Need advice on better cooling my "hot box"
Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 1:43 am
Hello everyone, I'm new here, this is my first post, so treat me gentle! Also, excuse my terrible English please!
I'm upgrading my everyday desktop PC occassionally, and now with the latest addition (replacement of 9800GT OC + Arctic Accelero TwinTurbo against a GTX460 OC from Gigabyte), it got to the point where the heat building up inside the case is too much for the basic ventilation. This shows as the GPU is running ~75°C under full load (while others with the same GPU report 60-is temps), the CPU is getting to around 62-63°C too, and the MCP78 to 70°C, even the PSU is running warm (even at idle!), and once I stop the load on everything, it cools down rather slowly.
Unfortunately, most of my components are quite hot running parts, as if I were deliberately picking the hottest possible components... My case also has a lot of drives and wires and cables inside, and sound damping too, and no room for hiding the cables either. So it's far from being optimal.
When it gets hot (mostly when gaming), it is also terribly loud, but that's because of the PSU - it's got to be a hidden Jumbo Jet inside!
All in all, I want to improve cooling, and if possible, reduce the noise, and hiding those cables would be nice, too.
This is what I got: http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/5399/desktoppcn.jpg [Large picture warning]
Case: Cooler Master Sileo 500, rear fan replaced with a Coolink SWIF2 with slightly better airflow @1000RPM
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M720-US3 rev 1.0
CPU: Phenom II X4 940 (@stock, as with everything else)
Video: gigabyte GTX460 1GB OC rev 1.0
PSU: Chieftec CFT-650-14CS
CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 64 Pro (PWM)
RAM: 2x2GB blank Kingmax DDR2-1066
HDDs: 2x WD3200AAKS in RAID0, 1x WD5001AALS in the top rack, 1x WD2500xxxx (Caviar Blue 250GB, ATA100) <--this one is very rarely used, and is turned off most of the time. (And I'm planning to add another 2 to the raid -> need a bigger case!)
The rear fans (fan+psu fan) suck the air out of the case, the front fan blows inside the case, and there are two small 4cm fans on the hard drive racks (top two units), that are also sucking air from outside, through the rack and into the case (but one of these racks is mostly turned off completely, so no fan.)
I think, the intake is inadequate. There's a "block of HDD's" right in front of the intake fan. There are a few vent holes on the side and on the bottom of the front bezel and some on the back of the case. No vent holes on the side panels or anywhere else.
I thought of getting a new side panel that has vent holes, for more fresh air.
Was looking for a new case, that's bigger and better ventilated too, but due to constraints, I only found the Antec 1200.
If you think, a new case would be the way to go, could you recommend me one?
[*] no front door
[*] 5x or 6x external 5.25" slots minimum!
[*] 1x 3.5" external slot
[*] room for 4-6 HDD's
[*] depth should not exceed 520mm -> this is where the most big tower cases fail... (width and height are not limited)
[*] cable management
[*] if possible, PSU not on the bottom, or at least not sucking air from outside -> there's way too much dust where I live
[*] no lighting, LED's, fireworks, acrylic side panels if possible.
Any help and ideas are much appreciated! Thanks in advance!
I'm upgrading my everyday desktop PC occassionally, and now with the latest addition (replacement of 9800GT OC + Arctic Accelero TwinTurbo against a GTX460 OC from Gigabyte), it got to the point where the heat building up inside the case is too much for the basic ventilation. This shows as the GPU is running ~75°C under full load (while others with the same GPU report 60-is temps), the CPU is getting to around 62-63°C too, and the MCP78 to 70°C, even the PSU is running warm (even at idle!), and once I stop the load on everything, it cools down rather slowly.
Unfortunately, most of my components are quite hot running parts, as if I were deliberately picking the hottest possible components... My case also has a lot of drives and wires and cables inside, and sound damping too, and no room for hiding the cables either. So it's far from being optimal.
When it gets hot (mostly when gaming), it is also terribly loud, but that's because of the PSU - it's got to be a hidden Jumbo Jet inside!
All in all, I want to improve cooling, and if possible, reduce the noise, and hiding those cables would be nice, too.
This is what I got: http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/5399/desktoppcn.jpg [Large picture warning]
Case: Cooler Master Sileo 500, rear fan replaced with a Coolink SWIF2 with slightly better airflow @1000RPM
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-M720-US3 rev 1.0
CPU: Phenom II X4 940 (@stock, as with everything else)
Video: gigabyte GTX460 1GB OC rev 1.0
PSU: Chieftec CFT-650-14CS
CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 64 Pro (PWM)
RAM: 2x2GB blank Kingmax DDR2-1066
HDDs: 2x WD3200AAKS in RAID0, 1x WD5001AALS in the top rack, 1x WD2500xxxx (Caviar Blue 250GB, ATA100) <--this one is very rarely used, and is turned off most of the time. (And I'm planning to add another 2 to the raid -> need a bigger case!)
The rear fans (fan+psu fan) suck the air out of the case, the front fan blows inside the case, and there are two small 4cm fans on the hard drive racks (top two units), that are also sucking air from outside, through the rack and into the case (but one of these racks is mostly turned off completely, so no fan.)
I think, the intake is inadequate. There's a "block of HDD's" right in front of the intake fan. There are a few vent holes on the side and on the bottom of the front bezel and some on the back of the case. No vent holes on the side panels or anywhere else.
I thought of getting a new side panel that has vent holes, for more fresh air.
Was looking for a new case, that's bigger and better ventilated too, but due to constraints, I only found the Antec 1200.
If you think, a new case would be the way to go, could you recommend me one?
[*] no front door
[*] 5x or 6x external 5.25" slots minimum!
[*] 1x 3.5" external slot
[*] room for 4-6 HDD's
[*] depth should not exceed 520mm -> this is where the most big tower cases fail... (width and height are not limited)
[*] cable management
[*] if possible, PSU not on the bottom, or at least not sucking air from outside -> there's way too much dust where I live
[*] no lighting, LED's, fireworks, acrylic side panels if possible.
Any help and ideas are much appreciated! Thanks in advance!