Improving case cooling

[Liquid Snake]

So, recently I've been looking to improve my case cooling. It's become an issue since I've upgraded my video card to a 9800 Pro. It produces much more heat than the 7500 I had before. Since the video card is right below the CPU, the heat coming off the heatsink is making the CPU run hotter than it previously did. I've had a few problems with games locking up after a while since I've installed the 9800 Pro. I have the Sapphire "Ultimate Edition," which is basically a 9800 Pro with the Zalman heatpipe heatsink on it.

I need a way to get the excess heat from the 9800 Pro out of the system and at the same time, improve overall case cooling. However I need to do all of this without increasing overall noise. If possible, I'd like to decrease overall system noise. I have a Addtronics <A HREF="http://www.addtronics.com/7890a.htm">7890A</A> case, which has two front 80mm fan cages, two side 80mm fan cages (where the drive bays are), one rear 80mm fan cage above the PSU and one rear 60mm fan grille near the CPU. Currently, the two front cages have PC P&C Silencer fans in them. The side cages are empty. The rear 80mm cage has a Panaflo L1A and the rear 60mm cage is empty. The PSU's original noisy fan has been replaced with a Panaflo M1A. The CPU has a SLK-800 heatsink on it with a Panaflo M1A. All of the fans are running at 12V. The M1As are obviously the noisiest fans in the system. The WD HDs are more annoying and I might replace them as well, but that's for another thread. Modding the case or replacing it completely with a better one is not out of the question.

With an ambient temp of 22C, case temp is 27C and CPU temp is 47C at idle. After about 20 minutes of UT2003, case temp is 32C and CPU temp is 61C.

So the question is, how can I improve my case cooling without increasing overall system noise?

TIA for any suggestions you guys have.

[Wombat]

If you've got the room, use 120mm fans and vent them to the 80mm fan slots. You can run them at lower rpms and get the same/better airflow with less noise. Also, a little custom ducting for either the video card of the CPU might be advised.

I'd start first though with a little underclocking, and see how bad the hit really is.

[gt40]

point your window mounted air conditioner into your open case.

[Belwarrior]

hmm as mentioned above and see if you can attach this fan on your Zalman heatpipe cooler http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/ZM-OP1.htm

[KvHagedorn]

I agree with Wombat. Modding your case to accept a 120mm fan is the simplest way. I have used a 120mm fan on each of my last three systems. They are relatively quiet (and their noise is lower in the frequency range, so not a high pitched whine) and they move a huge amount of air.

[bsdgeek]

SPCR is a good resource for silencing your PC, all sorts of info there.

[Liquid Snake]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

The air conditioner is on the other side of the room, so I can't use it to cool my PC

I'm not sure about the modding. I haven't modded any cases before, so I have no idea where to start. Replacing the case would be easier, but my case is pretty massive, and common sense tells me that it would be easier to cool a system in a large case than a smaller case. What do you guys think? Would it be better to mod my <A HREF="http://www.addtronics.com/7890a.htm">current case</A>, or replace it with one that already has spaces for 120mm fans?

I know about SPCR, but I wanted to see what MURCers would say

[Country]

I'm using a "slot fan", mounts in an empty PCI "bay" just under my 9200. The OEM fan was removed, and the slot fan keeps it totally cool. The fan also adds negligible noise.
Just a thought, you can pick these up for under $10.

[GNEP]

Or there's those Arctic Cooling jobbies (they look like the original nVidia dustbuster but are actually good and v. quiet apparently) - they expel heat from the case directly so should help.

[TransformX]

You have 2 strong intakes and only one exaust fan.
I'd mod the cage near the cpu (60mm one) to accept an 80mm fan and put a good strong (yet silent) one right there.
Exaust fans are usually more important than intake fans


If this is the right picture of your case, the most important fan is the one behind the grille below the psu.

[KvHagedorn]

And you could probably stick two more 80mm exhaust fans above the PSUs. Get out the power drill and a big titanium bit and go to town on the front there. you could easily fit one (and maybe even two, if stacked vertically) 120mm fans there. Each should suck in at least 3 times as much air as those 80mm things, and be quieter as well. mount the fans with zip ties, threaded through smaller holes drilled with a smaller bit.

The other thing is, set your ambient room temp at about 70. All this air movement means nothing if the air isn't cool.

And actually, TX.. he has 3 exhaust fans.. you gotta count the psu fans.

[Liquid Snake]

That's not quite my case. I don't have the redundant PSU option, so I have two output fans and two input fans as I said in my original post.

Here's what the CPU area looks like:

http://users.megapathdsl.net/~liquidsnake00/cpu.jpg

The PSU area looks like this:

http://users.megapathdsl.net/~liquidsnake00/psu.jpg

As you can see, it's gonna be difficult to mod the CPU area to fit a 120mm fan, or even an 80mm fan. The 60mm fan space is part of the mobo tray There are four 80mm spaces on the side of the case at the drive bays. I could probably mod the case to fit a 120mm fan at the top of the case above the PSU, and probably two 120mm fans at the front, but the problem is the CPU/northbridge/video card area. That's the hottest part of the case by far, but I can only fit a 60mm fan there.

So what do you guys think? Would it be easy to mod this case, or should I look into replacing it?

edit: I think that case is a revised version of my 7890. The current version has a 92mm fan space in place of the original 60mm one.

[Kruzin]

My cooling sollution required no modding, or adding of any fans...
I took the side off my case, and turned up the tunes to cover the extra noise

[TransformX]

Saw the picts...
Go water cooling.

[Liquid Snake]

Originally posted by Kruzin
I took the side off my case, and turned up the tunes to cover the extra noise

Yeah I do that sometimes but the other people in my house complain

Watercooling sounds neat. I've considered it before but putting water in my PC scares the hell out of me.