Case Typhoon! [Pics included]

[boldor]

Ahoy

I'm in a tough spot. After changing my case and reinstalling every component for the purpose of cooling my hot system down, Im not fully satisfied.

I got me a new Antec 900 II and got couple degrees difference.
The case has two extra 120mm fan slots, one located approximately in the center of the case and the second one on the side panel (the right one, with the plexiglass).
The question is, will installing some good fans in those slots make a noticable difference? Or will my unlucky cabel&component placement make it an unnecessary expense?
The fans I was looking at was Noctua's NF P-12 1300rpm.

Here comes some pictures of the case.
Notice that the "center" fan mount is the black plastic thingy to the right of the MoBo.

The "overview" (notice the empty fan slot which i just mentioned)
http://img192.imageshack.us/i/img0216st.jpg/

The machine inside.
http://img686.imageshack.us/i/img0221t.jpg/

The machine from left (notice the empty fan slot to the right of the gpu's)
http://img405.imageshack.us/i/img0227tf.jpg/

So should I install the fans, will i notice the difference? Any other opinions/tips on the rig?

Faithfully yours
Boldie

 

[cmcghee358]

Where is the fan located on your Heatsink?

 

[boldor]

Inside it. In the big metal thingy.

 

[cmcghee358]

What temps are you getting that have you worried? CPU? Mobo? GPU?

 

[boldor]

Mobo:ASRock M3A790GXH/128M
CPU: Phenom II x4 955 BE
GPU: 2x Gainward HD4850 in crossfire (factory overclocked)
OS: Win 7
Heatsink: Arctic cooling xtreme freezer rev 2

My temps are:
38-41c Idle
39-43c Light use (browsing and such)
56-57c After 1h of Prime95

 

[cmcghee358]

By the way, I havent used your exact HSF, but I had an Arctic cooler freezer pro 7 and it was complete junk performed worse than my stock HSF.

 

[boldor]

I wouldnt know. I never had the stock cooler and this Arctic one got some good reviews and feedbacks... I dont really have the opportunity to try a different one

 

[cmcghee358]

I suggest reseating the HSF, reapply thermal paste, and clean up your wires.

Then if it's still underperforming, add the HDD cage mounted fan, as it will increase airflow directly into your HSF.

 

[boldor]

I did that. Reseated the HSF, reapplied AC MX-2 and dusted off everything with pressured air. The cables.. Its difficult cause of the amount of junk i got in there but il try.

So your vote goes for installing one fan only, the middle one

 

[cmcghee358]

Yeah. Realize that the 900 Two is an exceptional case. It has a gap behind the motherboard tray specifically designed to hide excess cables behind.

It takes some time, lots of zip ties and some self adhering mounts for the zip ties, but cleaned up it looks much better. More importantly, a clean wire configuration allows the air to flow smoother through your case.

 

[cmcghee358]

Check out some of the pics in this thread:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=31&post=279525&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

My 1200 case is on page 2, but all of the wire jobs give a good goal to strive for. Mine is not the best, by far.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Hehe beat me to it Ghee I was going to link Babachoos as well after reading some of this post, But to Op, yup, slap those fans in man sidepanel intake, top fan exhaust and yeah, tidy up that salad

 

[cmcghee358]

Mine is a good example for you even still. Mine is a 1200 case, which is just 1 HDD cage bigger version of the 902. So theres no reason why you cant substantially clean up your wires to improve airflow.

 

[boldor]

thanks every1 for help sofar

If I understood correctly I m supose to install the fans so:
The sidepanel one blows air INTO to case and the middle/hdd cage fan blows to the left side of the case (towards the mobo)

What do you think about my choice of fans? Are the Noctua's NF P-12 1300rpm any good? Any other opinions?

 

[cookies]

Hate to get off topic, but how is the 600w ModXStream Pro doing for you with the quad core and dual GPU config? I have the 500w model, and I'm a bit worried about power consumption of the AM3 setup (555BE) with a single 4870, but I'm thinking if you have dual 4850s and adequate power for your system, I should be fine even to push a bit of an overclock.

