Thoughts on rad fans

stuie · 2 May 2013 at 09:12

Im considering changing my fans. For those how dont know im currently running a ut60 420 and ut60 280 off the standard nzxt fans that come with the switch. These however are case fans and have about .80 static pressure. I believe this is whats causing my slightly higher than normal temps in my loop and id like to get that fixed.

Ive seen these

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-045-BX

Which going by the specs are 2.8 mmh2o and so have 3.5 times the static pressure of my current fans.

Are they any good? Will they work well?

Im currently running push / pull with 2 extra fans one on each rad which has helped a little with air pressure, would i still need to do that with these?

Thanks

andybird123 · 2 May 2013 at 09:47

yes, they are decent rad fans, however I'm not sure that they would be a massive boost over what you currently have

how is your case set out fan wise - it could be an airflow issue rather than the fans themselves

stuie · 2 May 2013 at 09:54

3 in through the front rad 4 out through the top rad which i know means theres a negative flow issue could that be the problem?

to give you an idea of the issue at 1.2v and 4.4 clock about getting about 68c on the highest core in ibt standard. Although remember I do have two clocked 670s in the loop too

andybird123 · 2 May 2013 at 10:09

you are pulling cold air over your front rad and then dumping this hot air over your other rad, so your 2nd rad is working to a much much lesser efficiency

I always set up all rad fans on exhaust and any other fans on intake, so that you are pushing all the hottest air out of the case, OR you can put all fans on intake so that the rads are getting the freshest air, but then you are building up a lot of heat inside the case which your other components might not like (unless you take the side panel off to let this hot air escape)

you have plenty of rad for the components you have (I used to have SLI 670's too), so you definitely need to swap something around, however I'm not sure changing fans is either needed or will give you the best benefit

stuie · 2 May 2013 at 10:11

I could easily swap the front fans to pull so both the rads are dumping hot air out however that will leave me with no intake fans at all although the bottom and back of the switch isnt sealed so air will still get drawn in

andybird123 · 2 May 2013 at 10:56

I would try that first before spending money on something that may or may not work

stuie · 2 May 2013 at 11:00

isnt static pressure needed for rad fans though or is it just a matter or 1 or 2 degrees difference so not really worth it?

andybird123 · 2 May 2013 at 11:40

IF you are underspecced rad wise, you can get up to about 30% better cooling by switching to a "better" fan at the same noise level, however as you are already running push pull the effect of this will be reduced

you have plenty of rad, so fans shouldn't make a massive difference, I am thinking that just swapping fans won't get you a massive difference, you will probably get a bigger one by improving the cold-air flow over your rads... if this isn't quite enough then you could look at changing fans, but I don't think in your case that it should be neccesary

the quickest easiest route to checking this out would be to just remove your side panel and see how much of a difference it makes to temps - if that alone makes say a 5C difference then you know it's cold air related

what CPU block do you have?

as a general rule you are looking at ambient air to water temp of say 10C + CPU block resistance (e.g. 20-30C depending on overclock) = CPU temp... so if your ambient is 25C + 10C water + 30C = 65C

it might also be that your CPU block isn't great, or isn't mounted quite right? (they can be a bugger and are quite sensitive to mounting pressure, more so than air coolers for some reason)

when trouble shooting watercooling issues it is much easier if your know your water temp - you can get an XSPC temp monitor with a readout and attach it to a metal fitting and that will give you a pretty good idea of your actual water temp - if your water temp is more than 10C over ambient air temp then you know it's a rad issue, if the water temps are good then you know it's a block / CPU issue

Ivybridge CPU's are known for running hot, which is what often limits their OC to around 4.5-4.6ghz when often sandy's will go to 4.8-5.0

stuie · 2 May 2013 at 21:22

Right ive put the front rad on full blow out so im total negative pressure now, its not really made any difference. 1 maybe 2 degrees if that. Taking the side off the case again make perhaps 1 or 2 degrees difference but at 4.4 @ 1.15v after 3 hours of folding im hitting 71-73-70-65 max with my 670s at 51c on both. Ive got temperature probs in the rads and they are at 35-36-32-37-33 first 3 are top second 2 are front so the rads and the fluids are doing something the push / pull is on probe 2 and 4 and probe 3 and 5 is after that hence why i think theres a temp drop and also why i think the fans might be the issue fluid follows res/pump to probe 4 then 5 to cpu to probe 1 - 2 - 3 then to top gpu then bottom gpu and back to res. Ambient is currently running about 28c

Im going to order one of these
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=WC-202-XS&groupid=962&catid=2138
when they come into stock.
Will i need to drain the loop to add this? Ive got a spare g1/4 on top of my top graphics card im just worried opening it will pour mayhems all over the place, or will it be ok just a few dribbles like the finger over a straw in a drink? Inve also got a couple g 1/4s at the top of my front rad i could take off if that would be better