Fan directions and type?

[j_usher]

I am not sure where this should be posted but here goes, I have 3 120mm fans, one on the side of the case blowing air in one on the front blowing air in and one on the back blowing air out and then the little one on my gpu blowing air down. The kicker is I have a an asetek 120mm lclc and the radiator is mounted on the rear fan that is blowing air out....is that correct or should i reverse the rear fan to be blowing air in and the side to blow air out? I am also wanting to replace the rear fan with this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835705004 I dont know if that is the best 120mm fan but it looked decent enough, i just want to get a fan that pushes A LOT of air or pulls A LOT of air to put in the rear of my case because when I hold my hand behind the computer when it is on the air flow is not that great I barely feel it, I know the radiator is blocking some air but I would just be happier if it did a better job. I have my amd X4 955 BE oc'd to 3.7 ghz and on prime95 for 7 hrs it easily hits 60c on full load but when I game it only hits 50c (after I changed the orientation of my PC lol) would that new fan be the best i could get under $20 on newegg or is there better? And should i keep the fan orientation the same or change it?

 

[henrystrawn]

I just did a quick search and everything that I have seen is oriented to rear exhaust. I found another thread here at tom's, that suggests adding a second fan to the rear of your radiator for "push/pull". Here's a link.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259510-29-asetek-lclc-power

I have a AMD 955 BE system @ 4.0 ghz with max temp of 56c using a Cooler Master Hyper 212 plus and 2 Antec tri-cool 120 mm fans on "medium". I will give credence to the push/pull it works. Here is some shots of the system and stability test if you want to take a look.

http://i634.photobucket.com/albums/uu70/henrystrawn/DSCN0483.jpg

http://i634.photobucket.com/albums/uu70/henrystrawn/955BE40.jpg

Since you have no top fan, it seems counter intuitive to reverse the air flow. It seems to me you have it set up correctly.

EDIT.

As an afterthought, have you tried to re-apply thermal paste and re-install? That would be my first suggestion.

 

[j_usher]

I just did a quick search and everything that I have seen is oriented to rear exhaust. I found another thread here at tom's, that suggests adding a second fan to the rear of your radiator for "push/pull". Here's a link.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/259510-29-asetek-lclc-power

I have a AMD 955 BE system @ 4.0 ghz with max temp of 56c using a Cooler Master Hyper 212 plus and 2 Antec tri-cool 120 mm fans on "medium". I will give credence to the push/pull it works. Here is some shots of the system and stability test if you want to take a look.

http://i634.photobucket.com/albums/uu70/henrystrawn/DSCN0483.jpg

http://i634.photobucket.com/albums/uu70/henrystrawn/955BE40.jpg

Since you have no top fan, it seems counter intuitive to reverse the air flow. It seems to me you have it set up correctly.

EDIT.

As an afterthought, have you tried to re-apply thermal paste and re-install? That would be my first suggestion.

Ok for one WOW I had no idea that the 212 was so big haha. I am looking to get one but it def looks like I will need a Full size case I have an APEVIA X-CRUISER2-BK Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower case and looking at your pic I am now sure I need a slightly larger case seeing as my PSU would be in the way of the 212. Also If the Push/Pull works I will def do it. I have not tried to re paste the lclc mainly because I am short on money right now and my kids got into my only arctic paste that I had haha so I will need to save up money to buy all the parts I need. as a side note what type of mobo do you have? I looked at the link to the forum and it gave me a lot of info actually and clarified what I was thinking. Do you highly rec the 2 fans your using? or do you know of other "good" fans? Thank you for the info.

 

[henrystrawn]

The specs on the AMD system as follows

Cooler Master Storm Scout Case
AMD Phenom II X4 955 black edition C3 stepping
CM Hyper 212 Plus HSF
Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H Motherboard
G Skil 8 GB DDR2 6400 RAM CL 4
XFX ATI HD5770 (egg shaped cooler)
Rosewill 550 watt PSU

This was a budget build that I upgraded from a AMD 245 Regor, that is why I have an entry level Mobo, but I will say that there is NO vdroop with the motherboard. I was quite impressed.

The fans I purchased based on the lighting and attached speed selectors. I have no complaints about The Antec Tri-cool fans, they push a decent amount of air, they're pretty, and don't get noisy until you set them to "High". Yes I would recommend them if your "must have LED fans", like me.

The case I have is a mid-tower case. I think you could fit the CM Hyper 212 plus in there, but you would lose your single door fan. The motherboard just mounts lower in your "Top mount PSU" case.