Now, on topic, you've got a bit of a mess cable wise at the end of your GPUs. Do you have a front mounted fan at all in this case? I've always been a bit wary of side-mounted fans, since they just tend to swirl air around the motherboard and don't really help direct airflow to the exhaust fan (in my experience). I think you'd definitely see a decrease in temps with a front-mounted fan if you don't currently have one.

 

[boldor]

As for the PSU, I'm doing fine. Always stable and i think i got some reserve aswell. Im sure you will be fine.

The case case has two fans in the front. Default.

Now I'm confused. I will buy one fan to the HDD cage, thats for sure. But should i buy the second one, to the sidepanel? Opinions varies. Please contribute

And again: Which fans? Is my choice of Noctua's correct?

 

[cmcghee358]

I actually found my sidepanel disrupted the dynamics of the airflow. Whereas the HDD cage mounted fan simply increased the speed of the air moving across the chipset while maintaining the general flow of the case

 

[cookies]

Your main goal is to find a good balance of intake and exhaust. Generally you'll want a bit more exhaust than intake so you have less warm air swirling around the case. If you already have two intake fans, do you have two exhaust fans? How much air does your exhaust move vs. your intake bring in? In a perfect setup, cool air will move over your components, absorb some heat and immediately exit the case, which requires less air coming in than going out.

I'd sooner go with two exhaust fans (back and top for example) and one intake fan than two intakes and one exhaust. Or two lower rpm intakes and two high rpm exhausts. Your exhaust will then force more fresh air to come in and cause a bit of a vacuum effect at frontal case ventilation.

I also have to wonder about how much fresh cool air your PSU is blowing out of your case on the bottom before it has a chance to move across warm components and take heat with it. Try mounting it with the fan facing the bottom of the case and see if that helps at all.

 

[cookies]

I just checked out stock specs on your case, and with a 120mm rear exhaust and 200mm top exhaust you should have pretty decent airflow through the case as is. I don't think you could really set fans up any better than they are stock unless you're upping CFM on the exhaust.

I'd work on cleaning up your cables a bit, and give the PSU a flip just to see if that helps out at all.

 

[cmcghee358]

I wouldnt flip the PSU if I were you.

 

[cookies]

Any reason why not to flip the PSU? The PSU will still be kept cool by the fan, and airflow won't be directed out of the bottom of the case (heat rises).

 

[cmcghee358]

If the hot air is going into the case regardless, whats the logic of pointing the exhaust fan down. All that would do is serve to increase the heat in the PSU. Maybe I'm not understanding right?

 

[cookies]

The PSU is fairly self contained and not a very large structure to cool. It's a very open-ended model, mesh across the whole back cover, and as long as a fan is pushing air over the PSU components heat shouldn't be an issue.

Cool air from the front of the case goes directly to the back, and along that track heats up (SB, GPUs, caps). Before it has a chance to rise and pull additional heat off the CPU, NB, caps, etc., that PSU (theory here) may be sucking it right out of the bottom of the case, at least for that bottom most intake fan. If that fan could push air to the back of the case without a bottom exhaust, it should head up over both GPUs, the NB and CPU heat sinks, taking more heat off of upper components before exiting the case.

Again, just a theory. It would take a flip of the PSU to verify it. In any case, cables will have to be managed a bit better to increase airflow from the bottom to top of case.

 

[cmcghee358]

Forgive me if I dont remember correctly. I cant see the imbedded images at work. But if the PSU has a big fan, thats exhaust, if that big exhaust fan is pointed downward into the case bottom, it won't be able to exhaust heat, and will build pressure and prevent the rear PSU intake fan from pushing air across the PSU components.

Besides, the PSU exhausts upwards, heat rises right out the top case fan, or out the back exhaust fan.

 

[cookies]

I'll have to verify, but I have an OCZ ModXStream in my machine and I'm about 99% certain that big fan works as system exhaust, pushing air through the PSU and out the back of the case. It doesn't work as an intake for the system, and there is no rear PSU exhaust fan. When you get a chance, click the link and check out the picture. The PSU is mounted upside down in his case (check the stickers). In a case with top-mounted PSU, the design is great because it works as an additional top/rear exhaust fan for the system as well as cooling for the PSU.

The fan guard also provides around 1/8" clearance for the fan, so if it is mounted upside down (assuming the mounting holes will line up) it should still have adequate cool / open airflow for the PSU.