Cardboard Ducts Not Working

Chocolinx · Post by **Chocolinx** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 6:45 pm

Here are my lovely cardboard ducts.

That's what's under the top.

That's what's under the bottom.

Now, to sum things up. Cardboard didn't work at all it seems. The CPU temps seem to stay the same with the ducts. One thing that did change in the top though is the HDD that's suspended in the 5.25" Bay went down by 2ÂºC

I don't know why either. Doesn't really make sense. The entire top is blowing towards the back.

Now for the bottom. Making a duct down there only increased my GPU's temps by 2ÂºC. All the air down there is blowing towards the front of the case.

So is my design just flawed like hell? Or is the material I'm using? When I do touch the cardboard it does feel a bit warm, as if it was collecting warm air instead of directing it

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theyangster · Post by **theyangster** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:47 pm

stupid question, but the rear pci slots ARE open?

is the bottom nexus fan blowing to the front?

it also may be that the artic VGA cooler is fighting for air and the warm air rising has no where to go

what i'd do, I'm the "crazy one" when it comes to ducting

just look at my sig

I think you have too many fans on top, adding noise and turbulence

on the bottom, if you're feeling...experimental, try making a duct that goes from the pci slots ( 2 slots) to the intake of the the VGA cooler.

can we get a temp reading on the CPU, MB, and GPU?

Chocolinx · Post by **Chocolinx** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:02 pm

Yeah the bottom Nexus is blowing towards the front of the case since the exhaust on the Accelero X2 is on the inside not blowing outside the back. I thought that'd make the most sense. Now as for a duct that'd be a good idea but the Accelero X2 would definitely make that a challenge for me lol.

Here are some temps with duct:

CPU idle: 39C/40C
CPU load: 48C/48C

GPU idle: 53C

MB: 37 to 42.

Without the duct system and the Bottom Fan still blowing foward:

CPU idle: 37C/40C
CPU load: 48C/48C

GPU: 50C

MB: 37 to 40.

Without the system it's slightly better. I took out the bottom front fan with no duct system and the GPU temps go up to 53C. So that bottom fan does do something, just without a duct system lol.

I put 3 fans up there because I thought it would contribute to a better push pull airflow system. But it doesn't seem to work o.O If I crank up the Arctic Cooling 120mm fan in the 5.25" bay to 12V the HDD temp drops 4C and the CPU drops another 4C as well. So the fan there does do a lot. Putting the rear fan to 12V doesn't change much on it's own.

EDIT: I Just saw your thread with your mod. What material is that you used for ducts? And could you mod my case for me too? lol

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:07 am

IMHO.....ducting sould be use for a particular result, like keeping CPU heat out of the PSU. Or maybe directing the heat off a hot GPU straight out of the case.

But you have to realize that tight ducting can restrict airflow if the intake to the duct is a bunch smaller than the fan in that duct, and the same holds true for the size of the exhaust.

Also a tight duct such as you show on the CPU, restricts the airflow over other components. Since your temps are improved without the ducts, I'd tend to blame the layout, rather than the ducts themselves. Start over with the configuration, refigure the airflow.

Chocolinx · Post by **Chocolinx** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:30 pm

I've remade my ducts and I've made incredible improvements to my temps! lol.

Now isn't that beautiful? lol It's not as cluttered as before. I took out the rear 120mm fan and the one in the 5.25" bay (Really regret it too now, I have 3x120mm fans sitting in a box now >.< wasted my money). And the bottom duct for the VGA is working a lot better.

Temps:
GPU Idle: 46ÂºC
GPU Load: 56ÂºC
GPU Temps Are Great! A whole lot better than before. Now it's only 3ÂºC more than my previous idle temp.

E6400 CPU @ 2.66 Ghz
CPU Idle 1.3125V: 39ÂºC / 40ÂºC
CPU Load 1.3125V: 50ÂºC / 50ÂºC

Eventually I want my C2D running at 2.8 which is my target speed.

My main concern now is how to get airflow to my Northbridge. The overall system temperature is still a little high. Any other suggestions on how I should go around doing this? I really don't feel like swaping out the stock heatsink like some people might suggest. Getting airflow to the Northbridge is all I want.

unimatrix0 · Post by **unimatrix0** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:29 pm

Hey why dont you have the PSU cables go from the back of the case? It currently looks sorta monstrous

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 4:38 am

If you look closer, that's good cable management. Sure, you can still see the cables, but the majority of them aren't in the way of airflow. Not everyone is anal about having their case in a "look ma, no cables" style

Chocolinx · Post by **Chocolinx** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 7:38 am

unimatrix0 wrote:Hey why dont you have the PSU cables go from the back of the case? It currently looks sorta monstrous

lol I would like to have them on the other side, but the Centurion 5 doesn't really give you that luxury lol. The other side is more or less sealed. I have one little opening at the bottom and it's STUFF! lol with lots of cables already I had no other choice but to swing the rest on the component side.

I'll try to get some more pictures of my case. The otherside is really packed in lol. And the side panels for the otherside wasn't very acoustic padding friendly.

I still need more ideas on how to get airflow to the rest of the MB. My MOBO temps are still 39ÂºC to 42ÂºC from idle to load. I rather have under 38ÂºC at all times.

UPDATE: E6400 @ 2.80 running Stable at 3.125V

theyangster · Post by **theyangster** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:22 am

looks better

does the MB temp refer to the Northbridge or is it a different sensor?

try closing off the "ramped" section from the pci slots to VGA to prevent air from bypassing the VGA cooler.

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 9:31 am

Chocolinx wrote:UPDATE: E6400 @ 2.80 running Stable at 3.125V

I can only hope that was supposed to be 1.325 V or so...

Chocolinx · Post by **Chocolinx** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:09 pm

qviri wrote:
Chocolinx wrote:UPDATE: E6400 @ 2.80 running Stable at 3.125V

I can only hope that was supposed to be 1.325 V or so...

lol Seems stable enough. 24 hours no warnings from Prime95. I saw one guy though who said he had air cooling and said he had 1.3V at 3.2Ghz. I think he was lying though because he used AiSuite to show his voltage. AiSuite on my computer lies about voltage <.< Say 1.28 when I set to 1.3125V

theyangster wrote:looks better

does the MB temp refer to the Northbridge or is it a different sensor?

try closing off the "ramped" section from the pci slots to VGA to prevent air from bypassing the VGA cooler.

It's a sensor somewhere on the Motherboard, not the Northbridge. I have no temps. for northbridge unfortunately. I wish I did. It is pretty hot though. I'll try adding more cardboard to seal it a bit more.

Still though just seems like no airflow going past the northbridge. I tried taking off the Asus cap too that on's on the northbridge but I got scared because it felt like it was ripping the northbridge off the board!

No idea how it comes off lol

cmthomson · Post by **cmthomson** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 4:57 pm

If it's a P5W DH, the covers on the north and south bridges are held on with some glue between the cover and the heat sink. Just pry the sides of the covers away from the heat sinks: sideways, then up. Don't pry away from the board until both sides have come unstuck. A small flat screwdriver would be the tool of choice.