Someone Help Me With Airflow Problems

dorimon81 · Jan 3, 2004

Ok,
Today, I got a Thermaltake Volcano 9. I thought that this thing would really drop my CPU temps, but they are almost the same. The heatsink I was using before was the stock AMD heatsink and fan with some crappy thermal grease. Now today, my temps with the 2 different heatsinks are almost the same. I have one 80mm fan intaking air at the rear and one 80mm exhausting at the side. Plus the Power Supply fan (80mm) which is also exhausting.

The fan at the side used to be intaking also, but I flipped it around and thats the only reason why my temps have dropped to the same temps as the AMD HSF or else they would have been about 6+ degrees celcius more.

Now my question is this.
What am I doing wrong? Should all the fans be intaking? exhausting? a combination of both? Because I really don't know.

Thanks in advance

Quattro · Jan 3, 2004

I have a coolermaster aero 7+ and thats cools my CPU fine.
I I have 2 intake fans (powerful) located at the top of the case near the heatsink, a 60mm fan mounted just on top of the northrbidge which actually lowered it temperature by 5*C.
Two more 80mm fans located at the front of the case that just blow cold air around the case.

I have one exhaust fan in the PCI slot, but there is so much pressure inside the case that it feels like there are fans blowing out of the grills.

I am considering getting a 120mm or 80mm tornado mounted in a blowhole behind the processor.

I hope this gives you an idea of what to look out for.

dorimon81 · Jan 3, 2004

Are you suggesting that I put another fan in? Because I can't. My case is a MicroATX and I already had to cut the side panel blow hole so I really can't cut another one because there is no room.

bettsr · Jan 3, 2004

I thought more air in was better???? I know it also keeps all the dust from sneeking in through tiny little cracks and seems as well.

dorimon81 · Jan 3, 2004

More air in is better for dust, etc. But when I turn my side panel fan to intake, it raises the temps.

dalilman52 · Jan 3, 2004

hey, sorry to burst ur bubble, but the volcano 9 really, really sucks

did u run the fan at fullspeed? because it should be giving u better temps than the stock amd cooling, also remove the Thermaltake grill, it really messes with the fan's airflow, and it reduces noise

dorimon81 · Jan 3, 2004

How much of a temperature drop do you think that I'd get if I took off the grill? If I get it down a couple of degrees, I'll be happy.

dalilman52 · Jan 3, 2004

yeah, if u are running the fan at full speed, it would definitely let a larger amount of air thru, possibly a 1 or 2c drop, but no guarantees here

TheWesson · Jan 3, 2004

Here's my opinion, based on common sense and the posts of others:

If you have low impedance in the case (big openings for airflow and not a crowded case) then you can have all your fans going one way (probably intake is better.)

If you have high impedance (lots of clutter or small/no vents in the case for airflow) then you need to more or less balance intake and exhaust.

By the way, make sure your rear fan is not pulling in air from the PS by accident.

but my first impression would not be that your overall case airflow is the biggest problem. <googles Volcano 9> My first suspicion is that the "smart" fan on the Volcano 9 is throttling itself back because it's not reading the CPU temp as "hot enough" to go at full speed. Whereas your stock AMD fan is not 'smart' and therefore goes at full speed all the time. So -- what is your fan speed and can you (have you) forced it to full speed (5600 RPM) in order to see a real comparison between it and the default HSF?

From my quick scan, the Volcano 9 looks like not the greatest heatsink in the world but certainly a decent one - better than stock - if you are setting the fan to a good speed.

the wesson

dorimon81 · Jan 3, 2004

Alright,
Wesson an dalilman, your tips are greatly appreciated. I do have a manual speed control for the volcano and it does give me better temps than if it was controlled by temperature. Dalilman, I'm gonna go take the grill off of the fan right now. I'll keep you posted on what happens.

Ohhh, by the way, I made a duct for the hot air coming out of my PSU, so theres no problem there.

clocker2 · Jan 3, 2004

Dorimon, if you don't have any room to add fans anywhere else, have you considered a blowhole ( with/without a fan) in the roof?

It made a huge difference in my temps across the board and really made it possible for me to control/direct the airflow in my case.

TheWesson · Jan 3, 2004

Oh good.

By the way, with the rear fan set to 'intake' and a chimney on the PS, you're in a pretty good position to throw cool air right on the HSF with a duct.

I know I'd be tempted.

It would certainly render any questions about case ventilation moot, as far the CPU were concerned.

the wesson

dorimon81 · Jan 3, 2004

Don't got no room for a blow hole on top my computer. Space is tight.

dorimon81 · Jan 5, 2004

OK,
dalilman, I took your advice and took off the thermaltake heatsink and it made a difference. It's now 2*C lower than it was before. Thanks for the advice.

YellowDart · Jan 5, 2004

I have to agree w/ Wesson. If youve got a chimney set up on your psu to direct air away from your intakes, you are in an excellent position to duct. I just bought this one. Should be here w/in the next few days. What size are your case fans again??? If they're 80mm fans, you could prolly get some Panaflos or Thermaltake Smart Fan 2's for increased airflow.

dalilman52 · Jan 5, 2004

dorimon81 said:
OK,
dalilman, I took your advice and took off the thermaltake heatsink and it made a difference. It's now 2*C lower than it was before. Thanks for the advice.

haha np, thermaltake really makes shi*ty products, except for their fans, but the fan grills BLOW

dorimon81 · Jan 5, 2004

All my case fans are 80mm. I'm looking to replace the loud one in my PSU, but I'm waiting until tonight when I shut it down so it can discharge.

YellowDart, why did you buy the duct? couldn't you have made it for so much cheaper?

TheWesson · Jan 5, 2004

YellowDart said:
I have to agree w/ Wesson. If youve got a chimney set up on your psu to direct air away from your intakes, you are in an excellent position to duct. I just bought this one. Should be here w/in the next few days. What size are your case fans again??? If they're 80mm fans, you could prolly get some Panaflos or Thermaltake Smart Fan 2's for increased airflow.

Right on! Ducters unite!

especially where you haven't that much airflow otherwise, ducting is most excellent.

Let us know how the duct works out, Yellowdart.

Originally posted by dorimon81
YellowDart, why did you buy the duct? couldn't you have made it for so much cheaper?

Personally, I wouldn't bother making my own duct just to save money*. I get a real kick out of some funky duct-taped homebrew solution actually working, so that's my motivation.

edit: * considering the < $20 cost
the wesson

PabloEscobar · Jan 5, 2004

you should have purchased the volcano 7+ instead of the 9. Also the volcano 12 owns them both but at a cost of 10$ more.
Just like 10 min. ago... i changed my fan set-up to where there are 3 fans intaking, (1 on the side panel and 2 on the back) with 2 fans exuasting (1 on top and the power supply exuast)

This lowered my temps 5C!

My case is probly designed differently though compared to yours. I to also have stock AMD 2500+ HSF and grease... but just recently ordered a TT volcano 7+.

My set up before was a low powerful side intake and 1 in the front intaking which was at 5000 RPM and 3 exuasting (2 on back 1 on top) This was a bad set-up.

dorimon81 · Jan 5, 2004

Personally, the Volcano 9 is pretty good. It has a little button that alows me to control the speed and when I sleep, I put it on the lowest setting. When I'm gaming, I put it on the highest. Now to only get rid of that pesky PSU fan.

Someone Help Me With Airflow Problems

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