So I just got my new rig, slapped it together and discovered I got a whole lot of heat issues (or at least i think I have).
First of all, I'm not a modder, I might be, some day, as I find it terribly fun to just tear everything out of my casing and put it back again. However, I've been doing some minor tweaks (adding fans and stuff) so I thought I should seek some tips/advice. A brief rundown of the main stuff

E8400 (stock, but planning to O/C)
Asus P5N-D
2x2 Gb Mushkin RAM 5-4-4-12 at 1.89v
Asus EN 8800 GTS (G92) 512MB (stock for the moment)
2x 80Gb WD Caviar SATA 2.0 RAID 0
1X 160Gb Seagate SATA 2.0 for backup
CoolerMaster RealPower Pro 550w PSU

And pictures :


Front view. Basic normal casing, with no front intake vents!


Side view. ordinary vents, but rather short lower vent. The top vent for the processor sems really useful, but i'm not so sure...


As you can see, the vent extends directly over my processor, unlike my old casing and the AMD mobo, where it was misaligned


I've put the vent depth at maximum to best reach the processor HSF.


The inside view


Power supply to mobo (yes I put one of my HDD in the FDD slot. HAHA! )


Added two fans in the front


Not much gap for airflow


Made my own air filter out of old mobo padding


Source of heat.


My questions:

1. My GTS is rather long, as a result, the lower vent on the side panel is not long enough, doesn't reach the fan of the card. Should I worry about that? Additionally, is it wise for me to add my DIY "filter" for the side vents?

2. How practical is the side vent duct to the processor? Logically, it seems like a good thing, helping the processor draw in fresh cool air. However, when extended to maxmum length, it's directly in front of my rear exhaust fan. it's so close that I have to take extra care when removing the casing in order not to clip the fan (if I didn't shut down ^__^). Keep it? Remove it?

3. Adding to the previous question, I'm considering buying a third party HSF for my processor as it's running really hot. Idling at 50-53c, and after awhile of prime95, it hits 73-75. What I have in mind is soemthing like the ZALMAN 9700 LED or Artic cooling 7 extreme (whatever it's called) where airflow is from front of casing to the back. I will obviously have to remove the side duct then. Should I, in this case, due to the improved front to back airflow (exhaust fan + HSF) seal the side vents with some paper or something?

4. I've tried to be as tidy as possible with my cables. However, I'm wondering if I overdid it. Notice the arrangement of my EATX power cable. It's at quite an extreme angle. Would I be risking damaging the board in the long run? The sleeving seems to make bending and routing the cable a bit difficult.

5. I tried adding two fans in front. However, they prove to be a significant source of noise. They are louder than my GTS running at 60% fan speed (those who have a GTS will know the volume). Even if I plug the lower 120mm fan to my mobo and put a silent profile (1A, 12V ?) it's still louder than my GTS at 60%. I'm guessing it's because of the fan's mounting, where gaps for airflow are small, and the fan is mounted directly infront of a "perforated wall" haha. What can I do about this? Perhaps rigging my own cables for 5 or 7 volt would help?

6. After trying with and without the front fans, I find little difference in mobo/gc/proc temperature between both. I'm wondering if it's really worth it. I think it is, but the numbers seem to say otherwise. I can feel a stronger slow of air front the front when I switch on the two front fans (obviously) but they don't seem to be helping that much. Any reason?

7.Any (neat) ideas about heat management for the 3 main ovens which are the proc, NB and GC. As you can see my mobo places them quite near each other. The exhaust from the processor fan is supposed to "cool" the NB. Strange thing is, my mobo provides a fan for the NB, but strongly suggests only using it with when using passive or water cooling on the processor, where there will be no airflow. I sort of agree with this logic, as the NB fan is placed on top of the NB heatsink. The processor would be expelling hot air from the side fins, and the NM expelling hot air from the side fins as well, as a result, both hot air will be "clashing" of sorts. Don't know how it'll work out. I suppose if I get a 3rd party HSF for my processor, then stick on the NB fan, my problems will be solved? NB is very very hot. I can barely leave my finger there for more than 3-5 seconds. Of course, some people have thicker skin ( =

8.Any ideas how I can possibly implement a SLI 8800 GTS solution in my mobo? notice that the SATA ports on the MOBO are directly under the spot where a 2nd GTS can be placed. Nothing can be done?


Although I am worried about heat, I'm more worried about noise. Especially when I'm not gaming (so the sound of GTS cranking up when gaming is forgivable ^__^) I am very satisfied with the noise level of my CoolerMaster LED silent 120mm fan. I hope you guys can give some guidelines for me tweak my little baby a bit. My Gc is ideling at 55-56c (the fan keeps switching from 50% to 60% to drop it from 56c back to 55c, the it rises, then drops, loop)

The ideas I have now:
-Buy 3rd party HSF with horizontal (horizontal when the board is lying down) airflow to aid front to back airflow as well as cool down the processor
-Maybe cut a vent at the bottom of the casing for a bottom mounted fan to draw cool air in, as I don't want to cut the front panel of my casing. Since the GTS fan draws air from the bottom, this will help it too. How difficult is cutting? do I need special tools? would ordinar power drills with the proper heads work?
-Buy new casing Which I really don't want to at the moment. Already spent enough money. HAHA!

