Air Circulation...Important?

[kram 2.0]

Hey,

What a difference air circulation can make to a computer...I just changed the direction of the air flow on my system so that the top fan is blowing out, and there's a fan blowing right near the HS Fan on the CPU...my Processor dropped a solid 13C...from 46C to 33C...wow. First time ever seeing a CPU temp lower than a motherboard temp. The point of this thread - adequate air circulation is crucial!

kram

[Cricket]

You had the top blowhole fan set so that it blew air in? Why?

Cricket

[glc]

System airflow should almost always be from bottom front to top rear, with more exhaust than intake.

[sataraid0]

Just an observation..........

Took the right side panel off my X-Infinity case, there by revealing the plate that the mb was mounted on. Which I believe is the case with most cases. (no pun intended)

Then took a cpu fan and mounted it facing into one of the holes in the plate right beneath the cpu mount. Plugged it into an apporpiate pin on the mb and Wow. Realized a drop in board temp of 11 deg F and a 10 degree drop in the cpu temp.

The board temp was measured with a sensor stuck to the bottom of the board and the cpu temp was measured with Sandra software.

My question, GLC is do you know if it would be worth it to cut a hole in the panel right behind the mb plate and mount a fan there. A nice looking one of course.

Also, if such a difference is realized, why arent manufactures mounting good looking fans there????

Any ideas?????????

[Tin]

if you had a fan on the side panel behind the mobo, it wouldnt be of much use since there isnt any direct path for the air to get to the compnents .

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by Cricket You had the top blowhole fan set so that it blew air in? Why? Cricket

Yeah, after thinking of that, I felt a bit...dumb. Heat of course, does rise to the top doesn't it...I think I was worried with blowing the HSF exhaust right back onto the motherboard, but doesn't seem to affect it as much.

kram

[sataraid0]

Yes there is a path to get to the mother board. If you read my post, you will see that is what I did and got 10 to 11 degree reduction in temp for the MB and CPU

[glc]

I'd bet that doing that is cooling the sensors, not the components. Sensors cannot be in direct airflow if you want them to give you accurate readings.

[sataraid0]

Hmmmm, you may be correct GLC, will check into where the sensors are located.

Seemed like a good idea, but maybe not?

[kram 2.0]

Sorry to bring up this old thread...but it further's my first post claim. I just went into my system, and casted light on the CPU/HS/HSF. There was a layer of dust, apprently, an entire layer just blocking air flow between the HSF and the Heat Sink...I cleaned all that out, took out my Radeon 9800 Pro and cleaned the dust in the fan out, and now mt system is running 32C idle - a full 7C drop. Amazing.

kram

[bailey]

yes that is a spot that is always overlooked, also inside the fins of the heat sink is another good spot for dust to settel.

[sataraid0]

In addition to my previous post here, seems that someone else had the same idea I had. The Asus P5AD2 Premium MB has a big plate mounted on the back side of the card to effectively draw heat away from the bottom side of the cpu. States this in the advertisement and says it runs cooler (I think it says about 10%) They did not go so far as to suggest adding a fan on that side of the case blowing in, but seems like a good idea to me.

Anyway, have the card for my new build and will see if in fact it really does anything.

[HAL9000]

I've always said air from front bottom to rear top, preferably more exhaust fans than intake. This ensures that there will be no dead air spots in the system. If you have more air going in than out, you get dead spots as the air has nowhere to go and collects more heat raising the system temps.

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 I've always said air from front bottom to rear top, preferably more exhaust fans than intake. This ensures that there will be no dead air spots in the system. If you have more air going in than out, you get dead spots as the air has nowhere to go and collects more heat raising the system temps.

Currently, I have one intake and one outtake and that seems to do the job just fine - 32C idle is a nice place to be

kram

[HAL9000]

Like I said... preferably... one in and one out is fine too... at least it's balanced. It's the systems I have seen where somebody has 2-3 intakes and 1 exhaust, then wondering why they have high system temps that I am referring to.

[Yuanji]

also, just as important as good circulation is, is dust management. for optimal temps, i clean out my computer every week of dust just so they don't clog up the heatsinks.