[Dessun]

I've read tutorials and reviews on cooling alot, but there's so much info its hard for me to separate it all. I have a small cooling problem I think. Here's my system:

Silverstone TJ-04
Asus P4C800-E Deluxe Canterwood
Radeon 9800pro 256meg
Antec Trueblue 480
P4 3.0E ghz 800m 478P/1mb ht, stock hs/fan
1 gig XMS exrtreme memory series
1 intake 120mm fan
1 out 120mm fan in the back

Please check out my case for me here I think the case is a bad one for cooling, but I want your guys opinion. The comp is pretty fast but I want to OC it just for fun. But with the prescott, asus probe has it at 46C idle and can get to 60c while playing doom3 for instance. I noticed thats pretty normal for that chip. Not good for OCing tho.

What I am worried about the most in the case design being poor for cooling (check the link) and the fact that the top of the case near the back gets EXREMELY hot during ANY kind of game loads. I thought it was the power supply, because I felt it and its very hot and its in the same location in relation to the heat on the case. But a friend of mine said they dont get hot and its my cpu causing everyting to get hot. Which is it? And how can I prevent it?

Nothing has any mods to it yet, it's all stock. I want everything to be cooled well for OCing, but fairly quite as well. I don't want to spend a lot of money, I just don't see much gain in OCing vs buying better parts (once you calculate the costs required). But OCing aside, I prefer my system to be cool, it makes me worry less when the damn thing isn't practically burning me. Please give your detailed opinions on what you would do if you were me. Thanks.

[WejRepus]

there is nothign wrong with that case for cooling... it can fit two 120s, which is much better than most cases. what fans do you have in there? are they the stock ones? what kind of cfm do they put out?
if the back of the case is getting that hot, chances are that exhaust fan is not up to par. also, what kind of wire managment do you have going on, taking care of that will help a lot. there is really a lot you can do to help your temps, do you have any way of posting pics so we can get a real view of what is going on in that case?

[Electron Chaser]

Cut the grill out of the front and back to get better airflow then get a good 120mm fan for both. I can recommend several just let me know your noise tolerance. Mount a few 40 or 60mm fans in the back near the bottom where the vent grill is you should be able to mount 2 of them their side by side. Add a 120mm blowhole on the top of the case and a CPU duct on the side to direct outside air directly to your case. That should give you a good start.

[JimmyG]

One solution you could try is to cut a blow hole in the top of the case and mount another 120 fan blowing out. I believe that would go a long way toward reducing your heat problem. Another thing you could try is to get a better HSF. This is a good one http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thsp.html

[magick_man]

do you have fans in the front and back of the case, and if so how much air do they move?
do you have a case temp reading?
i would suggest getting a better heatsink/fan than the stock one.
like the thermalright sp-94, xp-90, xp-120. with some good fans i bet your temps will drop alot.
as for the case getting really hot, i would blame that on poor ventilation.
you might replace the case fans and or cut out the fan grills that are made into the case.
im sure someone elae will help shed some more light on this problem

~Magick_Man~

wow i turn around for a few minutes and i get beat by 3 ppl

[Dessun]

I honestly don't know the specs of the fans except what is stated about them in the link i Offered. I will try to post pics of my case.

NOTE: Pics removed. The place that hosted them has terminated the link.



On the bottom of the case pic, notice the small crappy intake grill. The fan actually sucks at the side of the case, but some air is drawn up still. I took a close up that turned out blurry of the PS. It has the fan on its buttom and one out the back as you can see. Oh and the case fans are 2200rpm, 21dBa.

[WejRepus]

well, your wires are quite good, if i was you i would buy two new fans, a new heatsink, and cut out the grill on the back and see what you can do to open up the front a little and if you want add a blowhole to the top

[Dessun]

Yes, I was planning on a new HS/fan for sure, unless I go WC. Which is possible depending on price. But what am I looking to spend upgraded 120mm fans, maybe 2 more extra fans, and the hs/fan? VS a watercooled setup? If I went WC then I might upgrade the 120mm fans, just to help.

[WejRepus]

if you went with a WC setup, you would still have to upgrade your fans and cut out the grills.

[Dessun]

Yes, forgot to mention I was going to cut them out anyways too. Should I just leave a hole or put something there..? And on the bottom vent it looks like maybe it can be unscrewed. Cool, I'll have to check. But what am I looking at pricewize for a good hs/fan and upgraded 120mm fans and maybe a few others. And what would a good WC setup cost? And which products should I buy for each setup?

[WejRepus]

you could put wire fan grills (http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/ffg-06.html) if you wanted to. but i dont like to use anything more than that.

[Dessun]

Those should work nicely. The bottom vent can have no grill at all because none would fit, but that should be ok. Another thing, my computer is in one of those cabinet things. I leave the door open always and the bottom vent hanging over the end to get plenty of sucktion. But if I take it out it I'll have to cut a larger hole in the back of my desk for the extra wires coming to the top, is it worth it? And check my above post if you haven't, I've added to it. My radeon also gets real hot . I'm trying to keep noise level low with my system, so you get the picture.

