HAF 912 COOLING ADVICE

[Mikesamo]

Hello folks I have a haf 912 mid tower case with the following specs
i7 4770k 4.1 ghz . 1.320 voltage and it goes up to 73 c on full load .
gtx 780 windforce . im using a hyper 212 with 2 fans on the cpu
I have plenty of fans . as you can see in the picture . one 120mm on the front sucking air from the front . i have a 120 on the side on top of the gpu exhaust . a rear fan exhaust . 3 fans on the gpu . the gpu blows air upwards . im just concerned about my cpu temperatures . 73c is pretty high . I dont want to reduce overclocking . is there a way i can improve the airflow in the case . the room here is pretty humid at this time of the year .
should I add a top 200mm fan . exhaust or intake . should i change any of the fans inside the case . thank you

 

[Mandrake4565]

Mikesamo, welcome to the forum.

Adding a fan to the top can help but the 4770k's are just hot chips. That said 73c is not hot under load. How did you arrive at the 1.32 Cpu V you have for the 4.1 overclock, it seems a bit high.

 

[Mikesamo]

I tried going 4.2 on the same voltage and I crash after 10 minutes of battlefield . just my luck . it seems i picked up a really bad chip

 

[Blaylock]

Welcome mikesamo. You say it's humid there. What's the ambient room temp? Many of us do need to reduce our OC's during the hot summer months if we're not use air conditioning.

That said there's a simple way to determine if you have adequate case airflow. Run IBT or Prime 95 to get your temps up. Then take the side panel off. If the temps drop you need more airflow. If the temps remain the same or get hotter then try and reduce your ambient.

Like Mandrake said though, 73c is fine for that chip, but cooler is always better.

 

[Mandrake4565]

I tried going 4.2 on the same voltage and I crash after 10 minutes of battlefield . just my luck . it seems i picked up a really bad chip

If it' crashing playing Bf it's likely not stable but playing games isn't a good "stability" test. Usually 2 hours prime blend or Aida 64 is recommended. If you haven't already, try using this guide it will give you an idea of where your chip stands as far as Ocing on ambient cooling.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

What are the model numbers of your intake and exhaust fans? Are they the stock fans, or did you change to different models?

I would recommend installing a top 200mm fan for an additional exhaust. With only a single intake and single exhaust you may be getting "dead spots" with little or no airflow.

If it were me I would mount a 120mm or 140mm fan in the unused 5.25" bays (depending upon which one would fit) for additional intake to get cooler air to the CPU faster. That's just me though, I did that with my HAF922 and CM 690 II Advance. Some people might consider that overkill though.

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

Set the 200mm fan as exhaust, is there room for 2 on top or just 1? I know the HAF 922 has room for 2 200mm fans on top.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Set the 200mm fan as exhaust, is there room for 2 on top or just 1? I know the HAF 922 has room for 2 200mm fans on top.

The 912 only fits one 200mm fan on top.

The 922 fits two 200mm fans on top? Are you sure, because I have a 922 here and I've never seen how that would be possible with stock mounting?

 

[WhitehawkEQ]

The 912 only fits one 200mm fan on top.

The 922 fits two 200mm fans on top? Are you sure, because I have a 922 here and I've never seen how that would be possible with stock mounting?

The HAF 922 and HAF XM are almost same case with small differance between the 2, the XM does fit 2 200mm on top. The part numbers for both have 922 in them.

 

[Mikesamo]

The case fans are all antec fans .the fans on the cpu fansink . one of them is the stock hyper 212 fan and the other one is the cooler master fan . they are both exhausting .
do you fellaz think a top fan would help ? should i add a fan on the front top ?

 

[wingman99]

I would add a top fan.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

The case fans are all antec fans .the fans on the cpu fansink . one of them is the stock hyper 212 fan and the other one is the cooler master fan . they are both exhausting .
do you fellaz think a top fan would help ? should i add a fan on the front top ?

Antec TriCool?

So, on your heatsink is one fan pushing air into it and the other pulling the hot air out from the other side?

 

[Mikesamo]

yep this http://www.sweclockers.com/image/gallery/2011/02/15/100_1404.jpg?t=original&k=f48f7464
how much will a top fan help ? and yes . on the cpu heat sink the right fan is exhausting and the left one is exhausting as well . it looks like this
< <heatsink<

 

[RnRollie]

in your case, i'm pretty sure that adding a top fan would only be useful if you dropped the rear exhaust fan and duct the CPU cooler into the rear exhaust hole.

Ideally you'ld put a duct front-to-back getting air in from the front , through the CPU tower cooler, towards the exhaust. At that point any other air entering the case which is not used by the GPU can then be used to flow over the VRMs around the CPU and out the top.

Its gonna net you the best results.

If you dont feel like going through the whole ducting thing, then a top/roof fan will net you zero results.

 

[Mikesamo]

meaning change the direction the cpu heatsink is facing ?

 

[Mikesamo]

Oh I'm not really interested in dutching . It will ruin the neatness of the case . Any other ideas

 

[wingman99]

Can you post some pictures of your fans and case?

 

[Mikesamo]

Sure. Btw the fan on the side panel is exhaust. Pulling air out of the case . The front panel blue led is pulling air from outside into the case

 

[wingman99]

I would have the front and side push air into the case and fan on the rear and top of the case push out of the case, that should get you the best air flow.

 

[Mikesamo]

Would putting a 200mm on the front and 200mm on the top be better? I can get my hands on a mega flow fan