If I were you I would just get another "stock" fan, or add two matched decent fans for your radiator in push/pull, and if the temp doesn't drop, get some more AC5 paste and reapply. That would be the most cost effective way to "run what you brung", before you invest another $100 +, on a HSF, fans, paste and case. That may just solve your heat issue @ 3.7 Ghz.

If you have anymore question just ask, these are only my opinions, mileage will vary....

EDIT

I got bored and set the HSF fans to "High" to see if I would get any better cooling, I have never tried it.
955 BE x20x200=4.0 Ghz.
CPU voltage 1.475,
Northbridge voltage 1.20

OCCT linpack Idle temp 36c, load temp 58c

No difference, but it seemed to recover faster.

The fans are not overly noisy even on "high". That was fun, back to 24/7 overclock
3.8 Ghz
CPU voltage [normal] 1.400 volts
Northbridge [normal] 1.100 volts
HSF fans "medium"

OCCT linpack Idle temp 32c, load temp 52c

"that's the sweet spot"

Just thought I would share.

 

[j_usher]

The specs on the AMD system as follows

Cooler Master Storm Scout Case
AMD Phenom II X4 955 black edition C3 stepping
CM Hyper 212 Plus HSF
Gigabyte GA-MA785G-UD3H Motherboard
G Skil 8 GB DDR2 6400 RAM CL 4
XFX ATI HD5770 (egg shaped cooler)
Rosewill 550 watt PSU

This was a budget build that I upgraded from a AMD 245 Regor, that is why I have an entry level Mobo, but I will say that there is NO vdroop with the motherboard. I was quite impressed.

The fans I purchased based on the lighting and attached speed selectors. I have no complaints about The Antec Tri-cool fans, they push a decent amount of air, they're pretty, and don't get noisy until you set them to "High". Yes I would recommend them if your "must have LED fans", like me.

The case I have is a mid-tower case. I think you could fit the CM Hyper 212 plus in there, but you would lose your single door fan. The motherboard just mounts lower in your "Top mount PSU" case.

If I were you I would just get another "stock" fan, or add two matched decent fans for your radiator in push/pull, and if the temp doesn't drop, get some more AC5 paste and reapply. That would be the most cost effective way to "run what you brung", before you invest another $100 +, on a HSF, fans, paste and case. That may just solve your heat issue @ 3.7 Ghz.

If you have anymore question just ask, these are only my opinions, mileage will vary....

EDIT

I got bored and set the HSF fans to "High" to see if I would get any better cooling, I have never tried it.
955 BE x20x200=4.0 Ghz.
CPU voltage 1.475,
Northbridge voltage 1.20

OCCT linpack Idle temp 36c, load temp 58c

No difference, but it seemed to recover faster.

The fans are not overly noisy even on "high". That was fun, back to 24/7 overclock
3.8 Ghz
CPU voltage [normal] 1.400 volts
Northbridge [normal] 1.100 volts
HSF fans "medium"

OCCT linpack Idle temp 32c, load temp 52c

"that's the sweet spot"

Just thought I would share.

I must have LED fans mainly because my comp is in my living room and my wife would complain if it didnt look "pretty" haha so I may end up getting the same fans as you they look nice and seem to do the job, I am wanting to oc to 4.0ghz and eventually get a better graph card so I may buy a better hsf in the future dont know exactly yet, also did you say I could mount the mobo lower in my case? I think thats what you said but i am not sure, if that is the case then i will do it soon because having my mobo so high is annoying me it looks off center and I am a little OCD about things like that, makes the guts look messy and cable management non existent. I mainly wanted a bigger case because I use A LOT HDD space with my wifes photo and music habits (we have 4 kids and she takes about 30 photos in a day and then photoshops them to look better) I have currently filled 2 1tera hdd and the wires in my case for the sata drives are getting out of control with such a small space to work with. Also the Case i was looking at has 4 240mm fans 2 on the side 1 in the back and 1 in the front and is a full size case like i wanted, that way i may be able to add some full size graph cards in the future. If you have any advice on where to buy quality parts for lower prices as well as the best way to maximize airflow and space in a case I am all ears. Thank you.

 

[henrystrawn]

I was just stating that my case is a bottom mount PSU case, yours is mounted in the top. I think the Hyper 212 will fit in your existing case, because you don't have to worry about the PSU, the motherboard just mounts lower in your case. (referring to your first reply:

"I am now sure I need a slightly larger case seeing as my PSU would be in the way of the 212."

I buy almost all my parts from newegg exclusively, but there are many other retailers out there. Newegg has always done right by me. You can occasionally find better prices elsewhere, but I like to get everything at one place for convenience.

