What to do with recirculating heat from VGA cards.

Thanks toTHG VGA Cooler Review, I plan on getting a AcceleroX2 since itll cool a lot better at max compared to the stock cooler at min, and will be a lot quieter too, dont even talk about the stock at max load, i wont put up with that.

So the big question is, what would y'all suggest to to counter the hot air being pushed in?

Off the top of my head, I think fitting a fan that blows the air towards the VGA out of the case is probably a good idea, but would anyone agree with this?

If so, what angle? which size? 90mm or 120mm fans? what speed?

I plan on having a P180.

Also worth mentioning is that I live in the carribean with no air conditioning, so I need to get very good cooling parts since the ambient temps will usually be around 80 to 90 F

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The P180 is a great case, that's what I went with my latest build. I like the case because the hdd cage and PSU housing is in a TOTALLY separate compartment at the bottom of the case. And right in between the 2 is an Antec Tri-Cool 120 cm fan. This fan is strong enough to suck air from the front of the case, drawing hot air away from the hdd's, and over the PSU. The PSU fan (most are also 120's nowdays ) takes care of the rest by exhausting it out the back. So leave the mid case fan pointing to the rear of the case.

The outer case covers are made of aluminum and a thick plastic. This is great for noise dampening. The upper chamber can house more hdds but I personnally put all 3 of mine in the bottom chamber for convenience and noice reduction. Now right in front of this upper cage is another spot to install a 120 cm Tri-cool. I put one in there and cleared it of any wiring so it can blow air over my vid SLI's. This is a crucial spot to keep clear of wires because let's face it, the vid cards can really pump out the hot air when your cleaning house with F E A R or D O O M 3 right bro :wink:

Also make sure you have another 120 installed in the roof of the case ( make sure it blow OUT OF THE CASE ). This will get rid of any heat disspelled from the cpu. Another 120 at mid level rear of the case will handle the hot air from your mobo ( make sure this is blowing out too ).

Mod your wires well and you will have NO PROBLEM playing in a climate like yours. Where I live, Ottawa Canada, we had ONE HOT MOFO of a summer this year, with a few nights temps hanging around 30 degrees celcius. And my room does not have A / C either. I was also concerned with heat but after about an hour of playing F E A R I minimized the screen, and quickly went into the nVidia panel to check GPU temps and I had GPU#1 was 69 C, GPU #2 was a bit higher cuz it's right at bottom of the case, @ 72 C.
So ther ya have it bro, hope this info helps ya, good luck.

Matter of fact the wife and I are going to Domincan Rep next week to the North side to do some scuba diving so I guess I will be in your neck of the wood huh ?
Cheers

Antec P180 Performance Case
SeaSonic S12 600w PSU
Asus A8N32 SLI S-939 (bios 1103 V02.58 )
RealTek 97 Onboard
ATHLON 64 X2 4800+ Toledo Core (AMD v 1.3.1.0/MS hotfix/ Dual Opt)
2 G's of Corsair 3500LL Pro @ 400Mhz 2-3-2-6-1T
2- BFG 7900 GT OC in SLI (NV 91.31)
WD RAPTOR 74.3 G's / XP Home / SP2 & Apps
Maxtor SATA II 250 G's /Gaming / Movies / MP3's
Maxtor SATA II 250 G's /backup (unplugged)
Sony CDrom 52X
Plextor 708-A DVD/CD rom
Razer DiamondBack Optical mouse
Logitech Z-5500 Dolby Digital 5.1 THX 500w

Reply to paybax

@mpilchfamily

Thanks for replying. Sorry if I seem like a noob but I didnt quite follow.

I have never built a duct or nothing of the sort so I would need to see something like this to understand what you are talking about. Ill search for it now at silentpcreview but if you can help me out with a link with pics, I would greatly appreciate it. I am especially dumbfounded with the foam part? where and how?

If not, could you please explain this method in a more simplistic manner?

Thanks alot

@paybax

Wow man, thanks for such a detailed reply. I was a little timid concerning the fan placement needed for overall cooling of the case but you helped clarify that part, its like you read my doubtfull mind XD. I guess that if I clear the passage towards the vid card, itll help a lot with the cooling, but pertaining to the topic I started, would you recommend adding a fan somewhere near the VGA to help the internal cooling, considering the reciculating heat cause from the aftermarket cooler.

Would you recommend using the CDROM bays to add another fan to blow air directly towards the mobo/cpu? The problem I would see with that is that it would probably add more intake than outake so I would need to get another outake in the case somehow.

