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Sufficient air cooling for an overclock?

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Last response: in Overclocking
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Ok, I have made a couple of stabs at an overclock in the past, the main trouble I keep running up against is heat, namely in my current configuration even a minor clock results in hitting near max temps in the first 20 min of a prime 95 run, my current configuration is:

MSI 870a-g54 MB
AMD 955 BE CPU ---> CoolerMaster TX3 cooler
MSI HD 6850 GPU
G-Skill Ripjaws 8gb RAM
Corsair CS600 PSU
All in an Apevia X-Cruiser case with 2x front 80mm intake fans 1x 80mm side intake 1x 80mm top exhaust and 1x 120mm rear exhaust, all fans are XIGMATEK eXTREME SILENT Series.

I had been informed in the past that the airflow in the X-cruiser cases was pretty poor, so I have ordered an Antec 300 Illusion case, and since that coolermaster TX3 is pretty weak and old I also ordered a Scythe Mugen 3 for upgrades, the Antec will have 2x front 120mm intake fans, 1x 140mm top exhaust fan and 1x 120mm rear exhaust, all fans will be Antec Tricool series.

So my question, to get to 3.8-4.0 stable on my CPU will my upgrades be enough to keep heat down? I have a few extra fans around, will adding another 120mm to the side vent help? and if so, intake or exhaust? if there is room, should I get the extra clips for the Mugen 3 and add the second fan for push/pull? and with the bottom mount PSU, should I keep it fan up? or invest some time into modding a vent in the bottom and mount it fan down?

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Anonymous
Overclocking Expert

I've found that playing with my case(haf 912) that adding an intake side vent helps cool the gpu but having an exhaust side vent adds heat to the gpu but cools the cpu since gpu heat is taken away. Adding a front fan did absolutely nothing in temps although I removed all restrictions(hdds and cables). Adding a rear fan is basically the same as a top fan and what you choose depends on the setup. I choose top fan since my heatsink was facing vertically so I wanted to let my case fan assist it.
I think modding an extra vent on the bottom will help. I needed to use a bottom vent for my psu since I put my gpu on the bottom slot to seperate it from the cpu as much as possible and so I needed to turn the psu down to prevent it from intefering with the gpu.
Anonymous
Overclocking Expert

To me putting the case fans on the top was the most important to me. I have 3 hi-cfm scythe fans but decided not to use them because of the noise. So I tried to setup my 2 included coolermaster fans as efficiently as possible. Putting them both on top was the best choice because cpu was of more importance to me than the gpu. So I guess it depends on your use.

Quote:
I've found that playing with my case(haf 912) that adding an intake side vent helps cool the gpu but having an exhaust side vent adds heat to the gpu but cools the cpu since gpu heat is taken away. Adding a front fan did absolutely nothing in temps although I removed all restrictions(hdds and cables). Adding a rear fan is basically the same as a top fan and what you choose depends on the setup. I choose top fan since my heatsink was facing vertically so I wanted to let my case fan assist it.
I think modding an extra vent on the bottom will help. I needed to use a bottom vent for my psu since I put my gpu on the bottom slot to seperate it from the cpu as much as possible and so I needed to turn the psu down to prevent it from intefering with the gpu.



Hmm wouldnt PSU up actually help the GPU since most PSU fans pull at the fan and exhaust out the rear?
I know for certain i will have the 2 front intake and the rear and top exhaust, just still trying to figur about the side fan, and if I should mod the bottom, if I do mod the bottom, I may as well also add a bottom intake vent/fan i guess too.
Anonymous
Overclocking Expert

That would depend on the situation but I think most will require bottom orientated.
The psu would be competing for the same air the gpu is trying to intake. Maybe if the gpu exhausted out the bottom it would help since the psu would take that air away but most gpus intake the air below it and exhaust it out the side or rear.

Yea I was looking at that, it looks like i may be able to setup so that the side vent is located between the bottom of the GPU fan and the top of the PSU, if this is the case then I may be fine without modding as the side vent with a 120mm intake fan would supply fresh air to both the PSU mounted fan up and the GPU mounted fan down, but wont be able to tell untill I get the case and start working on it.
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