[mribnik]

Originally Posted by Dessun

Yes, I was planning on a new HS/fan for sure, unless I go WC. Which is possible depending on price. But what am I looking to spend upgraded 120mm fans, maybe 2 more extra fans, and the hs/fan? VS a watercooled setup? If I went WC then I might upgrade the 120mm fans, just to help.

Just my opinion, but I would skip the watercooling at this point and save some money. The xp-90, when configured with a high output fan, can get about as good as watercooling can (.13 C/W). Of course, that fan is loud, but the heatsink also gives great cooling at low noise levels as well (I have a 35dba fan on mine). Also, the xp-120 would be an excellent alternative to watercooling because you can put a silent fan on there for decent cooling (and be more silent than a watercooling rig because most watercooling rigs require 2x120mm fans to cool a rad) or get that huge delta and get ultra performance. These are both great options for about 1/5 the cost of watercooling. They are also easier to set up and less risky IMO.

That's just my opinion. Watercooling is a great solution (and a fun hobby) for many people so don't count it out just because I said so.

As far as case mods go, if your wiring is nice, then I'd suggest better intake and exhaust fans, These are pretty good

Also, the blowhole and making an intake on the side of your case above the cpu are great ideas as well. All these can help with your case temps. I was a newb at the case modding (and was worried about it) but I found it to be pretty easy and failsafe even with a jigsaw.

[Dessun]

Why oh why is the forum displaying posts in such an elongated text format for me instead of word wrapping sooner?? Anyways, this is what I am guessing to get so far. XP-90 here , 3 Enermax 180mm fans here (two to replace my current ones and the last to vent the top), 2 80mm fans (of unknown brand, 1 to supply air to CPU and 1 for GPU), and 1 92mm fan for my heatsink. What do you guys think?

[mribnik]

So you're planning on doing intake mods over the cpu and gpu? I'd say that's a good idea. I don't think you need that much air going in them though, so low speed quiet 80mm fans would do the trick. I have a 92mm fan over my cpu and it's just as good with the fan at half-speed as it is full speed. As such, I would recommend

these

If that isn't enough air for you, then these are great
http://www.jab-tech.com/customer/pro...&cat=79&page=1

Pretty quiet too.

[Dessun]

24 CFM, I don't really know about CFM, but can you make an example of what 24 CFM is? The XP-90 recieves your blessing? As well the enermax 120mm fan? Is two of those enough outake? I think my kit would be 3/2, in/out. That would be (1) 120mm fan in, (2) 80mm fans on cpu and gpu(the ones you recommended) and outake would be (2) 120mm fans (1 below PS and one next to it on top). If I go with your suggestions on fans then the total cost should be around $70, which isn't too bad.

[mribnik]

Ok, 24 cfm really isn't that much. Actually, after looking at the other ones, I would go with those h1B's because 32 dba isn't much at all in terms of noise. If you are going to have a bunch of fans in your case though, the noise adds up eventually. What I was saying was, I have a 92mm intake on my case. Interestingly, with the fan turned off, the pressure from the cpu fan causes the intake fan to spin, and I get no more temp increase with the fan on than off. I think the h1b's would be perfect though. You would want more than 24cfm now that I think about it.

Enermax makes great fans. I don't particularly believe the db rating of that 120mm fan 30 db?? because none of the other 120mm fans can reach that performance at that noise level. In fact, enermax makes another 120mm fan, without the adjusting, that does around the same amount of airflow at 36dba. I would say that is more like it. Do you need 25mm thick fans for your case? If you do, the ones you picked out are fine, but the other enermax's are cheaper...

http://www.so-trickcomputers.com/Mer...tegory_Code=FF

If you don't need 25mm thick and have room for thicker, go for the panaflo m1a at the same site.

http://www.so-trickcomputers.com/Mer...tegory_Code=FF

Oh, and the xp-90 is beautiful. You won't regret it. I love mine. If you don't have one though, it might be a good idea to get a fan controller. Even if you have all resonably quiet fans (30-35dba) they add up eventually. That might be a good idea. In that case, I'd recommend the sunbeam rheobus (out of stock at svc). I think I answered all your questions. If you have any more, let me know!

[Dessun]

I like that panaflow M1A, it comes with a grill. Is 2100rpms enough? I have plenty of room for any size fans really. Its a ginormous case. What does width mean anyway? More airflow?

Which fan should I put on the xp-90? Thanks for your help. So if I use 3 of those M1As, 1 intake and 2 outakes. And two other intakes over CPU and GPU of what size and type? Again thanks for help. Also need some AS5. I'll make a list of things and you tell me what I need to add, im trying to get it all down to look at total costs.

3 M1A 120mm fans
2 undecided CPU and GPU fans
1 HSF
1 XP-90
1 Tube AS5
And enough screws for anything that doesn't ship with them.

Anything else?

[WejRepus]

wait, are you going to put holes on the side panel as extra intakes over the cpu and pci slots? i am confused.

[Dessun]

Yes.