Need help with fan placement

[Swinzon]

So, I have a Corsair Carbide 400C with three AF120mm Quiet Fans in the front hooked up to Corsair Carbide's 100R Silent Edition's fan controller.

When I am gaming I think my GPU is thermal throtteling...

While playing Fallout 4 for a good time (around 2-3 hours) the fps starts to drop from 60 fps to 30-45fps which is annoying...

the fans in the front are spinning max, my CPU is cooled by a Corsair Hydro h80i v2 with two SP120mm PWM Quiet fans, profile in Corsair Link of Performance for max airflow through the rad.

my GPU is a Palit GTX 970 with Palit's referance cooler.

 

How can i get better airflow? I have following fans laying around which I can use: 2x Corsair SP120L, 1x Corsair AF120L, 1x Corsair 140L.

My GPU is hitting 77 degrees max.

 

I have place in the top for some fans.

 

i hope someone can help me out! Thanks.

[vorticalbox]

77c you're not thermal throttling on the gpu. What are cpu temps like?

[Swinzon]

5 minutes ago, vorticalbox said:

77c you're not thermal throttling on the gpu. What are cpu temps like?

Haven`t seen them over 60 yet.
 

[Constant Failure]

If your CPU rad is an output, then there's not much you can do. Since if you have 3x120mm AF in the front, that's the most you can input from that side with the 400C case. At what fan speed % is your gpu? Also it seems a bit odd that it takes that long for you to thermal throttle with your GPU. 

 

What kind of CPU temperatures are you getting at the point when your FPS starts dropping, since Fallout 4 is quite CPU heavy game, it might be that if you have old thermal paste or the case air gets so much hotter overtime that your radiator can't keep your cpu cool enough.

[Swinzon]

15 minutes ago, Constant Failure said:

If your CPU rad is an output, then there's not much you can do. Since if you have 3x120mm AF in the front, that's the most you can input from that side with the 400C case. At what fan speed % is your gpu? Also it seems a bit odd that it takes that long for you to thermal throttle with your GPU. 

 

What kind of CPU temperatures are you getting at the point when your FPS starts dropping, since Fallout 4 is quite CPU heavy game, it might be that if you have old thermal paste or the case air gets so much hotter overtime that your radiator can't keep your cpu cool enough.

Thanks for such a detailed answer.

My CPU temps are ish 50-58 when the fps drops.

the coolant is around 37 degrees.

The rad is in the back exhausing air, I may actually putting the rad in the front again for intaking fresh cold air.

 

the Thermal paste is 2 weeks old, and my GPU fan % is at around 50-78% (auto).

 

My CPU is a i3-6100 which actually keeps up, I play Fallout at the max settings possible and have stable 60fps, from time to time...

[Constant Failure]

17 minutes ago, Swinzon said:

snip

Well. The temps don't seem to be the issue. 

 

What I've noticed when playing F4, modded albeit, is that at certain points in the game it is much more demanding than in other places. But that still shouldn't explain why you're noticing these drops later on. But is the problem that you only have issues after approx 2 hours. Or are these issues or framerate drops present as soon as you start playing and are they only bound to lets say open areas with lots of grass or water or smoke?

 

One long shot I could think is that, you might be running the game from a HDD, and the bay is located below the shroud? So after 2-3hours of using the HDD constantly it starts to heat up. This you could try to see if it is the case by removing the side panel and seeing if the problem still persists. But since the cable management area is quite small in 400C, I recommend removing the panel while you're pc is turned of so you won't yank the cables while the pc is running.

[Constant Failure]

And the best bet at this point is to have some sort of overlay on, let's say riva turner. And see what kind of GPU and CPU utilization you have during these fram rate drops. It might be that in high AI or physics situations it might be that your CPU is getting overwhelmed, or in closed quarters with smoke and water or open area with grass and water might instead overwhelm your gpu both of which result in framerate drops.

[Swinzon]

10 minutes ago, Constant Failure said:

Well. The temps don't seem to be the issue. 

 

What I've noticed when playing F4, modded albeit, is that at certain points in the game it is much more demanding than in other places. But that still shouldn't explain why you're noticing these drops later on. But is the problem that you only have issues after approx 2 hours. Or are these issues or framerate drops present as soon as you start playing and are they only bound to lets say open areas with lots of grass or water or smoke?

 

One long shot I could think is that, you might be running the game from a HDD, and the bay is located below the shroud? So after 2-3hours of using the HDD constantly it starts to heat up. This you could try to see if it is the case by removing the side panel and seeing if the problem still persists. But since the cable management area is quite small in 400C, I recommend removing the panel while you're pc is turned of so you won't yank the cables while the pc is running.

 

7 minutes ago, Constant Failure said:

And the best bet at this point is to have some sort of overlay on, let's say riva turner. And see what kind of GPU and CPU utilization you have during these fram rate drops. It might be that in high AI or physics situations it might be that your CPU is getting overwhelmed, or in closed quarters with smoke and water or open area with grass and water might instead overwhelm your gpu both of which result in framerate drops.

Thanks. I am the game from a SSD which is installed in the 3.5" bay, where I also have a fan blowing air directly on it.
The SSD is max 37 degrees... 
But I`ll fire up the game now and see.

[pyrojoe34]

5 hours ago, Swinzon said:

So, I have a Corsair Carbide 400C with three AF120mm Quiet Fans in the front hooked up to Corsair Carbide's 100R Silent Edition's fan controller.

When I am gaming I think my GPU is thermal throtteling...

While playing Fallout 4 for a good time (around 2-3 hours) the fps starts to drop from 60 fps to 30-45fps which is annoying...

the fans in the front are spinning max, my CPU is cooled by a Corsair Hydro h80i v2 with two SP120mm PWM Quiet fans, profile in Corsair Link of Performance for max airflow through the rad.

my GPU is a Palit GTX 970 with Palit's referance cooler.

 

How can i get better airflow? I have following fans laying around which I can use: 2x Corsair SP120L, 1x Corsair AF120L, 1x Corsair 140L.

My GPU is hitting 77 degrees max.

 

I have place in the top for some fans.

 

i hope someone can help me out! Thanks.

Are you sure it's not just FO4? FPS drops significantly in the city or when fog rolls in (drops about 50% for me). To fix this turn down the shadow view distance and god rays.