Another CM 690 II airflow/fan config thread

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Hi,

I'm sure this has been asked before but a quick search didn't really throw up the answers I was looking for.

So as you've probably guessed I have the CM 690 II (Advanced) case.

Now at the top I plan to mount a 240mm radiator (EK Coolstream XT if it'll fit, else an XSPC RS240) with a couple of Gentle Typhoon 1850rpm fans above it in pull config.
That will cool the CPU, but the graphics card (Sapphire 5850 Extreme) will be air-cooled. So what's my best setup for airflow to keep the graphics card and motherboard chipset as cool as possible (while also being quiet)?

The fans I have available to fill the remaining 5 spaces (1 x rear, 2 x side, 1 x bottom (and/or other side of the drive cage) & 1 x front) are:
1 x 120mm original CoolerMaster fan
2 x 140mm original CoolerMaster fans
2 x 120mm Enermax TB Silence fans
2 x 140mm Enermax TB Silence fans
3 x 120mm Yate Loon fans

And I'll be using this fan controller with one channel used for the GTs.

I also have the original 140mm CoolerMaster LED fan but I'm not sure this can be hooked up to a fan controller.

So what are my best options?
My initial thoughts are the 3 Yate Loons as intakes at the front, bottom and top side panel and the 2 120mm Enermax fans as exhausts on the lower side panel and rear. And obviously the 2 GTs at top. guessing this would probably be negative air pressure though and I'm guessing positive is better?

I also have some 120mm dust filters I could use for intakes if they were 120mm fans.

Thanks.

 

[j.col]

Hi mate, that is a lot of fans lol,
the 3 YLs at the front, bottom and top of side panel sound good.
but why have an exhust fan at the bottom of side panel? personally i would have it as an intake as well.
with your rad at the top of the case, pulling air from inside the case, you need as much cool air flowing through your case.
so if it was my case i would have all the fans at the front/side as intakes.
then the rear as an exhaust and your rad fans, pulling air from the case would act as exhaust fans as well.
but this is just my opinion,

 

[!TIMMY!]

Hi mate, that is a lot of fans lol,
the 3 YLs at the front, bottom and top of side panel sound good.
but why have an exhust fan at the bottom of side panel? personally i would have it as an intake as well.
with your rad at the top of the case, pulling air from inside the case, you need as much cool air flowing through your case.
so if it was my case i would have all the fans at the front/side as intakes.
then the rear as an exhaust and your rad fans, pulling air from the case would act as exhaust fans as well.
but this is just my opinion,

That is how my case is set up, front and side are sucking air in, top and rear are blowing it out. I dont have water cooling anymore, but that is also how I had my water cooled rig.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Hi, thanks for the replies.
Yeah, that doesn't sound bad.
My reason for having the lower side panel as an exhaust was to try to remove the hot air generated by the graphics card so that I was pulling the warm air through the rad.

 

[Geordielee79]

Hello,

I also have the same case but only air cooled and also considered the same question. Side fan as intake or exhaust as my GTX560 Ti vents a lot of hot air into the case.

Therefore is it best to use both side panel mounts for intake's and use the fans at the top of the case to expel or keep the radiator cool ??

Also, What is the best fan to accompany the supplied Coolermaster top fan 140 as there is another space ??

Cheers

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Been thinking this over and still can't decide which way round to have the lower side fan (and then to balance it the rear fan).
I think the theory behind having it as an exhaust for the graphics card's hot air is good, but I guess it sort of depends where the graphics card blows the hot air out. If it's out of the 'front' of the card (the end nearest the HDDs) then having the side fan exhaust might not have much of an effect.

EDIT:
Also, while digging through my fans (the earlier list was from memory) I found I had 5 x CoolerMaster SickleFlow 120 Blue LED fans that I'd forgotten I'd even bought. So I'll probably use them!

 

[j.col]

you said it yourself, depends on your gpu exhaust.
my HD5850 (reference) dumps the hot air out of the rear of the case, so for me, i would have the side fans as intakes.

if your gpu dumps hot air into the case, then try the side fans as an exhaust.

it might be easier to test them.
have them as intakes, then run 30 mins of prime95 (to test cpu and water cooling) and then 15 mins of furmark (test gpu). record the temps.
then turn fans around and repeat tests. just go with the coolest.