Cooling-The Definitive Guide

Keeping the dust out

I would like to keep the dust out as much as possible and read that you simply used nylon stockings do this. Do you have pics of this? Do you stretch them at all or just cover the intake area? I'm afraid that the stocking will just rip and become useless... Also, do you have any suggestions for 120mm fans? I need something powerful but not too loud. Thanks for the article!

w00t thanx for the tip I just did that one mine and it knocked off a couple degress

~

Maximus Nickus Thanks you
I found your narrative very informative and now have much more insight on cooling, I plan to put you tips to good use
Cheers

I'm sure this has been mentioned, but here it is again.

My main folding, gaming system is a clear/blue acrylic case with 4 80mm laser fans blowing in (one on top, one in front, 2 on the L side) and 2 80mm fans blowing out (one on the psu and in the rear (standard read location near cpu). I have 2 cold cathodes inside case as well. HS is a SLK900A with 90mm Tornado. Idle temps around 48, under gaming/folding especially now since warm weather is 51-54 via MBM. MB temp is 36.

A. Since it is getting warmer...should I reverse one of the input fans to blow out more hot air.

2. open case and put large floor fan and cool unit off.

3. Do a push-pull system (talked about in another thread) with with on the hs fins.

Thanks

Hooah!

Ok, slightly confused by the physics of the pos/neg case airflow and how it applies to my case. Here's the basics that I need help with.

Lian-Li PC61, all 80mm fans and stock, 2 intake with dust filters, one blowhole, and one rear exhaust that is closer to the HSF on the CPU. The HSF is nothing fancy, it was the only solid copper HS the store had when I bought the cpu and mobo.

CPU, AMD Ath XP 3000, Asus (don't remember the model#) mobo. 2 EIDE HDs right behind the 2 intake fans one drive for OS one for data. All running rounded cables.

I apologize in advance that I'm doing this in F versus Celsius but the US just made me this way and I have not yet obtained a work visa to go to Scotland!

Ok the CPU is reporting a temp of 103-108 from initial boot to normal load. The mobo is reporting around 80-90, and I'm not overclocking anything yet. I'm trying to first create a stable system before trying to OC the CPU and from just seeing ads on sites was very close to buying a new side panel to dremmel up for 2 more fans. This looks like a waste of time and perhaps I need to work on flow inside the case?

Should I look at purchasing 4 new 80mm fans that are a high CFM? Perhaps a new HSF or something? Looking for options, though...

...the biggest drawback is the noise (wife) requires me keeping the whole thing in a prebuilt computer desk compartment instead of keeping it on the floor. So what's a man to do? Suggestions?

gd_101 said:

Lian-Li PC61, all 80mm fans and stock, 2 intake with dust filters, one blowhole, and one rear exhaust that is closer to the HSF on the CPU. The HSF is nothing fancy, it was the only solid copper HS the store had when I bought the cpu and mobo.

...the biggest drawback is the noise (wife) requires me keeping the whole thing in a prebuilt computer desk compartment instead of keeping it on the floor. So what's a man to do? Suggestions?

Click to expand...

I have almost the same case and desk setup as you.

Fans first. I have 5 case input fans. I installed an additional two fans on the botton passive intake screen on my case. So that makes 5 intake fans total. 6 if you count the PSU fan.

The desk. I'm modding the desk this week as a matter of fact. I'm cutting a large hole to match the passive intake hole on my Lian case, I'm cutting a fitted hole to duct the blowhole(exhaust) out the back of the cabinet, and I'm cutting a large oval hole in the back of the cabinet that will allow free airflow from the two rear intakes and the PSU fans.

I'm really hoping that by drawing the cool air up from the bottom directly that this will have the desired "COOLER" result.

I might have to mod the top of the case and add another blowhole. I'm not sure at this point. Kind of depends on how excessive my case pressure is.

I'm banking on the desk enclosure area will stay cool enough for my front intake fan to sufficiently cool the hard drives.

I'll post pictures as soon as I'm done with the whole shootin' works.

Maximus,

Very helpfull for many people. Very nice!

Best

Need some help...

Ok, I just bought some fans for my computer.

I know have a DP-102, which has dual fans.

A case fan, in the middle, exhaust.

A 120 on the bottom, intake

A 80 on the bottom, intake.

And im STILL running 47 degrees with my side panel on.

Now the reason i say with my side panel on, is because when i take it off, it goes to 41 degrees.

Thats 85 dollars in cooling, and im still running hot! ARGGGGG

Also, that 120mm fan i bought, is thermal controlled, which i disabled, because i want it to always run at max...

