Effect of better fans on case temp

Hen_Dawg

Hen_Dawg

Hen_Dawg

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I have a Thermaltake Soprano case. http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase/soprano/bws/bws.htm
I find it OK, except for the fact that it's too small for all the stuff in there so ambient case temp is running too hot. Up to 45deg IIRC. I think it's hindering my CPU overclock as well.
The case has 2 120mm fans, front and back, and one side 90mm fan.

My questions is would there be any benefit in replacing some or all of these fans? I don't mind buying some premium fans if it will lower temps by a few degrees. I presume the rear 120mm fan would be the most important and have the most effect.

Any opinions please and any experieces with temp drops between fans. Thanks :)
 
to start with take the side of the case and check the temps, see how much improvement you get.

also have you tidied up all the cabling so it causes as little obstruction to air flow as it can ?
 
I have taken the side of but it was a while back so will give that another go, being a bit more sceintific about measuring temps.

My cables are tied up but they are kinda messy, however, I can't think of a better way to tidy it (although I'm sure there is one). That's the problem with the case, it's not quite big enough for a few components to sit comfortably and have the wires all around it as well.
I might try and post a pic later of how it all look.

Any thoughts on the first question?
 
need to get an idea of what fans you have, any markers, manufacturers names, what sort of speed they running at ?

are they set so front fan pushes air in, rear extracts ?

might be worth taking the side fan off as it might be disrupting airflow.

as to answer the question there MAY be benefit if the new fans can shift more air than you're current ones, also depends how noise conscious you are.
 
thanks MP. I'll have a look when i get home in regards to the fans but I can say now they were fitted with the case so I hope they are set to blow the right way. Judging by the dust I can tell the side fan is sucking in.
Also I think they are thermaltake branded but will investigae

Will report back later
 
If there is dust on the fans then its a fair assumption that the heatsink will also be dusty. A spring clean is always worthwhile aswell as experimenting with case fan orientation.
 
After my PC being on and used all night. the temps are displayed below. I'd say they seem high?

I recently brought the CPU overclock down because as you can see that's hot for idle temps. Will get round to lapping at some point but that's a different matter.
Now, i've got the side off and waiting for a possible temp drop.
I'll also give it a good clean out of dust but something else must be done to cool this case don't you think?
Edit: 1 deg difference after an hour with the case off :(
 
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I've found there isn't a huge difference between fans at similar noise levels.

So what you need to decide is if you want quiet fans, or if you can suffer noisier fans.

Taking the side off the case doesn't necessarily show you how it would be with great airflow. It can work the other way too. But generally speaking temps are lower without the side on.

I've never used cheap fans, so I can't really say anythng about the difference between "value" fans and expensive ones.

However I can say I notice a difference between a standard Adda fan and a quiet case fan. Quiet case fans rotate slower, and make less noise, but also push less air - although with fans there really is diminishing returns. If I run all my fans at 7v I see very little difference than if I run them at 12v.

OcUK sell fans for a fiver, they aren't "value" fans or cheap fans, they're decent fans. But you need to find out what you currently have. If you already have decent fans then really all you could do is go for higher powered fans.
 
suprano too small? what have you got in there? i didnt have problems with my temps, and i had my 8800gtx in one as well as being loaded with a opteron under a big scythe ninja and everything else....my temps were fine?
 
1 degree change is a fair indicator that the air flow is working as well as it can.

any idea what the ambient room temp is compared to mobo /processor etc ?

what cooler have you got on the preocessor ?

be interesting to see the layout of the case specially after JM's comments, before making any suggestions tbh.
 
its something like this lol:

8800gtx_in_soprano.jpg
 
james.miller said:
its something like this lol:
Click to expand...

just so H_D knows are those the fans that came with the case James ?

deffo looks nice and spacious.

jellybeard999 : i reckon it could be a bit noisy unless their secret uber quiet fans :D
 
jellybeard999 said:
Temps should be GREAT, especially with fans spinning that fast :cool: :p
Click to expand...

lmao, not surprised his pc doesnt just take off with the fans at that speed.

I would change the thermaltake fans if i were you, get some akasa ambers put in there :)
 
Thanks for the replies everyone. Firstly, yes, at 1.35 million revs per minute, my machine can hit Mach 10! :D

James Miller. You case looks very tidy there, mine is much worse and looks much less spacious. I seem to just have lots of wires (non-modular PSU) with not that many places to go. Yes, they seem like the same orange fans I have in my case. I like the way you have the disc drive right at the top. I have 2 in mine, only using 1 so think I’ll take the other out. Actually, don’t think the round IDE cable I have reaches the top bit. Best if I post a picture later when I get home from work.

Ambient room temp was quite warm, hotter than normal.
I have the Freezer 7 Pro on the CPU.
I’m not that bothered about noise. I game and watch vids with headphones

Pics to follow
 
OK, so here it is in it's messy glory. Sorry, they are larger pics than I thought



Checked the fans and they only seem to say Thermaltake.

I'm prepared for the "OMG, sort it out" comments :p
 
OMG Sort it out :p

Try routing cables around the back of the HDD bays and maybe also change the fans, the thermaltake ones are a bit of a flop tbh. Get some akasa ambers in there :)

EDIT: Logic you goon you beat me to it :p
 
It's not that bad really.

The main thing to check is the air direction.

It should be coming in across the hard drives and exhausting at the back of the case.

Probably the complete opposite would be fine. Although you may find it annoying to have air blown out of the front of the case, it might annoy your legs or something.

But if it's exhausing at both front or back, or being drawn in at both front or back it's not going to be ideal.
 
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