Cooler that throws air all over the place?

aisle9 · June 10, 2016

I'm working on a "new" build using a case I got at Goodwill, of all places. It's currently housing an old, old Athlon-based system going back to 2007 (at the latest), and the goal is to clean it up and make it into a console killer.

Where things get challenging is that the case has absolutely no fans whatsoever aside from the CPU cooler. That's kept me in the lower TDP realm of the i3, but it doesn't solve one basic problem: there's nothing to send cool air throughout the system. That said, for a case with no fans, it certainly has lots of room for air to flow in and through. The cooler in there now with the Athlon is the cutest little 72mm tower I've ever seen, and it will no doubt find its way onto my shelf, but here's where my crazy logic kicks in: because the side of the case directly facing the motherboard is designed to let a ton of air flow through, could I take advantage of a downdraft cooler's tendency to passively cool the surrounding motherboard to basically make my CPU cooler serve dual roles?

This cooler has gotten some pretty good reviews as a nice improvement over stock, but more importantly to me, it looks like it's designed in such a way that it will really fling air around across more than just the CPU, as opposed to something like the Cryorig C7 that mostly focuses straight down onto the CPU. That said, given that there are no other fans in this case, I'd like something a little beefier that stays under 72mm. I'd also, ideally, like it to be quieter than stock. Budget would ideally top out around $30, since I'm already expecting my wife to try and force me to use stock anyway. Going to her with a $50 Noctua or GeminII might cause me to find that Slimline inside my rectum. I'm pretty well set on the rest of my components, too. The case is only 100mm wide, which limits my options in a lot of ways, and I think this is the best PC I can affordably build given the size and budgetary constraints.

Build behind the spoiler tag. Thanks!

Spoiler

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($110.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI H110I PRO AC Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($85.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($29.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($119.99 @ B&H)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular Flex ATX Power Supply ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: HP DVD1265I DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $0.00)
Other: HP Slimline s3200n Case (Purchased)
Total: $390.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-06-10 00:04 EDT-0400

Zyndo · June 10, 2016

So there is nowhere to mount a fan on the chassis anywhere? You can blow all the air around you want inside the case, but if no air is being pushed in or pushed out, you're just going to recycle the same air over and over until it gets to an unbearable heat.

That cooler seems fine on a budget, though i don't know exactly how much better it will be than stock. and you don't really need more than stock on an i3 if you don't have the money to spend. You would get FAR better cooling potential if you could buy a case fan that would just push air out of the case (even if you have to drill a few of your own holes to mount it somewhere)

That's just my two cents though.

WoodenMarker · June 10, 2016

46 minutes ago, Zyndo said:

You can blow all the air around you want inside the case, but if no air is being pushed in or pushed out, you're just going to recycle the same air over and over until it gets to an unbearable heat.

As long as the case has ventilation, a stock cooler and the 750 Ti's fans should be enough. They're low power components and don't need much cooling.

If the OP is set of buying something, add an exhaust fan.