Cooling question

Smoogels

Smoogels

Smoogels

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27 Oct 2007
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I have been trying to get my motherboard a bit cooler, mostly at idle and I think I have cracked it. I saw reductions as high as 10C by adding a intake fan at the side of the case, but I have a few questions.

Here is the temperature recordings though:



Some temperatures are negatively impacted however, I feel that the benefits outweigh them:) This is done using a spare 120mm fan as a intake on the side panel of my Corsair 300R, which supports up to 140mm. To record the temperatures I used the Thermal Radar for my Asus sabertooth 990fx, I did also try to make it as far as I could as well (same BF3 server, room temp, map etc).

My fans are also automatically controlled by the motherboard.

1) Is there any issues using a side panel as a intake?

2) Should I order a fan filter to prevent some dust from getting in?

3) Is it even worth ordering a 140mm fan to put here? (the 120mm one I have now is rather noisy, have horrible LEDs and does not give fantastic performance)

4) Is there any cheapish fans you would recommend as a intake (preferably 140mm and 3 pin)? :D

Thanks :)
 
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My current fan set up is 1x front intake, 1x back rear exhaust (120mm), 1x top exhaust(140mm) and wanting to put a 1x intake fan on the side (120mm/140mm). I'd be happy with just 1 fan on the side as I would like to get away with as little as possible :) I currently have a 7850 Sapphire GPU.

The 300R has a filter at the front which is where the other intake is. My computer is in a rather dusty area so I think a fan filter might be worth while, but I'm not sure how effective they really are.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will have a look at all reviews etc. Thanks! :D
 
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Filters don't catch everything but do help. Problem is many case fans are not good enough to pull air through them. :( I use cooler fans on all my intakes so I'm sure they flow plenty of air. ;)

You could try moving your top exhaust to the other front intake. This may help supply more cool air to case.

Also sometimes removing the unused PCI slot covers helps remove GPU heat.. not always.

Try side fan in both front and back positions and see which one is best.
 
Thanks, I'll give that a go.

I did try two fans at the front once with a 120mm (since that was all I had spare) and it rose temperatures of some parts of the motherboard and done little for other parts:( I think if I had them both the same size it would be better though so will try the top 140 at the front :p

The GPU is okay with heat, with about 60C for the first 30 minutes of BF3 on ultra and rises onto around 65C after about a hour and a half. I was a bit concerned with the motherboard temps and the sound card was very hot to the touch and it seems a side fan really helps with that:p
 
The important thing is to supply cool air to components. This usually means the more cool intake air directed toward the CPU / GPU coolers helps, but we have to be sure the hot air coming off of components is exhausted from case without mixing with / warming up the air going to components.

With the high heat generated by many of today's GPUs the old "air in the front/bottom and out back/top" is not always a good idea. Reason is the hot GPU exhaust can pre-heat the air going into CPU cooler.

To monitor how case is cooling a cheapo indoor/outdoor wired remote digital thermometer works great. You can monitor what the temp of air going into CPU / GPU cooler intakes actually is. Refrigerator or terrarium thermometer of same basic design work good too. Can be had for £3-4 on auction site. Twist a piece of insulated wire into the last 6" or so and mount it in front of cooler about 1-2" and set the readout where it's easy for you to keep an eye on to see what the air temp going into cooler is at idle and load. They shouldn't be more than a few degrees warmer.. 5c at most than the room. Every degree warmer is a degree warmer the component will be.
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Thanks for that. Funnily enough I ordered one of them the other day so I could monitor the temperature of some rooms around the house so will keep in mind what you have said and will check :D

I tried the 140mm at the front and some temperatures slightly decreased (those around the bottom of the motherboard) while things like CPU, VRMs etc increased. My cable management is poor and no matter how hard I try I cannot fix so they are just bundled together at the bottom of the case (which is likely to restrict the bottom front intake quite a bit). I'm not that bothered at the moment though as I'm sure a side panel intake should be sufficient enough for now :)

I'm still struggling on what sort of fans to buy though. There are quite a few and many people have conflicting opinions on the net about different models/brands :(
 
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