Air Flow Analysis

Arthalen · 8 Jul 2006 at 12:09

Just wanted to post the results of some tinkering I did last night for everyone to comment on.

My original setup had 1x 120mm Intake Fan at the front, an internal 120mm fan set to push air across the motherboard and then a monsta 111CFM fan sat in front of my W/C Radiator to blow out the back of the case.

Having suffered some high temps, I decided it was time for some tinkering.

I've basically reversed the air flow in the case. The monsta fan at the back is now drawing in air straight onto the radiator from outside the case, with another fan in pull config on the opposite side. I then have reversed the internal fan and the intake fan on the front in now set to extract. I've also placed a 92mm fan on the side window as an extractor.

This has had a massive effect (positively) on my temperatures. Idle temp is down to 37C from 42-44, and my load Temp has dropped a massive 10C from 70C - 72C down to 63C-64C under full Dual Prime load.

Gaming this morning in Fear had my temps only climbing to around the 52-54C mark instead of the usual 58C-60C.

I've also managed to mount a 40mm fan over the heatsink on the Power Regulator. The heatsink was BURNING hot under full load, and still is very hot, but has made a small difference.

Overall, I deffo recommend playing with the fan setup in your system, particularly during these hot times in the summer.

Comments ? Can anyone recommend any further improvements ?

Oh, btw, the noise has climbed in my system some what, but I'd rather have a cooler system than quiet burning one

bitslice · 8 Jul 2006 at 12:36

was it still better before you added the 92mm and 40mm fans ?

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MikeTimbers · 8 Jul 2006 at 13:02

Improving the cooling of the chipset has always resulted in apparently improved cpu cooling, in my experience. Turn off the chipset fan and see how much better the reversed airflow is. You've changed multiple variables and cannot therefore draw any conclusions whatsoever.

Arthalen · 8 Jul 2006 at 13:18

I meant to mention that yes, the cooling had reduced the temps before I added the fan over the power regulator.

Note my northbridge and southbridge are still passively cooled.

cavemanoc · 8 Jul 2006 at 15:13

Your results sound exactly right - your rad is cooling your cpu, and so by reversing the airflow you are using 'clean' cool air to do it instead of stuff that's been warmed by all the other components inside the case

The only other thing worth considering if you really want to cool off the NB and power regulators, is ducting - use a bit of cut neoprene/cardboard and create a channel feeding cool air into the case, over the bits you want to cool,and then out the back - might be fun.

Arthalen · 9 Jul 2006 at 00:32

There's a little diagram for how I have my air flow at present. The grey Pwr Reg area is where there is a tiny heatsink with the 40mm at present.

I also intend to add some ramsinks to the mosfets and poer regulators above and to the left of the CPU block. Also, the peice of sh*** aluminium heatsinks on the NB And SB are getting replaced as well with some actively cooled copper heatsinks.

These two area's are my biggest concern now I've dropped the overall CPU temps. The current power reg heatsink gets burning hot and the northbridge does get a bit toasty to the touch - hence the additional cooling on the way.

Now, Im planning on getting the Thermaltake Extreme Spirit 2's for the NB and SB. Anyone got any better idea's ?

Wryel · 9 Jul 2006 at 00:38

Sorry to be noobish but, if the PSU is pulling air in the opposite direction to everything else, isn't that going to reduce overall airflow? Maybe you could give it duct of its own to mimic the p180?

silversurfer · 9 Jul 2006 at 16:01

Its always better to have more fans pushing air into the case then pulling it out.

At the back you might want to have a divider so the psu air isnt being sucked back in.

Arthalen · 9 Jul 2006 at 22:35

Wryel said:
Sorry to be noobish but, if the PSU is pulling air in the opposite direction to everything else, isn't that going to reduce overall airflow? Maybe you could give it duct of its own to mimic the p180?

In a word, no. It only has the single 120mm fan in its base, and issimply pulling the hot air off the raditor and the Power Regulator straight into and allowing it to escape out the back.

Although a duct might be useful, I dont se it having any real effect as their is no 80mm fan in the back of the PSU pushing hot air into the intake air stream.

Arthalen · 9 Jul 2006 at 22:36

silversurfer said:
Its always better to have more fans pushing air into the case then pulling it out.

At the back you might want to have a divider so the psu air isnt being sucked back in.

Or more simply more air being sucked in than being pushd out.

This is the aim with my setup, tbh, and I think I've managed to achieve it. I would LOVE to get my hands on one of the old Coolermaster Stacker 810 boxes and have a triple 120mm intake

cobxx · 9 Jul 2006 at 23:59

Yeah, ideally you want some kind of duct for the PSU so it isn't "short circuiting" the airflow, i.e. intake from rad going straight out of PSU giving a huge deadzone in the case for the harddrive(s), NB etc.

The other option is to have the conventional airflow, then create a duct straight to the rad, and mod another fan in there for the intake for the rest of the case. You could put the rad in the intake space as well, but that doesn't help other components a lot.

Arthalen · 10 Jul 2006 at 09:27

I don't think the PSU is causing an airflow problem, as there is a fan internally strapped to the back of the Drivebays thats sucking the air towards the front exhaust - see that pinky looking box ?

Also, the Fan in orange (on the interanl side of the radiator) is just as strong as the sucking monsta fan on the back, which would mean that probably 80% of air is bypassing the PSU completely.

There is very little significant air flow coming out of the back of the PSU at all.