Help me setup my fans

[x]

Hi,

I have this case:

https://kolink.eu/portuguese/case-2/midi-tower-2/inspire-k4.html

I had one back fan only and had installed a m.2 heasink due to drive's temperatures.

The case can take these fans:

3 x 120 mm (front)
2 x 120 / 140 mm (top)
1 x 120 mm (atrás) (back)

I now have

1 x back (out)

1 x top - inflow near the front of the case (in "front" of the CPU) - Should I go with out and move it to "top" of the CPU cooler?

3 x front (in)

They are properly setup (right flow direction...).

They are connected to the MB with a fan hub power by the molex cable and setup to PWM. It's working properly and I can adjust (the system too) the speeds just fine. I have it setup to the MBs default cooling "graph" and have tested is through software too and it adjust just fine.

However, the results are a little underwhelming. I'm not getting a huge amount of cooling (apparently). The m.2 was up to 90ºc (and slowing) with no heatsink, up to 76ºx with heatsink and 74º with heatsink and fans.
But overall the system is running rather chill. I think the top has been arounf 76ºC for the GPU and the CPU has been to a very cool 60ºC. Albeit I might not have done very rigorous testing.

I think the case's design is not amazing for airflow The front of the case has a "plastic" cover that might be hindering. The air intakes for the front are the tiny side grills and a big opening at the bottom of the cover. At the top, the fan is closest to the front (I figured more "fresh" air for the CPU).
Should I just remove the cover? Honestly, I don't need it. It's not even "visible" to me the way the computer is sitting. The only thing I would be "missing" on is the LED strip that most of the times I turn off (and it keeps turning one on it's own).
I would also like an extra back fan, but that's what I have.
The fans are an artic P12 at the back and the 3xfront + 1x top are Mars Gaming MF-PWM.

Am I just getting too caught up on this. The "top" temperatures have been detected while I've been playing Days Gone (yeah, new GPU and CPU and I've been wanting to play this game).

[BurakZG]

Just make an experiment.
Remove 2 top fans from front, leave only 1 on the bottom of the front.
Put those 2 fans to the top cover to blow the hot air out.
Try and tell us the difference.

If you have any sort of dust filter on top, remove it. It is not needed. The dust will not go inside if the air is going other direction.

[_I_]

what fans do you have?

what style cpu cooler?

the case looks to have filters
if it has front filters, leave the rear fan at the rear, and add the extra fans 120/140 at the front as intake, so incoming air is filtered to help prevent dust buildup inside

if it has a filter under the psu, mount that so it takes in air from the bottom and exhaust out the back, for its own cooling from outside air

there is always a big debate over pos vs neg pressure in the case
if the case has good filters pos pressure, so any incoming air is filtered
if no filters, neg so heat is pulled out and any vents take in air

but with most cases, front/bottom are intake, and top/rear are exhaust
only exceptions are some lianli where they design the case for weird airflow, front exhaust

[x]

Originally posted by BurakZG:

Just make an experiment.
Remove 2 top fans from front, leave only 1 on the bottom of the front.
Put those 2 fans to the top cover to blow the hot air out.
Try and tell us the difference.

If you have any sort of dust filter on top, remove it. It is not needed. The dust will not go inside if the air is going other direction.

Thanks,

Like so, I guess:

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/aYNyorVp9WkYpmMbYMwnHa.jpg

Not sure if having 2 on top will be worth it as there isn't anything at the front of the MB. I'll go with 3 on front and on (outwards) on top and one at the back (outwards) and see how it goes.

Thanks.

[BurakZG]

Yes. I have such setup, without intake in front. It works fine. It is also very quiet, since the top fans can spin slow or medium. The hot air accumulates naturally below the top cover. If you don't let it out quickly, it will warm up everything inside.

[x]

Originally posted by _I_:

what fans do you have?

what style cpu cooler?

the case looks to have filters
if it has front filters, leave the rear fan at the rear, and add the extra fans 120/140 at the front as intake, so incoming air is filtered to help prevent dust buildup inside

if it has a filter under the psu, mount that so it takes in air from the bottom and exhaust out the back, for its own cooling from outside air

there is always a big debate over pos vs neg pressure in the case
if the case has good filters pos pressure, so any incoming air is filtered
if no filters, neg so heat is pulled out and any vents take in air

but with most cases, front/bottom are intake, and top/rear are exhaust
only exceptions are some lianli where they design the case for weird airflow, front exhaust

Hi,

Fans are 1 Arctic P12 (already had this one) at the back and 4xMars Gaming MF-PWM (both 120mm). There is no intake at the bottom, apart from the PSU intake (PSU shroud) and minor holes.
The front intakes are not filtered apart from a "grill" like plastic on the cover (have to see if I can get some mesh to fit there). CPU cooler is a DeepCool Gammaxx 400 V2 and the m.2 heatsink is a Thermalright TR-M.2 2280 TYPE A B.
From what I've seen I should have set the top fan to outwards instead of inwards. I will start with that.

