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Airflow Questions for CPU Overclock in a Bitfenix Ghost with 5 Spectre PRO's and 290 Tri-x in Crossfire

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  • Overclocking
  • Crossfire
  • Corsair
Last response: in Overclocking
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February 22, 2014 4:31:58 PM

I'm about to get the last few parts for my PC below on monday (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2WLLK)

Intel Core i7-4770K
Noctua NH-U14S
Asus Z87-PRO
G.Skill Ripjaws X DDR3-1866
Sandisk Ultra Plus 64GB
2x Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM
1x Samsung Spinpoint 1TB
2x Sapphire Tri-x R9 290
BitFenix Ghost
5x BitFenix Spectre Pro LED 56.2 CFM 120mm Fan
Corsair RM 850W
DVD-RW

Question 1

I was wondering how to set up my fan for intakes and exhausts, I made a quick and dirty JPEG of the layout, including a third HDD that i already had around.

http://imgur.com/RcdsxtZ

I numbered them all so you could say for example 1 - Intake 2 - Intake 3 Exhaust ect, there are six extra fans in total, five of them are Bitfenix Spectre PRO's and the 6th one is that fan that you can see at point number three, the Spectre PRO's are actually going to be number one through five and the "free" fan that came with the case will be moved to number six.

EDIT: Room gets a -little- dusty, but not incredibly dusty in case that makes a difference, I don't really like dust in my case as I'm very forgetful to clear it out, but if its going to cost me a lot in temperature then I'd rather get used to cleaning a case than have bad temps in summer.

EDIT2: not even sure if i have enough fan connectors on the motherboard to plug in the 6th one

Question 2

Can the CPU cooler be orientated in any direction? and if so should it be up towards fan 1&2 or back towards fan 3?

outside of the intakes and outtakes questions I am a bit worried about the first R9 290 blowing hot air over the second R9 290 but there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about that or is there?...

Questions 3

Can the PSU be turned upside down the receive the hot air from the bottom graphics card and then vent it out of the back of the case (where there otherwise isn't an exit) or is that a bad idea / impossible?

One of the reason why i was asking these questions was because I was following along with this Asus NA building a Haswell PC video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUzdNcZeM-s and at 1:07:55 he starts explaining how he will have fan 1&2 as intake fans and the people in the comments were saying that it was complete madness and that 1&2 should be exhausts without a doubt.

Thanks in advance to anyone with replies as i'm posting this just before I go to sleep and will be looking at the replies tomorrow!

More about : airflow questions cpu overclock bitfenix ghost spectre pro 290 tri crossfire

Best solution

a b K Overclocking
February 23, 2014 11:04:09 AM

Having more intake than outtake or vice versa is an endless debate in the world of cooling. I have that case, it actually comes with 2 fans, or mine did anyways. They are ok fans but don't feel like they move a lot of air. Mine are set to run at 12v all the time and I can't hear them, but don't feel a lot from them either. They do the job as case fans though.

No you can't turn the PSU upside down, it fits in a certain way and that's that without cutting the back of the case to make it fit, and then screw holes don't line up. The graphics cards already vent out of the case, so count both of them as exhaust.


I went through all this when I got my case and water cooler setup and fans, and eventually then endless debate and people no it has to be this way or has to be that way, I gave up and just figured out my own way. lol.

Just experiment. get your system setup how you think you want it, and then run something like prime for 10mins, monitor the temps. Reverse a few fans, run prime for 10mins again, monitor the temps. Better or worse. And just keep playing around till you find something that keeps your components the coolest. Always put your side panels back on for each test so the case can build up the proper pressure, etc.

IT is an awesome case.

For reference, right now my setup is 1 front fan (probably go back to take, had to steal one for something else) as intake, bottom as intake, back as exhaust, and my top 2 blowing through my rad are exhausting out as well.

Your cpu cooler fan though should be blowing towards the back exhaust usually though to get that heat out asap. The rest is positive vs negative pressure in the case and will vary from person to person. Things like how cold your room are, etc can play a part in the best way to set them up. If you have a naturally cold room all year around, then more intakes than exhaust can be better since it will always be bringing cooler air into the case. If you have a warm room all year around, maybe more exhaust is better since the air coming into the case is already warm.

As for dust, you can put a sheet of unscented fabric softner or something fine around the intake filters, although this case has filters for the bottom and front that do a pretty good job or keeping the dust out.

As for wiring them, you can buy fan splitters if you need. Some of my fans let you daisy chain them, so I used that and a few splitters and it's all good.

