Advice on fan placement please CM 690 III

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MrBlackandWhite

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Aug 24, 2014
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Hello all :)

Having just returned my CPU to Intel for a replacement I i have also cleaned out my PC properly and noticed a fair amount of dust buildup since its last clean about 1 month ago.

Also I would like to ask what people think about my fan setup and if I should be using a fan(s) in the top of my case or not.

Here is a link to my case
http://www.kitguru.net/components/roald/cooler-master-cm-690-iii-case-review/

My seup is as follows:

Coolermaster CM 690 III case (with side window, therefore no provision for side fan)
EVGA Gold 850W PSU (G2)
Asus z97-a mobo
Sapphire X-vapour Radeon R9 290x (3 fans) 4GB (runs below 80 deg C in furmark tests with full AA enabled at 1440p)
Intel i5 4690k
Corsair Vengeance pro 2 x 8GB 1866 DDR3
Coolermaster hyper EVO 212 CPU cooler
SSD Samsung 840 Evo
2TB Seagate HDD (storage only)

I will probably OC my cpu a little, maybe upto 4.4 max depending on its capability and obviously enable XMP.

System often used for BF4 and other gaming

My fans are stock so one large 200mm fan at front, 1 rear exhalent fan, the 212 cpu fan cooler, and 1 extra Noctua PWM (120mm I think) fan located at the bottom squeezed into the space between the cpu and the drive bays.

the case has a dust filter underneath which is easy enough to remove and clean but I am not sure if I should also be using a dust filter in the top of the case since I have no fans located in the top of the case. the case did not come with a dust filter in the top so I suppose I would like to know what you guys think?

Should I get a large fan or perhaps 2 small fans for the top (exhalent?) or just a dust filter?

Is the bottom fan (inhalent) really of much use or should I relocate to top?

Many thanks for your help in advance!! :)
 
Solution
geofelt
A case will stay cleaner with a positive pressure arrangement.
That is where all the intake is behind a filter, and the intake is much stronger than the exhaust.

It is not clear to me if the front 200mm fan has an air filter.
If not, that should be your first priority.

A 200mm fan should be sufficient to provide cooling air for all your parts.
The single rear 120mm fan is fine, it gives direction to the airflow, sending it past your cpu cooler.

I think that possibly, the bottom 120mm fan should not be used.

If your temperatures are ok, then no more will be needed.

A danger with too much exhaust capability is that the exhaust will draw in feesh air from surrounding openings, defeating your front intake filtering.
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geofelt

geofelt

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A case will stay cleaner with a positive pressure arrangement.
That is where all the intake is behind a filter, and the intake is much stronger than the exhaust.

It is not clear to me if the front 200mm fan has an air filter.
If not, that should be your first priority.

A 200mm fan should be sufficient to provide cooling air for all your parts.
The single rear 120mm fan is fine, it gives direction to the airflow, sending it past your cpu cooler.

I think that possibly, the bottom 120mm fan should not be used.

If your temperatures are ok, then no more will be needed.

A danger with too much exhaust capability is that the exhaust will draw in feesh air from surrounding openings, defeating your front intake filtering.
 
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Solution
DonkeyOatie

DonkeyOatie

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Sep 16, 2014
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Without us knowing exactly how the air flows in your case, including the effects of your environment, it's hard to come up with easy answers. Geofelt is right. The 200mm fan should be enough intake. I assume that your PSU is also set up as an intake., so one exhaust should be enough.

At school, where I teach my students this sort of thing, we would remove the bottom fan and temporarily move it around the case, zip tying it in place, to see if we could find a location that actually reduces temperatures. If we can't find such a place, it would be removed.
 
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MrBlackandWhite

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Ok thanks for the replies guys. I dont have the time for that Donkey. Perhaps if I get more into PC's in the future I might. I am a scientist so I understand your thinking, fastidiouness and tenacity :)

Since I just realised I can boot into windows setting my i5 4690k at 4.8Ghz/1.25V's (average approx 42/43 deg C when idle) I may have to consider a watercooler so i can perhaps OC the CPU to 4.5 or 4.6Ghz? Just not sure if this is going to make much difference for playing games. I mostly surf and play games only
 
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DonkeyOatie

DonkeyOatie

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That looks like a good chip if you can get a boot a 1.250V and 4.8Ghz. You will need a bit more voltage for stability. You do not need a water cooler. My i5 4690K runs 4.7Ghz on a RAIJINTEK Pallas, and 4.8Ghz on a Noctua NH D15S, although I run it 24/7 at 4.6Ghz.

In the summer, to check out why my students might discover for a Science Fair project, I collected a pot load of data concerning overclocking, memory speed, processors, and synthetic benchmarks. Rummage around here:

Data:
G3258 memory, GPU and overclocking http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2706290/g3258-memory-overclocking-project-reults.html

i5 4690K memory, overclocking, and GPU data http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2719471/4690k-memory-overclocking-project-results.html

G3258 4130 4690K comparison http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2761496/4130-4ghz-memory-testing-pentium-comparison-results.html

Haswells vs synthetic benchmarks, G3258, i3 4130, 4690K, Xeon 1231v3 http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2791401/xeon-1231v3-haswells-synthetic-benchmarks-science-fair.html



Build:http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2626627/build-log-middle-school-science-fair-project-system.html

Overclocking will give you only a few FPS for gaming, unless you are dealing with a CPU limited situation, in which case it will scale fairly well.

Most games are GPU limited.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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4.8 @1.25v means you have a very good chip.
Heat comes from high vcore.
Even though you might be able to dissipate more heat with stronger cooling, you really do not want to exceed 1.30 vcore for long term use.

All in one water cooling seems sexy, and seems to sell, but the truth is that it cools no better than a good air cooler in a decent case.

My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

Your pc will be quieter, more reliable, and will be cooled equally well with a decent air cooler.
 
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