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pikaporeon
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Is there any value in a top exhaust fan for GPU noise?

Thu Feb 04, 2016 2:51 pm

I recently completed my first build in five years and am generally very happy with it, performance is good, temperatures are reasonable, and noise is "ok" - My old Radeon 6950 turned into a dust buster but since putting in a smaller and better placed R9 380X it just gets louder under loud, nothing too crazy though.

The biggest problem with my build really is airflow configuration + cable management - there wasn't much room in the Corsair Carbide 88R for my PSU's massive cables and they're very close to the intake fans and HDD cage (which is also right in front of the intake vents) - I was wondering if a top exhaust fan would help pull more air through my case and keep my GPU a bit cooler, lowering how often/loud it spins up - obviously a new fan is going to add noise, but if it keeps the GPU a bit quieter then great

The case only came stock with a single rear exhaust fan, but I've added a 120mm intake fan in the lower front intake area, and put my H75 water cooler radiator block right above that (two fans in push-pull, though with a radiator it's not offering that much cooling to the case obviously - these intakes blow more or less towards my PSU but hit my hard drive cage and my mess of PSU cables I can't easily move elsewhere.

I'll get some temperatures when I get home to see where I'm at, maybe some 'real world' testing in Rise of the Tomb Raider or something. I'm just curious if a top exhaust fan would actually give me any real benefit other than a bit of added noise.
Thanks a lot.
Hey girl you want a bad boy? I overclock my backup servers.
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Topinio
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Re: Is there any value in a top exhaust fan for GPU noise?

Thu Feb 04, 2016 4:25 pm

That case is cozy and designed for up to 2x 120 mm front intakes and up to 3x 120 mm back and top exhausts, and it looks like it has a problem feeding the GPU fan with the drive cage blocking airflow from the lower front intake and the airflow from the upper one goes mostly over the top of the card.

The marketing drivel of "[t]he smart design channels air directly to your graphics card to provide it with the cooling it needs for intense gaming" on that page is belied by the picture below where the GPU fan looks to be taking in air that's sitting above the PSU, the channeling from the lower fan drawn in looks sus to me.

So rather than going straight to adding fans, I'd probably first try putting your radiator as the bottom front intake and the 120 mm fan intake above it, if the hoses reach, hoping doing so might partially feed the GPU and hopefully cool it.

Then when that doesn't work I might try the rad as the back exhaust fan, taking the slight hit to CPU temps, and trial both 120 mm fans in the front intake positions, before adding any new fans in the other 2 possible exhaust positions at the top.

Obviously liquid-cooling your GPU would solve the problems the case gives you...
Desktop: 750W Snow Silent, X11SAT-F, E3-1270 v5, 32GB ECC, RX 5700 XT, 500GB P1 + 250GB BX100 + 250GB BX100 + 4TB 7E8, XL2730Z + L22e-20
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DPete27
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Re: Is there any value in a top exhaust fan for GPU noise?

Thu Feb 04, 2016 5:47 pm

1) You can't get the PSU cables tucked behind the mobo tray where they belong?
2) Try moving the Radiator fan to the back and having both front fans as intake as Topinio mentioned. Your H75 should have enough cooling power to deal with the slightly elevated air temps across its fins.
3) What R9-380X do you have?
4) I don't see a top exhaust fan doing much good if you've already got the 2 front intakes and the rear exhaust full of fans. That's plenty of airflow for a system like yours.
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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credible
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Re: Is there any value in a top exhaust fan for GPU noise?

Thu Feb 04, 2016 6:09 pm

Perhaps one of these would be perfect and its on sale and put the fan for it on the lower front spot.


https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-fc-r9-285-nickel


And just in case.


https://www.ekwb.com/news/existing-ek-full-cover-blocks-compatible-with-radeon-rx-300-series-gpus/
 
Topinio
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Re: Is there any value in a top exhaust fan for GPU noise?

Fri Feb 05, 2016 2:11 am

credible wrote:
Perhaps one of these would be perfect

Looks like a 380 not 380X solution.

I don't know whether EK has (FC) blocks for 380X's, as these are quite varied IME, but the configurator ought to answer the question on a specific card model basis.
Desktop: 750W Snow Silent, X11SAT-F, E3-1270 v5, 32GB ECC, RX 5700 XT, 500GB P1 + 250GB BX100 + 250GB BX100 + 4TB 7E8, XL2730Z + L22e-20
HTPC: X-650, DH67GD, i5-2500K, 4GB, GT 1030, 250GB MX500 + 1.5TB ST1500DL003, KD-43XH9196 + KA220HQ
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pikaporeon
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Re: Is there any value in a top exhaust fan for GPU noise?

Fri Feb 05, 2016 8:19 am

DPete27 wrote:
1) You can't get the PSU cables tucked behind the mobo tray where they belong?

I need to doubel check but the PSU is long enough to obstruct one of the routing holes for this, and the other is blocked by a combo of front panel cables, sata cables, and to a lesser extent the piping for my radiator. I'm going to try pulling the PSU out and feeding the cables through the obstructed hole as it slides in but I'm worried it might bend them at too extreme an angle

3) What R9-380X do you have?

This one:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as ... 1447964186
Hey girl you want a bad boy? I overclock my backup servers.
Ryzen 9 5900X | 2070 Super | 32 GB RAM | BX100 500 GB+MX500 500GB+660P 1TB
Sempron [email protected] | 2 GB RAM | 6 TB | FreeBSD 12
 
DPete27
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Re: Is there any value in a top exhaust fan for GPU noise?

Fri Feb 05, 2016 9:42 am

In a recent build I did, I ended up running the PSU cables through a gap between the mobo tray and the hard drive cage because the space behind the motherboard was far too narrow for any cables to fit with the side panel on. However, there was more space behind the mobo tray in front of where the mobo sits.. It appears your 88R has a similar layout.
Here's my build log. You can see on the bottom picture where the PSU cable is visible behind the hdd cage. Of course you'll likely only be able to install drives in 2 of the 3 hdd bays this way.

Odd that your GPU fan would spin up hardly at all, even with the fan/radiator placement you originally had.
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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pikaporeon
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Re: Is there any value in a top exhaust fan for GPU noise?

Fri Feb 05, 2016 9:45 am

The gap you routed in is solid metal in my case
Hey girl you want a bad boy? I overclock my backup servers.
Ryzen 9 5900X | 2070 Super | 32 GB RAM | BX100 500 GB+MX500 500GB+660P 1TB
Sempron [email protected] | 2 GB RAM | 6 TB | FreeBSD 12
 
DPete27
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Re: Is there any value in a top exhaust fan for GPU noise?

Fri Feb 05, 2016 12:08 pm

You can see the typical PSU cable routing from Corsair's website:
Image
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
HTPC: A8-5600K, MSI FM2-A75IA-E53, 4TB Seagate SSHD, 8GB 1866MHz G.Skill, Crosley D-25 Case Mod

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