Just removed the cage. I don't expect this made a huge difference, but my reasoning is that there was no reason not to do it. At worst it will only marginally improve airflow and turbulence.quest_for_silence wrote:did you just remove the HDD cage or did you even mount a second front intake fan?
Arctic MX-4.quest_for_silence wrote:About the thermal paste, which one did you use?
I forgot about that actually. I just gave it a go with both front-top and rear-top intakes (with no upper exhaust in either case of course).quest_for_silence wrote:And what about flipping the top fan from exhaust to intake?
Having a rear-top intake reduced CPU temps by a few degrees initially, but GPU temps increased by the same amount. As GPU temps increased, the benefit to CPU temps disappeared as the CPU cooler became hit with the heat from below. This took about 10 minutes. When I shut it down the GPU was 70 degrees and the CPU was back where it had been with the top as an exhaust fan.
Having a rear-top intake essentially led to the same process over a longer period. It took about half an hour before I shut this one down at the same temps as above. In both cases temps were still increasing when I stopped it.
I believe that air from the GPU cooler is competing with the top intake to escape, and air that is escaping out the exhaust is being recirculated in the case of the rear intake. Increasing the rear exhaust may have resolved some of this, but then it would have been unacceptably loud.
Of course, this does demonstrate potential for further improvements from more intakes, so perhaps another front fan is worth trying. I'm out of headers so I would have to split it off the first one, but that's not a big deal. The question is if it would increase volume. Only one way to find out of course.