How do you get the most out of your cooling?

jack.m · 23 Aug 2011 at 13:35

Hey guys all of the computers i have built in the past have ran quite hot and the cable management has been very poor. What is your favorite way to increase the airflow on your system and can you recommend any good cases for cable management?

RiseAgainst · 23 Aug 2011 at 13:57

Fans? :L
But seriously cable management is important and make sure you follow the general rules of air flow.
Intakes : Front , side
exhaust : Roof, Rear
If possilbe get something like akasa vipers and a pwm splitter, that way your fans will run slow and quiet when they are not needed then will spin up when your cpu gets hot. Or a fan controller if you prefer more control
Viper fans http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-059-AK
PWM splitter http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-031-AK

Tekgun · 23 Aug 2011 at 14:11

What RiseAgainst said also cable ties.

Hagar · 23 Aug 2011 at 16:59

I'd recommend my aluminium Lian Li V1000+ but it is a bit old hat now. It has loads of ventilation, two 120mm slow fans provide good airflow and a bit of modification gives good cable management. Best of all the CPU is at the bottom of the board because it is inverted in the right side of the case. This puts it in direct line with the airflow fans and the GPU is above it so the heat rises away from the CPU cooler. It also looks neat.

mayebaza · 24 Aug 2011 at 22:42

An overall draft, blowing air in the case upwards over the components that generate heat, from the front to the rear, always produces the best results in cooling and quietness. Inside your case needs to be like catching a chill from sitting in a drafty room because someone left a window slightly open.

Below is picture of my old set up. Even in this warm weather with a max overclock on my CPU and two graphic cards in crossfire, I can only reach 51 degrees at full load.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Gigabyte GA-MA790FX-UD5P, 955 BE(C2)@ 3.92GHz 1.52V, G. Skill RipsawsX 8GB DDR3-1600,
Geil Value 4GB DDR3-1600, ATI 5850 1GB(Crossfire), CM90 II Advanced, 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black,
4 HDDs, XFX 850W BE, Asus Xonar Essence STX, BlackGold HD DVB-T2, Dual Digital DVB-C.

RiseAgainst · 24 Aug 2011 at 23:03

sorry if thats your rig mayebaza but that cable management is just horrible :/

mayebaza · 24 Aug 2011 at 23:22

With the temps I getting out of a first generation Phenom II who cares, I must be doing something right

mickyflinn · 24 Aug 2011 at 23:23

You can have as much cable management as you want, but a decent case with good cooling and cable managemnt is the answer.

mayebaza · 24 Aug 2011 at 23:34

Because the picture is taken head on, the cables appear to be blocking fan air flow, which is no so, it the flash on the camera creating extra shadow making the cables look more busier than they are in reality. There is a lot of more hardware than the average machine, fax, sound card, TV card, card reader, floppy.....

RiseAgainst · 25 Aug 2011 at 02:32

Yeah i mean its all about the temps

i prefer to have everything as cablemanged as possible but hey each to their own :L

SeraphX · 25 Aug 2011 at 09:14

more fans are generally good, but having them all working together is better, cable management also plays a pretty big part, hide more cables behind the mobo tray for uninterrupted airflow,

i also find more fans exhausting hot air will keep things cooler than just making sure you have fresh air being pulled in, so my little White midgard case has 2 intakes and 3 exhausting, 1 out of the back, and two 120mm's in the roof of the case