Getting the best airflow from a not so airflowy budget case...

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

Hi,

 

I have a budget case that I bought a while back for a build, the Aerocool Bolt. Surprisingly not, the airflow ain't that great, but at the time I didn't even consider any of that. I stuck two Noctua intake fans on the front of the case, and there's already one exhaust fan at the rear end. There's an acrylic side panel, should I drill holes into it for better airflow? Thanks!

 

Here's a link to the case; https://aerocool.io/product/bolt/

 

 

[Hinjima]

21 minutes ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

Hi,

 

I have a budget case that I bought a while back for a build, the Aerocool Bolt. Surprisingly not, the airflow ain't that great, but at the time I didn't even consider any of that. I stuck two Noctua intake fans on the front of the case, and there's already one exhaust fan at the rear end. There's an acrylic side panel, should I drill holes into it for better airflow? Thanks!

 

Here's a link to the case; https://aerocool.io/product/bolt/

 

 

You can put one or two fans at the bottom of the case blowing air up into the GPU / Case. What kind of CPU cooler do you use? AIO or air?
Are your components running too hot, is that why you want more cooling?

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

15 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

You can put one or two fans at the bottom of the case blowing air up into the GPU / Case. What kind of CPU cooler do you use? AIO or air?
Are your components running too hot, is that why you want more cooling?

I use a ID-COOLING SE-214-XT cooler, and I attached another cooling fan to make it dual fan cooling. I have these fans facing the way that it's an exhaust, should I change this?

 

I want to improve my cooling so that I can OC my CPU (Ryzen 5 3600), the temps seem to be wack on a synthetic load like Cinebench R23, around 95c+ but below 100c but during gaming it's generally lower. 

[Poinkachu]

47 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

You can put one or two fans at the bottom of the case blowing air up into the GPU / Case. What kind of CPU cooler do you use? AIO or air?
Are your components running too hot, is that why you want more cooling?

IMHO, just 1, and not the one ontop of PSU.

If there's an actual intake holes on the bottom  / front of the case that is...

edit : From what I've seen on their website... seems the only intake holes on the bottom of the case is only for PSU.

 

1 hour ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

Hi,

 

I have a budget case that I bought a while back for a build, the Aerocool Bolt. Surprisingly not, the airflow ain't that great, but at the time I didn't even consider any of that. I stuck two Noctua intake fans on the front of the case, and there's already one exhaust fan at the rear end. There's an acrylic side panel, should I drill holes into it for better airflow? Thanks!

 

Here's a link to the case; https://aerocool.io/product/bolt/

 

 

28 minutes ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

I use a ID-COOLING SE-214-XT cooler, and I attached another cooling fan to make it dual fan cooling. I have these fans facing the way that it's an exhaust, should I change this?

 

I want to improve my cooling so that I can OC my CPU (Ryzen 5 3600), the temps seem to be wack on a synthetic load like Cinebench R23, around 95c+ but below 100c but during gaming it's generally lower. 

First... make sure there's a proper sized intake holes for your front fans :x

If there aren't any, the front fans you put gonna be useless.

As much as I want to check it myself, kinda hard to find proper documentation of your pc case.

[-rascal-]

9 minutes ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

I use a ID-COOLING SE-214-XT cooler, and I attached another cooling fan to make it dual fan cooling. I have these fans facing the way that it's an exhaust, should I change this?

 

I want to improve my cooling so that I can OC my CPU (Ryzen 5 3600), the temps seem to be wack on a synthetic load like Cinebench R23, around 95c+ but below 100c but during gaming it's generally lower. 

 

Are the two fans both blowing the same direction?

I.E. BOTH blowing towards the back of the case?

 

95*C+ is pretty high, for a 3600 (not even a 3600X or a power-hungry 3950X, etc).

Does your temperatures drop significantly if the side acrylic panel is completely removed?

 

Given how the front panel is just...nearly closed off.

I don't think those 2x Noctua fans are doing much at the front.

 

[Poinkachu]

 

Based on what being shown in that vid... pretty sure you don't even have proper front intake holes.

(CMIIW, you're the one who have the case and can check directly afterall)

 

IMHO your best bet if you want to keep using the case is to grab a drill & a step drill bit, then start drilling holes on atleast front cover, and if that's still not enough for you, the side panel as well.

 

If you don't want to do that (drilling holes), your best bet for intake is your rear exhaust holes, probably PCIE bracket as well if your GPU isn't thicc.

Then set CPU cooler fan direction toward the front of the case, while putting 1 exhaust fan on the top front.

But yeah... if you cant fit a fan on the rear PCIE bracket, your GPU ain't gonna be happy.

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

33 minutes ago, Poinkachu said:

IMHO, just 1, and not the one ontop of PSU.

If there's an actual intake holes on the bottom  / front of the case that is...

edit : From what I've seen on their website... seems the only intake holes on the bottom of the case is only for PSU.

 

First... make sure there's a proper sized intake holes for your front fans :x

If there aren't any, the front fans you put gonna be useless.

As much as I want to check it myself, kinda hard to find proper documentation of your pc case.

It appears there's no intake holes on the front, only the front cover has a sliver/gap that isn't probably sufficient. I had to take off the front cover to install the two fans, I'll attach a photo of the installation. 