Any suggestions, tips, advice, rebuke welcome ( = Sincerely appreciate your time for veiwing this lengthy post.

This post has been edited by RahXeph0n: Mar 7 2008, 04:16 AM

i'm not sure, but then i think usually casings are designed to have airflow.


so if u put holes anywhere, will disturpt the flow?


unless u have a fan of course!




but then if fan pull the air out, must have air go in oso. right?

Bro my 1st question is, you hav spent alot on good hardware..why this casing? A Coolermaster Centurion 5
ATX Mid-tower Case whould hav been cheap and good enough...

Haha. I sort of expected this question. Truth is, I was in a hurry, Low Yat didn't seem to have any nice casings (the only one I like is the Cooler Master Cosmos) within my budget. So I thought i'd just buy some cheapo casing first, and upgrade the casing later. However, now I feel like that would be quite a waste, and I've got to save up money for some other things that came up instead, so I'm sort of stuck with this. To further kill off my budget for a new casing, my penryn e8400 is hotter than i expected, so any extra money will now go to getting a good HSF first. I think it's fun that I can play around with this casing first. If I break/spoil/scratch any part of my casing, won't be so upset. hahaha. I actually do like the clean symmetrical look of this casing. I find much of the casings too "busy" hehe. I'm fussy.

Edit: Took a look at the centurion 5. The non symmetrical front makes it rather un appealing aestheically to me. haha. Grrr. Any other suggestions? the functionality of the centurion 5 is well noted. ( =

This post has been edited by RahXeph0n: Mar 7 2008, 01:55 PM

Well bro you change to 3rd party HSF first should cool down your proc easily.Later save your money and buy cosmos although cable management it it wont be all that easy.If you want to SLI you will have all the space you want also.You will appreciate the space instead of working with limited space

This post has been edited by Bigblock: Mar 7 2008, 05:00 PM

Mmm. the SLI issue I was bringing up (beside casing space) is the fact that the mobo SATA ports would actually be directly underneath a second GTS. 'L' shape connectors don't solve my problem because i have 3 SATA drives. I cannot stack the L shape conectors as the ports are right next to each other. haha. I think it's just a bad choice of mobo. but Im wodnerng if you guys do mod SATA cables, and if it's possible.



A look at the SATA ports and the 2nd PCIE 2.0 port

This post has been edited by RahXeph0n: Mar 7 2008, 05:48 PM

wah so love in MOBO!

@RahXeph0n
You have great selections of hardwares, however u miss looked all the factors that u pointed in ur previous post.

Just forget about SLI, because there's impossible for the second card to be installed properly with sata connector at that location. Which is why I prefer mobo with sata connector at the edge of the mobo and point straight out ...

In term of cable management wise, u did the best you could. So bravo and be proud with it ..

For the casing wise, I think it's not the problem with the case entirely, because the type of fan and cooler used affect the thermal performance ..

Secondly, the opening for the case fan just too tight, which mean reduced airflow could be brought into the case.

Thirdly, try to avoid cooler that blow toward the mobo coz if the exhaust fan is not strong enough to pull the heat out, the case would just trapped lots of heat.

Forth, get a third party cooler to help to facilitate heat transfer for both your CPU and GPU ...

Fifth, just mod the opening for the intake fans and u should get a better result.

wat the hell, is that ultra vga

Yeah. I think SLI is impossible with this mobo. Wish I could've checked earlier hehe, but the mobo was so new. There weren't any reviews.

I'm happy with my cable management, (and hanks for the encouragement) but I'm worried that the EATX cable might be damaging the mobo because i bent it to hide behind the HDD compartment, but after going through pcitures on this forum, I see a lot of people do that, so I'm not to worried now. Was worried in the long term, my mobo might be damaged

I will buy a third party cooler. Deciding between a CM Hyper 212 or AC Freezer 7 pro

Thanks for taking the time to reply. ( = Now i can make some decisions more definitely.


Ultra? Nope. It's just a GTS

CM hyper 212 looks good and is a value buy also

Hmm, just a suggestion here,
remove the sponge I suggest,
the sponge are too thick and too packed,
means the air can barely flow it,
no doubt that u can have good air filter,
but with no air intake?


easy to test this out,
bring a 120mm and connect it,
bring it to outer casing, blow toward the sponge,
and feel whether there is air flow or not in the internal of 5.25" bay.

This post has been edited by cschun86: Mar 11 2008, 11:12 AM

There is air flow, but I tested the sponge on the processor duct/vent, and immediately my processor temp went up. haha. It works fine as a passive air intake with a fan behind, but for the processor duct, better not. ( = Reson why i put it in the front is ebcause without it, it will be very ugly (open bays) or even worse airflow (bay covers) Even with the fan behind it turned off I can feel airflow being sucked in, due to the rear exhaust fan.

This post has been edited by RahXeph0n: Mar 11 2008, 11:44 AM