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Hows the CM 690 ATX Mid Tower ?

Use the three it comes with first - I suggest in front/rear/bottom and block off the superfluous venting, then order more fans or open some venting if you really need.

. There are at least thirty threads in the Cases & Cooling section that discuss the 690 to death. It has two issues that may affect your enjoyment: You have to open both sides of the case (and perhaps move it away from the side of your desk) to do serious HDD twiddling because CM chose to make the drive trays so the cables have to be toward the right side (or you can fairly easily mod the drive trays to make them bi-directional). The other thing is the plastic bezel on the top. IDK about you, but I make use of the top surface of my cases for all sorts of purposes. Often there is another system up there for testing and usually I keep my scanner parked there. I suppose the top bezel could be left off so one wouldn't have to worry about damaging it. Right now I have my 690 sitting on top of my main system...

.bh.
 
It comes with three 120mm 1200RPM fans, you can load it with seven 120mm fans (4/7 slots fit a 140mm) and one 80x15mm behind the motherboard.
 
Originally posted by: Scoop
It comes with three 120mm 1200RPM fans, you can load it with seven 120mm fans (4/7 slots fit a 140mm) and one 80x15mm behind the motherboard.
Click to expand...

would it be a bad idea to do that?
 
Depends on if you mind the sounds of fans.
I had mine loaded down w/fans. I hooked the 2 side fans & the rear 80x15mm fan into a Sunbeam rheostat. It helped some.
My temps were good, though...~6c less than the rig I got now.
YGPM, btw. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Tullphan
Depends on if you mind the sounds of fans.
I had mine loaded down w/fans. I hooked the 2 side fans & the rear 80x15mm fan into a Sunbeam rheostat. It helped some.
My temps were good, though...~6c less than the rig I got now.
YGPM, btw. 🙂
Click to expand...

I don't really mind the sound of the noise, and im going to o/c the rig pretty far, so i guess the extra cooling would help.
 
All things considered, definitely the best performance to cost ratio on the market. A good case for air cooling, not a feasible case for water cooling if that's in your plans anywhere.
 
Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
All things considered, definitely the best performance to cost ratio on the market. A good case for air cooling, not a feasible case for water cooling if that's in your plans anywhere.
Click to expand...

I do not intend on going to water anytime in this rig's life.

Originally posted by: Zepper
Waste of time, Tull, he has a MicroCenter... 😉

But nowhere near me 😛 FL sucks, all we have is south beach and retirees 😛

.bh.
Click to expand...

 
Oh well, a trip to Atlanta, even just to visit Pitty Pat's Porch for dinner, is a worthwhile endeavor... Anyway, I have a 690 for sale too and I'll make you a deal on one of my PSUs along with if you need. Click the link to my FS/T thread in my sig.

.bh.
 
I was thinking about ordering this case and adding 2 140mm fans (on top) and 3 120mm fans (2 for the side, one for the intake) the case comes with 1 rear 120mm fan and im going to use a 80mm fan i already own for the side motherboard vent.

does that sound good? i plan on using this case not only for this upgrade but future upgrades.

Also can anybody recommend some 140 and 120mm Blue LED fans for this case?

Should i use a fan controller even though must controllers have 4 knobs and im using more then 4 fans? (sorry i've never used a fan controller before, but i assume you just plug them into the rear of it?_
 
Originally posted by: Heller
Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
All things considered, definitely the best performance to cost ratio on the market. A good case for air cooling, not a feasible case for water cooling if that's in your plans anywhere.
Click to expand...

I do not intend on going to water anytime in this rig's life.

Originally posted by: Zepper
Waste of time, Tull, he has a MicroCenter... 😉

But nowhere near me 😛 FL sucks, all we have is south beach and retirees 😛

.bh.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

whats wrong with watercooling a cm690?
http://i125.photobucket.com/al...aigomorla/IMG_0862.jpg

😛

Oh shiet... zep, i think im near you. Im at a conference at boca raton resort.

And why the hell is it so humid here?
 
Nope, aigo, nowhere near me - I'm in soggy, chilly central NY right now. I have to be wary of the quicksand on the way to the mailbox... You are close to the OP, however. I was near Orlando one summer day and there was the on shore breeze from both sides of the peninsula meeting there in the middle - I could have swam in the air it was so thick. I hope I'm never anywhere that can get that humid at that temp again. I thought I'd die.

.bh.
 
Originally posted by: Heller
http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0265143

I need a new case, and for $30 ar it seems like a steal.
Click to expand...
Remember to factor in the cost of the fans etc. when considering the total value.

also, i would like to load this up with as many fans as possible.

how many fans should i order to load this thing up to capacity?
Click to expand...
(1) 140mm --> bottom intake
(2) 140mm --> side panel intakes
(2) 140mm --> top exhausts

(1) 120mm --> rear exhaust
(1) 120mm --> front intake

The case somes with (3) 120mm fans -- one is a blue LED -- so no need to order more of those.

For the 140mm fans, I would suggest Yate Loon's, preferrably the low-rpm models.

Some things to note about loading this case up with fans is that:

-- The top fans are all bunched near the CPU cooler and may need ducting or proper planning to work together instead of against each other

-- The total number of fans is overkill, but you can go with low-rpm fans for lots of airflow with very little noise.

-- The side panel vibrates terribly with fans on it, so consider anti-vibration mounts (not screws!) and possibly undervolting to dull the vibration. It is REALLY annoying.

-- With all those fans in this cooling configuration, there's a lot of turbulence inside the case, so installing sound-deadening foam for the side panels works wonders!!

-- When installing a motherboard, the top two screws may be difficult to reach with fans and a large CPU cooler installed. I had to get a long extention for my screwdriver...

(...more is not always better...)

Also, be careful of the power/reset buttons when you put the front panel back on the case. Those buttons can easily get caught between the case and the front panel, and they will easily snap under the pressure.

Oh, and BTW, from CoolerMaster's website, it appears that the CM690 can use one of those 5.25" HDD bays with the 120mm fan built-in. So that would be the *eighth* fan...
 
Originally posted by: aigomorla
Originally posted by: Heller
Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
All things considered, definitely the best performance to cost ratio on the market. A good case for air cooling, not a feasible case for water cooling if that's in your plans anywhere.
Click to expand...

I do not intend on going to water anytime in this rig's life.

Originally posted by: Zepper
Waste of time, Tull, he has a MicroCenter... 😉

But nowhere near me 😛 FL sucks, all we have is south beach and retirees 😛

.bh.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

whats wrong with watercooling a cm690?
http://i125.photobucket.com/al...aigomorla/IMG_0862.jpg

😛

Oh shiet... zep, i think im near you. Im at a conference at boca raton resort.

And why the hell is it so humid here?
Click to expand...

For the same reason I'm not going to water cool my 532, can't dual loop. I'm an overclocker(well was and the mentality is kinda stuck in that mode) and I can get better cooling on air than on a single loop.
 
Heller,

I've been tweaking air cooling set-ups for a long time and I hate side panel intakes with a passion. Do they give more CFM to a case, sure but, they also create tubulence and back-pressure to your other intakes. I've built a couple CM690's and I set them all up the same. Front and bottom intake and rear intakes with top exhausts.
 
Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
Heller,

I've been tweaking air cooling set-ups for a long time and I hate side panel intakes with a passion. Do they give more CFM to a case, sure but, they also create tubulence and back-pressure to your other intakes. I've built a couple CM690's and I set them all up the same. Front and bottom intake and rear intakes with top exhausts.
Click to expand...
Do you cover the side panels fan holes or leave them open?
Do you have the rear fan as an intake?
 
Originally posted by: nullpointerus
Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
Heller,

I've been tweaking air cooling set-ups for a long time and I hate side panel intakes with a passion. Do they give more CFM to a case, sure but, they also create tubulence and back-pressure to your other intakes. I've built a couple CM690's and I set them all up the same. Front and bottom intake and rear intakes with top exhausts.
Click to expand...
Do you cover the side panels fan holes or leave them open?
Do you have the rear fan as an intake?
Click to expand...

Sometimes and yes. Depends on the customer whether I fab an aluminum pannel or they get removed when cutting in the window but, either way they're not there when I'm done. and yeah, I like to use the rear as an intake unless you put a hard drive cage in the 5.25" bays and remove the lower drive bays.
 
Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12

For the same reason I'm not going to water cool my 532, can't dual loop. I'm an overclocker(well was and the mentality is kinda stuck in that mode) and I can get better cooling on air than on a single loop.
Click to expand...

not if you aircool the gpu's and water cool the board + cpu 😛
 
Originally posted by: aigomorla
Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12

For the same reason I'm not going to water cool my 532, can't dual loop. I'm an overclocker(well was and the mentality is kinda stuck in that mode) and I can get better cooling on air than on a single loop.
Click to expand...

not if you aircool the gpu's and water cool the board + cpu 😛
Click to expand...

Why bother? How much better are temps really going to be over high end air cooling? I'm not going water again till it's chilled denatured alcohol, if i even bother and don't skip straight to phase change.
 
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