Fractal Design Define 7 Cooling

Rensin

Rensin

Rensin

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15 Feb 2008
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Hi,

Is there anyway of improving the cooling on a Fractal Define 7?

I'm using the case for a homeserver with 8 drives in the bays.

The 3x 140mm fans in the front are keeping the drives cool but no air is getting through the bays into the motherboard area, have tried adding a 120mm fan to pull air through but made no difference.

On the image below the red area is where the heat is sitting, there is no GPU and CPU is only a 3400G.

PCI cards installed are:
RAID card (I suspect most of the heat is coming from this as is very hot to touch)
2x tv cards
1x NIC

Fans are:
3x Noctua 140mm 3000rpm (intake)
2x Akasa 140mm

 
Rensin said:
The 3x 140mm fans in the front are keeping the drives cool but no air is getting through the bays into the motherboard area,
Click to expand...

If no air is getting through to behind the drives then the fans aren't doing a very good job of cooling the drives. There needs to be a decent gap between the drives. The big metal plate on top isn't there just for fun.
 
Quartz said:
If no air is getting through to behind the drives then the fans aren't doing a very good job of cooling the drives. There needs to be a decent gap between the drives. The big metal plate on top isn't there just for fun.
Click to expand...
Ah yes, I see what you mean.

I've checked the case today and can see there is only 3-4mm gap between the top of the hard drives and bottom of the drive trays.

For now I've added 2x 120mm fans blowing directy over the PCIe cards but with the side panel off.

I guess I'll have to go looking for a different case with better cooling and multiple drive support.

thanks for the reply.
 
Try removing PCIe slot covers and see if this improves airflow in red area. I know stock covers are vented, but they still block about 60-70% of airflow an open slot gives. ;)

What do temps do when case front door is open?

Maybe move front 140mm fans to bottom and top as intakes. HDDs don't need much airflow so using top and bottom as intake will likely flow enough air thru front to keep them cool.
 
You can get 'pci fan mounts' that might help move the air, it's not really going to add any extra cooling from fresh air but it would move the air which is stagnant at the bottom and should help with the 'hotspot'.

Also I'm guessing the front fans are maybe more airflow focused, you could try static pressure type fans at the front to push more air through the case.

Could you reorder the pcie cards so the raid is at the bottom, it's probably acting as a 'wall' to the heat rising too.

Is there a fan in the rear of the case? I'd add one there if you haven't got one too.

Rather than buying a new case you could modify the case you have, 140/120mm hole plus screw holes and a fan cover to protect fingers.... if you've got basic diy skills it could save you money and save you the hassle of finding a new case (not an easy job to find a decent server case imo)
 
doyll said:
Try removing PCIe slot covers and see if this improves airflow in red area. I know stock covers are vented, but they still block about 60-70% of airflow an open slot gives. ;)

What do temps do when case front door is open?

Maybe move front 140mm fans to bottom and top as intakes. HDDs don't need much airflow so using top and bottom as intake will likely flow enough air thru front to keep them cool.
Click to expand...
Case door is always open, CPU is only a 3400G so maxes out around 65°C but rarely sees over 30% usage.
lsg1r said:
You can get 'pci fan mounts' that might help move the air, it's not really going to add any extra cooling from fresh air but it would move the air which is stagnant at the bottom and should help with the 'hotspot'.

Also I'm guessing the front fans are maybe more airflow focused, you could try static pressure type fans at the front to push more air through the case.

Could you reorder the pcie cards so the raid is at the bottom, it's probably acting as a 'wall' to the heat rising too.

Is there a fan in the rear of the case? I'd add one there if you haven't got one too.

Rather than buying a new case you could modify the case you have, 140/120mm hole plus screw holes and a fan cover to protect fingers.... if you've got basic diy skills it could save you money and save you the hassle of finding a new case (not an easy job to find a decent server case imo)
Click to expand...


I've bought a PCI fan mount which holds 2x 120mm fans, it's mounted in the verticle PCIe slots blowing directly over the cards and has made a big difference but this is with the side panel off.

As I say it's the h310 hba that is generating the most heat, this has been repasted but not enough room to mount a small fan to the heatsink. (a 2nd h310 will be added once I sort the heat problem)

Having looked at other cases, agree there is no point in changing as they are similar layout and will have the same problem not to mention the hassle of changing over.

As I've already damaged the side panel (somehow managed to sit on it) have decided to drill some holes for the vertically mounted 120mm fans rather than cut it all out ... hopefully won't make a mess like my last attempt :) than have the top 2 fans removing the air.
 
Rensin said:
I've bought a PCI fan mount which holds 2x 120mm fans, it's mounted in the verticle PCIe slots blowing directly over the cards and has made a big difference but this is with the side panel off.

As I've already damaged the side panel (somehow managed to sit on it) have decided to drill some holes for the vertically mounted 120mm fans rather than cut it all out ... hopefully won't make a mess like my last attempt :) than have the top 2 fans removing the air.
Click to expand...

Assuming you have the extra pci slots, you could try making a shroud (cardboard should work as a test). Take out the rear covers, fit shroud under 2x120 pci mount... essentially channel the air from the back instead of the side.

Drilling holes works. careful on the sizes as too big means dust, too small means no real air flow...


And add in the rear fan, you'd be surprised how much of a difference that can make.
 
Are you blocking off any unused fan intakes at the front / floor near the front?

I've have a Define 7XL and before that a Define 6 and for both I had to block unused intakes in these locations as I found a lot of the fan output was going straight out there and not across to the rear of that case.

This made a significant difference to air flowing from front to back and the hotspot at the bottom was fixed. I also aim for a very much positive pressure arrangement to ensures air comes in through filtered front fans only (PSU aside) and out through all slots/holes at the rear and rear exhaust fan.
 
What Simon42 said.
Sealing off all openings in intake fan panels forces air fans push into case to move on thru case and out. Holes leak air from inside of case out, often into area intake fans are drawing air from, so less air flows to components. Holes in case near intake fans end up letting air fans push in right back out, often ending up going in circles around and around thru fans instead of flowing thru case and supplying cool air to components and coolers.
 
Using plasticard I've block off all the fan intakes in the bottom of the case, above the top hard drive and also added a piece to the side of the hard drives to stop the air flowing to the back of the case.

I'll see how it goes over the weekend before attacking the side panel with the drill.
 
Sorry to bump this old thread but looking for a bit of advice. I'm considering the Fractal Define 7XL case but I don't find the manual that clear.

I'm thinking of a 360mm AIO cooler but I also want to use the 5.25" for a DVD drive. What is the manual referring to in the image below? It is saying the RAM can be a max of 36mm high or is saying you need to use a slim AIO? :confused:
Fractal-Define-7-XL-question01.jpg
 
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