Antec SX1040

[NoVo]

I have an full tower Antec SX1040 and seem to be having some airflow problems. I have 2 Panaflos in front ( I removed the lower drive cage that had a fan behind it, so the upper 80mm fan is mounted just like the lower), and 2 80mm Panaflos in the rear. I think the heat that cannot be removed is either coming from my 9800xt (not overclocked) or the upper drive cage, which has a floppy drive, 80GB WD HDD, and a 36GB raptor. Before asked, yes the wires are very well managed are not restricting airflow as bad as they could.

Does anyone have suggestions on improving airflow with this case? This was/is a pretty popular case, and I'm hoping someone has done some modifications that improve airflow.

Also, has anyone experimented with the fans in this type of case? I'm wondering if removing certain fans will cause better pressure and cooling.

Specs:

Abit IC7
P4 2.4 @ 3GHZ
Antec Truepower 430W
2x512 Corsair PC3500
1 WD Raptor 36GB (system drive on SATA 1)
1 WD SE 80GB (secondary storage drive on PATA 1)
ATI 9800xt (not overclocked)
Audigy 2

Thanks in advance

 

[gordanfreeman]

maybe putting an exhaust fan out the top of the case? unless you dont want to mod the case at all ...

 

[NoVo]

Originally posted by: gordanfreeman
maybe putting an exhaust fan out the top of the case?

Does a top exhaust really help? I would be willing to do it, if I knew it would produce results. I'm also willing to look at other cases. Is the wavemaster any better than what I have? (airflow/cooling wise).

 

[gordanfreeman]

i wont claim to be an expert (or even know a ton) about this stuff, but from my experience i always end up with a 'dead zone' of hot air (usually the hottest pocket of air i can find in my case) between the psu and the optical drives at the top of my Antec SLK3700AMB case. seems to me, if i exhausted that hot air pocket out the top it would at least give leftover hot air from elsewhere another place to go... out the top which is where the heat wants to go anyways... up - not sideways. i have heard that top exhaust doesnt always work just like i have heard good things about it. i think it really depends on the size (height) of the case and possibly what kind of devices you have in your system, especially optical drives and PSUs when concerned w/ the top exhaust. if i remember correct the case you are describing is somewhat tall looking so this may be a benefit. not sure tho, i havent investigated the top exhaust fan idea enough to be sure.

 

[AntecCSR]

Or a fan near the Vid card (either a slot fan, or on the side panel). We still have some of the fan vented side panels in beige.

AntecCSR

 

[PCHPlayer]

I have the exact same case setup and have no problem at all with heat. As a matter of fact I just disabled the lower rear fan to reduce the amount of exhaust in order to reduce dust intake at the nooks and crannies. The temps went up about 5 F, but it is still running under 45 C under load (AMD XP 2.0 Ghz).

 

[mechBgon]

NoVo, that case cools great. Double-check that your fans are all blowing front-to-back and not fighting eachother, that it isn't clogged with dust behind the bezel, and that the air coming out the rear has somewhere to go (not jammed up as close to the wall as possible or something). I've cooled my 1030B and similar Plus880 with 18dB ultra-quiet 80mm fans and they still hold nearly room temperature in the lower compartment, and my rig has had two 15000rpm SCSI drives in it at times.

 

[ericgl]

My 9800P gives off a lot of heat, I'm guessing the XT even more so. A Arctic Cooling VGA Cooler exhausts most of that heat directly.

 

[NoVo]

My fans ARE flowing in the right direction. I really think the heat build-up is generated around my 9800XT and the two WD harddrives, which are real close together within the same drive cage. I had to do this because I removed the lower drive cage to help airflow.

Thanks for your replies. I will be receiving a Coolermaster Wavemaster today and will configure the drives further apart. I will also remove the top accessory panel and install an 80mm exhaust fan. Coolermaster says the case was designed to allow this, but I just hope it ships with the hardware necessary to install the top exhaust fan.

Thanks again