About the wiring, are stock cables long enough to make my life easier when I mod the wiring? or should I get some longer ones?

Youll be scooba diving my neighboors island, I live in Puerto Rico. Have fun dude!!

Reply to gentrinity

A fan that vents to the outside & back of the case will be adequate.

Reply to Anoobis

Quote :

The P180 case comes with the duct to help cool your video card. there is nothing to build.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article249-page4.html

As you see in the pics the black box there that sites next to the PCI slot is what i'm talking about. This article is a great review of the P180.

No it does not.

Read the addendum.

They have removed it, read the article, it was pointless.

They have replaced it with a fan mount on the upper HDD cage that blows directly at the GPU.

If you get a two slot GPU solution I think that they blow air out of the case. Can post pics of a P180 if you want.

Reply to 13thmonkey

trying to dig out pictures of case so that he can see ... I posted here a while ago, search facility not good enough to ket me find them...

If you look at the pics on this thread you'll see the case, the GPu cooler would fit at the end of the HDD cage, but... in the article in SPCR it made 2-3 diff I think, not much for losing the HDD cage.

P180 build

Found them, but forgot to add them

Reply to 13thmonkey

I think i figured out a solution for this problem, so comments are appreciated!!

Again, this is using the P180 case.

I would basically remove the HD cage in the the main chamber and install a duct that would seperate the PCI slots from the northbridge and CPU. I would then make sure that the cables are arranged so that they go behind the duct to ensure no air path obstruction. I could even cut a whole into the duct to place a fan on the side panel to allow an overhead fan blowing directly onto the GPU, and that would be extreme coolig!!!

It would be making three seperate chambers for the PC case design and I would provide the main chambers intake fan for the GPU and PCI. Although the AcceleroX2 and the 120mm fan will be blowing agaisnt each other, im pretty sure that the nexus will push in enough air to blow it out of the case through the back. I dont know however whether the fan on the side panel would create a heat pocket in the duct.

Now, since Im utilizing the intake fan in the main chamber for the VGA, I would probably think it would be wise to mod a fan onto the CDROM bays, since I only plan on having one DVD burner anyway. I will go ahead and do some research on that but if anyone can provide a quick link on modding a fan onto a CDROM bay, I would greatly appreciate it.

So far, I think this is turning out to be an excellent idea, and couple that with some Sonex Willtec acousting silencing foam, plus low fan noise cause by the lack of a need for high speeds due to the excellent cooling nature of the three chambers idea, and Im going to get one heck of a quiet and cool PC. Might even overclock.

Reply to gentrinity

Well that wont be a problem with the top chamber since I would have two fans doing the exhaust while having just the heatsink fan and CDROM bay fan blowing in.

Regarding the GPU duct, then I would agree that that config would probably cause too much intake so the best thing would probably be to just leave the front fan and not install a side panel fan.

I found one but not really impressed with the cooling potential, I would prefer something with more intake flow and it can go up to about 20-22 DBs, since most of the fans im already getting are around that.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835185020

Reply to gentrinity

Quote :

Almost forgot to mention. There reaches a point when you start pushing too much air and no further cooling can take place. Once the flow of air is taking away the disapated heat as fast as the coole rcan disapate it. They you will acheive no further cooling. Unless you start dropping the tmep of the iar moving throught the system.

agree with all of your comments, the P180 is one of the best cases out there, try it at stock.

as for there is only so much benefit from moving air, that is also very very true, I idle at 32-33 with 3x120mm on low and quiet or on max and sounding like a wind tunnel, there is no difference beyond a point.

Reply to 13thmonkey

you probably don't want to cut the side panel of a P180, its a sandwich of materials and might tricky to cut well.

Reply to 13thmonkey

Im not really suggesting any mayor mods at this point. The final idea would be to be a small duct that would seperate the PCI from the CPU, and just leave all the fans as they are.

The Scythe Kama wont work anyway since I read the reviews and they dont seem to fit well with P180 case.

So the only option would be adding a regular Nexus 120mm fan and fitting it on somehow, im going over to my friends house to see his P180 and see what I can figure out.

Please dont take my insistance the wrong way mpilchfamily. Im not trying to be an ahole and ignore your advice, i really appreciate your help. I just like to go over the options before giving up, thats all.

But I get that one part!!! NO HOLE CUTTING!!!

Reply to gentrinity

Yes, you should place a fan that blows cool air from the outside towards the hot graphics card. Before my case don't have a fan on it's side to blows air to my gpus the bottom of the case will be really warm when gaming due to heat not venting out really well. Luckily my case has a 250mm side panel fan upgrade and I got that and now the heat is pushed out be forcing cool air from the outside the case. For you, mods won't be as difficult as I have done it before. With a use of the dremel you can cut a hole to the side paned and install a 120mm fan. Pretty easy job, but requires patience.

