Which way do you duct?

[NewBldr]

What if you put a fan on the hs, AND on the other side pushing in the air? I was thinking about doing this, but I was going to cut a whole in the side of my case DIRECTLY over the cpu hs. So the duct would only go like 4" straight to the cpu, so no rough edges. Wouldn't this work better?

It's exactly what I was considering too. It's a short vent, could be done with PVC for flow efficiency, and would be inexpensive. The only problem is that I don't want to cut on my Lian Li's side window I was thinking of building another computer just so I could do this mod and check the cooling ability vs noise level. It would be quite interesting, and with the right fan (was thinking Tornado), it could replace 2-3 exising intake fans. I would consider adding 2 exhaust fans though, so the net effect is increased airflow

 

[pelikan]

You could make a temporary side panel out of cardboard to try it out.
The side panel can hold the duct in place if the hole is very close to the duct size. Then you can slide the duct in to the correct depth.
With a window a duct made out of 4" clear acrylic tubing would look cool.
Here's my old side panel. The duct tape is to make it air tight:

 

[crull]

You could make a temporary side panel out of cardboard to try it out.
The side panel can hold the duct in place if the hole is very close to the duct size. Then you can slide the duct in to the correct depth.
With a window a duct made out of 4" clear acrylic tubing would look cool.
Here's my old side panel. The duct tape is to make it air tight:

Almost like mine. Epoxy works great holding it on. It will also come off if you pull it hard enough (The duct..lol). You can see how well the hole is lined up by seeing the center of my Tornado fan through the hole.
This is also a piece of PVC from Home Depot. I cut it off a larger flanged piece and it is just about the same size as an 80mm fan.
I rounded the inside edge and left around 1/2 clearance to my Tornado fan so the Tornado never has to fight for air and can pull it in from the sides if it needs to.

 

[NewBldr]

You could make a temporary side panel out of cardboard to try it out.

In truth, I was considering buying another side panel that doesn't have the window... then cut on that

 

[pelikan]

crull- very nice duct.

NewBldr- great idea.

 

[tekOC]

i wouldnt use that kit... one reason: the pipe. A pipe like that will reduce the airflow considerably... I know this because i talked to a heating and airconditioning guy once and he said that with that type of piping you cut down half the airflow.

I second this, I got that same kit, I tried setting it up like 4 different ways, each way I GAINED like 5C rather than lost.

POS, dont get that... make something custom like Vio1 did.

 

[karsten]

to you guys who cut holes in your side panels for airflow: did you notice that your noise level went up quite a bit? not wanting that is what's keeping me from doing it so far..

thanks
karsten

 

[killem]

did you notice that your noise level went up quite a bit? not wanting that is what's keeping me from doing it so far..

Which fan were you using? (out of interest) When I did a cardboard mockup, I used a Tornado and my PC sounded like a refridgerator. This, in addition to not wanting to cut my case, put me off making a sidepanel duct. That's despite the fact that I did see at least a 10C-12C temperature drop for my CPU.

 

[karsten]

haven't done it yet

 

[pelikan]

The beauty of a duct is that you can use quieter fans. That's why I put in a duct. I like having a very quiet pc. I used only 80mm panaflo L1A's (21dB, 24 CFM) in my case and on my slk-800. It would never have been possible to cool a 2100+ @2400 MHz, 1.9V vcore, with only a panaflo L1A if I hadn't used a duct.
I should mention that I had a lot of negative case pressure pulling more air through the duct, which makes a big difference.

 

[crull]

The beauty of a duct is that you can use quieter fans. That's why I put in a duct. I like having a very quiet pc. I used only 80mm panaflo L1A's (21dB, 24 CFM) in my case and on my slk-800. It would never have been possible to cool a 2100+ @2400 MHz, 1.9V vcore, with only a panaflo L1A if I hadn't used a duct.
I should mention that I had a lot of negative case pressure pulling more air through the duct, which makes a big difference.

Thanks pelikan.

I use a Tornado with mine, but I run it with a Rheostat to slow it down. In my case it lowered my cpu temp by around 5C Idle. It's even better then having the side of my case off. Because the duct makes it harder for the cpu fan to pull in warm case air.

 

[cstarritt]

to you guys who cut holes in your side panels for airflow: did you notice that your noise level went up quite a bit? not wanting that is what's keeping me from doing it so far..

thanks
karsten

the increase in noise is caused by the fan transfering vibrations to the side panel, which then vibrates like a giant speaker and makes noise. you can counter this by putting a peice of dynomat on it, but then you might raise case temps a bit. if you have good airflow though than you wont have any trouble with higher temps from the dynomat.