has anyone tried no front case fans?

[partimevillain]

I have an interesting problem.

My cpu actually runs cooler without the front case fans. I've made sure the fans are facing the right way and reapply thermal pastes. I just don't know why its happening. Has anyone had similar experiences?

 

I'm using an arctic liquid freezer ii 360 and R7 3700x

CASE: NZXT H7 Flow

without front case fans it was running at  33-39 C idel and 68 using cinebench 20

 

with front case fans it was running at  45-55 C idle and 72 

 

I've set all fan speed to 60% below 70C.
what's more weird is that 40% or 100% cpu fan speeds doesn't matter with the front case on. my idle temps stay the same at around 45-55 C

 

is it possible that no front case fans actually is better? since it creates consistent airflow.
There are no cross current or weird interactions.

My setup has 3 intake fans in front and 3 exhaust (from CPU) on the top.

[tkitch]

uhhhh, amongst other things, you probably need to tell us what case you have?

[partimevillain]

case: NZXT H7 Flow

[Ralfi]

When you say without front fans, are they removed completely or just unplugged in your tests?

 

Looks like a good case apart from the rear side not having much ventilation, which could be why you’re seeing increased temps when trying to push air from front to back - the three front intake fans are getting cool air into the case, but they could be causing air pockets of the existing warm air inside because there’s no rear exhaust fan & no ventilation where your PCI slot covers are. Although, the top fans should do the exhausting job, but it appears they’re not..

 

Just a theory, but if you removed your PCI slot covers, moved one of your 3 front fans to the rear & used 2 up front (in the two upper spots) , I’m curious to know if it helps.

 

 

[partimevillain]

@Ralfi

I do have a rear exhaust fan. When I was testing my 3 front fans were completely removed, I did have the mesh on.
 

so do you still want me to test with 1 rear exhaust and just 2 front fans, in the upper slots?

[Ralfi]

23 minutes ago, partimevillain said:

so do you still want me to test with 1 rear exhaust and just 2 front fans, in the upper slots?

Instead, you could try one fan up front, in each of the three slots, to compare temps.

 

& then two fans (in upper/middle & middle/lower), to compare temps.

 

I’m just curious to know what front fan setup works here.

 

Also, is there a noise difference between your initial 3 front fan use/no-use? Ie. Are your AIO fans spinning faster? Or are they maintaining that 60% PWM level you set them to?

[partimevillain]

my other tests have used up all of my thermal pastes lol

I'm currently working with an air cooler.
I will wait for my thermal pads to arrive then do more tests.
and there's no notable noise coming from my fans.
they're all set to 60% until hitting 70C

[Ralfi]

4 hours ago, partimevillain said:

my other tests have used up all of my thermal pastes lol

I don’t understand. Don’t you need only one application of thermal paste? Why are you removing the AIO?

[partimevillain]

I reapplied thermal paste once because I thought that might be the problem.
they only give you enough for barely 2 applications.

EDIT: I just used a replacement and the thermals are normal now.
34 idle average and 68 in cinebench r23
with still 3 front fans and silent mode

[Ralfi]

25 minutes ago, partimevillain said:

EDIT: I just used a replacement and the thermals are normal now.
34 idle average and 68 in cinebench r23
with still 3 front fans and silent mode

Crisis over