I also have two extra fans in my case, one small fan on the back of hte motherboard and one on my motherboard blowing down air on the VRM's, but that's cause I'm trying to OC like a beast and need the extra cooling. lol. Those aren't needed, and probably not for an Intel OC.
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February 23, 2014 11:45:49 AM

getochkn said:
Having more intake than outtake or vice versa is an endless debate in the world of cooling. I have that case, it actually comes with 2 fans, or mine did anyways. They are ok fans but don't feel like they move a lot of air. Mine are set to run at 12v all the time and I can't hear them, but don't feel a lot from them either. They do the job as case fans though.

No you can't turn the PSU upside down, it fits in a certain way and that's that without cutting the back of the case to make it fit, and then screw holes don't line up. The graphics cards already vent out of the case, so count both of them as exhaust.


I feel really stupid right now, I thought the fans on the graphics cards were reversed (venting into the case instead onto the card) I had a search around in the box and the only free fan i got with it was the one in the picture :p 


getochkn said:
I went through all this when I got my case and water cooler setup and fans, and eventually then endless debate and people no it has to be this way or has to be that way, I gave up and just figured out my own way. lol.

Just experiment. get your system setup how you think you want it, and then run something like prime for 10mins, monitor the temps. Reverse a few fans, run prime for 10mins again, monitor the temps. Better or worse. And just keep playing around till you find something that keeps your components the coolest. Always put your side panels back on for each test so the case can build up the proper pressure, etc.

IT is an awesome case.

For reference, right now my setup is 1 front fan (probably go back to take, had to steal one for something else) as intake, bottom as intake, back as exhaust, and my top 2 blowing through my rad are exhausting out as well.


I've been asking a few people and I think so far i'm going with Fan 1 empty (too close to Fan 3) Fan 2 Intake, Fan 3 Exhaust, Fan 4,5 and 6 Intake

getochkn said:
Your cpu cooler fan though should be blowing towards the back exhaust usually though to get that heat out asap. The rest is positive vs negative pressure in the case and will vary from person to person. Things like how cold your room are, etc can play a part in the best way to set them up. If you have a naturally cold room all year around, then more intakes than exhaust can be better since it will always be bringing cooler air into the case. If you have a warm room all year around, maybe more exhaust is better since the air coming into the case is already warm.

As for dust, you can put a sheet of unscented fabric softner or something fine around the intake filters, although this case has filters for the bottom and front that do a pretty good job or keeping the dust out.

As for wiring them, you can buy fan splitters if you need. Some of my fans let you daisy chain them, so I used that and a few splitters and it's all good.


So for example does that mean I could hook fan 4 and 5 from the same port on the motherboard? as they are in the same position that would be really great, what would I search for if i'm looking to buy some of these? And will it output enough power for two fans at full speed?

getochkn said:
I also have two extra fans in my case, one small fan on the back of hte motherboard and one on my motherboard blowing down air on the VRM's, but that's cause I'm trying to OC like a beast and need the extra cooling. lol. Those aren't needed, and probably not for an Intel OC.


I see :p  only going to OC the processor in my PC for now
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a b K Overclocking
February 23, 2014 12:08:37 PM

From the spec sheet at Bitfenix

"140mm x 1 or 120mm x 2 (120mm x 1 included)
Cooling Rear 120mm x 1 (included)"

2 fan's included.


I'm only OCing my CPU right now too, but the AMD's run hot and need extra cooling on the VRM area, at least for me to get close to 5ghz. I posted at 5ghz but couldn't run any benchs. lol. I hit it though.

Yes the splitters let you run 2 fans from 1 port and usually give lots of extension to hit all the cables nicely.

Most fan ports can handle 2 fans no problem. It's trying to get 10 off 1 port than can blow them.


The best thing to do is to play around like I said. Everyone has an opinion with cooling. Your 2 video cards create a different dynamic than mine with 1 video card, how your CPU cooler comes in to play will be different than my water cooler, etc.

Great case though. Tons of room

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February 23, 2014 3:06:23 PM

found a splitter on amazon that was out of stock but had good reviews http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motherboard-Splitter-Adapter-Ca...

and then i found on in stock with the exact same picture without any reviews http://www.amazon.co.uk/Guilty-Gadgets-%C2%AE-Motherboa...

very cheap stuff, just wanted to check quickly that's what I'm looking for.

I can't wait to start working on this PC tomorrow when the PSU and Graphics Cards arrived, fingers crossed nothing is DOA
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a b K Overclocking
February 23, 2014 3:17:21 PM

There a 3 pin fans and 4 pins, so make sure to get the proper splitter for whatever fans you are using.
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February 23, 2014 3:43:30 PM

All these spectre pro's are three pins definately
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