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

36 minutes ago, -rascal- said:

 

Are the two fans both blowing the same direction?

I.E. BOTH blowing towards the back of the case?

 

95*C+ is pretty high, for a 3600 (not even a 3600X or a power-hungry 3950X, etc).

Does your temperatures drop significantly if the side acrylic panel is completely removed?

 

Given how the front panel is just...nearly closed off.

I don't think those 2x Noctua fans are doing much at the front.

 

Yes, the two CPU fans are facing towards the back of the case. 

 

I did see some improvement without the acrylic side panel and the front cover off compared to with it on. But if I take both of them off, then that's going to be a dust hazard.

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

26 minutes ago, Poinkachu said:

 

Based on what being shown in that vid... pretty sure you don't even have proper front intake holes.

(CMIIW, you're the one who have the case and can check directly afterall)

 

IMHO your best bet if you want to keep using the case is to grab a drill & a step drill bit, then start drilling holes on atleast front cover, and if that's still not enough for you, the side panel as well.

 

If you don't want to do that (drilling holes), your best bet for intake is your rear exhaust holes, probably PCIE bracket as well if your GPU isn't thicc.

Then set CPU cooler fan direction toward the front of the case, while putting 1 exhaust fan on the top front.

But yeah... if you cant fit a fan on the rear PCIE bracket, your GPU ain't gonna be happy.

My GPU is a PowerColor RX 580, there's not much space. Should I remove one of my CPU cooler fans and install it at the top as an exhaust? 

[Poinkachu]

5 minutes ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

My GPU is a PowerColor RX 580, there's not much space. Should I remove one of my CPU cooler fans and install it at the top as an exhaust? 

Just move your front fans ?

Without intake holes at front they're pretty much useless in their current place.

 

Unless you are fine running your PC without it's front cover. If so, then yea the noctua can stay where they are.
In fact, everything can stay where they currently are if you use this method.

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

5 minutes ago, Poinkachu said:

Just move your front fans ?

Without intake holes at front they're pretty much useless in their current place.

 

Unless you are fine running your PC without it's front cover. If so, then yea the noctua can stay where they are.
In fact, everything can stay where they currently are if you use this method.

Hmm. I'm thinking of removing the front cover permanently (rip RGB) and covering the area with some dust mesh. Maybe the side panel as well.  

[Poinkachu]

6 minutes ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

Hmm. I'm thinking of removing the front cover permanently (rip RGB) and covering the area with some dust mesh. Maybe the side panel as well.  

You can cover it with dust mesh yeah, just make sure your intake fans have good air pressure, & the dust mesh is taut or it might be pulled in by the fans and hit the fan blades.

 

Pretty sure that removing just the front cover gonna be enough to cool your system.

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

Just now, Poinkachu said:

You can cover it with dust mesh yeah, just make sure your intake fans have good air pressure.

 

Pretty sure that removing just the front cover gonna be enough to cool your system.

I think I'll make the compromise of keeping the front case on when it's not in use as to keep out dust, and remove it when I'm using it. Probably the best way for now. Thanks for your suggestions! 

[-rascal-]

39 minutes ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

Yes, the two CPU fans are facing towards the back of the case. 

 

I did see some improvement without the acrylic side panel and the front cover off compared to with it on. But if I take both of them off, then that's going to be a dust hazard.

 

I'm not telling you to remove the side / front panels forever.

Just temporarily to run some temperature tests, and to verify poor airflow is the problem...and HOW MUCH of a problem.

 

How much improvement did you see?

95*C --> ?? *C

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

15 hours ago, -rascal- said:

 

I'm not telling you to remove the side / front panels forever.

Just temporarily to run some temperature tests, and to verify poor airflow is the problem...and HOW MUCH of a problem.

 

How much improvement did you see?

95*C --> ?? *C

Oh wow, I'm shocked. I just ran Cinebench R23 again without the front cover and I got a max of around 86c. That's compared to like 95c with the front cover on. 

[JoeThePizzaGuy]

Update: Removal of the front cover and side panel and tweaking all the fans and setting them to PWM and Smart Control on has lead to a further reduction of CPU temps to 78c on full synthetic load of Cinebench R23.

 

So 95c to 78c, a 17c temp reduction. Thanks everyone for your help! 

 

 

[-rascal-]

8 hours ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

Oh wow, I'm shocked. I just ran Cinebench R23 again without the front cover and I got a max of around 86c. That's compared to like 95c with the front cover on. 

 

4 hours ago, JoeThePizzaGuy said:

Update: Removal of the front cover and side panel and tweaking all the fans and setting them to PWM and Smart Control on has lead to a further reduction of CPU temps to 78c on full synthetic load of Cinebench R23.

 

So 95c to 78c, a 17c temp reduction. Thanks everyone for your help! 

 

 

 

So yes, the case have very poor airflow.

Freeing up the front ONLY drops the temperature by 9*C.

 

I'm wondering what happens if you free up the side ONLY.

If removing the side gives a... 11*C drop, then that is maybe something you can do.

Replace the side panel with mesh or ventilation might give an enough of a temperature drop, until you can replace the chassis/case.