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Need help with fan placement

BlueAcolyte

BlueAcolyte

Platinum Member
I am about to receive the last parts of my system, the PSU, MoBo, and 8800GT. I just got my Cooler Master 690 today. 🙂 My dad is being a cheapass and yelling at me because the case already has three fans, so I can't even get one more. SO the million-dollar question is:

What is the optimum spot for fan placement using only three fans?
Also, are there any review sites that did something like this?

I've heard that two fans on the top and one in the back is good for airflow (not sure about which is intake and exhaust, help?) link

I've also seen Zepper saying that a fan in the front next to the HDDs, one in the back, and one on the bottom works best. (I also need to know which ones are intake and exhaust)

Another question I have: Can I use my stock intel cooler for anything? someone took off their 8800GT's fan and cover and stuck the intel fan on.

Finally, do hard drives need cooling? If I place a fan in the front, then the drive cage blocks some of the airflow, but I'm worried my drive will overheat.

If you need more information about my system, let me know. Thanks in advance, and if you've gotten to this point, thank you for reading the wall of text.
 
Hard drives don't need much cooling at all - the tiniest of breezes flowing over them is plenty, even for Raptors and the like.

I'd put one fan on the front near the HDDs as intake, one on the bottom as intake, and one on the back as exhaust. If the bottom intake blows on the video card, that'll stay nice and cool, and the front and rear fans will keep air flowing through your entire case.
 
ok then, I suppose i can pull my stock hs off my fan and tape that somewhere for some extra cooling as well. Thanks guys.

BTW, the .bh. is your signature, correct?
 
I would have one in the back, leave the one in the front and take the fan from the bottom and put it in the back top slot.

I have the CM 690 and definitely noticed more heat from that back rear area. I'm not sure what HSF you have on your CPU but its a suggestion. Leaving that fan on the bottom isnt gonna do much, the PSU cords get in the way and things are just too far away. Remember heat rises so having a fan up top definitely isn't going to hurt! And I suggest when you can scrape up 10-15 bucks to buy one more fan for the side panel.

Also if you dont want a fan up top, you can always put it on the side panel, I have one fan in the lower of the 2 slots on the side panel exhausting air OUT because it's right next to my GPU. Having that fan dropped my 8800GT 3 degrees C on idle and about 5C on load.
 
I have a Cooler Master HyperTX2 cooler, blows sideways.

If I use a fan on the side panel as an intake, that blows cooler air onto the graphics card, right?
 
I'd say with the shroud on most vid cards the way they are, as long there is adequate intake air for them to be able to get what they need, those will be OK. And between the front and bottom you should have nearly 80CFM (nearly 40 full case volume exchanges) available. If you find you need more, then experiment.

.bh.
 
I haven't gotten it up and running yet, I guess i will block some of the unused fan ports with black paper to keep the air in.
 
Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
I haven't gotten it up and running yet, I guess i will block some of the unused fan ports with black paper to keep the air in.
Click to expand...

which totally defeats the purpose of having a mesh case 😕

i got one side and in the front for intake. one in the back and on top for exhaust. if you're only limited to 3 fans, i would suggest you do one in the front, one in the back and one on the side. warm/hot air rises so you shouldn't worry too much about adding fans on the top.
 
Seriously though, they are already in the right spots when the case shipped. No need to change them if your cpu cooler blows to the rear exhaust. If you position it to blow up, you might want to consider placing the rear exhaust on top.

I have the same case but haven't got anything in it yet 😀
 
The logic of blocking extraneous venting is so that the air flow is controlled rather than coming in and going out willy-nilly, short-circuiting any attempt at analysis. You had the right idea, blue. Now you know why. Easy enough to put some of the venting back in service if you find it necessary.

.bh.


 
wasn't there a thread that had some cable managment tips for the cm690 case?

I thought i remembered seeing it...anywho im trying to use that rectangular window down at the bottom to route the cables through and make it look neater. too bad ill never see how neat the inside is...
 
I just got thru transplanting my system into a 690 for testing purposes. My bottom fan seems to rub on the filter unit. So it's unplugged for now. PITA having to pull that whole assembly to mess with the 120mm fan, while a 140mm would just snap out. Luckily the front fan doesn't rub on its filter unit. C'est la vie... Front fan is running at 1140/70 and rear at 1230/60 (30 rpm limit of resolution, they bounce between the two, slash-separated figures).

.bh.
 
Those skyhooks they put in there get in the way more than anything else - w/o them it actually feels roomy in the 690. Cable management, to most here, means out of sight as well as neatly arranged. Besides, nearly half of my skyhooks were deformed by popping them from the mold without enough cooling.

.bh.
 
So since I got a few new components I decided it was time to clean up my case and maybe optimize my fan placement. I made an AWESOME drawing of what I was thinking in powerpoint. 1a in 3/4 view and 1b, 2 looking straight at the motherboard tray. The CPU cooler is depicted like an EM wave! The arrow is pointing straight at you...

So basically, I was trying to work with the 3 stock fans that come with the case. My processor the E7400 has the stock Intel cooler and my PS will be the HX520.

- 1a and 1b is how I'm thinking of setting it up with outside air coming in from the back and bottom to push any hot air removed from the cpu cooler through the top exhaust. My current gpu is fanless but I will probably be replacing that soon and will need to factor that fan in as well.

- Configuration 2 is something completely different that I was thinking of trying with a fan sitting in the optical drive cage at an angle towards the CPU cooler and the NB with the exhaust in the back.


Issues:

- It remains to be seen in either case whether the bottom fan can pull an adequate amount of COOL air from the bottom of the case, only an inch above my desk and through a filter. When I had a fan in the front of the case, within a few months almost no air was going through because the front filter was completely clogged.

- How should I mount the PSU? I believe the fan is blowing air out of the unit so I guess it would be better to place it with the fan facing downwards since there is a place for it to exhaust as opposed to warm air blowing onto my graphics card.

- When I replace the graphics card, if the fan blows air downwards, it won't really go anywhere except onto the PSU. I have been thinking of a 4850 or 4870 for what its worth.



I am thinking of ordering some 140mm fans that will hopefully be quieter but I want to figure out placement first to minimize noise and maximize cooling.

I am going to finish installing things tonight and see how everything works.



Any comments or suggestions? How is your 690 or other case setup?
 
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