Cooling Concerns

[nfarnham2001]

Okay, considering in a month or two I will have a new GPU and CPU/mobo, cooling might be a concern of mine.

First off attached is a picture of a mock up drawing of my desk:

http://s26.photobucket.com/albums/c134/nfarnham2001/?action=view&current=desk.png

The bottom right is the view as if you are looking at the front of my desk, and the openings under it (the desk is colored, with the small piece in the middle being a support, the larger pieces on side being cubby holes) The top right is a top down view, my desk is a corner desk. I also have a picture of a white box in a cubby hole (which is my tower) and another picture of a brown box (the cubby hole with pc in it) with an arrow behind it and then the wall (air flow and fans)

My concern is cooling like I said, and as it stands now I have an HDD fan, an expansion slot fan above my card (heatsink only, may not need this when I get another card with fan on it) and then a 90 mm fan at the back pulling hot air out, (stock heatsink on CPU, but will be getting a good aftermarket cooler when I get my new CPU). I don't have a place near the front for a fan, or even an opening (besides a tiny horizontal vent about a half an inch high) at the front.

I'm asking you all if I should move it OUT of the cubby hole, and just have it under the desk, how much room should I give behind it for air flow to be pushed out, and not go back in, and proper ventilation on sides (there are two meshed areas on one side, and one on the other side, right by the HDD fans)

Also, would pulling off the extra expansion slot covers help any? Two of them left.

As it is now, I'm peaking at 75 to 80c under MSI kombuster for an hour at max settings.

 

[crewton]

What is your current gpu and what are you upgrading to? It's hard to say if you'll have enough without knowing your specs and what brand. My MSI does a much better job cooling than my old EVGA card. I'd think you'd be fine with your set up. You'll only need a few inches for the heat to dissipate out the back and the meshed areas on your side are for installing side fans. You could place one by your graphics card slot to help push air across it.

 

[nfarnham2001]

The side slots are a little bit lower than the GPU, it is like RIGHT under the PSU (the GPU cooler fits between, but thats all for the space) I don't know what I will be upgrading to GPU wise, the CPU will be an AMD Phenom, 9XXX series quad core, I think the one I looked at was like 935 or something, (3.3. or 3.4 ghz) and the GPU will prob be a 5770 or something relatively small but packing a punch, because I do plan on doing a new build next fall, or spring of 2014.

Also, do you know any reliable sources to test computer power drain? I'm running an Antec 430w 80plus cert, I wanna make sure I will have enough room in the powerband for the CPU/GPU/Cooling mods.

 

[smorizio]

if the desk is a home desk and there no mesh or window for airflow...i would take a dremil to it and cut a small windows for airflow. if this is a work desk see if it can put in a small 120mm ac fan in the back of the stand to move air around the pc. if it a home pc you can use a fan pattern and put a 120mm or larger on the case panel and have it blow into the case.

 

[nfarnham2001]

Anyone else?

 

[crewton]

If you are looking for cards around the 5770 range you'll be fine with just the front and back fans.