Looking for advice on case airflow

[HA_VE]

Hi. Could I ask for advice with regards to an airflow dillema I have.

Currently, I work as a 3D artist from home, each day utilizing my MSI GTX980 to its full power in order to make money. As its a blower style GPU, i see constant 80C loads, and i wanna help the poor thing as much as i can.
My question is threefold - Should i buy noctua fans for my current case (Zalman Z3 Plus from a previous build, outfitted with one year old Arctic P12 fans in all 5 slots, 2 intake/3exhaust+PSU pulling an exhaust duty due to living in a dusty area, so i flipped it to make use of the intake's dust filters), or, should i buy a case which is well-reviewed in terms of airflow and then buy some fans for that, or should I just not worry about it.

For some extra info: I am running the stock AMD cooler on my Ryzen 5 3600. (BUT - i have a hyper 212+ ready to be installed, but before i install it i want to make sure about this topic in question. This cooler will be installed in the 'upwards' rotation due to the bracket i bought for it being the one which utilizes the AM4 plastic brackets.) The airflow path is not obstructed by anything save for some wiring for the front fans, if that makes any difference (probably not, Im not sure)

I am also asking as I want to upgrade my GPU to a hybrid cooled RTX3090 sometime in the future (but not anytime soon, sadly), and the Z3 has no places to mount a rad that i know of, plus the 3090 will require upgrading to a more powerful PSU.

Thank you in advance to everyone which would chip in with their opinions, I am truly not sure about this topic.

[Votivee]

Why don't you just buy a new cooler for your GPU? Something like this: https://www.arctic.de/en/ax3

 

Since that case has a mesh front I'm going to say it already has good airflow. I wouldn't pay the premium and switch to noctua fans unless you're looking for silence. I'm sure your fans move enough air as it is.

 

 

[Letgomyleghoe]

remove the sidepanel if you have it on, and repast your gpu, you should see some decent temperature improvments just from this.

 

as for the hyper 212, mount it so the fans are facing front to back, you'll get the best performance this way.

[Chris Pratt]

12 minutes ago, HA_VE said:

all 5 slots, 2 intake/3exhaust+PSU pulling an exhaust duty due to living in a dusty area, so i flipped it to make use of the intake's dust filters)

Not sure what you mean by all this. If you're talking about putting the PSU fan side down, that's actually the correct orientation. That's why those vents at the bottom of the case are there.

 

As far as the fans go, you've got negative pressure with more exhaust than intake, which is actually *worse* for dust. If you've got a lot of dust, you should be leaning more on positive pressure (i.e. more intake than exhaust).

[HA_VE]

Just now, Letgomyleghoe said:

remove the sidepanel if you have it on, and repast your gpu, you should see some decent temperature improvments just from this.

 

as for the hyper 212, mount it so the fans are facing front to back, you'll get the best performance this way.

I'd like to mount it that way, but the only mounting kit i found for it (its an older hyper212 from pre-am4 era) is one that allows only 'upwards' mounting.
specifically the only kit i could get without it costing as much as a new cooler all by itself was the RR-ACCY-AM4B-R1 for 2 euro. (I wont lie, im kinda scared to use it, its a big cooler and since there were no instructions to the kit i have no idea how much to tighten the screws and i dont want to snap the plastic brackets).

[HA_VE]

2 minutes ago, Chris Pratt said:

Not sure what you mean by all this. If you're talking about putting the PSU fan side down, that's actually the correct orientation. That's why those vents at the bottom of the case are there.

 

As far as the fans go, you've got negative pressure with more exhaust than intake, which is actually *worse* for dust. If you've got a lot of dust, you should be leaning more on positive pressure (i.e. more intake than exhaust).

I have 2 intake fans in the front, 3 exhuast fans (two on top, one in the rear), and the PSU is rotated with the fan up so that it takes air from inside the case rather than outside. I rotated it this way as the PSU opening at the bottom of the case has no filtration at all and sadly in my experience it made the PSU packed with dust in two month's time. I live next to big open farmer fields on one side, and forests on the other, so during spring and summer, the air is packed with dust and pollen.

[thrasher_565]

can do the fan upgrade to the gpu by mounting case fans to it and taking off the fan shroud.

