I currently have an antec 900, the first type without the fan controlers and so on. And I also have 6 hard drives, which means that the front fans are both drawing in air over the hard drives, warming it up but also reducing efficiency, so that means the air into the case isn't as great as it could be. My current solution to that issue is to buy a fan to attack to the side window, as the mounting is there already. This would be blowing air onto my heatsink and graphics card, which should help with temps a lot. And it was while looking at fans that I came upon a couple of interesting things OcUK sell.
The first is the very cheap exhaust blower. I'm in two minds about this, firstly its going to be drawing air in and blowing it out the back of the case, which doesn't strike me as being too helpful. My heatsink fan is blowing through the heatsink, and has a case fan behind it drawing air out, as well as the large 200mm fan on top also drawing air out, so getting hot air out of the system doesn't strike me as being a problem. Plus it wouldn't be too much help with a graphics card since it will be drawing air that the card also needs to cool itself? So in the end it doesn't seem too useful, but I may be missing something!
Secondly, Antec's Spotcool. This has the advantage that I would be able to point it where needed, probably either at the ram or maybe the chipsets on my mobo. But I'm not certain if these would need it, I need to check those things before I do buy this. Reviews certainly show it to lower the temperatures of what its blown at, though this may affect cooling of other components, since it means they are dealing with warmer air?
Finally, the last thing is to work out what 120mm fan to get for the side. Given there's £15 difference between the cheapest and most expensive, I have no idea what I'd be looking for, besides speed. Is it simply a case of faster fans = cooler = nosier? I may grab another 120mm for my cpu heatsink as well, as it has room to mount 3 if I really wanted to, though that would be a little too far. On the other hand, I'm not sure if a second woud benefit much, since with the 900's rear case fan being right at the top, and the but 200mm fan at the top as well, most air is going to be moving over the heatsink anyway? I'm not sure.
Anyway, thanks for listening! I'm considering selling some of the hard drives, and replacing them with larger ones, so I have the same space just with less drives to interrupt the airflow. Plus it'll cut down on cables as well, as my case is a mess and there isn't really anywhere to stick them.
The first is the very cheap exhaust blower. I'm in two minds about this, firstly its going to be drawing air in and blowing it out the back of the case, which doesn't strike me as being too helpful. My heatsink fan is blowing through the heatsink, and has a case fan behind it drawing air out, as well as the large 200mm fan on top also drawing air out, so getting hot air out of the system doesn't strike me as being a problem. Plus it wouldn't be too much help with a graphics card since it will be drawing air that the card also needs to cool itself? So in the end it doesn't seem too useful, but I may be missing something!
Secondly, Antec's Spotcool. This has the advantage that I would be able to point it where needed, probably either at the ram or maybe the chipsets on my mobo. But I'm not certain if these would need it, I need to check those things before I do buy this. Reviews certainly show it to lower the temperatures of what its blown at, though this may affect cooling of other components, since it means they are dealing with warmer air?
Finally, the last thing is to work out what 120mm fan to get for the side. Given there's £15 difference between the cheapest and most expensive, I have no idea what I'd be looking for, besides speed. Is it simply a case of faster fans = cooler = nosier? I may grab another 120mm for my cpu heatsink as well, as it has room to mount 3 if I really wanted to, though that would be a little too far. On the other hand, I'm not sure if a second woud benefit much, since with the 900's rear case fan being right at the top, and the but 200mm fan at the top as well, most air is going to be moving over the heatsink anyway? I'm not sure.
Anyway, thanks for listening! I'm considering selling some of the hard drives, and replacing them with larger ones, so I have the same space just with less drives to interrupt the airflow. Plus it'll cut down on cables as well, as my case is a mess and there isn't really anywhere to stick them.
