My plan to improve CM690 II cooling... rate?

Hi,

Currently have the 3 stock fans working, plus a high end CPU air cooler with push/pull. Temps at 4.0GHz are like 80, for my work the cpu loads are always 100% so I'd like an upgrade to lower temps and reach at least 4.2 (possible but temps limit this).


So, here is my plan...

replace air cooler with H100, mount the radiator at the top, replacing one case fan

put the two CPU cooler fans in the two base slots (pulling air in)

However this leaves me with 1 spare fan, and -1 spare power connector slots for the fan, so I think I'll have to buy a molex/3 pin adapter.



Does this make sense? Or is there a more effective way of cooling?

Has anyone actually mounted a fan on the left grid/doesn't it get annoying when you open the case?


edit- I've just seen the CM690 web page says there is room for a 120 fan in the HDD bay... I don't understand how it could possibly fit without removing the whole structure?

i have a 140mm fan sitting on top of my dvd drive with double sided tape. it blows are directly towards the heatsink.

i have to recommend against those all-in-one type liquid coolers like the h100, because they have all the risk of a leak of watercooling but are not any better than a good metal heatsink.

Looking at prices and a CPU block alone is half what the H100 costs. I don't want to end up spending £200 on a CPU cooler. Price certainly is important for me

venomous-x, nh-d14, etc.

I've already got a high end air cooler, I don't want another.

The H100 isnt a bad unit its not high end WC but its decent. The biggest advantage to the H100 is it becomes a piece of the cases cooling structure. My recommendation however would be that you install the H100 with medium-high speed fans in a push config. This will bring the coolest air directly through the cpu cooler(worth 1-2c), and put your bottom fans to exhaust(this also helps reduce dust intake). Leave the rear case fan on exhaust and install a low speed 140mm(120 if you dont want to buy a fan) as an intake. Ill double check on this later but as I recall the front 140mm in my wifes 690-II is between the front grill and the steel frame blowing across the HDD rack.

Edit,

NVM its actually inside the case, theres space on the outside for a slim fan though. You just need to pull the front off to install a fan, just use the screws that actually thread into the fan.


thats my wifes rig so you can see where/how a H100 would look.

Hi,

Are you saying put the radiator at the bottom? I don't quite get where the air comes and goes. But I was told the general rule should be cold air in the bottom, hot air out the top. I don't want a total overhaul of the system (I'm not sure I want to remove the hard drive bay to make room).

Where's the PSU?

In that pic the PSU was out. No I was saying to put the radiator at the top and use the two bottom fans to exhaust. You could put it at the bottom if you wanted though but as you said you dont want to remove the hdd rack.

Its pretty hidden but theres an RS 220 in the roof in that pic also.

mikeyw said:

Hi,

Currently have the 3 stock fans working, plus a high end CPU air cooler with push/pull. Temps at 4.0GHz are like 80, for my work the cpu loads are always 100% so I'd like an upgrade to lower temps and reach at least 4.2 (possible but temps limit this).

Click to expand...

if you already have a high end air cooler installed, replacing it with the h100 will not lower core temps because it does not perform any better than high end air coolers. it will only add the risk of a leak ruining your components. corsair says it can't leak but they're wrong.

stock coolermaster fans don't move much air. replacing them with better fans and adding exhaust fans to the top will help remove some case heat and lower cpu temps.

you can also take the side panel off and/or lower clocks and vcore.

i ordered a h80 a few months back and returned it not even installing it because the pump made some weird noises when i plugged it in and it seems more of a gimmick than anything else. i decided to get a nh-d14 instead and it just barely fits in my cm690II.

according to reviews the best everyday cpu cooling solution there is, other than custom water, is the nh-d14. the nh-d14 is king.

like i said before, with all-in-one water cooled units, you risk having a leak(dead computer) with no benefit over a high end aircooler.

it's not worth it.

Hmm ok, if they're no better than high end air why do people always buy them? My thermaltake frio seems to consistently rank near the top in temperature reviews of air coolers. Maybe I'll just buy a couple more case fans.

Took the side panel off and there was a big buildup of dust on the CPU radiator. Took forever to remove it, the rubber connectors to the fans basically seem to stretch beyond the elastic limit when I try to take the fans off so I don't want to be continuously removing them just to clean the dust from the metal!

Ok I'm having a second look and something is bothering me.

The CPU cooler is this massive bulk and it totally obstructs any work the top exhaust fan does. It also blows air very fast at the pathetically slow rear case fan.

Has anyone mounted the Thermaltake Frio vertically? Like, pulling air in from below and pushing it upwards? In this situation I could disregard the rear fan, mount two very good fans on the top facing upwards, then mount a pair of bottom 120mm fans to keep the pressure inside the case up. Then all the heat would go upwards.


If I don't do this I certainly see the merit in installing an intake at the top, so the air goes down, into the CPU push, out the other side and out the rear. But that still wastes one fan and with my computer against the wall, it's not ideal.

you can do that

Thanks... nearly there with ordering all the stuff... I have one more question

I'd like a fan controller with all these high RPM fans going on, but most of them only give 3 pin fan headers to connect to. What happens if most of my fans are 4 pin? Does that mean no fan controller?

Motherboard has 2x3pin and 2x4pin but I have no utility to control speeds there. Am I going to have to open the case every time I want to the the noise down? (like I do at the moment)

You will need to either change over your fans to 3pin connectors or pick up some adapters.

Damn. I'm dead set on these Akasa Vipers. Cheers for all your help. I'll order everything tomorrow and strip/rebuild it next week when I get my toolkit back... will try for some before/after pics as well, and get some temp benchmarks as well. There are SO MANY unused power cables blocking the airways, I'm hoping for at least -10 degrees net difference.