Anyone duct cooling a high end Tbird?

[Len]

There have been a few articles here about successfully reducing CPU temps while also reducing the need for case fans by cooling the CPU with ducted air from outside the case.

So I decided to give it a try but I'm not having any success at all. I've tried a few different techniques and all have resulted in higher CPU temps which make my system crash at my normal 1405 Mhz. Up until now I've used 3 intake fans and 3 exhaust fans (including the PSU fan) to keep my case temp within 1C of room temp. My case temp was typically 26C and CPU load temp 48-49C.

Here is what I tried:

1) I bought a 2 inch diameter flexible plastic air intake hose from an auto parts store. Using some cardboard and duct tape I created fittings to fit around an 80mm fan on one end and the top portion of my Glaciator on the other end. I attached it to the Glaciator and one of the running intake case fans. I kept all the other fans running too. I noticed an increase of about 200-300 rpm for the Glaciator's fan.
Result: CPU temps rose to 50C+ and Windows crashed

2) Same as #1 but with the intake fan attached to the hose NOT running. Same results.

3) Same as #2 but I played around with leaving certain other intake & exhaust fans on & off to see if it made a difference. Same results.

4) At this point, I gave up on the tube duct idea. I restored my fan configuration to 2 intake & 2 exhaust (one less than my normal 3 in & 3 out). I then removed the latch door handle from the removable case panel in my Antec SX830 case. This created a hole slightly smaller than an 80mm fan near but not directly over the CPU. I attached one of my higher speed 80mm fans to the outside of the case blowing in.
Result: Room temp=26C, Case=28C, CPU went to 51 then CRASH

5) Same as #4 but I turned off all fans except the PSU fan and the fan blowing into the side of the case.
Result: Room=25.4C, Case=36, CPU became unstable at 49C and Windows crashed.

About the only thing left for me to try is to make a short cardboard duct to direct the air in setup #4 closer to the Glaciator but I'm not real optimistic based on my past results.

So I'm wondering ... is anyone successfully cooling a Tbird running at 1400+ by using ducted air? Am I doing something wrong or is ducted cooling just not effective for high end Tbirds?

[Randy]

Did you hook a blower to your ducting? Take a look at these pics , http://members.aol.com/nitrojocky/page2 they might be of some help. I also have a bechmark and temps screen shot. There was an article on it called dual blower case cooling look under tips and tricks on the o/c com main page then click on case cooling and look for Dual Blower case cooling article. hope this helps.
Randy

[*JEREMY*]

heres a post where it was recently discussed,i dropped my temps considerably http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38661

[dugans]

This may sound dumb, but is your cpu fan blowing air onto the hs or off of it?

I use ducts on 2 of 3- the the new one has a fan but no duct:
Duct setups: straight out the side, no extra fans used, the hsf just pulls ambient air instead of case air.

the new pc: 80 mm fan in case side pulling ambient air in and blowing over cpu and chipset(passive hs on chipset, runs HOT)
There is a deflector angled between the hsf and exhaust fan to prevent cool air blowing past the hsf.

All three pc's have an exhaust fan under psu to vent hot air from cpu.
I also maintain slightly negative pressure in all 3.


All 3 have had temps drop from 4c to 10c this way.

Reverse flow hsf is all I can think of, but here is a trick to try: use cardboard to make a duct and a "test" case side. Run your duct straight from the side and see what happens.

Good luck

[Len]

The fan on my Glaciator blows down onto the heatsink. I've tried a fake side case panel with an 80mm fan blowing down onto the Glaciator. This didn't decrease my CPU temps probably because my case temp is already room temp because of all the airflow I have moving through the case. The problem I have is that whenever I use the CPU duct and turn off other case fans to cut down on the noice then I decrease airflow through my case and my case temps go up and then my overclocked GF2 Ultra overheats.

[dugans]

Allrighty then!
Here's something I've seen, and am going to try on one of mine soon:
an exhaust duct to go with the intake duct. This will be a bit more complicated as it will have to be on both sides of the hs, and will have a lot more wind resistance than a side duct due to bends- I'm planning on 2 separate ducts with matched fans.

I don't know if any of this helps, but hey, at least I'm commiserating right?

Those new Koolance cases are looking better and better!

[Len]

I read about that in another thread. I might try it but I'm a little worried about attaching things to my heatsink. It seems my Glaciator will move ever so slightly if pushed around and that tends to thin out the heatsink compound causing CPU temps to go up. This is probably due to the not-so secure clip of the Glaciator.