Case fans in watercooled system - are they necessary?

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MagR

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Hi

I run a watercooling loop in a Silvestone Fortress case (the one with the motherboard rotated 90 degrees like the Raven). The motherboard is an Asus Maximus V Gene and the cpu and graphics card waterblocks are attached to an external radiator.

At present I have the three 180mm bottom case fans running on low and the single top 120mm fan above the cpu socket at medium. I was considering whether I need the bottom case fans at all? The only thing they are really cooling are the motherboard VRMs etc near the cpu socket. They already have big chunky heatsinks which don’t seem to get very warm. The other items in the case are SSDs, a 5400rpm green hard drive (neither of which get very warm) and the psu which is effectively isolated from the case interior and draws air directly from outside and exhausts it out the top.

My idea is to turn off/remove the fans at the base and rely on the single fan above the cpu socket to deal with VRM cooling. Does anyone know if this is sensible? Are there any temperature monitoring apps that can be used to tell me the changes I am making to the VRM and motherboard temperatures?

Thanks in advance

Mag
 
Solution
O
I would keep 1 bottom fan that works in conjuction with the top fan. Together they will bring in cold air from the bottom and exhaust it out the top.
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Azrael47

Azrael47

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Hi Mag, have you tested to see whether they have any effect (temperature-wise) on your components. If they aren't that effective then you simply take them out for more room I guess. Sounds like a big system you have.
 
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M

MagR

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Hi

Thanks for your reply. The cpu and gpu temps aren't affected if I turn off the fans as they have waterblocks. I'm worried about the motherboard - VRMs, Chipset (although I don't think chipsets get hot any more). The problem is I don't know of any software that can give me temps for those items so I can test.

Thanks again

Mag

 
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M

MagR

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Hi

Thanks for the reply. This seems like the best compromise. I'll keep one fan at the bottom which in conjuncttion with the exhaust fan above the cpu should keep some air flowing over the motherboard to cool the VRMs, chipset etc. I might replace the stock Air Penetrator fan as it funnels the air in a column for another that pushes the air in a wider cone.

Thanks again

Mag
 
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M

MagR

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Hi

Thanks for your reply. I think I'll keep one bottom fan to help out the top exhaust fan.
Thanks again

Mag
 
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Buzz247

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If that were the case, they wouldn't come attached with heatsinks :) Yes, they get hot, yes they need airflow, especially the VRM. hardwaremonitor.org is a good program for monitoring all temp and volt sensors.

You absolutely made the right call in maintaining at least one set of fans. However, your case design, especially being a rather small mATX case, needs positive air pressure. One of the highlights of your case is the stack cooling design and minimal open venting (as in solid case panels and few holes for air to get out) The design is meant to take advantage of normal convection heat currents. So ideally, you want more air coming in than going out in this type of setup. (negative case pressure is for a different case design with lots of venting and open type panels). Therefore, cfm in should be higher than cfm out (rad not affected as it is externally mounted and does not feed off case air). Your previous design was actually probably best (though I think you might have meant 2 80mm, not 180mm as that case does not support 180s, only 120s and 92/80mm) Setup fans however you desire, control to whatever speed you desire, just maintain positive pressure and airflow upward.
 
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M

MagR

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Thanks for the reply. I think we are taliking about different cases. Mine is the Fortress 02 which is massive - bigger than the Raven and comes with three floor mounted 180mm fans. I think you mean the fortress 03 which is micro ATX. My MB is micro ATX which might have caused the confusion but only because I don't use many expansion slots. However your advice is sound. I'll keep one big 180mm floor mounted and the 120mm top mounted and that should still give positive pressure.

Thanks

Mag

 
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