My case too hot

[Cy6nUsX1]

My case temp was running up into the 140's F !! I opened the side a little (1/2") and the temp went down to about 105F. This is during gaming. I run a PSU with 2 fans in it and (2)80mm rear fans. All fans blowing out and back. Obviously, the case is not allowing enough cool air drawn in. Should I turn one of the drive bay blank plates into an air inlet by drilling it out or should I find a way to add a fan blowing into the side window, onto the drives to help cool them off also?

ASUS MB, A8N-SLI
(1)6800GT
(3) IDE drives
(1) CD/DVD Burner
AMD64 3500+
CASE--> http://www.newegg.com/app/View...tion=11-124-099&depa=0

Opinions, Suggestions? Quiet and cheap solutions are better.

 

[Spike]

I would seriously think about adding a window mounted 120mm intake fan somewhere in the center of the window. Cutting a hole in the window should be easy and getting a good fan is pretty cheap, around $10-15 for a Panaflo M1A 120mm or a Enermax 120mm variable.

With an intake fan on the window your temps should drop remarkably, until then I would think about leaving the side off. BTW, posting temps in celcius is usually the perferred method as most of us monitor our CPU and Ambient using celcius.

-spike

 

[Mucker]

The rear fan grills on that case look very restrictive. You may want to dremel them out and get some aftermarket fan grills. Make sure there is a good opening in the front also, those grills may need to be modified too. With 80mm fans, run 4 if you can, 3 at the very least. Once you establish good airflow, things will cool down considerably.....

m

 

[akira34]

Install an intake fan in the spot provided in the case. IF you still don't get enough air into the system, install a fan in the side panel too. Running a system without any intake fans makes 0 sense. Especially when you do have a spot to put one.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: akira34
Install an intake fan in the spot provided in the case. IF you still don't get enough air into the system, install a fan in the side panel too. Running a system without any intake fans makes 0 sense. Especially when you do have a spot to put one.

From the pics it looks like that front spot is pretty restrictive. I have an old Enermax case with the same problem (it actually has room for a 120mm in front but it does squat due to poor intake vents) luckly mine came with a side window spot so that is my only intake now and it works great. The HDD's don't get cooled as well, but their temps stay low enough to be ok.

-spike

 

[akira34]

If you can't figure out a decent way to install a front fan, then DO hack up the side panel and install a fan there. I'd suggest putting it low, and towards the front of the case. That way, you'll have a better airflow in the case. You'd be amazed by what having an intake fan does for your case/system temps...

 

[h3nG]

check your room temperature...

i've ran my case with no intakes before...just the back outtake and ps, still got really good temps. also, what's the cfm on those rear fan? i notice that switching to a slightly faster one, that's not too loud and still quiet, helps a lot. silent ones dont cut it if you want really low temps.

 

[ddviper]

how can u cut ur acrylic case to fit a 120mm fan in it?

 

[Cy6nUsX1]

Yeah it looks nearly impossible to stick a fan up behind the front bezel. Also the front bezel intake slots are real small. I think I'll cut a hole in the window low and forward for a 120mm fan and add a filter of some sort to it so I dont suck too much dust in. Anyone recommend a QUIET 120mm fan for the side window and or filter. I would prefer a blue LED fan to match the rest of the stuff. Thanks....I posted in Farenhiet because my case reads in F. My room temp is about 70F.

 

[Mucker]

Here filter: http://www.aerocooler.com/shop...on=CAT&ccode=FanFilter

Here fan: http://www.aerocooler.com/shop...tion=CAT&ccode=120mmUV

m

 

[xbassman]

Originally posted by: Mucker
The rear fan grills on that case look very restrictive. You may want to dremel them out and get some aftermarket fan grills. Make sure there is a good opening in the front also, those grills may need to be modified too. With 80mm fans, run 4 if you can, 3 at the very least. Once you establish good airflow, things will cool down considerably.....

m

:thumbsup:

This will make more difference than you might think!

