Hi guys, finally ordered my PC, and am now looking for some high quality fans. I have a coolermaster stacker 830 which will allow me to add up to 7 120mm fans (4 can be 140mm), so i'm looking for opinions on how to keep my q6600 cool enough for a nice overclock. I'm also using the Thermaltake V1 CPU cooler. Keep in mind i'm conservative and want my CPU with at least 5-10 degrees buffer from what's considered safe at load.

(link to a post with my full rig specs http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ut-system)

Try Zalman or Scythe for a "Cool & Quiet" solution. Since you're going to set them up your self, make sure cool air goes in the front and hot air comes out the back. A nice side intake could probably help a bit as well.

I have almost the same case (an 835): I replaced the front fan that blows over the HDD box with a Scythe. Same with the exhaust. The original exhaust fan is now in the lower rear side slot, drawing hot air away from my GPU. I added another Scythe in the upper front slot as an intake blowing cool air onto the RAM and also providing fresh air for my CPU cooler. I tried a top fan in addition, but my temps actually went *up*, instead of down. I decided the top/side and top fans' airstreams were interfering with each other, and pulled it back out.

The fans themselves are pretty quiet. But all combined they move a LOT of air, and that is clearly audible. I don't care much about noise, though, since I use a headset. I *do* hate unnecessary LED's though. That was the original reason for removing the OEM front HDD fan. The blades rotate in front of the lights, and the constant flashing was *very* annoying. I almost smashed it just for the satisfaction, but decided that it'd be good to keep around. Currently working on a plan to install it into my boss's computer with an continuously looped MP4 telling him {You are feeling relaxxxxed... Verrrryyy Relaxxxed.... Scott deserves a big raaaaiiiise....}

Hm, did you try the top fan as an intake, or an exhaust, also has anyone tried the side vents? I'd assume it would be best to intake through the side panel and front, then vent out the top and back... does that sound right, or should i not use the top even as an exhaust?

You have to be careful where you're making exhaust ports at. You don't want to pull the fresh, cool air out of the case before it reaches your components. So, as a safety, only use top and sides as an intake for now. Afterwards try changing them up and see if it makes a temp difference.

Hm, the only problem with that is if i do that i'll have 5 fans blowing in, and only two blowing out, which i would assume, will increase the airpressure to the point that the intake fans won't be doing nearly what they ought to.

You don't have to use all 5 fans. Just try 1-2 Front and 1 Side or Top for intake.

I set thigns up so that air takes as straight a path through the case as I can manage. Straight line from intake to exhaust, active on both ends. Since we have essentially the same case, I'll get very specific:


Currently - Top = empty. For the Northbridge/CPU area: Top/Front side fan: Blows directly onto the Memory and CPU Cooler intake area. CPU cooler blows it's exhaust directly at the (scythe) exhaust fan. So cool air comes in the side, gets split between the memory and CPU. CPU Cooler passes the warmed air directly to the exhaust fan and straight out of the case.

For the Southbridge/HDD/GPU: INTAKE: 120mm Scythe in the front of the case, blowing directly over the HDD - which is positioned at the top of the HDD mounts where it receives a good, steady flow of air off of the top of the fan blades, and it is out of the way of the rest of the air. I also removed the holepunched metal screen from the front of the HDD case as well. Just twist the pieces off. Then there's nothing to interfere with the airflow. This airstream goes straight to the GPU intake area. The graphics card has it's own intake, but also radiates it's own heat. So I placed a second fan in the lower/rear position of the side to pull the air OUT of the case.



That's a lot of words to say "In the Front, Over the Hot Stuff, and Straight Out the Back"

Scott

I just ordered 7 of these: (Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Case Fan) Figured i'll screw around with them until i get it right. My stuff tends to get really dusty, and i read that it's helpful to create posative air pressure in those situations so i'm going to see what happens if i blow in with 4 fans on the side, and blow out the front side and back.... my PC cooler should shoot towards the back i believe, and there will also be the PSU fan in the back.... i'd imagine filling the entire side with fans like that should result in all the central components (the hottest ones) getting hit directly with the air.. .which in these fans is nearly 70CFM, that air would naturally want to bounce to the sides and top of the case anyway, where the exhaust fans should help it along... does that sound correct?

More fans isn't necessarily better, and IMHO 7 Fans will be overkill. More noise than cooling. And I disagree with simply pointing a load of fans directly at the components: You don't want the air to bounce around inside. You want a nice flow across the tops of your components, in one direction. After all, when you cool hot food you blow across it, not at it. You want all the air to move in one direction - Cool in, over the warm components, and then directly out. The idea is to get maximum flow *through* the case. Creating a high pressure area just prevents the fans from working efficiently because they have to work against the existing pressure as they try and shove more air in.


I am running 4, plus the CPU cooler and the fan built into my PSU. Only two of them are in the sides - an intake on the RAM, and an exhaust in the lower rear. And quite frankly, I'd like to move the intake from the side to the front: Air doesn't like making 90 degree turns. I also have no choice with the exhaust at the bottom (near the PCi slots), either. That's about as close as I can get to a straight line in/out.

Speed~wise, I have a Q6600, running at 3.2Ghz on a 400Mhz front side bus, and 4 Gig of RAM. On the fan setup I am running, it idles at about 32C and I can leave Prime 95 test 2 running indefinitely in the high 50's (57~ish).

No. Do what 3 or 4 of us have suggested to far, which is --

Just putting tons of fans blowing air in every direction isn't a good idea.

i only have 1 fan slot in the front... i have four in the side.. the coolermaster830 is supposed to be one of the best cases for cooling there is, surely the 4 side slots aren't worthless?

I'm not really suggesting blowing air in every direction... the side panel is closest to my components, thus it will hit them directly with the strongest stream of air.. the air would then be vented laterally... If there's a problem with this please explain to why there's a problem, because on paper getting the increased airflow of 4 fans hitting directly, and 3 fans venting seems a lot better than 1 fan hitting from farther way, and 2 venting..

*edit* I didn't see Scott's post before i responded, i understand about the air pressure, but remember i do have 3 fans going out, so i should still get a lot of movement, and the airpressure protects my components from dust. That said, i've got 7 fans to play with, if i can't overclock and stay in the mid50's i'll play around with them a bit... If i want more than 1 fan on the front though, i have to order a converter from coolermaster