Best air cooling setup for an EVGA gtx 1080 FTW ACX 3.0

[Taiken]

I will soon have a gtx 1080 ftw, which has an ACX 3.0 cooler on it. As I understand it, the ACX coolers have been known for getting good performance, but vent a lot of heat into the case. This is my current build. 

 

Phanteks Enthoo Pro case

2  Phanteks PH-F140SP 140mm fans in the front blowing in

1  Phanteks PH-F140SP 140mm fan in the back blowing out

Noctua NH-D15 cooler with 2 Noctua 140 mm fans blowing out towards the back Phanteks 140mm fan

 

Is my airflow going to be good enough to maintain the inside of my case cool or do I need to add more fans?

[ARikozuM]

2 IN, 3 OUT. Make sure the CPU cooler is "in-line" with your airflow. Move one fan to the top as an exhaust if possible and control the rear fans to be slightly slower than the intake (I use 5-8% slower RPM).

[Taiken]

2 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

2 IN, 3 OUT.

Hmm, wouldn't put negative pressure in my case? I have dogs and doghair shows up everywhere. I would rather maintain positive pressure in my case if possible.

[SSL]

Should be fine. Pascal is not a cooker and the FTW heatsink will keep things frosty even under challenging conditions.

 

The most important thing with cooling is to test if possible - but you'll probably have the best results configuring the front as intakes and the top back as an exhaust. If you can, add a filtered intake to the bottom of the case, or to the side panel.

 

Note that even with 2 fans as intakes, the greater intake restriction of the front fans will reduce their efficiency compared to the relatively clear rear fan. Adding additional intakes will help compensate, especially if they can be set up to directly aspirate your GPU.

[ARikozuM]

25 minutes ago, Taiken said:

Hmm, wouldn't put negative pressure in my case? I have dogs and dog hair shows up everywhere. I would rather maintain positive pressure in my case if possible.

You'd accomplish that through RPM control.

[SSL]

2 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

You'd accomplish that through RPM control.

 

That'll compromise the overall CFM in the case. The more fans blowing into the case, the better, because that will avoid stagnation of the interior air and displace warm air from around the main components.

[ARikozuM]

5 minutes ago, SSL said:

 

That'll compromise the overall CFM in the case. The more fans blowing into the case, the better, because that will avoid stagnation of the interior air and displace warm air from around the main components.

Correct but pushing more in will push air out. CFM doesn't "push" air out, it creates a low-pressure area behind and high pressure in front. By controlling those low pressure zones you can make better use of thermodynamics. And as hot air dissipates more quickly than cold air, getting more out the back causes low pressure in the middle which the front intake will have an easier time filling. Lower noise and better flow. Best thing for PC's is balanced pressures.

[Taiken]

4 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Correct but pushing more in will push air out. CFM doesn't "push" air out, it creates a low-pressure area behind and high pressure in front. By controlling those low pressure zones you can make better use of thermodynamics. And as hot air dissipates more quickly than cold air, getting more out the back causes low pressure in the middle which the front intake will have an easier time filling. Lower noise and better flow. Best thing for PC's is balanced pressures.

Lower noise isn't something I care too much about and, as I posted above, I rather keep positive pressure than negative or balanced pressure because I have dogs that shed hair.

[SSL]

2 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Correct but pushing more in will push air out. CFM doesn't "push" air out, it creates a low-pressure area behind and high pressure in front. By controlling those low pressure zones you can make better use of thermodynamics. And as hot air dissipates more quickly than cold air, getting more out the back causes low pressure in the middle which the front intake will have an easier time filling. Lower noise and better flow. Best thing for PC's is balanced pressures.

 

How does hot air dissipate more quickly than cold air? What do you mean by "dissipate"?

[ARikozuM]

In that case, what I would do is get fan filters from your local hardware store for the intakes. Can you flip the PSU so that it exhausts hot air? Leave the fans where I said and increase the intakes by about 5-8% at first to see where your temps are after a few minutes of Prime 95 and Kombuster (MSI Afterburner). If you're satisfied, you're done. If you think you can do better, increase RPM by an additional 5% for the front and the rear by 5%, retest. Repeat until satisfied.

