of the case sucking air out.

My concern is the two fans (GPU and PSU) Fighting for air down there, or spreading the heat from the GPU straight into the PSU causing issues with it.

How large of an issue is this? Should I do everything in my power to get my PSU moved to the top of my case?

I'd appreciate any input on this situation as I've had heat issues in years past and don't look forward to/can't afford to deal with heat issue at the moment.

 

[Jessica69]

I'm wondering what issue you had in mounting your power supply in the upper spot since yours is a standard ATX ps......and that's what the old Stacker had for a mounting area in the top.

Mounted on the bottom, shouldn't make any difference at all. Your Stacker has the mesh side panel or windowed one? If it's the mesh panel, any excess air necessary will come in through that.....but you already have a 120mm fan in front for intake and a 120m in the rear for exhaust.

Given your power supply will always suck from inside the case and exhaust that air out the rear is just dandy...just like almost every other power supply on the market and exactly what you want it to do. It's not fighting for air as I doubt your case is hermetically sealed.....meaning the case has plenty of air infiltration spots all over it.....the entire front is meshed and allows air inside.....etc.

Your case is known for being an excellent case for air cooling.....shouldn't be any sort of a problem.

 

[kedoch]

Thanks for the advice.

I sorta figured it'd be alright given the case is mesh all over the place, with filters to boot, but I don't really have the money to risk a heat related failure and the Radeon cards are said to run rather hot. Figured it wouldn't hurt to check.

As for my issue, I think it had to do with the mounting plate. The PSU fits fine inside the case but if I recall correctly, and I plan to undo all my wiring today and double check exactly what the issue was, the fan intake was facing the top of the case with little clearance, and if I turned it over then none of the screw holes lined up. But again, I need to double check exactly what the issue was, I just recall getting frustrated with the whole thing and then throwing it on the bottom instead.

 

[Zepper]

In the STC-T01, the bottom PSU mount is the primary PSU location, but it really doesn't matter. The top mount is generally for a second PSU. In either location, if you have a large fan in one side of the PSU it will normally be oriented downwards - the removable PSU mounting plates that come with the case should allow you to install with the fan in whatever orientation you desire, just flip and/or rotate the plate until you get what you want (I suppose if C-M wasn't on the ball, you might have to drill a hole or two). The Enermax Liberty I had here would be noisier if the fan was oriented upwards - a possibility with any PSU that uses a sleeve bearing fan is that the noise level can change depending on orientation.

.bh.

 

[hclarkjr]

my case mounts the PSU in the bottom and i have a radeon 3870X2 and heat problems are no big deal for me. my hard drives are even in the bottom cage due too the size of the video card being where the upper cage goes. check out the temps -


Field Value
Sensor Properties
Sensor Type ITE IT8718F (ISA 290h)
GPU Sensor Type Diode, Volterra VT1165 (ATI-Diode, 70h)
Motherboard Name Gigabyte EP31 / EP35 / G33 / P31 / P35 Series


Temperatures
Motherboard 36 °C (97 °F)
CPU 20 °C (68 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #1 31 °C (88 °F)
CPU #1 / Core #2 29 °C (84 °F)
GPU1: GPU Diode 38 °C (100 °F)
GPU1: GPU VRM 43 °C (109 °F)
GPU2: GPU Diode 42 °C (108 °F)
GPU2: GPU VRM 45 °C (113 °F)
WDC WD5000KS-00MNB0 45 °C (113 °F)
WDC WD5000YS-01MPB1 41 °C (106 °F)

Cooling Fans
CPU 1705 RPM
Fan #4 1331 RPM

Voltage Values
CPU Core 1.15 V
+3.3 V 3.31 V
+12 V 12.12 V
+5 V Standby 5.21 V
VBAT Battery 3.33 V
DIMM 1.90 V

Current Values
GPU1: GPU VRM 5.87 A
GPU2: GPU VRM 2.26 A