All in all, I think the only thing heating up a bit now is the m.2. But I have to admit, about 15ºc less with only a heatsink is crazy. Supper happy.

I'm honestly convinced the "issue" is the placing of the m.2 slot sandwiched between the CPU and the GPU, plus getting the GPUs hot air. Sadly I have no extra m.2 slot and only one PCIe x1 slot free. I know I could get an m.2 slot on a PCIe x16 slot, but not sure if it would work (decently fast) on a PCIe x1 slot. I know there are some cards for it.
But also maybe this m.2 runs a little hotter than others. It's cheaper for a reason, I guess. Oh well, 3 year store warranty is good though. As long as I don't need to reinstall windows and stuff... at least all the important data is always backed up.

[_I_]

if the m.2 drive is under the gpu, set the gpu fans min to 15-25% so its always putting some airflow over the m.2 heatsink

[x]

Originally posted by _I_:

if the m.2 drive is under the gpu, set the gpu fans min to 15-25% so its always putting some airflow over the m.2 heatsink

It's actually just over the GPU and gets most of the hot air blow into it. I still think the cooling on GPUs is badly designed to work with current motherboards (wrong direction of airflow) but I can't change the world...

[C1REX]

Originally posted by x:

Hi,

I have this case:

https://kolink.eu/portuguese/case-2/midi-tower-2/inspire-k4.html

I’m personally a bit crazy about good airflow and would either change the case for remove the front panel and left the fans unprotected but at least able to do the job.

Or drill a lot of holes. Super ugly but more air and still some protection.

[_I_]

the front intake area is fine, it has vents on the sides and bottom to take in enough air

but more top fans might be better, since it doesnt really need cool air coming in from front
neg pressure would pull air in from the rear io and front

setting the top fan curves to sb/cpu socket temp should be ok
and rear to cpu temp

what cpu cooler?
you can mount the cpu fans as low as possible to help put some air over the m.2 drive

[x]

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-explains-geforce-rtx-50-double-flow-through-founders-edition-cooler-design

Here.

I think my MSI RTX 5060 is more or less like the Dual Axial Flow example. I know there is always a trade off, but the only airflow that makes sense to me is the Blower example (in most current case setups). Probably the less efficient though. But having a GPU blow hot air onto the m.2 (m.2 can easily be placed elsewhere with MB design) and the CPU is not ideal.

Actually, I would design the MB so that the GPU would be at the very top and all that hot air would be blow outwards to top of the case.

[x]

Originally posted by _I_:

the front intake area is fine, it has vents on the sides and bottom to take in enough air

but more top fans might be better, since it doesnt really need cool air coming in from front
neg pressure would pull air in from the rear io and front

setting the top fan curves to sb/cpu socket temp should be ok
and rear to cpu temp

what cpu cooler?
you can mount the cpu fans as low as possible to help put some air over the m.2 drive

The CPU cooler is a Deepcool gammax 400 V2

https://www.deepcool.com/products/Cooling/cpuaircoolers/Gammaxx-400-Blue-CPU-Cooler/2021/125.shtml

[_I_]

yea put the fan as low as possible, or pull from the back instead of push from front
push vs pull makes no difference

many of the newer gpu designs have the heatsink go beyond the pcb, so it passes air up off the end of the gpu, instead of cycling it around below the gpu
ex. https://cdna.pcpartpicker.com/static/forever/images/product/43adfbaa509268cd36f0b68008fdb371.1600.jpg

[x]

Originally posted by _I_:

many of the newer gpu designs have the heatsink go beyond the pcb, so it passes air up off the end of the gpu, instead of cycling it around below the gpu
ex. https://cdna.pcpartpicker.com/static/forever/images/product/43adfbaa509268cd36f0b68008fdb371.1600.jpg

It's exactly that type design. I think its not great. Would be if the PCIe slots were up top allowing the air a direct route out. It really "grinds my gears" that manufacturers don't pay attention to these "little" issues.

[C1REX]

Originally posted by x:

Originally posted by _I_:

many of the newer gpu designs have the heatsink go beyond the pcb, so it passes air up off the end of the gpu, instead of cycling it around below the gpu
ex. https://cdna.pcpartpicker.com/static/forever/images/product/43adfbaa509268cd36f0b68008fdb371.1600.jpg

It's exactly that type design. I think its not great. Would be if the PCIe slots were up top allowing the air a direct route out. It really "grinds my gears" that manufacturers don't pay attention to these "little" issues.

That’s why this previously popular design is slowly going away and all new cases come with mesh front and decent air flow.
In your case (pun not intended) there is another factor of good nvme heatsink that cheap motherboard ignore.

[Monk]

It's a bad case for any kind of aur flow, sadly, but, just do front intake and the rest exhaust, it's not that serious as you aren't going to be running any crazy hardware that requires any specific areas of attention abd, if you are, you can afford to buy a better case.