Radeon R9 390 possible case cooling issue

[LittlBUGer]

Hello,

I've recently purchased a new custom barebones build from AVADirect of which I then transferred a few components from my old PC to this new one. Everything has been working great since I got it all setup a few months ago. Yet, I'm slightly concerned with heat coming from the video card. The basic specs, in relation to my question, are:

ENERMAX Ostrog GT Black/Blue Mid-Tower Case
Corsair CMPSU-1000HX Power Supply
GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-Gaming 5 motherboard
CORSAIR H75 Hydro liquid CPU cooling
GIGABYTE Radeon R9 390 8GB video card
CREATIVE Sound Blaster Z sound card

* NOTE: The case has 2 good fans in the front blowing inward and I added a fan to the top blowing up and out. The only fans blowing out the back are the liquid cooling fan(s) right near the top of the case (above the video card) and the power supply fan (below the video card).

Of course the video card is in the first PCI-e x16 slot where it should be, while the sound card is in the lowest or bottom-most PCI-e x1 slot and thus pretty much as far away from the video card as it can get. The video card's fans spin up to the max (actually is loud if I'm not using headphones) when gaming and whatnot blowing all sorts of hot air right at the sound card (and technically into the power supply which is right below that). The sound card does have that red, protective shroud/heatsink/whatever that it came with. Though I haven't seen any problems thus far, I'm concerned about the longevity of this setup and if said heat will gradually ruin my sound card (or power supply for that matter).

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Has anyone seen something like this happening? If so, what could I do to try and steer the air away from the sound card? Unfortunately I didn't think this through when buying the case as though it has a side window, there is no side-panel fan slot. That would make me feel better (though it would make it louder), but I don't think I can mod the panel too easy.

Please just let me know your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you so much for all of your help!

 

[lehtv]

Looks like the you already have pretty good exhaust airflow which should result in the bulk of the hot air from the video card moving up towards the exhaust fans, away from the sound card. Also, the graphics card should not be blowing hot air "right at the sound card". The graphics card's cooler blows air up and to the sides, not down. I really wouldn't be worried.

Also why are you worried about the sound card, if it's really the graphics card that's generating all the heat and not the sound card? By and large they're made of the same stuff... And why not worry about all that motherboard right next to the graphics card?

 

[LittlBUGer]

Looks like the you already have pretty good exhaust airflow which should result in the bulk of the hot air from the video card moving up towards the exhaust fans, away from the sound card. I really wouldn't be worried

Well, the video card fans face downward, right toward the sound card (and power supply). Though I understand some of the heat will rise, I think the bulk of it is going on or into the sound card and the rest into the power supply, which then blows it out the back.

I guess I just don't want to overheat and burn out my sound card, especially if I'm gaming for a few hours at a time.

Thanks for the help.

 

[lehtv]

Well, the video card fans face downward, right toward the sound card (and power supply).

No, the video card fans face up towards the card itself. They pull air from below and blow it upwards, not the other way around.

Though I understand some of the heat will rise, I think the bulk of it is going on or into the sound card and the rest into the power supply, which then blows it out the back.

Oh, your PSU is also acting as an exhaust? Since your case has an opening below it, turn the PSU upside down so it's taking air in from below the case. Now all your exhaust fans are above the graphics card, drawing all the hot air right up.

 

[LittlBUGer]

No, the video card fans face up towards the card itself. They pull air from below and blow it upwards, not the other way around.

Oh, I did not know that. I guess I didn't really pay too much attention to where the air was really blowing, I just figured it would blow away from the heatsink instead of into it. Is this a standard for most newer video cards or just AMD ones (or just Gigabyte ones)?

Oh, your PSU is also acting as an exhaust? Since your case has an opening below it, turn the PSU upside down so it's taking air in from below the case. Now all your exhaust fans are above the graphics card, drawing all the hot air right up.

Ah, something I didn't think about. I will definitely try that when I have some time this weekend. Thank you, much appreciated!

 

[lehtv]

Oh, I did not know that. I guess I didn't really pay too much attention to where the air was really blowing, I just figured it would blow away from the heatsink instead of into it. Is this a standard for most newer video cards or just AMD ones (or just Gigabyte ones)?

It's not only standard, but it's basically the only design since non-reference coolers have been in use. I haven't heard of any graphics card cooler design where air is blown away from the heat sink rather than at the heat sink, though I don't claim with certainty that no such cooler exists.

Reference coolers (as in, the default designs from AMD and NVIDIA) still use a "blower style" cooler where you have a fan at the end blowing air through a shrouded heat sink (this is a GTX Titan):

But a typical non-reference design works like this (paint skillz ftw):

Ah, something I didn't think about. I will definitely try that when I have some time this weekend. Thank you, much appreciated!

:thumbsup:

 

[LittlBUGer]

Thanks again. I did confirm this after finding my card on Gigabyte's website and it says the same thing. I will monitor overall temps in my system though just to be 100% sure all is OK.