Case airflow path for Noctua NH-D14/GTX 590

BillTheButcher

BillTheButcher

BillTheButcher

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My Noctua NH-D14 and NF-P14s arrived today. :)

This is to replace the Corsair H60 that I have at the moment which is being RMAd because the pump is too noisy.

The layout I was thinking of...
  • NF-P14 at the bottom front of the case as an intake
  • NF-P14 at the top back as an exhaust
  • NH-D14 blowing towards the NF-P14 exhaust

*But* I've noticed that the GTX 590's internal exhaust is pumping hot air directly into the path of the cool air that's being drawn in by the front 120mm intake fan that I currently have fitted. This doesn't seem like a good layout any more.

So... what would people recommend as a decent airflow solution?

I have 2x 140mm Noctua NF-P14s and 2x 120mm Akasa Ambers.

My case is an Akasa Eclipse 62.

Cheers. :cool:
 
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I still have my eclipse but I'd say it's time for a new case ? and what do you mean by the gtx 590 ? it draws air from inside the case and exhausts out the back as far as I am aware ?

Grimleys eclipse
finished2011.jpg


This is what you should be doing bungee mod the hdd's in the 525 bay and cable tie a fan at the front of the 525 bay too behind the covers or get a kama bay or similar.
 
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Yep, the 590 will expel the air out via the vents on it's pci plates. When i had my system in the eclipse, i added a kama bay, done wonders for airflow. Still a very good case, ill actually be transferring my setup back into it soon, as my lian li will be out of action.
 
C64 said:
and what do you mean by the gtx 590 ? it draws air from inside the case and exhausts out the back as far as I am aware ?
Click to expand...
setter said:
Yep, the 590 will expel the air out via the vents on it's pci plates.
Click to expand...
The 590 draws air in through a single centrally-mounted fan but it has two exhaust routes (one for each GPU). One of these is out of the endplate (to outside the case) as you both describe; the other is out of the opposite end of the card (and back into the case). This has been a dual GPU cooling solution for a while; my old GTX 295 did exactly the same thing and I believe the 6990 does it too.

These are the external endplates of the 295 and the 590 (295 on the right):

a9tQwl.jpg


And these are the opposite ends of the cards, i.e. the ones that face the inside of the case (590 on the right), where the air that I mentioned in the OP is being expelled:

osuqal.jpg


If you think about a "normal" airflow setup (with a 120mm intake fan in exactly the same place as in C64's picture above) you can see how the air coming out of this end of the 590 will go straight into the path of the cool air being drawn in by the 120mm fan.

This was never an issue with the 295 but I guess the 590 runs hotter.
 
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Well if you can afford all that isn't it time for a new case ? love my eclipse and ill never get rid of it but it's outdated now and houses an old athlon rig.
 
The problem is to do with the direction of exhaust airflow from the 590. Won't this be the same whichever case I've got?

The Eclipse has enough space to take all of the hardware and it looks like it could work with a bit of careful fan positioning, which is why I started this thread. I don't want to replace the case unless I have to. :)
 
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I fitted the NH-D14, NF-P14s, LP Vengeance and Intel 510 tonight. :)

I decided to put one NF-P14 as an exhaust at the bottom front, another as an exhaust at the top back and then use the Eclipse's thermal side panel 120mm fan to pull in cool air directly above the 590's intake.

It's only been running about an hour but so far GPU idle temps are down 5 and 7C respectively so it's looking hopeful.
 
Ran the PC all day yesterday with various benchmarks and gaming to test idle and load temperatures.

The CPU now idles at 30C and never goes above 55C; the GPUs idle at 31C and peak at 69C. :)

The thermal side panel made a big difference. It pushes air directly onto the top of the Noctua's HSFs and across the 590's intake fan which keeps everything a few degrees cooler than with the normal panel or with the side off the case. :)
 
Ah I see! Im currently using the noctua NF-P14 and in the process of testing different fan configs for cooling, at full load using prime for an hour or so im reaching temps of around 72 degrees at 1.38v and 37 degrees idle on a 2600k which I thought was rather hot.But considering my room is quite hot I dont no if its the norm for one of these.
 
I've just changed from a Corsair H60 to a Noctua NH-D14 and the CPU temperatures were almost exactly the same for both.

I was getting decent results just with a couple of exhaust fans as mentioned above but the temperatures are even better with the extra side panel intake fan. :)
 
Similar path I took apart from I was using the H50.The Noctua as shaved off around 8 degrees under load but remains about the same at idle as the H50.
 
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