Noctua Industrials - Issues

Dirk Diggler · 8 Feb 2020 at 10:32

Current setup:

Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
X470-i (ITX)
3700x
1080ti (Founders)

Cooling (all Noctua Industrials A14 & F12)

Front - 2x140 intake
Base - 1x120 intake
Rear - 1x140 extract
Top - 3x120 extract

The problem is the top fans. I have a temp sensor situated in the middle of the case, and as soon as the top fans start to spin up the case & components get hotter. Is this down to the static pressure of the fans? Are these only for use with radiators?

I bought the Noctuas for cooling radiators but thought they would do a job for air intake/extract also?

Dirk Diggler · 8 Feb 2020 at 11:15

Efour said:
That defies logic. Lol. Even the wrong way round they would cool the inside.

I know, I wasn't expecting this which is why I'm confused. And they are definitely set to blow air out.

Dirk Diggler · 8 Feb 2020 at 11:49

The probe is tested and fine.

@EsaT that's interesting, I could be pulling the cool air that the front fans are bringing in, straight back out. Maybe I would be better having the top fans as intake? Or, possibly better just leaving them switched off? I'll test with one rearmost fan as suggested.

Related question: how many fans can we safely connect to a single motherboard header?

Dirk Diggler · 8 Feb 2020 at 16:39

LuckyBenski said:
Personally I found ambient case temperatures best with a straight across airflow pattern. Have a fully water cooled CPU/GPU setup with 360mm in front and 120mm rear radiators. I had a 120 and 140 fan in the top of the case.

I tried all sorts of combinations of intake and exhaust, in radiators and roof fans. Temperatures varied 1-2°C. But when I disabled the roof fans and closed vents, with front intake and rear exhaust config, case internals must have dropped almost 10°. Measured via chipset temperature but also I have the Alphacool Nexxxos GPU block which is a giant aluminium heatsink. That went from almost painful to touch, to just toasty.

I'm fairly convinced that totally linear airflow is the ideal if you want to catch every component/case region.

Makes sense, I take it by "closed vents" you mean blocked off the top of the case? I'll give that a try, too.

And yes, the 10C difference is just about what I'm seeing.