Tell me about cooling

CoolHands

CoolHands

CoolHands

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5 Mar 2009
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Location
london, UK
OK so what's the theory about cooling? - like, should I be sucking in the front, through the case, and exhaust out the back? Or what?

The fans on my system are driving me mad as they are really noisy and run at full chat :mad:

So, I know I can get a funky cpu cooler and reduce that noise. But in order to also reduce noise I'm thinking of replacing the 120mm rear fan in my case, & lowering fan speed.

My case has no fan at the front? even though there seems to be slots in the case (an old chieftec case). It has some weird black thing there, (on the interior), that does nothing. It seems to be about 100mm tall. I wonder if I could take it off and stick a fan there?

front:

cool1.jpg


cool3.jpg


Here's a pic of the rear case fan. That fan sucks from inside the case and blows out. And how can I lower the fan speeds? Tried speedfan but wasn't really happy with it to tell the truth. Also it only worked on my cpu fan I couldn't get it to affect the case fan? Can an aftermarket controller work or does it depend on the motherboard (mine is unfortunately a rather old Asus K8V SE).

cool2.jpg


thanks for any info to a newbie
Chris
 
he can mod the case, but buying is a lot less hasle free, but it may not be to the users 'spec' oh and still replace the fans ;)

and gernal specking the fans at the front do suck in over the HDDs and stuff side panal normal pull air in rear is exust and top is also ext
 
The 120mm at the rear is doing the right thing taking the hot air out of the back of the case. Its causing a negative air preasure in the case which keeps the heat down. You should be able to adjust the fan speed in your BIOS by setting fan speed for the CPU temperatures, but this depends on the motherboard.
You could by a new 120mm fan, but you would get the same problem unless you buy one with adjustable speed (either dial, tri switch or similar, but you would need some way to adjust the speed if you can't in your BIOS)
The front plastic "thing" is designed to fit a 80mm(i think) fan in that can be mounted on the front. You could do this and it would bring more air through the case, but if temperatures are OK I would take the plastic out, give the front a clean and leave the case without.
As for aftermarket CPU. If it's your CPU that is causing a lot of noise, give it a clean, (there seems to be a fair bit of dust in your case) this should quieten it down a little, if not then you might want to look at aftermarket - which I can't say as I don't know your spec.

With a bit of cleaning of your exhaust and CPU fan, aswell as the front of the case, you can probably take the noise and temperature down a little (cable management - make sure there are no cables blocking air flow will help). If it doesn't help have a look at an adjustable 120mm for the rear.
Hope that helps.

*After thought*
As you've a mesh, much of the noise might be comeing from your PSU if its cheapy - just keep that in mind before you go spending money on fans and new cases :D Might be a simple case of some compressed air or a new PSU
 
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There's so much dust inside that it's good beat fan bearings have taken more than little wearing because of dust sticking also to fan blades.
(and PSU itself might be "half full", especially heatsinks)

CoolHands said:
It has some weird black thing there, (on the interior), that does nothing. It seems to be about 100mm tall. I wonder if I could take it off and stick a fan there?
Click to expand...
Fan holder but such small fans just can't move much air compared to noise...
Especially with that hole in here and there metal plate in front of it.
Similarly you should cut that restrictive noise generating mesh of rear exhaust fan and put wire grill also to outside.

Also that hard HDD mounting makes case act as amplifier and loudspeaker for its noises meaning plain fan swaps can't solve noise problem.
 
errr. yeah you don't wanna see the dirt :eek:

I did already replace the original CPU fan which helped as the old one's bearings were definitely noisy - this is what the old one looked like <embarrassed>

mesh006.jpg


It is socket 754 so not much around for it really. the fan is a tiny - it's a piddly 70x70, hence why it runs at a million miles an hour. The temps are all fine, I easily could afford to slow the fan down and thus make it quieter. (The PSU one seems very quiet to be honest).

OK so off to clean it anyway....:p
 
Give it all a good clean, identify any noisy fans with shot bearings and replace them, could be worth investing in a fan control if some fans just need a speed reduction.
 
I love hoovering PCs out :)

It's just the getting in there and taking it all apart, then putting it back together but nice and clean that does it for me :D
 
Well just for your interest, I took apart the entire pc this afternoon, and cleaned it. I also fitted a new alaska ak-876 cooler to my (old style 754) socket.

I took the opportunity to try and tidy up the wires - even though I haven't any braiding :rolleyes:.

before:

dust1.jpg


emptied:

dust3.jpg


after (with new cooler):

dust5.jpg


dust2.jpg
 
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I also fitted (just for fun really) a little fan into that front plastic bit. There is a handy fan power on the motherboard nearby. However, I can't seem to be able to adjust the speed (voltage) of this so it runs at full speed if I plug it in :p So I won't really use it.

anyway here it is fitted:

dust4.jpg
 
Try having a poke around in the bios, see if there's anything to reduce the voltage on that intake fan; if you can put it on 5v it will still help with heat but will be pretty quiet.

I'd seriously consider upgrading your case in the near future though. A good case is the basis for any build.
 
Much better.

You have the cpu heatsink facing the wrong way though, Ideally you want to turn it 180 degrees so the fan on it pushes air towards the rear exhaust fan.
 
good work on the cleaning job. It's made a massive difference to the look of your case and it'll certainly help with cooling now there are no wires obstructing airflow. Good work

follow Mr_X_plosions advice and you'll be sorted :cool:
 
yeah I wondered about the cooler and even tried it the other way. It's just that it then stuck over the first ram stick, so I assumed that was wrong. I will do it though
cheers!

(I'd like a new case, but then I'd have to go for new motherboard, new graphics card, new psu etc etc...!)
 
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