Cooling set up for EVGA Hadron Air

macdude · 30 May 2014 at 16:00

Just finished a build with this case but am looking at making some changes to improve air flow and cooling, especially of the graphics card (MSI GTX 760) which gets fairly hot (~85C under load).

To give you an idea of the current cooling of the build: the case itself comes with two exhaust fans at the top and intake comes through the PSU (located at the bottom( which draws in air and also the GPU which draws in air from inside the case and exhausts it out the back. It should also be noted that the lower right side (1" x 10") of the case is an area of perforated holes.

I am considering replacing the stock exhaust fans at the top with some Noctua's and making them act intake fans and consequently having the area of perforated holes as the main outflow for the case.

What would your suggestions be to improve cooling?

tbyeah · 1 Jun 2014 at 23:42

I own a Hadron myself and exhaust gives better temps than intake. The stock fans are usually quite good, although I had two AF120s already. I'd just increase the fan speed on your components, and switch out the fans if you'd like (although the stock ones are good).

What are CPU temps like?

macdude · 1 Jun 2014 at 23:58

tbyeah said:
I own a Hadron myself and exhaust gives better temps than intake. The stock fans are usually quite good, although I had two AF120s already. I'd just increase the fan speed on your components, and switch out the fans if you'd like (although the stock ones are good).

What are CPU temps like?

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep them as exhaust then. I've adjusted the fan speed graph for the graphics card which has helped keep it sub 80C with the help of the chassis fan's as set through SpeedFan.

CPU temps are pretty good, round about 45C whilst gaming. Using the EVGA CPU cooler.

Was there much of an improvement for you with using the AF120s? What are your GPU temps under load?

chippy08 · 2 Jun 2014 at 00:11

Just out of interest whats your Hard drive temp like as i am needing to change my case as hard drive temp is 59c on my storage Drive today.

macdude · 2 Jun 2014 at 00:43

chippy08 said:
Just out of interest whats your Hard drive temp like as i am needing to change my case as hard drive temp is 59c on my storage Drive today.

Quite good generally, ranges from 25C - 40C.

tbyeah · 2 Jun 2014 at 01:46

I could do some proper things tomorrow, can't remember offhand. Temps didn't see much if any difference with a fan change, I just had the AFs already.

EVGAdominik · 2 Jun 2014 at 09:15

Hi, how have you installed the CPU cooler? Normally a 760 should run without any issues.

macdude · 2 Jun 2014 at 11:25

tbyeah; said:
I could do some proper things tomorrow, can't remember offhand. Temps didn't see much if any difference with a fan change, I just had the AFs already.

That would be great if you could.

EVGAdominik said:
Hi, how have you installed the CPU cooler? Normally a 760 should run without any issues.

It's installed such that it is exhausting air upwards towards the exhaust fans at the top of the case.

EVGAdominik · 2 Jun 2014 at 13:01

Is the graphicscard a exhausting or dual fan one? If it is a dual fan one I would suggest to set up a custom fanprofile and raise the fanspeed earlier then the auto settings. If you do so you can keep the same "final speed" and the card should run cooler at the end...

macdude · 2 Jun 2014 at 13:44

EVGAdominik said:
Is the graphicscard a exhausting or dual fan one? If it is a dual fan one I would suggest to set up a custom fanprofile and raise the fanspeed earlier then the auto settings. If you do so you can keep the same "final speed" and the card should run cooler at the end...

It's an exhausting graphics card. I've set up a custom fan profile so like you said the fan speed ramps up earlier than the standard settings. With the adjusted fan profile the graphics card reaches about 78/79C under load, an improvement. Would you say that's an acceptable temperature?

EVGAdominik · 2 Jun 2014 at 15:14

Is it a brand new built or was the card running in a different system before?
How are the temps of the card when the case is opened?

macdude · 2 Jun 2014 at 17:27

EVGAdominik said:
Is it a brand new built or was the card running in a different system before?
How are the temps of the card when the case is opened?

Brand new. I'd have to check, do you mean with the side panel removed?

tbyeah · 2 Jun 2014 at 19:09

I'm going to play some BF4 now, not exactly scientific but I'll report back some temps.

tbyeah · 2 Jun 2014 at 20:10

Highest 79C on 4670k and 81C on 770. I use custom fan curves though; I've set 80C on each and fans will ramp up if it goes significantly past.

macdude · 3 Jun 2014 at 00:21

tbyeah said:
Highest 79C on 4670k and 81C on 770. I use custom fan curves though; I've set 80C on each and fans will ramp up if it goes significantly past.

Thanks for the details, comparing my temps. to those and it seems like ~80C is pretty standard -- which is good.

tbyeah · 3 Jun 2014 at 07:57

I have a 770 which is inherently quite a hot card; but yours reaching 80C really isn't any cause to worry. If it goes 90+ regularly maybe.

macdude · 3 Jun 2014 at 23:29

tbyeah said:
I have a 770 which is inherently quite a hot card; but yours reaching 80C really isn't any cause to worry. If it goes 90+ regularly maybe.

Okay, excellent. Thanks for your help!