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Airflow Optimization

Watercooledguy
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Hello all, I built a system back in March since I was home all the time and had the extra time to do so. Anyways, the reason I'm posting this is because I feel like I could do a better job at optimizing the airflow through my case. I have a Fractal Designs Define S2. Yes I know it doesn't have an open mesh front and that is why I'm trying to make what I have work a little better if possible. Attached to this post is a crude drawing to give you a visual representation of the case and how it's laid out. Any suggestions on improving the layout will be greatly appreciated. The 3 fans not attached to the radiator are Corsair 120LL's 

 

 

Airflow.jpg

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1 minute ago, Watercooledguy said:

Hello all, I built a system back in March since I was home all the time and had the extra time to do so. Anyways, the reason I'm posting this is because I feel like I could do a better job at optimizing the airflow through my case. I have a Fractal Designs Define S2. Yes I know it doesn't have an open mesh front and that is why I'm trying to make what I have work a little better if possible. Attached to this post is a crude drawing to give you a visual representation of the case and how it's laid out. Any suggestions on improving the layout will be greatly appreciated. The 3 fans not attached to the radiator are Corsair 120LL's 

 

 

 

With an AIO that's probably the best set up.

 

Anyhow, how are your temps right now? If they're managable right now, there's little incentive to add more fans.

REMILIA Mk.IIIE CPU: Ryzen 9 3900X, Cooler: Arctic Freezer II 240 (Noctua NT-H2), RAM: 4x 8Gb sticks of Patriot Viper Steel Series 3600 CL17, Mobo: AsRock X570 Taichi, GPU: Inno3D RTX 3080 iChill x4 10G, Storage: 1TB Intel 670p NVME SSD boot drive, a few 1TB and 512gb SATA/NVME SSDs for game storage, 6 hard drives 1-4 TB, PSU: Corsair RM750 MY2019, Case: Cooler Master Mastercase 5 MC500 (with add-ons, Noctua NF-A14 and Arctic P14 fans), PCIE Cards: Cheap Chinese Marvell 88SE9215 4 port SATA card, Sonnet Allegro USB3.2 Card Monitors: ViewSonic Elite XG270QC (165hz, 1ms MPRT, 1440p, VA, Freesync PP, pneumatic stand), Hp Z27n (IPS, 60hz, 1440p, 8Ms), iiyama G2530HSU-B (75Hz, Freesync, one in landscape, one in Portrait, all on pneumatic monitor stands).

 

Mic: iSK UPM-1 USB XLR interface with Neewer NW700, Audio: Sabaj A3 160W DAC/AMP + Wharfdale Diamond 220 + Mission MS6 Sub, ifi Zen DAC v2 + ifi Zen CAN, Littledot Mk.II (w/ Soviet Power tubes and British Mulard M8100s/Soviet Voshkod 6JP-EV/ American General Electric JAN 5654W dependent on mood), Sendy Aiva (Primary), Beyer Dynamic DT990 250ohm Black Special Edition, Audeze EL-8 Open Back, Sennheiser HD598SE (modified to be a headset, snapped headband held together with gorilla tape), Mouse: SteelSeries Rival 600, Keyboard: Glorious GMMK ISO with Mengmoda MMD Tactile (main) and Kailh Box Navy (Function keys), Tribosys 3203 brush lubed, Taihao Green forest caps.

 

KOAKUMA Mk.IB (24/7 Folding Slave PC made of spare parts): CPU: Core i7 4770, Cooler: Some small antex cooler with 80mm fan, RAM: 2x 4Gb Sticks of 2400Mhz DDR3, Mobo: Asus H81i-Plus, GPU: R9 390 Nitro+ (barely fits in case), Storage: 256gb Korean no-name SATA SSD, PSU: Corsair CX550 (Gray label), Case: Antec ISK600 ITX case. [Given away to friend]

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11 minutes ago, iBabySlapper said:

With an AIO that's probably the best set up.

 

Anyhow, how are your temps right now? If they're managable right now, there's little incentive to add more fans.

As far as temps go everything is fine, I'm not having problems with overheating or anything drastic like that. I was afraid that I might be disrupting airflow through the case with the current layout. The front of the case is a bit restricted but the fans on the AIO do move a lot of air even up next to the radiator. I mounted them in a pull config to give them some extra "breathing room". *edit* after putting up the pic I realize that I need to get some streak free windex to clean off the tempered glass. Also, the lights aren't really that bright, they are just bright in the photo for some reason. They aren't set to neon green. *edit*

 

casepic.jpg

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No, I think that's fine.

I personally have my AIO on the top, and I have them as intakes (though they only spin when CPU hits 60c+), but I remember reading that the difference isn't huge.

 

As long as you have more fans sucking air into your PC, and have positive pressure, it should be okay.

