SG Broadband Community

hey folks...built myself a new system just before xmas. Got a question about case venting. When I run the prime 95 test my VCore-1 (located just below the 80mm fan on the top left) get super hot at 58 degrees after 20 min according to the sensors on my sabertooth board. Those two top case fans are blowing out. Should I redirect the fans to blow in?

I'm no expert...
58 doesn't sound out of line when runing a torture test. You're also using watercooling which I would think would eliminate a lot of your "in case" heat build up since the radiator is blowing all that cpu heat directly out.

Why would you direct the air inward? You're trying to cool the system not overheat it.

Those top fans should stay blowing out, a front fan should be blowing in, but for watercooler, if you want to lower the temps on the cpu you need a bigger radiator, bigger reservoir, or more powerful fans cooling the radiator.

changed the fan direction to blow into the case from the top....result is that my temps on my CPU and VCORE-1 are about 5 degree's cooler now. I think why its working in reverse is that the computer tower sits in a cubbie hole in the ikea desk cant vent out properly.

My approach to the case fan direction(s) has been this...

The warm air needs to be exhausted. That's the whole point. However, sometimes you need to put cool outside air in certain areas by forcing it in. When you do this, you need to allow for the positive pressure those "in" fans have to deal with by providing a means to streamline its path out of the case.

Look at it like a guided tour through the Hurst Castle Estate. You're in a large group of people being lead into a room with lots of opulent and otherwise neato things that make the other tourists in the group stop in their tracks to say "oooooooooh!! *click-ity-click goes the camera*". Meanwhile, me and my visiting family from the midwest are still stuck only 3 inches into the room through the door and cannot get past this thrombus of people who are not moving about freely to expose themselves to whatever shiney thing is in that room (let's be honest, though... there is always more than one object per room that draws attention up there). In the past when I was there, or in any other similar situation, I wished there was a vacuum at the exit door of that room that would prevent the bottleneck from happening (i.e. sucking the doodleheads into the next room).

Aaaaanywhoos. Bizzarre analogies aside, as long as you have a source producing negative pressure (a fan(s) blowing out of the case) in your enclosure that's greater than the fans forcing air into it or at least allowing the air to not stagnate due to resistance from the "exit door", you will be able to focus cooler air in specific places and still have good case air flow.



Lotsa words there. I was bored. Sue me.

Blowing in will increase the overall average temp of the inside of your case, which will subject your HDDs to higher temps thus more problematic long term reliability.

Motherboard sensors will give a false impression of running cooler if you have air blowing on them...such as having a fan blow in and on the mobo.

The double stack fans on the radiator ...I bet the inner fan was blowing faster than the case exhaust fan..so some hot air was spilling sideways and hitting the temp sensor.
58* under prime....fine anyways...nothing to worry about....plenty of room left to get hotter yet remain safe.