case cooling

[elysium]

I've got an Aopen Midi tower ATX HQ45 case and was wondering about the best way to cool it down. I've also got an 300w power suply. What would be my best chose for cooling down my case? (the rest of the eqiupment can be seen in my signature offcourse).

And a last single question, should I upgrade my power suply?

[Voodoo Rufus]

Well, a good start would be to add fans to all available mounts. If you can put the work in punch out the fan grills so they are quieter and give more airflow.

[elysium]

well, at first, the image is straight from aopen, I've got to cd/dvd's and one a: slot. But how many fans, and where? should they create a negative or positive air preassure and so on...

[Voodoo Rufus]

You should create a slightly positive pressure, with airflow from front-bottom to back-top. It seems like you just have an 80mm in front and maybe an 80mm in back, but I couldn't find any internal pictures of the case. Can you tell me what mounts you do have for fans and where? It would be more helpful.

[Starfoxer]

take off one side pannel
buy table fan
have table fan blow directly into your PC
get old HSF
arctic alumina it to your video card
maybe a blow hole, front intake, and rear exhaust also
maybe some rounded cables also

[Voodoo Rufus]

I disagree. You would get a lot of dust and NOISE with a table fan. Rounded cables don't help temps at all, jsut make the case look better and make it easier to wire. Proper airflow through a case that is closed will give temps almost as good as a table fan and no case side.

[elysium]

what do you mean by table fan. Can't totally understand what you mean that is. A fan staning on the table by the computer just blowing air inside...?

[Voodoo Rufus]

Yes. Noisy, ungainly, but effective. I wouldn't reccomend it.

[elysium]

voodo:

but wouldn't rounded cables increase the airflow. The airflow is stronger behind a column than in front, so the column does increase the speed. Made home by taping them together wouldn't be such a bad idea or... Agrees with you on the closed case

[seeker]

A fan staning on the table by the computer just blowing air inside...?

Exactly right...Voodoo Rufus is right about the dust..it will get REALLY dusty in just a few days.
(It will cool the case though :)

[Voodoo Rufus]

Rounded cables make it easier for air to be less turbulent inside the case, possibly giving better airfllow, but I've read tests fo them and the case temps aren't affected hardly at all. If I had the money I'd buy a set, since I've run into trouble making my own a couple times. Folding the cables smartly and tie-wrapping them to the case carefully can also make the cables look good, and helps them stay out of the way.

[elysium]

What abut one low front intake, and a mid back exhaust (both 120mm) and some small ones by the sides of the agp and pci cards. Would that be any good idea or...

[Voodoo Rufus]

I prefer not to hack my case sides. Just get a slot blower for your AGP card and put it in PCI #1. 120mm fans are very good for pumping massive amounts of air while being quiet. Panaflo L1A 120mms are my first choice for noise control. It may be wise to get some sort of aluminum or screen filter to eliminate most of the dust.

[elysium]

Yes, 120mm fans seems to be the best choice; not much more expencive than the 80mm and much better airflow. But I was wondering how much m3 is needed for a good arcooling system. The Delta fans moves about 370m3 air on 38db, but a 22db will moe 97m3 for instance. Is the gain as big in practical life as in theory... Also, where do I get these pci slot fans, I can't find them at any webshop. What ca. is the price.

[Voodoo Rufus]

There's not specific number for total airflow but I guess 100 cfm is pretty good. Don't know the numbers in M3, sorry. You should be able to get a PCI slot fan online. $10-20 blowers.

[elysium]

CFM - m3 x1.7
m3 - CFM /1,7

That should be about it. But that fan will make some noice offcource, right.. (100cfm, ca 35db)

[Voodoo Rufus]

A blower won't put out that much airflow. More like 20cfm. They're more quiet than axial fans by design also.

[elysium]

I suppose that you all are meaning that I should put my intake fan in front under the cd roms and stuff, and the exhaust fan at the top plate behind close to the power suply, or...

But should I have a negative or positive air preassure in the case. About dust, positive should be best, but what about if i install some filtres in it, that takes away the dust. Cause negative pressure should be good for cooling.

[Voodoo Rufus]

If you have filters, dust is reduced greatly, but you still have all the nooks and crannies that dust can get through. The best thing is positive pressure and filters. That way all the intake air goes through the front fans and through a filter, leaving nearly no dust in the case.

[UserName]

I am gonna disagree with voodoo on a small point.

If you blow air in the back and out the front you will see cooler CPU temps. this is because the air will be coolder when it hits the CPU. if you bring it in the front and out the back you heat the air by the time it hits the CPU.

[Voodoo Rufus]

The other components in the computer will get warmer at the same time. It is best to have an overall cool system than a cold CPU and a hot case.

[UserName]

so then it's a choice between a cooler CPU and a hotter case or a Hotter CPU and a cooler Case.

Which would you choose?

[Voodoo Rufus]

It's a choice between a cool CPU and a cool case with a unified airflow from front to back, or a CPU that is closer to ambient with a warmer case, because of messed up airflow. I've done this. I reversed my Radiator fan that is mounted on a 120 fan mount in the back of my case so that it was blowing in, with the only exhaust being the power supply. There was so little airflow that the thermistor at the bottom of the case was reading over 90F, when my room is 60F. The top of the case must have been warmer than that. My CPU was at 30C. With the fan blowing out, so that it was pulling air in the front and out the back with the power supply and the 120, temps were 35C but I could OC further, to over 1600. Before I couldn't get over 1533. Now I have both back fans blowing out, with two reduced speed intakes, and now my temps are 30C on the CPU block, and my case is cooler, around 70F. Now do you see my point?

[UserName]

Is your point you couldn't figgure out how to get the air flow right?

Air really doesn't much care if it flows frontwards or backwards. It dont know what front or back is.

It seems you now got your air flowing better for you.

But the fact is, cooler air over you CPU is better, and blowing air in the back of your case does this in the majority of computers.

But, you are right, it is only one piece of the puzzle. You need a place for that air to go. in most modern cases the air will flow right out the front just fine. i guess it dont on your case. In most cases it does. I bet we could get it to work in yours.

[Voodoo Rufus]

Remember, heat rises, so that's why most cases have a front intake and a rear exhaust that is higher. It doesn't want to go down.

I just played around with my airflow after thinking it through a couple times until I found something that was good for speed and easy on the ears.

[UserName]

I wish people wouldn't say heat rises.

Heat rises with very very little force. Any computer fan has about 100,000 times the strength of heated air.

Overcoming the heat of air rising is a total non issue in our computers.

There is no need to remember it.

[Voodoo Rufus]

Then think about the movement of air in a case. You don't want air recirculating, as in the case of a rear intake and a power supply exhaust. It doesn't work well. The air just gets warmer.

[UserName]

One minute heat rises, which would move out of the way of the rear intake, the next it gets recycled because it dont rise?

What does matter is that it works well. If you couldn't get it to work for you, fine. It works well.

[elysium]

thanks a lot for your discussiun in my thread. It's great to learn from discussion. To quote free from my memory mr. Habermass (famoes german philisoph): "Powerfree discussion is the only way to find the solution." (bad recalled, but who cares)

Though you guys couldn't figure out a solution, that's no big problem. As UserName said, I could just try it out. If one thing works better than the other, I'll go with that. It's just to change the fan settings.

But again: Thanks.

Still wonders though, is possitive needed if I clean my computer for dust sometime regulary. If negative air preassure is so good for the temperatures then it might be worth it...

Again thanks

[Voodoo Rufus]

Why do you think all cases and general consensus is that they are all designed with a front intake and a rear exhaust? To bring cool air in the case and exhaust it out the back. Your way may work is some cases, but it is not ideal. A side blowhole and a rear exhaust would work even better, but dust intrusion becoems a problem, unless you put a filter on the blowhole as well.

[Voodoo Rufus]

If you clean your case regularly then it may not be an issue, but with filters you won't have to clean it as often. Negative pressure just sucks in dust like a vacuum.

[elysium]

VoodooRufus:

I might just do that! (the filtre in the hole at the side, they are not very expencive)

[elysium]

Well, I was thinking more about the fans I will be buying for my case, and it was suggested to me that I should buy one of the bigger and noisy fans. And run them with a rheostate, that way they will be noisy when I overclock, but can be turned down. But are there any good articles about rheostates at the web. I would like to read more about them. Also, I've found no rheostate that's been able to control a 24w fan. (one of the better alphas).

Thanks for your advices guys

[Voodoo Rufus]

Hoot knows about the rheostats. He's got some high power ones. If you have to build or buy a regulator or pulse width modulator to be able to handle the current. They use a mosfet that either switches or dissipates the extra wattage.