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What's the best fan setup for an Enthoo Pro?

gurnben

Hey Guys, my personal computer is in a phanteks enthoo pro, and I am looking to improve airflow.  Right now, I have the standard phanteks 200mm fan intake in the front, a standard phanteks 120mm output in the back, and a 120mm intake for my corsair h60i in the top.  I just got my second GTX 770 SC ACX giving me a total of 2, however I found that during the heaven benchmark, the lower card reached 80 degrees C and throttled.  I know this is not necessarily a concern, because it did not exceed 80C, however I am looking for a better cooling setup and am looking at ordering some new fans.  I have a couple of options:

 

Replace the h60 intake with an h100i setup for output (although cpu cooling is not an issue, I though that this might allow for a higher overclock)

 

Replace the front 200mm with two 120mm fans

 

move the radiator to the back of the case as input or output and put 3 120mm fans in the front of the case

 

install a 120mm fan on the drive cages in push/pull configuration (least preferable of the options)

 

What would you guys recommend for better airflow?  I am not looking to break the bank so I'd like to stay well under $100USD for fans.  Also, what brand and model fans would you suggest?  My color theme for LED fans (which I would love to get) is red!

 

Thanks ahead of time!

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If you haven't already, you could try to remove one of the drive cages for improved airflow front to back. That should help with the additional heat created by second 770 SC ACX.

 

The position of the remaining drive cage may help as well but you would have to experiment with it on the top or bottom position to see which configuration helps with temps more.

Mainboard ASUS Maximus VII Hero | CPU i5-4690K @ 4.7GHz | RAM Corsair Vengeance Pro 2x4GB | Storage Kingston V300 SSD 240GB & 120GB, WD Black 1TB HDD | GPU EVGA GTX 980 ACX 2.0


PSU EVGA Supernova 850W G2 | Case Phanteks Enthoo Pro | Cooling XSPC Raystorm 750 AX240 watercooling kit / additional 2 x 140mm Bitfenix Spectre Pro Blue LED fans, 1 Cooler Master R4-L2R 120mm fan

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I have removed the top drive cage as some of my wires cannot reach the top drive cage position, and it is the most direct to the graphics cards.  I'm pretty sure it improved airflow.  Any idea what's the best idea as to adding fans?  Which drive cage would improve airflow best in your opinion?

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I have removed the top drive cage as some of my wires cannot reach the top drive cage position, and it is the most direct to the graphics cards.  I'm pretty sure it improved airflow.  Any idea what's the best idea as to adding fans?  Which drive cage would improve airflow best in your opinion?

 

Since you mentioned that the lower GPU is the one throttling, then perhaps moving the drive cage to the top position would be the most beneficial since that would allow for more air from the front 200mm to reach it. Although, I wonder if that would affect the top GPU since the airflow will be stifled somewhat by the drive cage?

 

Personally, I replaced the front 200mm with 2 x 140mm and have just one drive cage in the bottom position, thus allowing direct airflow from the top 140mm fan to my single GPU. I also moved the stock 140mm to the bottom (I am not using the PSU stealth cover) as an intake and am using another 120 in the rear as exhaust. The two 120s attached to my radiator are in an exhaust configuration. Looking at how space is virtually divided by the two front 140mm fans on my rig, it would definitely seem to be the case of not enough airflow in your situation with the drive cage in the bottom causing the bottom card to throttle.

 

The other issue that I see is your use of an intake for your CPU cooler. The overall temps inside the case will be slightly increased this way. The addition of the second GPU with an ACX cooler just increases the temps that much further. I take it you were going for a positive pressure fan set up? Unfortunately, the excess heat from the GPUs are vented into the case and I don't think there is enough exhaust to get it out effectively.

 

It may be that you will have to add a 120mm fan to the drive cage either way to get enough air flowing though to the rear to aid in getting rid of the heat generated by the two GPUs. Anyway, give it a try with the drive cage in the top position and see how that fares. If throttling is still an issue, then try with the H60 in an exhaust configuration. You could also try have a bottom intake fan in a position closest to the PSU but you would have to lose the stealth cover for that.

Mainboard ASUS Maximus VII Hero | CPU i5-4690K @ 4.7GHz | RAM Corsair Vengeance Pro 2x4GB | Storage Kingston V300 SSD 240GB & 120GB, WD Black 1TB HDD | GPU EVGA GTX 980 ACX 2.0


PSU EVGA Supernova 850W G2 | Case Phanteks Enthoo Pro | Cooling XSPC Raystorm 750 AX240 watercooling kit / additional 2 x 140mm Bitfenix Spectre Pro Blue LED fans, 1 Cooler Master R4-L2R 120mm fan

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Thanks! I will take all of that into configuration, do you think it would still be viable to move the h60 to the back and put 3 120s on the top for exhaust and 2 140s in the front for intake?

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Thanks! I will take all of that into configuration, do you think it would still be viable to move the h60 to the back and put 3 120s on the top for exhaust and 2 140s in the front for intake?

 

I do think you could run 3 x 120s on the top as exhaust and have your H60 in the rear. But I would have the H60 as exhaust as well in that rear position.

 

Eventually, I was planning on a triple 120mm rad on the top as exhaust as well so basically the same thing.

 

Thinking about it more, if you do place the drive cage on the top position to free up more flow for the bottom card, then maybe the top card won't be too adversely affected with the 140 or 120mm rear fan to service the vented heat of the top GPU.

 

In regards to LED fan options: I actually started out with NZXT Fz 140mm. They were fine...not too loud and their CFM rating was good (approx 83.6 CFM at full speed). However, their static pressure was 0.81mm-H2O...not that great. And with even with the front mesh design of the Enthoo Pro, there is still some restriction there along with the dust filter (and potential drive cage) that I felt was netting me less CFM as I desired. So I switch them out for Bitfenix Spectre Pros that have a slightly higher CFM rating (86.73 at full speed) and a static pressure rating of 1.38mm-H2O and found the feel of the airflow to be more pronounced when poking around inside the case. The difference in blade designs is quite apparent. The NZXTs having very narrow blades with significant spacing between each blade, whereas the Spectre Pros have thicker blades with much less spacing between each to account for the higher static pressure rating.

 

For LED fans, I would definitely recommend the Bitfenix Spectre Pros.

Mainboard ASUS Maximus VII Hero | CPU i5-4690K @ 4.7GHz | RAM Corsair Vengeance Pro 2x4GB | Storage Kingston V300 SSD 240GB & 120GB, WD Black 1TB HDD | GPU EVGA GTX 980 ACX 2.0


PSU EVGA Supernova 850W G2 | Case Phanteks Enthoo Pro | Cooling XSPC Raystorm 750 AX240 watercooling kit / additional 2 x 140mm Bitfenix Spectre Pro Blue LED fans, 1 Cooler Master R4-L2R 120mm fan

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