PCI Slot Exhaust

[istari675]

I currently have the Silent Base 801 case and have it configured in an inverted layout. I have 3 intake fans in the front, and one exhaust in the top and back. I have noticed that my graphics card gets a little hot and cools down when I max out all my case fans so I believe its not getting properly airflow. I am also putting a lot of effort into minimizing noise from my computer which is why I am using this case. Does anyone know of any unconventional ways to improve airflow to the case without case modding? I have tried those PCI exhaust blower fans but they are much too loud. The fan I have at the top of the case is basically moving no air because of the small slots at the top of the case.

I have confirmed my case is positive pressure and I have a silent wing 3 as both the exhaust fans. I would appreciate any tips to improve airflow.

 

[EarthDog]

Poor airflow case is a poor airflwo case.

Can you define "a little hot".. and maybe mention what GPU it is in the first place? Perhaps you are worried about nothing?

 

[istari675]

Poor airflow case is a poor airflwo case.

Can you define "a little hot".. and maybe mention what GPU it is in the first place? Perhaps you are worried about nothing?

Its a Gigabyte 1080 G1. There no extreme performance loss from this issue, but I plan to eventually upgrade to a 3080 once the stock catched up, and that will be putting out a lot more heat. If my system can pump the heat out with my current card there will certainly be heating issues with a 3080. It usually hangs at 80C during stress tests and when I max out the fans it drops down to 76C.

 

[Blaylock]

The be quiet! Silent Base 801 is an excellent case due to it's extreme configuration possibilities. In general trying to silence high performance/ high temperature components can be an exercise in futility, but not impossible.

The Silent Wings 3 fans are excellent at being quiet, but they don't push a ton of air. Compound that with the fact that you are running the 801 in an inverted config means your GPU fans are now fighting with your exhaust fans for air. The best solution for you, IMHO, is to flip your top fan to intake fresh air and feed the GPU all she wants. So you would be at 4 front intakes, 1 top intake, and 1 rear exhaust. I wouldn't worry too much about case pressure, just maximum airflow.

 

[istari675]

The be quiet! Silent Base 801 is an excellent case due to it's extreme configuration possibilities. In general trying to silence high performance/ high temperature components can be an exercise in futility, but not impossible.

The Silent Wings 3 fans are excellent at being quiet, but they don't push a ton of air. Compound that with the fact that you are running the 801 in an inverted config means your GPU fans are now fighting with your exhaust fans for air. The best solution for you, IMHO, is to flip your top fan to intake fresh air and feed the GPU all she wants. So you would be at 4 front intakes, 1 top intake, and 1 rear exhaust. I wouldn't worry too much about case pressure, just maximum airflow.

I have 3x 140mm Fractal Venturi HP-14 fans as the intake. I would also like to manage dust so I only want intake on the filters. I could install a filter at the top but the case does not seem to be designed to allow quick access to that fan so I could clean that filter. I was thinking of potentially putting a pipe going from the top intake fan to the graphics card, but I don't know how much more effective a strategy like that might be.

 

[EarthDog]

Its a Gigabyte 1080 G1. There no extreme performance loss from this issue, but I plan to eventually upgrade to a 3080 once the stock catched up, and that will be putting out a lot more heat. If my system can pump the heat out with my current card there will certainly be heating issues with a 3080. It usually hangs at 80C during stress tests and when I max out the fans it drops down to 76C.

The good news is your temps are fine/normal for that card and how it's supposed to behave.

I would play around like our resident expert alien cat hunter (resident case expert ) and see what works the best. Just make sure all your data is good... same conditions, timeframes, settings, etc... and see what works best.

But, like I said, 80C on auto is normal. Cards are, essentially, designed to run there.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

But, like I said, 80C on auto is normal. Cards are, essentially, designed to run there.

Well, how the cards are in a few years later, will tell! Clearly a lie, if there are many GPU-substrate failures or BGA-bond failures.

 

[istari675]

I don't see any problem with the temps now, but with the nearly double TDP of the 3080 series compared to what I have now I fully expect to run into some throttling issues. Might need to invest in some higher airflow fans to use for exhaust. Now that I am comparing the intake to the exhaust fans it is clear these silent wing fans push considerably less air. The CPU cooler fan behind the exhaust fan seemed to push more air through it than the fan itself.

