Efficient case fan setup

Trojan Horse · 5 Jul 2020 at 17:10

I have a Corsair 300R:

2x 140mm front in take
2x 140mm top exhaust
1x 120mm rear exhaust

Alpenfohn K2 Mount Doom Heatsink:

1x140mm middle, 1x 120mm front, both intake and exhaust through the rear

All of the case fans are Arctic F14/12 and the K2 ones are stock.
Can anyone recommend a better setup?

Reading the Noctua stats it seems my Arctic ones are better (vs. Redux range), I am not sure what would be a good upgrade

PieEater · 5 Jul 2020 at 17:29

Perhaps start off with why you feel you need to upgrade, I assume you are not happy with certain temperatures, which ones in particular?

Personally with an air cooler I would suggest you may be better off with just the front intakes and the rear exhuast along with removing any spare metal at the back below the exhaust (blanking plates etc.) so you have a direct front to back airflow bringing in cool air and blowing out the heated air. The top exhuasts may seem like a good idea but may in fact be inturrupting the optimal front to back airflow

When you're at this level of cooling you are best checking out doyll's guides this one is just an overall but covers the baiscs - https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770

EsaT · 5 Jul 2020 at 17:41

Unless front fans are running clearly faster than exhausts, there's negative pressure with air getting sucked out without actually having cooled anything.
Especially second top fan farther from rear just can't get heated air to exhaust.

Trojan Horse · 5 Jul 2020 at 19:54

PieEater said:
Perhaps start off with why you feel you need to upgrade, I assume you are not happy with certain temperatures, which ones in particular?

Personally with an air cooler I would suggest you may be better off with just the front intakes and the rear exhuast along with removing any spare metal at the back below the exhaust (blanking plates etc.) so you have a direct front to back airflow bringing in cool air and blowing out the heated air. The top exhuasts may seem like a good idea but may in fact be inturrupting the optimal front to back airflow

When you're at this level of cooling you are best checking out doyll's guides this one is just an overall but covers the baiscs - https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770

Yep, I am not happy with my CPU temps and I am not 100% sure what is causing them (Heatsink, Delid LM, case flow) so I wanted to refresh everything in one go. My GPU temps and frames are excellent ever since I UV and OC'd my Vega 64 (never exceeds 63c on Furmark), but the GPU HBM is hitting 80c so I think airflow would help

I didn't actually realise blanking plates would hinder airflow... I couldn't be bothered grabbing them so I just screwed in a spare Ethernet PCIe to cover it lol. I will remove the spares and see if it helps.

My logic behind the top fans are that my CPU basically sits under my desk and there is a lot of space on top but the rear is like 5-10cm away from the wall.

I post more detail about the CPU heatsink here - https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/alpenfohn-k2-liquid-metal-upgrade.18892432/#post-33742261

Case setup here:

Trojan Horse · 5 Jul 2020 at 19:56

EsaT said:
Unless front fans are running clearly faster than exhausts, there's negative pressure with air getting sucked out without actually having cooled anything.
Especially second top fan farther from rear just can't get heated air to exhaust.

so you think removing the top fans will fix it?

also is there any fair way to test if there is negative pressure? i could always smoke and see the clouds go

koolpc · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:05

Dont like that setup in your case. Very crowded for a start.

Trojan Horse · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:06

koolpc said:
Dont like that setup in your case. Very crowded for a start.

well then make some suggestions

koolpc · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:11

Buy a better case and a better CPU cooler

Trojan Horse · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:13

koolpc said:
Buy a better case and a better CPU cooler

the Alpenföhn k2 mount doom is one of the best

what case then? I think you excel in being helpful - the 300R is a well reviewed case

I followed the fan setup here, which had many punters saying that it was a good setup
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/fan-placement-in-carbide-300r.18558140/

koolpc · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:17

Pic is upside down of your case Tro?

UnworthyBean · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:17

Try taking the 2 top fans out or just unplugging them and see how it affects temps. I added 2 in my setup and it raised temps noticeably. Might make them worse but you haven't got much to lose.

koolpc · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:25

UnworthyBean said:
Try taking the 2 top fans out or just unplugging them and see how it affects temps. I added 2 in my setup and it raised temps noticeably. Might make them worse but you haven't got much to lose.

I agree. Too much exhaust going on

EssexBoy · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:30

I got two fans on top going in and out to help the cpu cooler try that before removing them completely.

Would try and remove that HDD cage to if you could.

koolpc · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:31

Pic wrong way atound

EssexBoy · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:33

koolpc said:
Pic wrong way atound

What's you point 90% of people know it's upside down.

koolpc · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:36

Put it right.

Sloppy otherwise

EssexBoy · 5 Jul 2020 at 20:38

I'll put it right when you change your location to Under The Bridge.

alec · 8 Jul 2020 at 09:10

As a previous owner of Vega64, easy to point to it as the main source of heat in the case.

To improve CPU situation, you need to make sure cpu cooler is not using any air pre-heated by GPU.
EssexBoy suggestion is the quickest, change direction of one fan. Provide CPU with cool outside air directly.

See if there is a difference.

Meanwhile not much you can do with Vega temps and Ryzen temp spikes when boosting.

doyll · 8 Jul 2020 at 11:51

Having intake and exhaust side by side creates a circle of airflow. Fan intake side is lower pressure than exhaust side, so higher pressure air from exhaust side of one goes to low pressure intake side of other.

I've also had problems with top intake just in front of cooler fan caused by intake airflow moving past front of cooler fan creating turbulence and not entering cooler as it should.

As already said, cable management will help a lot. It's amazing how much turbulence cables cause, and how much they will lower airflow. Good example is have you ever seen a snow fence or sand fence? It's slatted or board fencing used to disrupt smooth airflow, slowing it down so blowing snow or sand settles on ground (see below image)

I would also remove unused PCIe back slot covers. I know they have some holes in them, but removing them will more than double airflow through them, thus improving front to back airflow around PCIe cards and help move heated air back and out of case.

Attached link below to basic guide to how airflow works and how to optimize case airflow might be helpful too.
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770

C64 · 13 Jul 2020 at 20:17

try 2x 140mm at front and just one back top exhaust or 1x rear if it doesn't fit
looking at your setup be better off having a rear 120mm exhaust as a 140mm wont fit will it at top back ? I'd wager just running 1x rear exhaust and 2x 140mm will give the same temps as 1x rear 2x top and 2x front

I'd also remove that hdd cage if it can be and bungee mount any mechanical hdd in the 525 bay
removing that cage would have the biggest impact