Cooler Master HAF 932 Fans and PSU question..

Topazio Rav · Jul 2, 2013

I moved my PSU to the top of the case and as a result I had to put my top fan to the bottom.. The fan won't fit... As in the screw holes won't align with the case's so that I can install them on the bottom.. Is the bottom not meant for that fan and do I have to get new fans now?

adimeister · Jul 2, 2013

It's better if you leave it on the bottom, the PSU. It's good for isolating your PSU, it sucks air from the bottom then blows it at the back. Unlike when it's mounted on the top, it would suck all the hot air inside your rig then make your PSU's life shorter and hotter all the time.

JobCreator · Jul 2, 2013

Topazio Rav :

No intention of hijacking, but I've never heard of a case that has both top and bottom PSU placements... :??:

adimeister · Jul 2, 2013

His case has those options. haha

clarkjd · Jul 2, 2013

JobCreator :

apparently, the HAF 932 is that flexible...I just looked at the pics of it on Newegg, & there appears to be a mounting plate with grommets for liquid cooling tups that is removable from the top of the case.

JobCreator · Jul 2, 2013

clarkjd :

Awesommmmmme. If I might add my 2 cents as it relates to this post... Having the PSU on the bottom has always been somewhat questionable for me as physics dictates that heat rises. I can see your reasoning for the lifetime of the PSU having it on top, but shouldn't we be more concerned with the lifetime of the other parts? Having it on the bottom, to me anyway, just adds to overall rig temperature with the heat it produces rising onto the GPU and subsequently onto the CPU. Case studies may prove me wrong.

adimeister · Jul 2, 2013

But the heat is no dissipated inside the rig, but exhausted at the rear of the rig. I've tried putting my hand over my PSU under load (bottom mounted), and it's cool compared to putting my hand behind the rig.

clarkjd · Jul 2, 2013

Not to mention that putting the PSU on the bottom significantly lowers the center of gravity of the case, making it less likely to tip over if accidently nudged..

mapesdhs · Jul 2, 2013

adimeister :

Not so; just position the PSU the other way up, hence it draws air in from outside the case at the top,
then exhausts straight out the back, so it's isolated from the internal thermals just as it would be if it
was at the bottom of the case.

Ian.

adimeister · Jul 3, 2013

mapesdhs :

Ok true, but I don't think the 932 has a roof for the fan.

mapesdhs · Jul 3, 2013

adimeister :

(that's odd, a more detailed reply I posted hasn't shown up. Ah well...)

You've lost me, my 932 has a grill at the top, so the PSU can suck air in just fine. The PSU is held in
place by screws at the back as usual, not secured to the top at all.

Ian.

adimeister · Jul 4, 2013

Oooooh I didn't know there was a roof. Sorry. So yea, putting it there at the top is also fine. Still isolated from the entire rig's heat.

But for a tall case like that, it's much better to put it on the bottom, lower center of gravity, and avoid tipping it (you'll be surprised at how easy to tip a case when you have the high capacity PSUs haha).

mapesdhs · Jul 4, 2013

adimeister writes:
> Oooooh I didn't know there was a roof. Sorry. So yea, putting it there
> at the top is also fine. Still isolated from the entire rig's heat.

...

Hehe, yup! This evening I swapped out the PSU in my 932 for a 1475W,
so I took some pics afterwards. Here's the top of the case:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/vpc08.jpg

There's a fair gap between the PSU and the top case grill, so I've stuffed
the unused 12V mbd cable into the gap to keep it out the way. The extra
Gelid intake fan can be seen on the right.

Change the number in the above URL from 01 to 10 for some other pics.
Since I've fitted different PCIe cables for this PSU, I took out all the GPUs
and am temporarily just running with a single EVGA GTX 460 FTW. I'll stick
all the 580s back in later once I'm sure the oc is running ok.

> But for a tall case like that, it's much better to put it on the bottom,
> lower center of gravity, and avoid tipping it (you'll be surprised at
> how easy to tip a case when you have the high capacity PSUs haha).

Nah, not really. But then, I have mine with the wheels fitted, so it moves
around easily without any tendency to tip. Darn thing's so heavy anyway,
the PSU at the top doesn't seem to make much of a difference, though I
bet it would be more of a problem if I'd fitted the base with studs instead
of wheels. I like the wheels though; in addition to easier movement, I like
the way they have a little brake lever on a couple of them so one can fix
the unit in place.

Btw, I thought JobCreator made a very good point about heat normally
rising, so I decided to reverse the directions of the side and base fans;
the latter are now intake, and the side fans exhaust:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/vpc04.jpg

Notice the inline coupler for the side panel fans, so that I can disconnect
the panel & put it to one side, without having to faff around with the
connector on the mbd. Also, the kink in the cable is so that it hooks
around the side of one of the fans when the panel is fitted, preventing
the cable from getting caught in the fan blades.

Ian.

JobCreator · Jul 4, 2013

Finally, I'm somebody!

mapesdhs · Jul 4, 2013

JobCreator :

IIRC my original thinking was that the side fans as intake would shove fresh
air straight down onto the GPUs, but with hindsight I forgot about the air being
brought into the case by the large front 230mm fan.

Messing with an existing setup is never straightforward of course. I snapped
one of the side panel fan rubber grommets when trying to pull the fan free.
Replaced it with a spare, but now it looks odd - 7 black, 1 brown; one can see
it in the vpc04.jpg image. Ah well. :}

Ian.

mapesdhs · Feb 17, 2014

Small update to this btw. I changed the cooler for a Corsair H80, changed the GPUs to 4 x GTX 580 3GB,
so now the front 230mm fan is an exhaust, there's an extra side intake 120mm fan, and I added a 120mm
to the side panel near the front of the case for additional exhaust.

Ian.

JobCreator · Feb 18, 2014

mapesdhs :

Jeez o' petes. Sounds like a love machine.

mapesdhs · Feb 19, 2014

JobCreator :

I took some pics a while back: http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/3930K_quad580.zip

They're out of date already though as I've since replaced the two standard Palit 580 783MHz 3GB
cards with two more MSI 832MHz 3GB Lightning Extremes, so now it has 4x MSI LEs. The MSIs
happily run at 950+, though I've not tried to push it yet, not had the time.

Ian.

battlefield · Feb 21, 2014

I have this Case. No need to put the PSU to the top there is no need.
But if you want to put a fan on the bottom just need to secure one end of the fan and the rest use glue.

mapesdhs · Feb 21, 2014

battlefield :

Not so. If one wishes to install four 2-slot GPUs, the PSU cannot be at the bottom because
there's simply not enough room. Remember, the 932 only has 7 expansion bracket slots at
the back, whereas a case such as the Aerocool XPredator has 10. My 932 has four GTX 580s,
so there's no choice in the matter, the PSU must be at the top.

Ian.

Cooler Master HAF 932 Fans and PSU question..

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