Reply to chuckshissle

Try this then;

http://www.mnpctech.com/SonexWilltec.html

Im really considering it cause I plan on installing two raptors in a raid and that will get fairly noisy. If only I could get some DB level reading for those HDs, maybe Ill check SPCR really quick.

Im planning on getting the Nexus fans, would you agree that those are the best for providing airflow while still being one of the quietest fans around? I wouldnt mind replacing all 5 fans with that one if its a lot quieter. Need to do some research on that but if you already have some links I would really appreciate it.

Reply to gentrinity

Yeah, I know I read that. I just found out that the raptor 150 has a 29 / 36 dBA level. This is directly from western digital. The review at SPCR more or less confirms this.

Check out this thread.
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=34612

It convinced me to install the Sonex Willtec.

Reply to gentrinity

Quote :

Yeah, I know I read that. I just found out that the raptor 150 has a 29 / 36 dBA level. This is directly from western digital. The review at SPCR more or less confirms this.

Check out this thread.
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=34612

It convinced me to install the Sonex Willtec.

I don't think it will help, the path that the sound takes from the lower HDD area is through the air filter and to the outside, or through the fan in teh upper cage then the air filter and the outside, so the noise will escape even if you block off the inside.

See it working first, you will be happy at stock, you may then want to mod, but I think you will get little to no benefit with damping material, as it is well damped anyway.

Reply to 13thmonkey

Actually, regarding that link provided, the P180 is designed so that those intakes have a extremely small amount of noise escaping. So i dont think it will be much of a problem. Im actually waiting for my friend to call me so i can go over to his house and give the P180 some more inspection.

Actaully, im aiming at getting cooling products that will have 20-23 dbas. So far im doing a good job at that, hence the AcceleroX2. Im still shopping around a bit for the heatsink since I have heard that I can do a little better than the Artic Freezer 7, but I dont want to blow 60 bucks on a non-overclocking heatsink like the therlmalright Ultra-120. Plus the Ninja is elusive, kinda messed up they would call it a ninja and it has disappeared from every store, except overclockers.co.uk (good luck to me if they ship to Puerto Rico). Its too sad to be funny.

Thats why I asked about the Nexus cause Ive heard good things about them

Reply to gentrinity

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/v [...] ght=raptor

This guy has a Sonata. I dont know if they are quiter than the P180s, but hes complaining about it so ill try and do something about it.

Reply to gentrinity

Well if your asking who started this topic, I did, and we are moving a little off topic. The point was to solve the heat recirculating from the VGA cards. Im currently searching for Raptor silencing options right now, so well stop this topic and stay on point if you want.

Regarding the actual topic, I think my solution will probably be worth trying, and I wont do any case modding at all, just add a few parts inside. Thats why im asking about the Nexus fans, cause im looking for a good solution for that 5.25" fan since the Scythe Kama bay doesnt seem to fit the P180.

Reply to gentrinity

Sorry I made a DUPE of my reply by mistake......... :oops:

Reply to paybax

Hey Gent,
Mpilch is right about a vent that is located near the vid cards. However I have read in other forums from dudes that have worked on this case, that this "video card duct" as they call it tends to "interfere" with the airflow from the front to back of the case. One guy remarked that he tried it WITH the fan duct installed and then WITHOUT it and the temps were almost no difference. The only sense I could make from this is that they are soo close to the cards that they actually OBSTRUCT the airflow. I have also read a review on the case and the guy reviewing it even said that it only gets in the way.
So NO, I would not recommend adding another fan near the cards, just put one in front of the UPPER hdd bay and clear the way of wires so the airflow can get at the vids.

YOU SAID "Would you recommend using the CDROM bays to add another fan to blow air directly towards the mobo/cpu?"

I SAY, no not necessary, as they are near the top and the "roof" 120 tri cool will take care of hot air near top of case.

YOU SAY "About the wiring, are stock cables long enough to make my life easier when I mod the wiring? or should I get some longer ones?"

