Help me optimize my airflow?

[featherwolf]

Hey guys, I'm a novice PC builder and I'm having issues with GPU cooling. I have a Sapphire OC+ Nitro RX 480 in an MATX case (Corsair Carbide 88R) with 5 120mm case fans in addition to the two fans on the card and yet it still reaches some uncomfortable temps in game (pushing almost 90C!!) I've seen builds that people have done with even "hotter" cards in cases of similar size and yet they have much better temps than me, so I'm assuming that my fan setup is the issue. My fans are setup like so:

2 120mm fans in front of case as intake

2 120mm fans on top of case also as intake

1 120mm fan in top rear of case as exhaust

 

CPU fan on heatsink is drawing air down onto the chip as well if that matters.

 

Pics attached for reference. 

 

Thanks in advance everyone!!

[g12601]

Are you sure the GPU fans are spinning. Sometimes that's the thing.

[featherwolf]

Just now, g12601 said:

Are you sure the GPU fans are spinning. Sometimes that's the thing.

Yeah the stock fan curve was definitely pretty timid, but even when I set the fans to max in Wattman and run Unigine Valley, I can't get it lower than about 84... 

[g12601]

Download HWmonitor if ,you haven't already, and see what it says.

 

[WoodenMarker]

You should flip the top fans to exhaust. A single rear 120mm isn't much for exhausting the heat. 

[LogicalDrm]

Can you remove bottom HDD cage? Doing tgat and mounting drives to 5.25" slots with adapters will give air more room to move from front to card.

[ThomasD]

9 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

You should flip the top fans to exhaust. A single rear 120mm isn't much for exhausting the heat. 

+1000

 

And if all those intake fans are weaker AF type fans then they probably are not even moving much air into the case as they fight against each other.

[featherwolf]

10 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

You should flip the top fans to exhaust. A single rear 120mm isn't much for exhausting the heat. 

Thanks, I'll give that a shot!

[ItsKevin]

You should have more fans blowing air into the case, which you have clearly done, but you shouldn't use the top fans as intake.

One google search on 'pc case fan optimization' gives images like this:

 

So in a perfect world you want to have the top fans as exhaust. but since you only have 2 intake fans doing this would force more dust into your system as there are only 2 fans blowing air into the system and 3 exhausting.

 

I would suggest removing or disconnecting the rear fan.

 

Hope this helps.

[featherwolf]

43 minutes ago, ThomasD said:

+1000

 

And if all those intake fans are weaker AF type fans then they probably are not even moving much air into the case as they fight against each other.

So are you saying that Static Pressure optimized fans are better for intakes?

[ItsKevin]

16 minutes ago, featherwolf said:

So are you saying that Static Pressure optimized fans are better for intakes?

Not necessary, Static Pressure (SP) fans are better for pushing air through radiators and heatsinks.

[ThomasD]

44 minutes ago, featherwolf said:

So are you saying that Static Pressure optimized fans are better for intakes?

Not exactly.  What I was saying there is that AF fans tend to exhibit lowered air movement in the presence of any restrictions to flow.  And when you have a bunch of fans all facing inward that can become a restriction to flow.  So the actual amount of air moving through the case might be much lower than the CFM rating of all those fans would otherwise make you think (total CFM through the case mostly being dictated by the performance of the rear exhaust fan.)

 

But, IMO, that case is pretty tight, with multiple restrictions to flow.  The first things I would try is what WoodenMarker suggested - turn the top fans around and also LogicalDRM's suggestion about removing that big obstruction (try mounting the hard drive vertically next to the MoBo).  If that doesn't improve things then I would consider replacing the intake fans with ones that have a better SP rating.