My wife's case is based on a similar design. Her stock fan grills were very restrictive also. I used a 3' hole saw to cut out the front and rear grills. Then I put wire grills on the back. For the front it was still restrictive because of the front bezel, so I installed some taller (1") case feet and cut out the bottom of the front bezel.

Running 4 80mm Panaflo 12L's here system temps dropped around 8C.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I see two 80mm fan holes in the rear, only one of which has a fan deployed there.

I see a likely mounting spot for a front 80mm intake fan, in front of the lower drive cage.

Let me come clean with my bias -- I HATE 80mm fans when there is some way to use 92's or 120's. I have very good reasons to despise 80mm fans. Low throughput, high-noise at high rpms.

You could conceivably install an 80mm fan in that case in the front-panel position designed for it.

OR . . . remove the drive cage, remove the front facie/bezel, and examine how you might cut a bigger hole for a bigger fan and drill the four holes to mount it. Measure the distance from the plastic bezel/facie-plate to the metal chassis to see if a fan would fit between the bezel and the chassis, so you don't have to lose hard-drive space. Or see if there is a way to make a larger fan fit in front of that drive-cage -- mounted inside the chassis as is the prevailing and conventional way of doing it.

Without fear of damaging a new case I'd paid for, I would try by hook or by crook to find a way to get a 120mm fan in front. If not that, then a 92mm fan. If not that, you would just mount an 80mm fan as the case seems to provide for.

You can then decide whether you want to simply add the extra 80mm exhaust fan, or widen the holes to fit one or even two 92mm fans. (Again, if possible, I'd try and figure a way to put a 120mm fan for exhaust out the back side of the case, but this is not always possible.)

If there is any imbalance between CFM's going in and CFM's going out, you could ventilate the side panel, filter it, and duct it to the top of the CPU heatsink fan -- assuming that is your choice of cooling technologies. This, however, will increase noise. And mount an additional fan on the side panel will also increase noise, so I would try to avoid that over ducting the CPU fan intake from the side-panel.

With two fans of any size (or a single 120 if you could fit it) in the rear panel of the case, you can then use foam-art-board to build a duct over the motherboard and around the CPU fan, so that the CPU fan sucks air "in", and the duct -- fitted to the rear exhaust fans -- channels the air from the CPU heatsink fins immediately out the back of the case.

 

[pol II]

This may go without saying, but be sure that your internal wiring is neat and unrestrictive.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Doesn't go without saying, and good point, but his problem seems to be insufficient airflow through the case (intake and exhaust). After that -- worry about your wiring.

 

[Mucker]

Good points fellas, I am no fan of 80mm's eiher (no pun intended )

m

 

[Cy6nUsX1]

Well, the case came with one 80mm and I added a second rear 80mm. Since the temp dropped by about 30 F with the side panel opened about 1/4" I figured that there is not enough air coming into the case....the case is under a vacuum; more air going out than can get in. I really like the look of the case and it was cheap so I figured I would need to tweak it a bit to get it to flow right. I really lilke the idea of a bottom vent by raising the case up a little and drilling out the bottom. When I switch to SATA drives, the wiring will be MUCH neater. Right now, it is as good as I can get it to be with those flat IDE cables folded away as neatly as possible. I can try to add a fan to the front but even then, the front panel is VERY restrictive and I am not going to hack that up. Is the idea of a 120mm side window fan worth any merrit? I would place it forward and low; blowing into the side of drive cage. I realize now that 120mm will give more air with less noise but I am already on the 80mm highway so to speak....thanks for the filter link too.

I will use my dremmel to open up the rear fan outlets also.

 

[Cy6nUsX1]

I added an 80mm intake fan in the lower front edge of the side window. The case IDLES at about 76degF the processor idles 36C now!! During heavy games the case can get up to about 98F and the CPU gets to about 51C with a CPU fan speed of about 3000. I use the Asus Q-Fan that adjust fan speed with temp. The side fan made a huge difference. Thanks.

 

[Mucker]

:thumbsup: