What do you guys think of this ducting mod idea?

[Bad Dude]

I got the Antec SX1000II, with two back 80mm blow holes, two 80mm intake in the front, and one 80mm side panel blow hole for the video card.
I am going to divide this idea into two parts, one for the video and one for the CPU.

For the video card:
-Instead of having the side panel blow hole with a 80mm fan blowing cool air in, I am going to put it to suck hot air out.
-In the back of the case, right below the video card, I have two free slots. So I was thinking of using smooth card board with duct tape to make a duct running cool air in passively onto the GPU fan, so it can blow cool air onto the GPU heatsink. I got the Vantec Ice Berg blue, on my Radeon 9800 Pro GPU.
-So cool air comes in from the back right onto the GPU fan, to the GPU heatsink and hot air suck out of the side blow hole.

For the CPU:
-I am going to use the TT ducting mod and run cool air from the second 80mm fan from the back of the case, which is the second hole on the back of the case. So cool air coming into the duct. I will isolate the duct onto my SLK900U and take off the fan on top of it. I am still debating as to whether to leave the fan on the heatsink of the CPU so as to have one taking in cool air from the back and one blowing right on the CPU.
-The top second 80mm fan from the back, I am going to have it suck hot air out. I will make an external duct so hot air will blow up to prevent the hot air from sucking the hot air back in the fan below it going to the CPU duct. I am debating as just to block this hole off and not have the fan there is better or maybe is it have the fan there? What do you guys think?
-I have the Antec True Power 430W, so it has also the 90mm fan on the bottom of the PSU.

-In the front of the case, I will have one 80mm fan blowing right onto the hard drives. There is another 80mm below the HD compartments which I will have it sucking air in.
-As for the top of the case, there is no blow hole other than the one in the PSU.

Please give me some opinions, and some ideas for the following:
1) What do you think of the air flow efficiency?
2) Any air movement conflict and air turbulent to reduce the effectiveness of the cooling system?
3) Better ideas and suggestions are always welcome. Please give me your reasonings.

Thanks for your attention.

 

[Bad Dude]

Anyone got any input for me please.
Thanks.

 

[lchyi]

First, I'm too tired to imagine that long explanation so :camera:

Second, you're not supposed to bump within 2-3 hours of your post, let alone 30 minutes

Third, there was a ducting mod thread up there (yes I know, this is your own idea and could constitute your own thread) but seriously, we're already reading that thread, why not post in there.

Fourth, air cooling can only go so far. If you left your computer running with an industrial strength air mover hovering over it, you're not going to get cooler temperatures than a water cooling setup. So, with your elaborate setup don't expect a huge drop in temps. I would look more for 1-2C... that's the best us air people can get.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: lchyi
First, I'm too tired to imagine that long explanation so :camera:

Second, you're not supposed to bump within 2-3 hours of your post, let alone 30 minutes

Third, there was a ducting mod thread up there (yes I know, this is your own idea and could constitute your own thread) but seriously, we're already reading that thread, why not post in there.

Fourth, air cooling can only go so far. If you left your computer running with an industrial strength air mover hovering over it, you're not going to get cooler temperatures than a water cooling setup. So, with your elaborate setup don't expect a huge drop in temps. I would look more for 1-2C... that's the best us air people can get.

For a senior member you really don't know the rules too well do you. Yes I know about the 4 hours rules for bumps. Of all people I know it much better than you. Where do you see that I bump more than once every 4 hours? If you don't want to post to my quest then move on. I just want to share my project. It's not for you to judge of anything for anyone here. If the duct mod only help with 1-2C then I would not have posted this thread. I guess some one beat up on you so you come here to spoil my thread.
Go do something useful will you? Stop timing my bumps. Get a real watch since most people will see close to 12 hours for the first bump.

 

[Nebor]

Nah, he's right. Your thread is teh suck.

 

[boyRacer]

Here's what I think... the Thermaltake Duct mod wouldn't line up right with the fans on the case... or the socket on the motherboard...i think it sits lower than the top fan but higher than the lower fan. Anyway... check this out...

As far as your duct for the GPU... i guess it'll work... provided you're not sucking back hot air from the back... personally i think the side blowhole is just fine.

 

[MichaelD]

Hi there.

I gotta give you credit. You put a lot of thought into your idea and thread. That's what this addiction...er...hobby is all about!

Here's my opinion, FWIW. You're over complicating things a lot. Aside from side intake fans that blow air directly onto a videocard, all intake should be on the front and all exhaust on the rear/top of the case.

When you suck air in from the rear of the case, even though it's cool "outside air" you disrupt the airflow thru the case completely.

Cold air should come in low and from the front and exit high and to the rear/top.

Try to imagine smoke blowing thru your case to help you visulalize airflow. That's what I do. You have this nice cool smoke coming in from the front. As it flow thru the case, it takes all the hot smoke with it. It's rising up, on it's way to the rear exhaust fan and/or top blowhole when suddenly it gets disrupted by air coming in from the back of the case.

to me, your temps will be worse than if you just went with the stock setup.

OTOH, if you could duct cool air from the front, directly over the videocard and have maybe a slot fan/blower suck that air right out, that would work. But then you lose the cooling effect of having the cool air wash over the mobo too.

It's experimentation time!

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Hi there.

I gotta give you credit. You put a lot of thought into your idea and thread. That's what this addiction...er...hobby is all about!

