my case airflow, picture artwork inside

Ian Jones · 26 Jul 2019 at 09:48

Hi all, I have a front mounted intake 360mm cpu aio with 5 fans on (not room for 6 due to case)

3 fans on top as exhaust
1 fan at rear as exhaust.

when gaming the top left of the case is hot compared to the rest of it.

would it be worth mounting 3x120mm fans on the outside top of the case to help pull the hot air away?

or what would you recommend please?

thanks
ian

(link to my dropbox pic)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t0t3xczq0gerflb/InkedInked2019-07-26 09.33.11_LI.jpg?dl=0

PieEater · 26 Jul 2019 at 11:47

Any reason why you can't have the radiator on the top as an exhaust? It really doesn't make sense for you to be heating the case and all your components including your graphics card with hot air from the radiator, that's going to be the root of the problem which you'll need to address first.

Ian Jones · 26 Jul 2019 at 11:50

I did have it like that. But after moving the cpu rad to the front. Gpu temps were around 1 to 2 deg higher but cpu temps were around 10 deg lower with the front mounted rad

PieEater · 26 Jul 2019 at 12:54

Ian Jones said:
I did have it like that. But after moving the cpu rad to the front. Gpu temps were around 1 to 2 deg higher but cpu temps were around 10 deg lower with the front mounted rad

Doubtless CPU temps will be a little warmer with the radiator as an extract as the air will be heated by the graphics card (only when gaming) but I'm sceptical about it making a whole 10c difference, sounds like you either re-seated / re-pasted the cooler block or just moving the radiator made it sit better on the CPU. Having your GPU mounted like that is detrimental to cooling according to all the case reviews I've read / seen that cover this aspect so the fact that you had minimal difference by giving it heated rather than fresh air isn't indicative that you don't have a problem.

In my opionion the only chance you have of improving the situation if you're insistent on keeping the radiator as it is, is to replace your existing exhaust fans with something like the Noctua Industrial 3000rpm fans so that they are taking out the hot air at a faster rate than your radiator fans are pumping it in. You'll also need to remove any expansion card slot covers at the back of the case to allow cool air in. I'm not sure you'll be happy with noise levels though.

I really wouldn't run my rig like that as it runs contrary to everything I understand about cooling but if that's what you want to do then you will have to accept some compromises with heat / noise.

Meddling-Monk · 26 Jul 2019 at 13:15

Are you unable to place the rear exhaust fan inside the case itself? Right now that fan is attempting to pull through the case, which will limit its effectiveness in most cases.

Also agree with @PieEater in that the vertical GPU tends to make it harder to cool. Also, it takes up more space, preventing sub solutions like installing fans in the PCI slot area to help airflow above and below the GPU, since the GPU exhausts a fair bit of heat back into the case, and your main intakes have been warmed up.

What CPU are you using that you would prefer 10C lower temps for it over an overall cooler case?

Ian Jones · 26 Jul 2019 at 13:53

I have a i9 9900k.

From watching vids on YouTube etc the front mounted cpu cooler worked better.

I'll try and move the rest exhausted to inside the case. On the old board there was not room, so had to have it in the outside.

When gaming the cpu temps are around 55 deg and gpu 60 deg

Ian Jones · 26 Jul 2019 at 15:31

just been modding the case, and have trimmed the case metal mesh from the rear and top exhaust. so now there is nothing between the fans and inside/outside of the case. This should help the hot air flow out more easy.

The front intake has only a mesh dust filter between the fans and outside. but will keep that in place

Ian Jones · 26 Jul 2019 at 15:43

Meddling-Monk said:
Are you unable to place the rear exhaust fan inside the case itself? Right now that fan is attempting to pull through the case, which will limit its effectiveness in most cases.

Also agree with @PieEater in that the vertical GPU tends to make it harder to cool. Also, it takes up more space, preventing sub solutions like installing fans in the PCI slot area to help airflow above and below the GPU, since the GPU exhausts a fair bit of heat back into the case, and your main intakes have been warmed up.

What CPU are you using that you would prefer 10C lower temps for it over an overall cooler case?

added this to say, when i swapped the cpu aio from top mount to front mount, I was running a i5 3570k, oc to 4.2 ghz, 5.1 turbo. and my temp differences was from that. When i up graded o the i9 9900k and aorus master, I just left the cpu rad at the front