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by thrasher_565

[thrasher_565]

30 minutes ago, Intel Core i None said:

blower style cards are known to run hot no matter what, ive seen repasted blower style gpus that had 3 intakes fans blowing fresh air directly on them and they still push 80+ on the daily, only way to cool that gpu down is to either do a waterblock/universal waterblock/aio adapter conversion, throw something like the accelero extreme 3 on it from arctic (did this to my rx 590 and someone elses oem 1080ti) or for now just ramp the gpu fan up through a tool like afterburner, pics for reference of the blower style 1080ti to accelero extreme 3 

i think that's because blower cards heat sinks dont have heat pipes in it or if it dose there small. but most dont want to spend $85+ on a new cooler for an older card. it probly be cheaper to sell the gpu and get an non blower card imo

 

the op dos not have a blower card thow...

Edited April 16, 2021 by thrasher_565

[thrasher_565]

2 minutes ago, Intel Core i None said:

true though in this market youll be paying 200+ just for a decent used rx series card, for now id just ramp the fan up on the card since op wants to upgrade i assume once cards hit the market again, but if op wanted to keep this card theres no other way, maybe you could find a cheap for parts or not working card and take the heatsink off it and throw it on this one assuming everything aligns and its cheap enough

oh i meant sell the 980 and buying another 980 instead of paying $85 of coarse if you can find something faster then that be better.

[thrasher_565]

1 hour ago, Intel Core i None said:

yeah before all this bs in which no one can agree on whether its miners or just a complication of supply and demand, id say sell it as well and get something like a 1660ti or 2060/5600xt but what sucks is theres both literally no new cards budget or high end end, and even used budget high end, rn a 980 at the cheapest is selling for 300 after tax and shipping, which is also a blower from evga, everything else is already burnt up no returns allowed mined cards, only option would be to bid, right before all this i was gonna throw a 3070 in my rig and, well, you know how that went lol

not what i said but w/e

[thrasher_565]

18 minutes ago, Intel Core i None said:

ik what you meant, i said the only 980 that you can buy rn atm is another blower style 980 and its over 300, unless you know of some other place that sells gpus used or new id love to hear, sadly this is ops only choice im afraid until new cards come back in stock and can finally get that 3090, also op chose an option above already, which was the accelero 

on the internet?...are you being for real right now?

[thrasher_565]

1 minute ago, Intel Core i None said:

dont really know what to make of this, but if your referring to finding a place to buy gpus u must be living under a rock, used 980s going for 300, used 1080s going for 500-600, and once again maybe if your lucky youll find a rx 580 selling for 200, and new stock of cards is nothing but a joke to scalpers and bots, so? yeah?, unless your just trolling i was trying to give op a another option to making their 980 last the longest it can while remaining cool and quiet, btw forgot to mention an accelero extreme 3 is about 60 bucks after shipping most of the time, way cheaper then getting another card atm

accelero extreme 3 only fits 980 ti... or any aritc gpu cooler that they sell only fits the ti.

 

you no he all ready has an 980 right? he can sell the 980 for $300 (maybe a bit less for a blower) and spend like $360 for a non blower 980...

[thrasher_565]

2 minutes ago, Intel Core i None said:

did you see my above posts, i have an accelero on my rx 590 (long story powercolor sucks), as well as my friends 1080ti, there is nothing proprietary about the accellero, they even got a compatabilty list showing the dozens of cards that are supported, though most are older on the list due to the cooler being a bit older, but no doubt, will fit a 980, and when i say these coolers are dead silent i mean dead silent, also both the cards i did it to barely break 60 degrees now while boosting full speed, and even if you are "fortunate" enough to find a used 980 going for 360, and ill give you another hint, you wont, why risk buying used tech thats selling for double rn on a chance that used tech is not functional when you can swap a 60-70 dollar cooler on it, thats all im saying, maybe there was a communication misunderstanding but dont mean anything offensive by this, just trying to be real, its worth the hour install 

i just looked at atric and i only see 980 ti on the list but i could be wrong.

 

ya i think your missing the point if the gpus on ebay are selling at $300 why cant he sell his at that? and buy another off ebay?