fan directions?

i was just wondering if there was a better way to cool my pc, here's how i cool it now. the large arrows indicate the flow of the air, the holes inticate the available fan holes. as of now, the right side hole has a weird size (60 or 70mm?) fan, the left side hole has a 120mm fan, and the 2 back holes have 80mm fans. the extra hole on the bottom is right below the PSU and can have only a 120mm fan. there is also a vent right above the PSU that looks like it could hold a fan, but its just a vent.

(fyi, the picture is looking at my computer from the top)

 

You need to state also the position of your graphics card and its cooling requirement along with the position of your power supply and its airflow.

The principle is to draw cool air from somewhere, pass it over the items to be cooled, and blow it straight outside the box without passing over another temp critical component.

 

my graphics card is in the middle of the mobo (pci express x16) and the fan on it is pointing to the left. my power supply is fanless, if i were to install the 120mm fan on the bottom it would either draw air through the psu out of the case or push air through the psu into the case (to either be drawn out by the 80mm fans in the back or through the vent in the top)

ill post actual pictures of my case later today or tomorrow.

 

okay so this is not how my computer actually stands, the view is so that you are looking at the computer from the top looking down (example: the CPU when the top cover is off is facing upwards)

i took measurements again of the 2 fans on the right and left (the 120mm and the 60-70mm) and the 120mm fan is not actually 120mm, its a weird size, like 130mm or 135mm. and the 2 fans on the back of the case are both 120mm.

the graphics card doesn't blow air out of the case or suck air in from the outside of the case, here's a link to it:http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=NX7300LE-TD256E&class=vga

 

kinda dark, but you can still see the back 120mm fans and the side 130mm and 60-70mm fans.

if i were to put a fan on the bottom of my case, it would blow air through the PSU into the case (or pull air through the PSU out the bottom of the case)

i also noticed, with this setup, that my system temps at idle were 81F for the system and 91F for the processor (93F for the processor core)

 

I agree with Halo, make the top fan blow out. By the way, for some crazy reason, most people posts computer temps in Celsius. Your temps are good as is.

E

 

for some crazy reason, switching that fan around actually raised the temp of the case and the processor around 2 to 3 degrees more.

ill let my comp run for tonight and see what temp it is in the morning

 

heres the link to my case:

http://www.pcplanetsystems.com/abc/product_details.php?item_id=210&category_id=73

 

Can't reconcile the case in the link with the tower you are describing.

Looking at your photo,

Drawing air in through the front is definitely out as there is too much packed in there.

There is another card in a pci slot next to the graphics card. I would move it down as far as possible to create as much free space around the graphics card as possible.

The 75mm to 150 mm fans scattered around the case are axial fans.
This means that air is drawn through them at right angles to the plane of the fan.

The graphics fan is a radial fan.
This means that air is drawn in at right angles to the plane of the fan but discharged parallel to the plane of the fan, through the exhaust cowling.
So any method of supplying cool air to this face of this fan, and allows the exhaust to exit stage left, is good.

The CPU fan is a radial fan which blasts the cooler fins and expects the exhausts to spread out sideways and find its own way out. You cant do much about this. This is also why the system is cooler with the top fan blowing inwards - The top fan is supplying cool exterior air to the intake of the cpu fan. Reversing the case top fan starves the cpu cooler.The top fan also has the added bonus of cooling the memory.

All in all I would say it would be difficult to improve on the layout. You could experiment with two things.

Fit more powerful fans at existing locations.
Fit cowlings to train the airflow even more rigorously.
Fit a perforated balnking plate to let the graphics fan air out.

 

to awnser studiot:

the card next to my graphics card is a modem. i don't have any other PCI slots available that are behind the graphics card, but hopefully soon i will be upgrading to DSL so i can just pull out my modem. I am also getting a 80mm fan so i will replace the 70mm with the 80mm.

whats a cowling?

whats a perforated balnking plate?

 

I can see an empty pci slot lower than the one your modem is plugged into.

A blanking plate is a cover for a hole such as the ones covering the case holes where you dont have pci cards installed. A perforated one has holes in it. Or you could simply omit one blanking plate and let the graphics fan blow sraight to the outside.

A cowling is a casing shaped to contain and direct the airflow as desired. I think I can see one around your graphics fan.
Dell in particular use these over the processor fan area, ducting straight to the outside.
You can mock something up with sellotape and cardboard to see what works.

 

i tried some cowling to make a little enclosure around the processor leading straight out one of the back 120mm fans, it actually raised the temp. of my processor, so i guess that didn't really work. i will probably get some perforated blanking plates and cover all my unoccupied pci slots with them

 

Is this computer case classified as and ATX case? The PSU in the bottom front seems quite unusual to me.

 

Speculant's case is a desktop. Sorry Speculant, I was thinking you had a tower. Where does the PSU exhaust heat at? I don't think there is much you can do to increase the airflow in your case without cutting holes and adding more fans.

Your temps seem to be good as it is.

E

 

The link shows a desktop. The sketches show a tower and spec's photo shows a tower or desktop on edge.

The link also shows perforations on the top of the case - pretty useless to stand a monitor on. Make sure they are not obstructed.

I agree with Fred, none of your quoted temps are out of court, but cooler is always better. You don't need to remove all your blanking plates, only the one opposite the graphics fan exhaust. They are generally there to keep dust out.

I would assume the top fan draws air to the processor fan intake and the back 2 fans remove the processor fan exhaust pretty smartly.
So you are left with more powerful fans if you want more air cooling.
Never mind cardboard is a cheap experiment.

 

Hmm, I believe "desktop" generally means a tower case, nowadays. Yes, no? If not, can you show me an example of a flat box type PC on the market today? rolleyes

 

okay, to clear some things up:

my case is not on newegg
my case does sit so the hight is less than the width (a "desktop", not a "tower")
i do not sit my monitor on my computer - the top is waaay too thin, it would bend, and then eventually break
the picture of my computer i took previously is from the top looking down (if the computer and the desk were not there, the camera would be pointed at the floor)
my power supply vents directly into the case (from air outside the case) or directly out of the case (from the air inside the case) depending on which way the fan is pointing. the vent on the outside of the case that the psu would suck air in or blow air out is located at the bottom of the outside of the case.

a few more pictures to clarify:

my computer and monitor:

the same picture i took before of the inside of my computer, but at a different angle:


hope this clears everything up

 

Thanks for the photos I think we have now completed the subject unless you want to try this cooling method

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=147395

 

veggie oil

yeah, i think this subject is pretty much completed