 

The issue with positive pressure is that the hair will go in more often than a low and it can't escape through the cracks of your case like smaller dust can.

[ARikozuM]

6 minutes ago, SSL said:

 

How does hot air dissipate more quickly than cold air? What do you mean by "dissipate"?

Heat is essentially "radiating" out from the case. It's the 2nd? law of thermodynamics (entropy). The air wants to stay at equilibrium.

 

Edit: By "cold air" I mean ambient.

[SSL]

1 minute ago, ARikozuM said:

Heat is essentially "radiating" out from the case. It's the 2nd? law of thermodynamics (entropy). The air wants to stay at equilibrium.

 

That's heat, not hot air. I'm not sure I follow your reasoning.

[ARikozuM]

3 minutes ago, SSL said:

 

That's heat, not hot air. I'm not sure I follow your reasoning.

I'm a veterinarian, not a physicist but look up "brownian motion." I hope that explains it.

 

As you move the hot air, molecules will interact and spread much faster than the cold air.

[SSL]

2 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I'm a veterinarian, not a physicist but look up "brownian motion." I hope that explains it.

 

As you move the hot air, molecules will interact and spread much faster than the cold air.

 

So? Fans are responsible for moving the air out of the case. Once it's out, it doesn't matter how quickly it dissipates.

[Taiken]

10 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

The issue with positive pressure is that the hair will go in more often than a low and it can't escape through the cracks of your case like smaller dust can.

Wait, isn't the whole point of positive pressure to keep more air coming out from smaller cracks or holes in the case to prevent dust and hair from coming in? As, it stands, my graphics card isn't installed yet but everything else has been running for a few months. There isn't really much dust in there at all. What you're saying about positive pressure sounds like the opposite of what I have heard and read. 

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, Taiken said:

Wait, isn't the whole point of positive pressure to keep more air coming out from smaller cracks or holes in the case to prevent dust and hair from coming in? As, it stands, my graphics card isn't installed yet but everything else has been running for a few months. There isn't really much dust in there at all. What you're saying about positive pressure sounds like the opposite of what I have heard and read. 

Positive pressure refers to more air going in. Negative is going out. The dust and hair has to go somewhere/through cracks. If you were to put your case in negative pressure air and dust would enter through the cracks. If you're not having issues right now, you probably won't have issues once the card is installed.

[Taiken]

2 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Positive pressure refers to more air going in. Negative is going out. The dust and hair has to go somewhere/through cracks. If you were to put your case in negative pressure air and dust would enter through the cracks. If you're not having issues right now, you probably won't have issues once the card is installed.

Yes, that I know. I don't want a vacuum effect inside my case from negative pressure. My front fans have a filter already in front of them and I sealed up the little openings on the sides with black tape. This would prevent as much dust and hair from coming in. Even then, dust and hairs always find a way but the positive pressure keeps air being pushed out through any small spaces, further preventing more dust and hair from coming in. 

 

This is how it is without the graphics card. Since the graphics card uses an ACX, cooler, it is pulling that fresh air into the heatsink and then dispelling the hot air into the case, where only the air flow of the Noctua cooler directs the air out to the back exhaust fan. I predict that I need 1 more intake fan for more fresh air and 1 more exhaust fan to further push more hot air out. 

[ARikozuM]

18 minutes ago, Taiken said:

Yes, that I know. I don't want a vacuum effect inside my case from negative pressure. My front fans have a filter already in front of them and I sealed up the little openings on the sides with black tape. This would prevent as much dust and hair from coming in. Even then, dust and hairs always find a way but the positive pressure keeps air being pushed out through any small spaces, further preventing more dust and hair from coming in. 

 

This is how it is without the graphics card. Since the graphics card uses an ACX, cooler, it is pulling that fresh air into the heatsink and then dispelling the hot air into the case, where only the air flow of the Noctua cooler directs the air out to the back exhaust fan. I predict that I need 1 more intake fan for more fresh air and 1 more exhaust fan to further push more hot air out. 

