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702702
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Buidling a new rig for myself and had an airflow question.

Fri Sep 14, 2012 1:48 am

Hey guys, just an airflow question as all my research isn't turning up anything definitive.

My rig is in an Antec 1100 using a Corsair H-80 for cooling. The corsair manual recommends i use the back upper fan mount (where Antec recommends an exhaust fan) and mount the fans push pull as an intake. This would leave me with 9 120mm intake fans (four bottom front around HDD cage, two on right plexiglass window, one on MoBo side, and the two on the H80) and only the 200mm top mounted fan as an exhaust.

Would you:

Follow Antec's suggestion and make that H80 push-pull as an exhaust fan

or

Follow Corsair's suggestion and make that H80 push-pull as an intake and leave the other fans as intake as well

or

Follow Corsair's suggestion, but maybe switch the mobo upper intake into an exhaust fan?

Maybe i should have made a poll, eh? Regardless, some suggestions would be welcome i know the pros and cons of positive vs negative pressure and live in a very dusty environment for the record. Currently I'm leaning towards option 3 myself as the mobo intake fan is the next highest and would help the hot air get out faster. Any suggestions or advice would be welcome! Thanks in advance.
 
haugland
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Re: Buidling a new rig for myself and had an airflow questio

Fri Sep 14, 2012 3:26 am

If you use the Corsair's fans for exhaust, the airflow through the radiator will be hot air from inside the case. I would definitely recommend using the Corsair's fans for intake.

You will probably have to reconsider how the remaining fans should be arranged though. The power supply will exhaust air at the bottom of the case, and if you use the upper fan as exhaust as well, you could probably risk areas in the case with little airflow (exhaust at top and bottom and intake at front and back). Is it possible to install the H80 radiator elsewhere?
 
Arclight
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Re: Buidling a new rig for myself and had an airflow questio

Fri Sep 14, 2012 3:47 am

In the manual i found the following spex regarding cooling:

1 x 200 mm blue LED top fan
1 x 120 mm rear fan
2 x 120 mm side panel fans to cool graphics cards (optional)
2 x 120 mm internal intake fans (optional)
2 x 120 mm front intake fans (optional)


Source:
http://www.antec.com/pdf/manuals/Eleven ... ual_EN.pdf

So my suggestion would be to try the following config:
Short term
-reverse the top 200mm fan to intake air (but add a dust filter) - this should help cool the area around the socket, plus provide fresh air for the CPU cooler radiator.
-put the radiator on the rear fan location with fans blowing as exhaust
Long term
-populate the 2 front fan locations and put them as intake
-add a fan on the internal fan location to push air towards the video card (only if the video card's length allows it); if it's not possible install it on the side panel so it can intake air and push it towards the side of the card.
-add a fan on the side panel behind the motherboard tray to intake air towards the CPU socket (only if the cables don't cause problems; but if you do it be sure to add a dust filter).
Note:
If you add this many fans and you treasure silence, be sure to install a fan controller as well.

This config should allow you to create positive pressure and if you maintain the dust filter, the components inside should stay clean long term. Ofc watch the temps of the components, if you think there is a spot that doesn't get enough airflow, play around with the fans.
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Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.
 
Walkintarget
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Re: Buidling a new rig for myself and had an airflow questio

Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:02 am

I ignored Corsair's recommendation with my H80, as I had good enough airflow in my case to get away with it. First thing I did was replace the stock fans with AP15's (1850s) used as exhaust, and let my Level 10 GT do its thing and push a LOT of air through the case - with 3 200mm fans located in front, side and top, it was a no-brainer for me.
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702702
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Re: Buidling a new rig for myself and had an airflow questio

Fri Sep 14, 2012 8:43 am

haugland wrote:
If you use the Corsair's fans for exhaust, the airflow through the radiator will be hot air from inside the case. I would definitely recommend using the Corsair's fans for intake.

You will probably have to reconsider how the remaining fans should be arranged though. The power supply will exhaust air at the bottom of the case, and if you use the upper fan as exhaust as well, you could probably risk areas in the case with little airflow (exhaust at top and bottom and intake at front and back). Is it possible to install the H80 radiator elsewhere?


Yeah, that was my primary concern as I will most likely be overclocking her just a little. However, I was concerned about not having enough exhaust to get rid of that ambient heat i'd be pulling in over the radiator.

Arclight wrote:
So my suggestion would be to try the following config:
Short term
-reverse the top 200mm fan to intake air (but add a dust filter) - this should help cool the area around the socket, plus provide fresh air for the CPU cooler radiator.
-put the radiator on the rear fan location with fans blowing as exhaust
Long term
-populate the 2 front fan locations and put them as intake
-add a fan on the internal fan location to push air towards the video card (only if the video card's length allows it); if it's not possible install it on the side panel so it can intake air and push it towards the side of the card.
-add a fan on the side panel behind the motherboard tray to intake air towards the CPU socket (only if the cables don't cause problems; but if you do it be sure to add a dust filter).
Note:
If you add this many fans and you treasure silence, be sure to install a fan controller as well.