Here's my opinion, FWIW. You're over complicating things a lot. Aside from side intake fans that blow air directly onto a videocard, all intake should be on the front and all exhaust on the rear/top of the case.

When you suck air in from the rear of the case, even though it's cool "outside air" you disrupt the airflow thru the case completely.

Cold air should come in low and from the front and exit high and to the rear/top.

Try to imagine smoke blowing thru your case to help you visulalize airflow. That's what I do. You have this nice cool smoke coming in from the front. As it flow thru the case, it takes all the hot smoke with it. It's rising up, on it's way to the rear exhaust fan and/or top blowhole when suddenly it gets disrupted by air coming in from the back of the case.

to me, your temps will be worse than if you just went with the stock setup.

OTOH, if you could duct cool air from the front, directly over the videocard and have maybe a slot fan/blower suck that air right out, that would work. But then you lose the cooling effect of having the cool air wash over the mobo too.

It's experimentation time!

Thanks for your input. I will take your advice and not waste my time trying that idea.

 

[FMann]

Regarding the ducts to your CPU:

So you want to have one fan in the back hooked up to a duct to bring cooler/ambient air to the CPU directly, right? That's a good idea, but my feeling is not to remove the CPU fan itself. You could try w/ and w/o the CPU fan, but my thoughts are that the air coming out of the duct will already have lost some of it's energy and therefore not be powerful enough to penetrate the heatsink adequately. Leaving the heatsink fan on will allow the incoming ambient air to be given an extra kick and therefore will better penetrate the heatsink.

Regarding disturbing the airflow in your case:

If you do the ducting properly, I don't think it shouldn't be a problem -- there needs to be a relatively good/tight fit for the duct around the CPU heatsink/fan. The reason is that the duct will isolate the incoming air from any air already flowing inside the case so there should be no "collisions" of air until it has exited the sides of the heatsink. Your CPU/heatsink will always disturb the air around it regardless of whether there is a duct or not.

Now the actual presence of the duct itself could cause problems... but that's a different story.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: FMann
Regarding the ducts to your CPU:

So you want to have one fan in the back hooked up to a duct to bring cooler/ambient air to the CPU directly, right? That's a good idea, but my feeling is not to remove the CPU fan itself. You could try w/ and w/o the CPU fan, but my thoughts are that the air coming out of the duct will already have lost some of it's energy and therefore not be powerful enough to penetrate the heatsink adequately. Leaving the heatsink fan on will allow the incoming ambient air to be given an extra kick and therefore will better penetrate the heatsink.

Regarding disturbing the airflow in your case:

If you do the ducting properly, I don't think it shouldn't be a problem -- there needs to be a relatively good/tight fit for the duct around the CPU heatsink/fan. The reason is that the duct will isolate the incoming air from any air already flowing inside the case so there should be no "collisions" of air until it has exited the sides of the heatsink. Your CPU/heatsink will always disturb the air around it regardless of whether there is a duct or not.

Now the actual presence of the duct itself could cause problems... but that's a different story.

I would think of a low rpm fan on the back of the case and also the same low rpm 90mm or even 80mm fan if it fits better on the heatsink.
If the duct is isolated well, I think it would work well and disturb little if at all the inside case airflow. The hard part is to get the duct on properly.
With duct on, the hot air pockets could be created under the duct itself. I am thinking about those dryer aluminum flexible hose from home depot. I saw a long one for only $5.94. Now would you suggest a 2" or 3" diameter?

Thanks.

 

[0roo0roo]

you mean 3 or 4" in diameter. i don' tthink theres 2", 2" would be way too small anyways.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
you mean 3 or 4" in diameter. i don' tthink theres 2", 2" would be way too small anyways.

I saw the aluminum duct at home depot but it said 2" but it looks more like the 3".

 

[420phisher]

Have you done any of the work yet?

 

[pelikan]

I say leave the fan on the heatsink. You lose air pressure having it further away.
I have a duct that brings cool air to my slk-800. Its a piece of 4.5" pipe that goes straight out my side panel. The fan on my heatsink pulls the air in no problem. It reduced my temps by 8C. Negative case pressure helps ducts work better.
I'd keep that fan by your video card as an intake and just make sure you have enough exhaust to get rid of the air.
I have an 80mm fan as an exhaust in the pci area. Works great.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: pelikan
I say leave the fan on the heatsink. You lose air pressure having it further away.
I have a duct that brings cool air to my slk-800. Its a piece of 4.5" pipe that goes straight out my side panel. The fan on my heatsink pulls the air in no problem. It reduced my temps by 8C. Negative case pressure helps ducts work better.
I'd keep that fan by your video card as an intake and just make sure you have enough exhaust to get rid of the air.
I have an 80mm fan as an exhaust in the pci area. Works great.

How can you have the 80mm fan as an exhaust in the PCI area? You must have a wide case or do you mean on of those right behind the CPU. Any pics?
Unfortunately, I don't have a side blow hole that would go direct to the CPU otherwise it would save me a lot of work.

And no I have not done any of the work yet. Maybe in a week or so when I get a little more time.

Thanks.

 

[pelikan]

I cut out the slots where you put pci cards and put the 80mm there, right under the video card.
For the cpu duct, I cut a hole in my side panel with a jig saw.
I'll try to get the pics back up soon. I recently switched servers.

 

[pelikan]

Pics of duct.

 

[Bad Dude]

Originally posted by: pelikan
Pics of duct.

I cannot do what you did b/c I got many PCI cards below.