Will blocking P183's top vent improve cooling performance?

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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netmask254
Posts: 141
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2008 8:51 pm
Location: Beijing, China

Will blocking P183's top vent improve cooling performance?

Post by netmask254 » Mon Sep 05, 2011 8:35 pm

Recently I got a P183v3 but not installed yet. I'm going to use the rear fan only (perhaps add a mid fan to cool VGA card) since the top fan is known as noisy due to structual drawback.

However with the top vent opened only, the air flow is somewhat strange (looks like a short cut from top to rear). Can some P18X users share the experience of whether there is cooling difference with and without top vent blocked?

Blitos
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Joined: Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:33 pm

Re: Will blocking P183's top vent improve cooling performanc

Post by Blitos » Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:55 am

Hello,
I have a P183 with the same configuration that you propose, only one fan in the back as exhaust; the top vent is blocked with acoustic dampening material.
When summer came I tried opening the top vent but the temps remained the same in idle, and 1 or 2ºC higher at load.
It's worth pointing out that I do not have any fan as intake in the front either (after test I found that it did not help temps unless above 1000rpm, that is of course too much).

My sistem is a Phenom IIX4 965 with a Radeon 5850, BTW, most of the time underclocked to remain whisper silent.

Tealc99
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Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2011 8:54 am

Re: Will blocking P183's top vent improve cooling performanc

Post by Tealc99 » Fri Sep 09, 2011 4:02 am

I never did a comparison on mine but after a few days of owning the case I just had to block it up as the top fan was too noisy and leaving it switched off just allowed dust ingress and noise to escape from my CPU heatsink's fan. It might be a little warmer inside but I can live with an extra degree or two much better than I can with the noise.

peternguyen
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Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:48 am

Re: Will blocking P183's top vent improve cooling performanc

Post by peternguyen » Tue Mar 27, 2012 3:04 am

Can anyone else add their experience to this? It seems like owners of the P183 are unanimously saying that the top fan is very noisy, and often to the degree that they will not use it. How does blocking that top fan hole affect the internal temperatures?

kuzzia
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Re: Will blocking P183's top vent improve cooling performanc

Post by kuzzia » Tue Mar 27, 2012 5:11 am

I have an NZXT H2, which has a plastic thingy to block off the top vent fan. With no fans there, I once tried to stress the CPU and GPU with and without the plastic cover. Difference? Without plastic cover the temperature was 1-2 C lower.

(only PSU fan was running, all the other's were turned off).

Subjectively, when I put my hand over the top fan position, I can feel much warmth so I guess much heat escapes the case from there.

peternguyen
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:48 am

Re: Will blocking P183's top vent improve cooling performanc

Post by peternguyen » Fri Mar 30, 2012 7:17 pm

Thanks for the post, kuzzia. Just want to get an idea of how significant of an improvement it would be to have a top case fan, and if the trade off of extra noise is worth the gain.

kuzzia
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Re: Will blocking P183's top vent improve cooling performanc

Post by kuzzia » Sat Mar 31, 2012 12:25 am

I've just recently made a mod to my NZXT H2, so it could hold a 120 mm fan in the top fan position. With only rear fan CPU temp was 56. Added the top 120 mm fan (identical to rear fan) temp reached 50. But I've not examined this thoroughly.

However, take a look at this article:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/0 ... igation/10

It investigates which fan positions are the most efficient and how the number of fans can affect temperatures.

peternguyen
Posts: 14
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:48 am

Re: Will blocking P183's top vent improve cooling performanc

Post by peternguyen » Sun Apr 01, 2012 2:14 am

Thanks for the link, kuzzia. I've finished my P183 V3 build and I have to say, it is a lot quieter than expected. In effort to keep the noise down, I replaced the rear fan with a Nexus 120mm, the top fan with a Noctua NF-S12B FLX, and also two more Nexus 120mm fans at the front where the two doors open. Also, I installed the Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler. Turning on the system, it was really quiet to me that I had to check the fans to see if they were on. But this is me coming from my old PC which was really loud. All the fans are at max, and the top fan I have no problems with. I'm going to leave everything the way it is. Maybe I should expect that people here might have different standards with regards to sound.

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