My altered cooling setup

Gig-O-Ram · October 7th, 2006

Well, by altered, I just mean I added two more fans to my case!

I was finding that I didn't like the temps I was seeing on my video card and chipset, as opposed to the temps for my other hardware. My mobo, cpu, and hdds all stay in the 30°C range, but the vid card and especially the chipset would tend to run in the mid to high 40s.

I had two 120mm fans that I wasn't using for anything, so I just threw them into the case. I have one mounted (if you want to call it that) and angled a bit right in front of a 92mm intake fan to blow right at the chipset. My idea was that if I can increase, and hopefully direct more air to it, that I could lower it's temps. It worked, because I brought the idle temp down from average 113°C to as low as 100-102°. Loaded temps got as high as 118°C, and have come down to 106-108.

I had another 120mm placed in front of the video card, and had it angled right below the gpu, aimed right at it. That would bring idles to around 36°C and loaded as much as 65° when playing FEAR, generally less with other stuff. I've since added a USB 2.0 PCI adapter card, so now there isn't as much room for the fan to be angled, and there is less room for airflow in and out from the gpu, so those temps are a bit harder to manage, but still stays around 40° idle.

So all totaled, I now have 11 fans in my case. 4x 92mm, 4x 120mm, PSU, GPU (VF700cu LED), chipset.

Jokerswild · October 7th, 2006

Thats a lot of fans doesn't it run noisy?

Gig-O-Ram · October 7th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jokerswild

Thats a lot of fans doesn't it run noisy?

If I have all the fans running on full 12V, then yes - it is quite noisy, to where you can hear my rig in the next room. But if I have them turned down, it's not bad.

Jokerswild · October 7th, 2006

Ok I didn't know you had fan control. Still thats a lot of fans.

polobunny · October 8th, 2006

Too much fans IMO. You could probably manage better temps and less noise with just good positioning.
For example, my rig:
-1x120mm Antec TriCool in the back (medium setting)
-1x80mm Zalman in the front
-1x80mm in my Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W
-Side panel has holes (dismounted fan duct)
-CPU heatsink is Thermaltake Big Typhoon (1x120)
-ATI Radeon x1900XT has stock cooler

I run my video card undervolted and underclocked while doing 2D, fan at 60%.
Temps are ~40C for GPU in 2D and max 60C in 3D (put fan to 85%). When going to sleep I put it in "2D mode" and turn fan down to 30%, temps idle ~45C.
CPU (Athlon X2 2.7ghz, 1.5v) 43C at full load.
250Gb SATA @ 27C idle (right over Zalman fan)
40Gb IDE @ 34C idle

Case is Antec SLK1650 (mid-tower) so it isn't the coolest case. See picture for whole setup (except side panel)

Edit: Oh yeah the ghetto fan duct is there to stop the 120mm in the back from sucking the CPU cooler air. Not that it took alot of air from it (because the holes in the side panel are right over the CPU cooler) but it helps.

halutzparilla · October 8th, 2006

nice polobunny... its really ghetto man... you could at least made some air duct of your own with a like run with dremmel and some spare spare boards lying around your house... just a suggestion... and after that you could post a article guide here...

well back to the topic... yeah its noisy to have a lot of fan... mine reaches 50C even with the 2 thunderirds and zalman cpu cooler have...

Marvin The Martian · October 8th, 2006

How about this for some cooling.....

Was just for some benching sessions, but damn it made some noise. Good case benching setup to ;)

Edit: just incase, you're still missing 1x120 + 1x80 from psu and 2x120 from rad... Ow and that dust on those 80mm, well I was to lazy to clean em before I made the shot :p

Tyreal · October 8th, 2006

It depends on what you consider noisy. I'll list all my fans and what they are set at:

PSU fans - 2
CPU fan - Panaflo 92mm High Speed
Exhuast - Panaflo NMB-MAT Ultra High Speed - 7v
Intake - 2 80mm Sunon fans
Side panel - Antec Tricool 120mm @ medium
Videocard - Zalman VF900 @ Full

Thats alot of fans, but the noise level is probably only 30-35 dBa. If I get rid of the 92mm (which I will be soon enough) its gonna get alot quieter. The Panaflos at 7v are the secret. They are so quiet, and push so much air at this voltage.

Marvin The Martian · October 8th, 2006

That's 8 fans, I got 12 when I want to bench hard ;)

Also, my cm fans aren't exactly as quiet as your sunon's for instance I recon.

Edit: wait, this shot was with the asrock, now with the ds3 add one noisy 60mm fan I slapped on the nb.. makes 13!

Tyreal · October 8th, 2006

How many fans do you run on days when your not benching?

