Need advice on case fans

[Wisey]

I am keen to buy a Lian Li PC-6070.

The version I see at my local store has a 120 mm intake fan at the front and a 80mm exhaust fan at the back of the casing.

(Question 1🙂 Is this enough to cool the interior of the case?

My OCZ power supply also has an intake fan that pulls air from inside the casing and exhaust from the back of the power supply. (Question 2🙂 Does this help to circulate air inside the case too? I am hoping this serves as a second set of intake and exhaust fans.

(Question 3🙂 The Lian Li casing has an opening on the top of the casing that I can install another fan, should I do so?

(Question 4🙂 If I go ahead with the purchase, chances are I will re-mount m Zalman 7000-Cu HSF, is it worth to buy the arctic silver 5 thermal paste or should I just use the zalman bundled thermal paste?

Any suggestions are welcome too.

 

[BriGy86]

i personaly would put another fan at the top, but i am also a cooling geek

as for the front 120, thats equal to a greater than 2 80's in the front

 

[akira34]

I'd see how it cools before installing the top fan. It might cool your system enough to not need the additional fan.

For the thermal paste, what are you using now? You could always try one compound for X weeks and then try the other for the same amount of time. That will give you a more realistic comparison between the two compounds.

BTW, good case choice.

 

[BriGy86]

also i will by building a computer soon, my first one that will be for me (i've buit others for other people)

whats the best way to apply the paste? (i hear its conductive)

just put a lil in the center then smash the heat sink on or should i spread it around with a Q-tip first or somthing?

also if im not going to be over clocking should i just stick with the pad on the bottom of the stock heat sink?

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: BriGy86
also i will by building a computer soon, my first one that will be for me (i've buit others for other people)

whats the best way to apply the paste? (i hear its conductive)

just put a lil in the center then smash the heat sink on or should i spread it around with a Q-tip first or somthing?

also if im not going to be over clocking should i just stick with the pad on the bottom of the stock heat sink?

What I do for the thermal paste (I use AS) is put a blob in the middle, and spread it around with the end of the AS tube just a little, leaving most of it in the middle (as it does spread out when you push on the HS). I have never had a problem doing it this way, and whenever I remove the heatsink after a period of time, it looks even across the heatsink and CPU core.

To be honest, if you are not OCing, I'd just use the stock heatpad on the bottom of the heatsink. The first time you take it off though, you then have to clean the CPU and heatsink, and put on some thermal paste.

 

[Spike]

Do NOT use a q-tip as small bits of cotton would get in the paste and ruin the thermal capabilities. I am much more exacting when I apply my compound, I pretty much follow to the letter the intructions on the arcticsilver website. I use an old credit card to smooth the paste to an even and very thin layer. Also I would never use the thermal pad even if I was not overclocking, they are just too ineffective when compared to any of the premium thermal greases.

I dunno if this is just being too anal but my temps have always been pretty low when using this method so I have no plans to stop now. I guess I figure that the extra $6 for some Arctic Silver and the extra 10min time to apply perfectly is probably worth peace of mind.

-spike

 

[BriGy86]

Originally posted by: Spike
Do NOT use a q-tip as small bits of cotton would get in the paste and ruin the thermal capabilities. I am much more exacting when I apply my compound, I pretty much follow to the letter the intructions on the arcticsilver website. I use an old credit card to smooth the paste to an even and very thin layer. Also I would never use the thermal pad even if I was not overclocking, they are just too ineffective when compared to any of the premium thermal greases.

I dunno if this is just being too anal but my temps have always been pretty low when using this method so I have no plans to stop now. I guess I figure that the extra $6 for some Arctic Silver and the extra 10min time to apply perfectly is probably worth peace of mind.

-spike

i was thinkin that about the Q-tip too

now as far as i know all stock heat sinks come with a pad right on them, should i just scrape that off if im going to be using the paste instead of the pad?

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: Wisey
I am keen to buy a Lian Li PC-6070.

The version I see at my local store has a 120 mm intake fan at the front and a 80mm exhaust fan at the back of the casing.

(Question 1🙂 Is this enough to cool the interior of the case?

My OCZ power supply also has an intake fan that pulls air from inside the casing and exhaust from the back of the power supply. (Question 2🙂 Does this help to circulate air inside the case too? I am hoping this serves as a second set of intake and exhaust fans.

(Question 3🙂 The Lian Li casing has an opening on the top of the casing that I can install another fan, should I do so?

(Question 4🙂 If I go ahead with the purchase, chances are I will re-mount m Zalman 7000-Cu HSF, is it worth to buy the arctic silver 5 thermal paste or should I just use the zalman bundled thermal paste?

Any suggestions are welcome too.

1. It depends on what you have in the case. If you're a surfer who doesn't have performance components, don't overclock, yes.

2. The PSU exhausts will help.

3. Yes.

4. And yes.

I've found that's it's a good idea to plan for extremes when it comes to cooling. Here in Illinois it's gets very cold in the winter, but it can also get very hot in summer. Take extremes in temps in your area into account if you want to be able use your machine under varying conditions.