I SAY, some of the wires will be ok but since the PSU is in the bottom of the case, one wire in particular (the 4 pin MOBO plug ) right above the cpu will be short. You will have buy an extension for it, or if your handy with a wire crimper and caps, you can make ONE wire to extend all the way. Now if you haven't bought a PSU yet, ENERMAX makes their cables ALREADY extra length for large tower cases. But if you have a PSU already then you will have to mod the wires. If memory serves me right, one or 2 of the cd rom sound cables were a lil short too. :roll:

Tell ya what dude, if you want some pics of my modded wires in my case, PM me and I will also send you a detailed instruction guide on how I wired my rig step by step. Some one else asked for it in the past so I saved it to a word doc. I would be happy to send it to ya :wink:

Mike aka paybax

Reply to paybax

Im a web designer and im pretty sure that this is a template system that some web service offers. I highly doubt that the moderators of this site wouldve gone through the trouble of configuring their own forum. Why reinvent the wheel when its already available? Thats the favorite phrase of most developers and designers.

Reply to gentrinity

Quote :

Thanks i kind of figured that.
That question has been bugging me for some time now.

I remember back in feb when I first found the forums, one of the first messages was about how the format had changed by popular request...

PM a mod, they'll know the mod who knows who knows.

Reply to 13thmonkey

Actually, I changed my mind further down the topic. The idea is not to put a second fan near the vga.

Im getting a Accelero X2 which recirculates heat back into the case, so the idea was to get a duct that will prevent heat rising to the cpu/northbridge area.

The only fan it will have is the front bay HD fan. The duct will only act a more efficient air flow director, since it will be heading directly towards the VGA.

The only thing that I am still wondering is whether I need to add an exhaust but I dont think that will be a great idea since there is enough open space for escapes if I remove the PCI metal covers.

Are we on track here? Just want to make sure were talking about the same thing.

Reply to gentrinity

wait till you see your friends...

there is a large grill at the same level as the VGA cards, and all of the PCI covers are vented too.

Reply to 13thmonkey

exactly, so I dont need an exhaust at all.

Installing an exhaust fan would probably interfere with my 1inch foam from Sonex Willtec.

Reply to gentrinity

yes more than likely it would, the grill is probably 2.5-3 inches deep.

did you look at the pics in the link to the thread I put up...

Reply to 13thmonkey

im looking, what about em?

Reply to gentrinity

just trying to show you the vga vent, Ithink that usually this is an incomer not an outgoer.

Reply to 13thmonkey

What are you saying? Thats its the gaps are too small for proper exhaust?

Reply to gentrinity

in theory, but I've yet to experiment and find out. its odd what works in theory but doesn't have quite the effect you expect in practise.

Reply to 13thmonkey

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/mod [...] light=p180

am i looking at the right pics?

if so i dont know what you are refering to

Reply to gentrinity

Hey 13th, Just wondering..... how does one include pic like the ones you did with "Click to expand" RIGHT INTO your post? I would like to do the same thing with my P180 to show Gent...Otherwise I will just PM him. I would also like to show you how I solved my wire problem like you descibed.

This will ALSO be useful to Gent and his airflow question.
Mike aka Paybax

Reply to paybax

Sorry for the completely off topic post but does anyone know if this mobos firewire is enough for capturing video, or do I need an actual capture card. I read somewhere that Firewire is a capture card in itself, I just wanted to confirm this real quick since im monitoring this thread.

@13thmonkey

Im a little confused so paybax's request might help me understand where your getting at.

Reply to gentrinity

Quote :

Hey 13th, Just wondering..... how does one include pic like the ones you did with "Click to expand" RIGHT INTO your post? I would like to do the same thing with my P180 to show Gent...Otherwise I will just PM him. I would also like to show you how I solved my wire problem like you descibed.

This will ALSO be useful to Gent and his airflow question.
Mike aka Paybax

Sorry if I've missed any replies am on gf's PC on dialup 44k, hmmm lovely and slow.

I use www.Imageshack.us, and use the very last link at the very bottom of the page, and use the img button on the forum post a reply screen. Thanks to jumping jack for teaching me that...

Which wire problem? I might be fogetting things (probably am), but wasn't aware of one.

Gent, there was nothing specific for you to see, just the layout of case plus card, so you could have a think about what to look for before you went to see your friends.

Reply to 13thmonkey

Oh ok, thanks.

Regarding the last question then 13thmonkey, will I need to install 2 small exhaust fans in the back of the case, where the VGA grill is? would that be recommended or is the opening of the grill and PCI slots enough for all the hot air to go out?

Reply to gentrinity

i'd liek to say in my defense that the upgrade is still not complete, more DVD drives, to come, so I've not tried to tidy it up yet, although I'll use that excuse next year too...

I think I remember the wire problem, the aux ATX? was that it??

Reply to 13thmonkey

dual slot VGa should vent to the outside through the second slot and pull from inside the case. What i found was that when I covered that vent my GPU temps went up, uncovered that vent they went down. So the GPu was using that vent to draw cold air in.