With the large amount of storage you need you might consider converting an older pc to a NAS (network attached storage), I don't know if you are running a home network, but I converted an "old" Vista machine into a network server.

If you have the money to do the upgrade, that's fantastic. I was offering some low cost solutions to your current heat problem for your current overclock, if you can upgrade now, then you are all set.

I don't know which case you are looking at but I have my eye on an Antec 1200. I have a Antec 900 Two with a Intel Q9550 @ 3.6 Ghz, that I love as well and is my main system. It just has a better motherboard for crossfire. The AMD system is my backup system. Here's a link if you want to take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8EusoPORfQ

The AMD 955 system spanks it in CPU benchmarks @ 4 Ghz. The reason that I don't run 4 ghz 24/7 is the increase in CPU voltage to run stable. I have hit the "safe" limit in both temperature and voltage. Don't get me wrong, it is still within the upper tolerances, but I only run it that way occasionally. You should have little trouble hitting 4 ghz, I just don't run that high 24/7, I would like to keep it around for a while.

The "sweet spot" for my 955 system seems to be 3.8 ghz, I only jump up to 4 ghz when I need/want to. You will find the sweet spot for your specific configuration through trial and error.

Man am I "Jones in' " for another build, but I'm gonna wait for the new socket 1365. Good luck to you and have a great time with your system.

 

[j_usher]

I was just stating that my case is a bottom mount PSU case, yours is mounted in the top. I think the Hyper 212 will fit in your existing case, because you don't have to worry about the PSU, the motherboard just mounts lower in your case. (referring to your first reply:

"I am now sure I need a slightly larger case seeing as my PSU would be in the way of the 212."

I buy almost all my parts from newegg exclusively, but there are many other retailers out there. Newegg has always done right by me. You can occasionally find better prices elsewhere, but I like to get everything at one place for convenience.

With the large amount of storage you need you might consider converting an older pc to a NAS (network attached storage), I don't know if you are running a home network, but I converted an "old" Vista machine into a network server.

If you have the money to do the upgrade, that's fantastic. I was offering some low cost solutions to your current heat problem for your current overclock, if you can upgrade now, then you are all set.

I don't know which case you are looking at but I have my eye on an Antec 1200. I have a Antec 900 Two with a Intel Q9550 @ 3.6 Ghz, that I love as well and is my main system. It just has a better motherboard for crossfire. The AMD system is my backup system. Here's a link if you want to take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8EusoPORfQ

The AMD 955 system spanks it in CPU benchmarks @ 4 Ghz. The reason that I don't run 4 ghz 24/7 is the increase in CPU voltage to run stable. I have hit the "safe" limit in both temperature and voltage. Don't get me wrong, it is still within the upper tolerances, but I only run it that way occasionally. You should have little trouble hitting 4 ghz, I just don't run that high 24/7, I would like to keep it around for a while.

The "sweet spot" for my 955 system seems to be 3.8 ghz, I only jump up to 4 ghz when I need/want to. You will find the sweet spot for your specific configuration through trial and error.

Man am I "Jones in' " for another build, but I'm gonna wait for the new socket 1365. Good luck to you and have a great time with your system.

Thank you so much for all of your info you have helped me out A LOT and now I know what I will do. I will get some more thermal paste and some better fans for now and do the push/pull config on my radiator. If that does not work out in 3-4 months I will buy a new case and see if the increase in airflow helps out at all. Then I will go from there, btw that is an awesome looking comp in the vid. I would post a vid of mine but it isnt anything special haha.

mobo: GA-790XTA-Ud4
955 x4 BE
Radeon 5670
650w psu
4 GB Kingston mem
Asetek 120mm LCLC
3 120mm fans
and 3 VERY

 

[j_usher]

got cut off the last thing was 3 very large HDD (2 TB each)

 

[henrystrawn]

You have a very respectable system there.

Keep your eyes peeled for "junk systems". Last week my brother in law brought me 3 "broken" XP systems. I was able to revive all three with parts from my parts bins and fresh installs of the OS. He took the pick of the litter, and left me with two very functional systems. I couldn't think of ANYTHING to do with them to save my life. I ended up donating one to a local teacher for her classroom, and the other to a one of my vendors that just need a "slideshow" computer for a display for his customers.

I think you could really use a network storage system. My "found" network server is just running a JBOD (just a bunch of drives) array. Not only do I use it as back up and media storage, I have a HD image of every computer we have running.

It would be shame to lose any pitures of your kids. The only downside is just waiting for the "network discover". sometimes I am so impatient.

Great to chat with you. Have a great time with your system.