This config should allow you to create positive pressure and if you maintain the dust filter, the components inside should stay clean long term. Ofc watch the temps of the components, if you think there is a spot that doesn't get enough airflow, play around with the fans.


Using the 200mm as another intake strikes me as kind of counter-intuitive--not saying it wouldn't work, but at that point aren't you really fighting the natural thermodynamics of the warm air from the videocard below? As for the long term options, the plexi fans are really too low to cool the CPU socket, they're more along the area where the Video Card is going to sit. Clearly you've rung in on the side of positive pressure in the case. Thanks for the input!

Walkintarget wrote:
I ignored Corsair's recommendation with my H80, as I had good enough airflow in my case to get away with it. First thing I did was replace the stock fans with AP15's (1850s) used as exhaust, and let my Level 10 GT do its thing and push a LOT of air through the case - with 3 200mm fans located in front, side and top, it was a no-brainer for me.


I'm going to have 7-9 120 mm intake fans....maybe this will work for me.

Any other suggestions/input would be greatly appreciated.
 
Arclight
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Re: Buidling a new rig for myself and had an airflow questio

Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:04 am

702702 wrote:
haugland wrote:
[...]
Arclight wrote:
So my suggestion would be to try the following config:
Short term
-reverse the top 200mm fan to intake air (but add a dust filter) - this should help cool the area around the socket, plus provide fresh air for the CPU cooler radiator.
-put the radiator on the rear fan location with fans blowing as exhaust
Long term
-populate the 2 front fan locations and put them as intake
-add a fan on the internal fan location to push air towards the video card (only if the video card's length allows it); if it's not possible install it on the side panel so it can intake air and push it towards the side of the card.
-add a fan on the side panel behind the motherboard tray to intake air towards the CPU socket (only if the cables don't cause problems; but if you do it be sure to add a dust filter).
[...].


Using the 200mm as another intake strikes me as kind of counter-intuitive--not saying it wouldn't work, but at that point aren't you really fighting the natural thermodynamics of the warm air from the videocard below? As for the long term options, the plexi fans are really too low to cool the CPU socket, they're more along the area where the Video Card is going to sit. Clearly you've rung in on the side of positive pressure in the case. Thanks for the input!

Walkintarget wrote:
[...].


[...].



Read again "behind the motherboard tray to intake air towards the CPU socket "

As for top 200mm as intake working against natural hot air rising.....just remember that air goes where you push it.
Last edited by Arclight on Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.
 
DPete27
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Re: Buidling a new rig for myself and had an airflow questio

Fri Sep 14, 2012 9:39 am

I say set the radiator fans as exhaust, side window fan/s are intake (filters added if possible), top fan is exhaust (lowest possible rpms), front fans are intake, and ditch the fan behind the mobo. This way the side panel fans are directly cooling the graphics card and supplying cool air at the shortest possible distance to the radiator. You dont want the radiator fans blowing hot air back into your case because this will raise GPU and mobo circuitry temps. IMO, that fan behind the mobo is unnecessary and just adds more fan noise especially since it will be close to your mobo and thus have "restricted" airflow. For those who didn't bother to even look up the Antec 1100, the PSU intakes air from underneath the case and exhausts it out the back. It is completely independent of the rest of the cooling system, thus doesn't need to be considered here.

[Walkintarget]: Air penetrator fans are best used for intake because they create a nice channeled airflow but at the expense of being a bit louder than "normal" fans. (watch video) Any old fan with a high CFM/Noise ratio can be used for exhaust.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
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vargis14
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Re: Buidling a new rig for myself and had an airflow questio

Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:04 am

Hook up the push pull on the h80 as exhaust with all your intake fans you should have enough positive pressure in your case to actually improve the h80s performance. Do some tests I would even try the top 200mm fan as a intake to increase the positive pressure and again increase the h80s performance....test it first with the top fan as exhaust with a nice 15 min run of prime 95 or intellaburn....then switch the top fan to intake and do the test over and see if you get a increase in performance for cpu cooling. Also make sure you chk you graphics card temps during with furmark tests....if they are stock type coolers that exhaust hot air out of the case with a blower type fan i would try to get as much positive pressure since that will improve your graphics cooling also.
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Arclight
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Re: Buidling a new rig for myself and had an airflow questio

Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:26 am

I found this thread to be quite @topic:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1041926/how- ... rning-pics

As for the fan behind the CPU socket, to quote a random guy from another forum:
Not a well known fact,but it can make a huge difference in overclocking on some systems.Not for the CPU necassarily,but for the VRM's.Alot of heat from the VRM's is dissapated through the PCB,not just the heatsinks.I you feel the air right behind the backside of them you will see.This is not going to matter at stock clocks.By keeping the VRM's cooler you can potentially keep the power stable at higher rates."


The temp drop will be noticeable only during load and it will only be a few degrees, some claimed 5 degrees other between 1 and 3, but that's as much as adding a 2nd fan on a tower cooler......Still it's only avisable for high overclocks, for stock frequencies, absolutely not required.
nVidia video drivers FAIL, click for more info
Disclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.

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