Antec Flexible Spot Fan Question

[Dolorous Dave]

So just out of curiosity, I threw one of these into my case so that it blows over the memory, CPU and Northbridge of my DS3. I'm running a Core 2 Duo E6400 that was loading under Orthos at approx. 56-58C.

With this little spot fan installed, I seem to be loading at 46C. Is it possible that such a tiny little addition into an already cramped case could cause such a huge temp drop?

Pic:

Fan in case

 

[WoodButcher]

Yep, get rid of the ribbon cable too. Round ide cables allow for better airflow. The top front is a hotspot in many cases.

 

[Zepper]

Sure. Cases develop hot pockets and eddies. A mixer fan can make a big diff. I've been waiting for somone to do one of those flow-powered rotating louver bezels on a fan for a mixer (or a small oscillating fan) to mount inside the case for a mixer.

.bh.

 

[Dolorous Dave]

Originally posted by: WoodButcher
Yep, get rid of the ribbon cable too. Round ide cables allow for better airflow. The top front is a hotspot in many cases.

Ooo, good idea.

 

[Dolorous Dave]

So actually, it seems to only lower load temps by about 3 or 4 degrees after Orthos has been running for a couple hours. But still, that's a nice improvement for $12 bucks.

 

[MDE]

Your CPU fan looks like it's positioned to blow towards the front of the case, fighting with the rear case fan for air. Flip the heatsink around and see what that does to the temps.

EDIT: Putting your IDE drive in the lower cage will help with clutter and get the ribbon cable out of the way of airflow. You can sneak it into the cage area without cluttering anything up or blocking airflow.

 

[Gautama2]

Yea.. my first thought was wtf your freezer is on backwards

 

[Dolorous Dave]

Wait, what? Are you kidding? I thought the fan-side on the Arctic Freezer Pro was the side that the air blows OUT of.

 

[Dolorous Dave]

Holy ******, I'm such a dumbass. It's in a diagram right on the freaking box.

 

[Gautama2]

Blowing air through the fins is much more effective than pulling it, feel which way the air is being blown if you don't believe me.

 

[Dolorous Dave]

My case-flow goes from front to back. I've got the stupid effing thing on backwards and I'm 4 hours into Orthos. ARGGGGGHHHHHH

 

[Dolorous Dave]

Ok, I turned the HSF around the proper way (not feeling as much airflow but it's running low RPMs even at load with a 48C temp on the cores using TAT. I moved the Spot Fan to a place where it's blowing air down on the GPU and Northbridge. I hope that doesn't whack out the airflow situation--doesn't seem to be so far.

 

[azzameae]

I got one of those spot fans free with my case (Antec Nine Hundred). I too have been impressed with the difference it made to my temps, especially my 8800gtx

 

[Dolorous Dave]

So having the spot fan pointed directly down at the Northbridge won't mess up my airflow, will it? At 3.2GHz I'm at 47C fully loaded in Orthos and 31C idle. That sounds pretty good for a setup that's only been running for 48 hours, right?

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Dolorous Dave
So having the spot fan pointed directly down at the Northbridge won't mess up my airflow, will it? At 3.2GHz I'm at 47C fully loaded in Orthos and 31C idle. That sounds pretty good for a setup that's only been running for 48 hours, right?

It shouldn't.

 

[Dolorous Dave]

woot

 

[MDE]

I guess turning the heatsink around helped a bit

 

[Dolorous Dave]

Haha, you got that right! Dropped it 10 degrees. Oh and as far as the IDE drive, I had it up near the CD-ROM because the IDE placement on the DS3 sucks for reach. I went out and got a special cable with much more room so I was able to move it back down to the HD cage and clean everything as evidenced by this picture:

Case Interior