Shift X Cooling Layout

wANKER · April 9, 2019

At the minute I have the below:

A 280 ek slim rad with 2 x 140mm silent wings 2

Phanteks 140mm in the bottom and one in the top

Temps are, what I would call decent considering it's just a 280 slim for a 9600k and 1070ti - about 50 on gpu and 60 on cpu at load.

I'm wondering if the below layout would make much of a difference

Just to stop having hot air in the case

CharminUltraStrong · April 9, 2019

Well heat rises so exhausting your fresh air that comes up from the bottom can't be very effective. This is watercooling mini ITX case after all so temps won't be the best. Are the GPU and CPU liquid cooled?

bowrilla · April 9, 2019

Won't make much of a difference in this case. I suggest modding the front by cutting some additional vent openings. I'd also switch to better fans than the stock ones. Is your GPU also hooked to the radiator or does it run on air? If it's water cooled then there won't be much of a difference. If it runs on air you DEFINITELY want the upper front as intake and have the GPU fans not face the glass panel but the mainboard - there's more space for airflow and the front fan can deliver more air. There's space for a quite thick 280mm radiator by the way. I'd use more capable fans than the Silent Wings 2 though. They're great as case fans but not good as radiator fans. The bottom intake will basically only serve the radiator - and while doing that also sucking in the exhaust air from the PSU. The big cable management bracket will block most if not all airflow from the bottom.

How many HDDs/SSDs do you have? You can remove the ssd mount plate in the upper compartment and mount the trays directly above the opening for the PSU's cables - cable management will be a bit trickier though.

You can also print yourself a mount for 2 40mm fans right above the i/o shield as exhaust.

The front and back panel fo this case are extremely restrictive. Temperatures in my case drop by almost 20°C if I remove the unmodded front. The radiator just doesn't get enough air and the temperature inside the case rise and rise to above 50°C