 

[Robert17]

What cooler are you using for the CPU? I don't see it mentioned. If it is a large heat sink style cooler it could be impeding air flow.

 

[istari675]

What cooler are you using for the CPU? I don't see it mentioned. If it is a large heat sink style cooler it could be impeding air flow.

CPU cooler is the noctua nf-f15. Its close enough to the exhaust fan that its forcing air through the exhaust itself. Its only about 2 inches from the heatsink on the cpu cooler to the exhaust fan on the back of the case.

I also took out the silent wings and put one of the fractal fans in the back instead. It seems a bit better but the GPU temps still drop 4 degrees by setting the case fans to max compared to their typical 50% I keep them at.

View attachment 212106

 

[EarthDog]

It seems a bit better but the GPU temps still drop 4 degrees by setting the case fans to max compared to their typical 50% I keep them at.

That's expected behavior... more airflow = less temps.

 

[istari675]

That's expected behavior... more airflow = less temps.

Mistype. When I bring the case fans from 50-100% the temps on the card drop quite a bit. I would normally ignore this but isn't this suggesting a lack of airflow under the normal fan speeds? If airflow is acceptable then the card should just be getting fed ambient air temps, but this does not seem to be the case.

 

[EarthDog]

This is how it works for most every case. More airflow = lower temps.

The same way when, in most cases, you take the side panel off, temps tend to drop.

It is what it is. You need to figure out a good balance between noise and temps. Like I said earlier, I don't see anything wrong with those GPU temps. Speed up the fans... temps drop. Water is wet.

 

[Blaylock]

Ok, after thinking this through for a while. After you get your 3080 in plug it in, update your drivers, and test your system. My guess is that your GPU will not be happy and you will be forced to make ba choice. If this is the scenario the order I would approach it is a follows.

1. Decide if silence is more important to you than performance and/or aesthetics.

2. If silence is boss: Flip your rig back to a conventional style setup. This will allow the GPU to draw air in from the front intakes without fighting with the exhaust. No need to change fan config unless temps are still a sad face.

3. If performance is most important to you then see step 2. Flip your rig and add high flow fans. You're going from a 180W GPU to 320W GPU. She's gonna be thirsty for cool air, feed the beast.

4. If aesthetics is more important than both silence and performance, check to see if you're in the right Forum, this isn't Reddit. Lol I'm joking, don't take that seriously. Looks are important. We are all very proud of the hard work and money we throw in these metal shoe boxes. My advice would be to replace your top and rear fans for higher flow but still quiet. Noctua, Fractal, Phanteks all have high volume/low noise fans that will help. Make the top intake to feed the beast and just increase you dusting routine from once a year to once every 6 months. It's really not a huge difference that it makes.

Anyhow, these are my thoughts. Let us know what you come up with and how it turns out in the end.

 

[freeagent]

I have a little 92x35 fan that I occasionally experiment with. I stuff it between the video card and PSU. It does help drop case temps a little, but if it spins too fast then I end up starving my video card of air. You would think the GPU fans would scoop up that extra air but the air is moving too fast. If I run it as slow as I can (1700rpm), I still get the slightly better case temps and almost no change in GPU temps. So for me its a bit of a bust for what I intended. I have run an inverted setup like that before and have used my little fan the same way, but up top but I don't remember if I got better temps. Probably not enough to really matter.

 

[istari675]

With a bit of moving fans around and changing fan settings I improved the temps a bit. Now I just need to wait until I can get a 3080 to see if its enough. The main difficulty I am facing with configuration is that the motherboard fan curve can only be linked to the CPU or the motherboard temps. The CPU runs pretty cool on average while gaming so its quite difficult to get the case fans to speed up while gaming without them spiking to 100% during periods of brief CPU usage.

If anyone can recommend a quiet but high airflow 140mm fan that would outperform the Fractal HP-14 in an exhaust scenario in a meaningful way I would appreciate it. Optimally I would like to have 3 of those Fractal 140mm fans on intake with a filter and a high airflow fan on the exhaust to get the heat away from the graphics card as quietly as possible.