I apologize for my horrendous drawing.

Cool air enters the intake. travels up due to lower pressure at the top of the case and below the GPU.

Essentially the cold air gets blown unto the card and either goes out or stays in.

The rest goes up to the CPU where the exhausts can help channel by forming a vacuum which keeps the cycle going. By having the intake at a faster speed you allow the channels to fill more quickly but by giving the CPU more of the hot air where the exhaust can move quickly.

Again, horrendous drawing.

[Taiken]

5 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

 

Will this maintain positive pressure? Because if you're still trying to get me to go balanced or negative, then I am sorry but I am not budging. If you have dogs, then you know how much hair they release. One of my dogs has short hair and it releases SO MUCH hair. It's ridiculous how much it lets go. If my current positive pressure air flow of 2 intake and 1 exhaust doesn't do the job,  then adding more air, via filtered fans, should keep a very nice amount of fresh air going in and out to keep the graphics card constantly intaking cool hair. 

[ARikozuM]

Not sure if "cool hair" was intentional or not. But no, stick with what you're doing but move one fan to exhaust at the top and INCREASE the intake. Find the point where both components are relatively cool and keep the positive pressure. Just make sure to use filters (trust me) and if your dog is losing a bunch hair, I'd suggest brushing and getting food with a little more meat protein like Zignature and some Omega 3 and 6 from krill or sardine.

 

 

[Taiken]

Ah I meant fresh air in that last sentence. But yes, that video pretty much describes my setup at the moment. I currently only have 3 fans ( 2 intake in the front, 1 exhaust in the back). You are saying to move the back fan to the top? As it stands, my setup works like this video shows at the 9 minute mark. The video shows the temps to be pretty good so that is what I am roughly basing what the temps will be, even if it is a different graphics card.

 

Technically, the 2 cpu fans could somewhat help push some of the air out to the back, but i rather just get 1 more inatek fan and 1 more exhaust if it means the cpu air is directly extracted from both back and top. I guess I should just wait till the card arrives and check the temps to see if they are good or not. And thanks for the dog food advice. I will look into it  

[ARikozuM]

3 minutes ago, Taiken said:

Ah I meant fresh air in that last sentence. But yes, that video pretty much describes my setup at the moment. I currently only have 3 fans ( 2 intake in the front, 1 exhaust in the back). You are saying to move the back fan to the top? As it stands, my setup works like this video shows at the 9 minute mark. The video shows the temps to be pretty good so that is what I am roughly basing what the temps will be, even if it is a different graphics card.

 

Technically, the 2 cpu fans could somewhat help push some of the air out to the back, but i rather just get 1 more inatek fan and 1 more exhaust if it means the cpu air is directly extracted from both back and top. I guess I should just wait till the card arrives and check the temps to see if they are good or not. And thanks for the dog food advice. I will look into it  

You have two fans on the CPU? Move one of those up instead and you'll be golden. Direct the CPU up towards the exhaust and your case should be good. And no problem with the food. I see that quite often.

[Taiken]

6 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

You have two fans on the CPU? Move one of those up instead and you'll be golden. Direct the CPU up towards the exhaust and your case should be good. And no problem with the food. I see that quite often.

Well, both the cpu fans are Noctua NF-A15 PWM static pressure fans meant for pushing and pulling air through heatsinks and radiators. I dont think they will do very much as CFM fans. I also can't turn the Noctua NH-D15 cooler up because it is just too damn massive. It would take space off the top pci-e slot.

[ARikozuM]

2 minutes ago, Taiken said:

Well, both the cpu fans are Noctua NF-A15 PWM static pressure fans meant for pushing and pulling air through heatsinks and radiators. I dont think they will do very much as CFM fans. I also can't turn the Noctua NH-D15 cooler up because it is just too damn massive. It would take space off the top pci-e slot.

Stick with what you have then. And try dialing the RPM's to where you have good channeling.You should feel a strong pull from the intake and a softer push from the exhaust.