October 7th, 2006	#1
Gig-O-Ram As stated in the avatar: Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Out here in the New Mexico desert. Posts: 806	My altered cooling setup Well, by altered, I just mean I added two more fans to my case! I was finding that I didn't like the temps I was seeing on my video card and chipset, as opposed to the temps for my other hardware. My mobo, cpu, and hdds all stay in the 30°C range, but the vid card and especially the chipset would tend to run in the mid to high 40s. I had two 120mm fans that I wasn't using for anything, so I just threw them into the case. I have one mounted (if you want to call it that) and angled a bit right in front of a 92mm intake fan to blow right at the chipset. My idea was that if I can increase, and hopefully direct more air to it, that I could lower it's temps. It worked, because I brought the idle temp down from average 113°C to as low as 100-102°. Loaded temps got as high as 118°C, and have come down to 106-108. I had another 120mm placed in front of the video card, and had it angled right below the gpu, aimed right at it. That would bring idles to around 36°C and loaded as much as 65° when playing FEAR, generally less with other stuff. I've since added a USB 2.0 PCI adapter card, so now there isn't as much room for the fan to be angled, and there is less room for airflow in and out from the gpu, so those temps are a bit harder to manage, but still stays around 40° idle. So all totaled, I now have 11 fans in my case. 4x 92mm, 4x 120mm, PSU, GPU (VF700cu LED), chipset. If it's not fixed, then don't broke it!

October 8th, 2006	#6
halutzparilla ako the pinoy Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: by the beach Posts: 1,694	nice polobunny... its really ghetto man... you could at least made some air duct of your own with a like run with dremmel and some spare spare boards lying around your house... just a suggestion... and after that you could post a article guide here... well back to the topic... yeah its noisy to have a lot of fan... mine reaches 50C even with the 2 thunderirds and zalman cpu cooler have... Abit IP35-E C2D E6750 G0 @ 2.66ghz [TR Ultra120EX] EVAG 8800GTS [TR HR03] Corsair [2gbDual@800] 820GB HDD[120/200/500] Antec TP 550W Silverstone Temjin 09 Saitek Eclipse1 & Razer DeathAdder Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit

October 8th, 2006	#7
Marvin The Martian Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 29	How about this for some cooling..... Was just for some benching sessions, but damn it made some noise. Good case benching setup to ;) Edit: just incase, you're still missing 1x120 + 1x80 from psu and 2x120 from rad... Ow and that dust on those 80mm, well I was to lazy to clean em before I made the shot :p Bye bye

October 8th, 2006	#8
Tyreal Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: British Columbia, Canada Posts: 2,557	It depends on what you consider noisy. I'll list all my fans and what they are set at: PSU fans - 2 CPU fan - Panaflo 92mm High Speed Exhuast - Panaflo NMB-MAT Ultra High Speed - 7v Intake - 2 80mm Sunon fans Side panel - Antec Tricool 120mm @ medium Videocard - Zalman VF900 @ Full Thats alot of fans, but the noise level is probably only 30-35 dBa. If I get rid of the 92mm (which I will be soon enough) its gonna get alot quieter. The Panaflos at 7v are the secret. They are so quiet, and push so much air at this voltage. I Like Watercooling. D-Tek Fuzion, MCP655, MCR220

October 8th, 2006	#9
Marvin The Martian Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 29	That's 8 fans, I got 12 when I want to bench hard ;) Also, my cm fans aren't exactly as quiet as your sunon's for instance I recon. Edit: wait, this shot was with the asrock, now with the ds3 add one noisy 60mm fan I slapped on the nb.. makes 13! Bye bye

October 7th, 2006	#2
Jokerswild ButtHead Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 5,057	Thats a lot of fans doesn't it run noisy?

October 8th, 2006	#5
polobunny T-Rex Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 4,595 Blog Entries: 6	Too much fans IMO. You could probably manage better temps and less noise with just good positioning. For example, my rig: -1x120mm Antec TriCool in the back (medium setting) -1x80mm Zalman in the front -1x80mm in my Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W -Side panel has holes (dismounted fan duct) -CPU heatsink is Thermaltake Big Typhoon (1x120) -ATI Radeon x1900XT has stock cooler I run my video card undervolted and underclocked while doing 2D, fan at 60%. Temps are ~40C for GPU in 2D and max 60C in 3D (put fan to 85%). When going to sleep I put it in "2D mode" and turn fan down to 30%, temps idle ~45C. CPU (Athlon X2 2.7ghz, 1.5v) 43C at full load. 250Gb SATA @ 27C idle (right over Zalman fan) 40Gb IDE @ 34C idle Case is Antec SLK1650 (mid-tower) so it isn't the coolest case. See picture for whole setup (except side panel) Edit: Oh yeah the ghetto fan duct is there to stop the 120mm in the back from sucking the CPU cooler air. Not that it took alot of air from it (because the holes in the side panel are right over the CPU cooler) but it helps.

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