But, he only goes to 2100, out of 3700 possible....

This message is intended for Maximus Nickus but I think the concepts discussed herein will be of interest to all who are cooling with air.

In another thread http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=289655 Its the long post at the end as of now, timestamped 04-20-04 10:23 PM.

I posted a rather long explanation for Techbota about fan placement and direction of flow. Basically, I argued for no intake fans. I used some stuff that AMD said to support this idea. I bring it up here for two reasons:

1. This thread is probably a better place for the question and
2. I disagreed with Maximus Nickus in my post and I wanted to bring this to his attention.

I bring it up because I feel a little awkward disagreeing with someone so maximus, myself having only one stella under my name and bieing novus et parvus en hoc globus, I wanted to mention it and also hear what you (Maximus Nickus) had to say about the concept. My post (referenced) says more but basically, I don't think you need any intake fans.

Feeling a little extra linearis (out of line)
-Fortune.

Fortune said:

This message is intended for Maximus Nickus but I think the concepts discussed herein will be of interest to all who are cooling with air.

I posted a rather long explanation for Techbota about fan placement and direction of flow. Basically, I argued for no intake fans.

Click to expand...

The problem with no intake setup (or at least a problem that I can see) is that when you do have an intake fan(s), you control where the outside air comes into the box. In particular, you can install a dust filter. When you do not have any intake fans, the air is free to come in anywhere. And if you do install a dust filter - the air will most probably go in elsewhere, where the resistance is less. This is bad because the dust gets into the case, but also because dust can get into the case via peripherals such as floppy drives for instance - accumulating there as a side effect. Not a good situation.

Good point. Dust is an issue. I guess I could see the value of installing a fan IF you were also installing some kind of air filter. I used one for a while but got tired of having to clean it all the time. Now, I have a case with a kind of a grill on the front - kinda like a metal speaker grill. This thing is great as a passive filter. The holes are small enough to filter out larger dust particles so I just wipe the accumulated dust of of it with a cloth every few days. No dust problem.

Anyway, aside from that, any reason to have intake fans? "Anyone?... Anyone?.... Bueller?... Bueller?..."

Welcome to the forums to those of you who are new.... And those of you who are pretty funny with the Latin.

Concerning the venturi effect... It takes some relatively high airflow rates and specific circumstances to take good advantage of it - some things that the computer case is not very friendly with. That's all I'll say about that though because venturi effect is a bit hard to prove and quantisize here. Who knows exactly what would be going on.

The best reason for an intake fan is to increase airflow through your exhaust fans. Without an intake fan increasing the air pressure inside of your case, your multiple exhausts are basically working against a lot of resistance and we all know that axial fans suck at working against resistance and/or backpressure. Creating nearly neutral pressure will maximize the intake and exhaust fan efficiency, as axial fans work best in free airflow environments.

So you should stick to nearly neutral airflow to get the most out of all of your fans. The benefit of helping your fans work efficiently in this way, will likely outweigh any benefit from having all exhaust fans struggling to create the venturi effect. IMO atleast. Conveniently, that simplifies a lot also.

Should you try to make this slightly positive of slightly negative?

I would make it slightly positive because that makes a noticeable difference with dust in the cracks and such, but this doesn't matter if you don't use any intake filters.

Nick isn't too active lately as compared to what he used to be from what I have seen, so I thought I would drop my .02 for you... Even though I'm not as maximus as he is.

Thanks IMOG

I appreciate it, and don't worry - you are as Maximus as I am , well apart from the name!

M_N

So, is it good to have all the fans to exhaus airflow than tintake?

It's good to have a relatively even pressure, although slightly more positive/negative pressures have been shown to work dividends in different cases. Best bet would be to start off with a neutral airflow, then experiment with adding a fan for exhaust/intake purposes to see which better suits your case.

Good Luck mate,
M_N

Very nice thread, but i wonder why the heatsink makers dont do that right from the beginning? If its really so important to have a 100% flat surface then i think the Thermalright/Coolermaster/Swifttech etc guys would offer their products already "lapped", right?

I have a XP-90 and i didnt "test" the surface with my thumbnail. Just trusted the reviews and installed it. Now, according to your thread Maximus, the surface of my XP-90 isnt flat enough and i have to lap it even more?

I believe the main problem mate is mass production and manufactoring costs, it would take a lot longer and cost more to create a perfectly flat surface, and with the use of Thermal Compounds it is often overlooked as profit margins will increase etc.

This isn't true in all cases, but in a lot of them lapping with help.

M_N

So the XP-90 surface isnt flat enough? Over at systemcooling.com they said its "well finished".