So i'd suggest if anything pull air in through that vent, to feed the card with 'cooler' outside air., however that might need some ducting to force it onto the GPU, as if the air is flowing too fast past the GPU intake area it may pull air out of the intake and starve the card, or be moving to fast to pulled in. so put variable fans on there if anything. This sounds very much like the original P180 design though which SPCR found did nothing.

Reply to 13thmonkey

Quote :

I'm also interested in seeing how you wiered you case.
I'm exspecting my wife to get me a P180 next month for my birthday.

Hey MPilch and 13th, and Gent,
Here are the images of my comp wire job I told you about. Now take note of the 4 pin right above the CPU. As you can see, I crimped n capped the wires and fed it up the top of the case and down the side corner out the bottom and BACK in through the side of where the PSU is. That way I did not have to make any holes in my shiny new case. :wink:

Also take note of how I kept the upper hdd cage clear of wires so fresh air can cool my dual vids too 8) Now let's see if I can upload these pics...umm be patient cuz I have never done this before :oops:

[/img]

[/img]

[/img]

Welp....looks like it worked. Keep in mind that I STILL have a bit of clean up wiring near the side and up top but I can say it's pretty much complete. Enjoy the pics.....now to get back to some SERIOUS F E A R addiction he he :twisted:
Cheers

Reply to paybax

like I said mine is work in progress, looks very good, very clean, have you tried to use the mid position fan for GPU cooling?

Reply to 13thmonkey

When you say mid position fan, are you talking about the fan duct that installs RIGHT beside the vids? Or are you talking aobut the fan that sits in front of upper HDD bays? If your talking about the later, then yes I already have a 120 tri-cool in there so it draws cool air in from the front and sails right over the vids.
If you look at the third pic from the top you'll see the lil white wire n switch for the fan speed stickin out the side.

Antec P180 Performance Case
SeaSonic S12 600w PSU
Asus A8N32 SLI S-939 (bios 1103 V02.58 )
RealTek 97 Onboard
ATHLON 64 X2 4800+ Toledo Core (AMD v 1.3.1.0/MS hotfix/ Dual Opt)
2 G's of Corsair 3500LL Pro @ 400Mhz 2-3-2-6-1T
2- BFG 7900 GT OC in SLI (NV 91.31)
WD RAPTOR 74.3 G's / XP Home / SP2 & Apps
Maxtor SATA II 250 G's /Gaming / Movies / MP3's
Maxtor SATA II 250 G's /backup (unplugged)
Sony CDrom 52X
Plextor 708-A DVD/CD rom
Razer DiamondBack Optical mouse
Logitech Z-5500 Dolby Digital 5.1 THX 500w

Reply to paybax

Quote :

When you say mid position fan, are you talking about the fan duct that installs RIGHT beside the vids? Or are you talking aobut the fan that sits in front of upper HDD bays? If your talking about the later, then yes I already have a 120 tri-cool in there so it draws cool air in from the front and sails right over the vids.
If you look at the third pic from the top you'll see the lil white wire n switch for the fan speed stickin out the side.

Actually talking about the one that sits on the 'inside' edge of the HDD cage held in by wire retainers, i.e. in the centre of the case. its the replacement for the ducted air around the GPU.

Reply to 13thmonkey

AHH Ok,
It works great. It's a perfect place for that case. The side duct is a bad place and does not even assist the airflow very well. And if you go to the website to see where it is placed, it even interferes with allowing for getting at the other componants in the case. FAr as I'm concerned, it's just a PITA !!!

Reply to paybax

I'm posting a little picture of temps under two fan conditions on a P180...

The red line is the CPU (yes I know its only speedfan temps but it'll do for this.)

I turned my rear fan on at a point in time, this is when the graph changed and the line started to rise... I waited for a while and then turned that fan off again, this is where the graph started to fall. The GPU did the opposite showing a 2C drop over a similar timescale, followed by a 2C rise when I stopped the fan again.

If I had waited longer ther would have been a greater than 1C rise I am sure as TAT was showing a move from 36 to 40 and back to 36 again.

Its a case worth experimenting with, I might even turn that fan around and see what happens. or perhaps do what gentrinity suggested and put 1-2 40mms there. Very odd results though.

Reply to 13thmonkey

@ paybax

Great case wiring.. Also superb all around.

Storm~

Reply to Storm1234

Forum Overclocking : Cooler and Heatsinks - What to do with recirculating heat from VGA cards.

Please mind