REMILIA Mk.IIIE CPU: Ryzen 9 3900X, Cooler: Arctic Freezer II 240 (Noctua NT-H2), RAM: 4x 8Gb sticks of Patriot Viper Steel Series 3600 CL17, Mobo: AsRock X570 Taichi, GPU: Inno3D RTX 3080 iChill x4 10G, Storage: 1TB Intel 670p NVME SSD boot drive, a few 1TB and 512gb SATA/NVME SSDs for game storage, 6 hard drives 1-4 TB, PSU: Corsair RM750 MY2019, Case: Cooler Master Mastercase 5 MC500 (with add-ons, Noctua NF-A14 and Arctic P14 fans), PCIE Cards: Cheap Chinese Marvell 88SE9215 4 port SATA card, Sonnet Allegro USB3.2 Card Monitors: ViewSonic Elite XG270QC (165hz, 1ms MPRT, 1440p, VA, Freesync PP, pneumatic stand), Hp Z27n (IPS, 60hz, 1440p, 8Ms), iiyama G2530HSU-B (75Hz, Freesync, one in landscape, one in Portrait, all on pneumatic monitor stands).

 

Mic: iSK UPM-1 USB XLR interface with Neewer NW700, Audio: Sabaj A3 160W DAC/AMP + Wharfdale Diamond 220 + Mission MS6 Sub, ifi Zen DAC v2 + ifi Zen CAN, Littledot Mk.II (w/ Soviet Power tubes and British Mulard M8100s/Soviet Voshkod 6JP-EV/ American General Electric JAN 5654W dependent on mood), Sendy Aiva (Primary), Beyer Dynamic DT990 250ohm Black Special Edition, Audeze EL-8 Open Back, Sennheiser HD598SE (modified to be a headset, snapped headband held together with gorilla tape), Mouse: SteelSeries Rival 600, Keyboard: Glorious GMMK ISO with Mengmoda MMD Tactile (main) and Kailh Box Navy (Function keys), Tribosys 3203 brush lubed, Taihao Green forest caps.

 

KOAKUMA Mk.IB (24/7 Folding Slave PC made of spare parts): CPU: Core i7 4770, Cooler: Some small antex cooler with 80mm fan, RAM: 2x 4Gb Sticks of 2400Mhz DDR3, Mobo: Asus H81i-Plus, GPU: R9 390 Nitro+ (barely fits in case), Storage: 256gb Korean no-name SATA SSD, PSU: Corsair CX550 (Gray label), Case: Antec ISK600 ITX case. [Given away to friend]

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2 minutes ago, iBabySlapper said:

No, I think that's fine.

I personally have my AIO on the top, and I have them as intakes (though they only spin when CPU hits 60c+), but I remember reading that the difference isn't huge.

 

As long as you have more fans sucking air into your PC, and have positive pressure, it should be okay.

Awesome, thank you for the quick replies. 

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Hello!

I have more or less the same setup (280mm aio -- no fan intake from the bottom of the case -- 140mm airflow fan exhaust on top).

Recently, I changed my rear 120mm exhaust fan from an airflow fan to a static one! I noticed the hot air (mostly generated from the 2080) is being exhausted better!!

Cheers!

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That's how I used to run my AIO. I got better results in the front than at the top. The only thing I would change if I could would be to move the top exhaust further back. But if there is no spot for it.. Generally you want case to flow front to back. Hot air doesn't rise in a pc, it just builds up, important to get it out for obvious reasons.. :D A good exhaust fan wouldn't go un-noticed.

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4 hours ago, freeagent said:

That's how I used to run my AIO. I got better results in the front than at the top. The only thing I would change if I could would be to move the top exhaust further back. But if there is no spot for it.. Generally you want case to flow front to back. Hot air doesn't rise in a pc, it just builds up, important to get it out for obvious reasons.. :D A good exhaust fan wouldn't go un-noticed.

Yeah I can move it to the rear of the case some. The CPU power cables are about 3" away from the fan where it sits right now. I mainly just put the fan at the top in the middle for aesthetic purposes. I have custom CPU power cables on their way from cablemods. It took forever for the first ones I ordered to show up and I'm not expecting to get the next set any time soon. When I install the new cables I will move that fan back and see if it makes a difference. Thank you for the suggestion.

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You current setup is fine. Moving that one fan back isn't going to change anything. If you had an air cooler I would agree with it.

However adding an additional fan there would be a good choice. Your rad does dump its heat into the case along with the GPU. So getting the heat out is important. But you also need air flow for your GPU. So adding one to the top rear is a good choice

It also depends or your use case. If your mostly doing GPU bound task moving your rad to the top makes sense so your GPU gets more of the cool fresh air. If your task are more cpu bound then the current config is probably best. 

If your just an average pc user either is fine.

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4 hours ago, narrdarr said:

You current setup is fine. Moving that one fan back isn't going to change anything. If you had an air cooler I would agree with it.

However adding an additional fan there would be a good choice. Your rad does dump its heat into the case along with the GPU. So getting the heat out is important. But you also need air flow for your GPU. So adding one to the top rear is a good choice

It also depends or your use case. If your mostly doing GPU bound task moving your rad to the top makes sense so your GPU gets more of the cool fresh air. If your task are more cpu bound then the current config is probably best. 

If your just an average pc user either is fine.

I have some 140mm Fractal fans that came with the case, I could put one of those at the top towards the back as an exhaust whenever I get my custom cables from cablemods delivered. I just got the email this morning that they are finally shipping my cables. Takes a while to get them but damn are they nice looking in the case :D I might relocate the rad to the top also. I watched some youtubers do testing on rad placement and push or pull configs and according to them the difference is negligible except for push/pull at the same time which I might try also. Thank you for the suggestion narrdarr :D 

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