Air flow direction...?

[The Pizza Man]

So, I've recently upgraded my build to an X470 build; 

 

-Ryzen 5 2600X

-16GB 3200Mhz RAM

-Palit Super Jetstream GTX 1080

 

I'm cooling the 2600X with a 280mm radiator in the form of a Corsair H115i AIO. Now, I've recently put it all in a shiny new case - the Corsair Carbide 275R.

 

The 275R happily fits a 280mm radiator in the front but not in the top. There's enough length just not enough clearance between mobo and radiator. So naturally, I've got my radiator to suck air in from the front of the case and I've got one rear 120mm fan and also one in the top to exhaust warm air. Now, I'm seeing some pretty spicy heat increases with the GPU. It used to be in a larger case and therefore had more breathing room, and while it's not dangerous levels of heat now, it's certainly hotter than it was before. Is it worth it to reverse the air flow or not bother? The front bezel on the case sits fairly snug and there's not tonnes of clearance between fans and the bezel itself so exhausting might actually cause a bigger issue than it is now. For those that don't know the case, it's a solid front bezel with no mesh, but there are gaps left on the vertical sides for air to be pulled in.

 

As I said, not worried - simply musing and wondered what the consensus is. I know hot air rises, but that goes out the window when you're forcing the air in a particular direction.

 

To try and counteract this, I've upped the fan speed in the front of the case (2x 140mm static pressure fans) to suck in more fresh, cooler air but I'm not sure the 2x 120mm air flow designed fans are able to pull the air through fast enough for heat to escape effectively. This obviously increases noise - not that the Asetek pump in the H115i is the quietest thing ever in the first place, but still... It keeps the 2600X at a really tasty 45ish Celsius during gaming at 1440p, yet the GPU is easily still 5-10C hotter than it was in the larger case (approx 1.75 times the volume of the 275R).

 

I'm yet to give this rig a good blast with a long gaming session, that'll have to wait until next weekend now. Thought I'd ask what you folks thought. If nothing else it's interesting reading!

 

Ta'!

[That_Dutch_Guy]

I think that reversing the airflow isn't going to do much for you, as the cool air is now somewhat being pushed towards the fans of the card, whereas having the back and top fan as intakes would push the cool air over the back of the card.

I think this is mainly an issue of just not enough airflow through the case.

I would check the temperature inside the case and go from there.

[Imbellis]

Yes - inversing the direction of the fans to exhaust out the front would help GPU temperatures; however, I wouldn't care about it unless it's throttling.

[LogicalDrm]

Sorry, but you've done this all by yourself. You have case which has only real cooling holes for GPU at front (the case lacks bottom fan mount) and with AIO that will cause inside temps of case to raise. There's nothing you can really do. Apart from getting another case or another CPU cooler.

[The Pizza Man]

29 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Sorry, but you've done this all by yourself.

Not sure but it sounds like you're accusing me of something that I already said I wasn't worried about; I mentioned it three times in my OP that I wasn't worried. I'm very far away from my TJ max on any component and was simply curious to see whether others thought it would improve/degrade my system to reverse the air flow. I'm very much aware that a smaller case would make my temperatures rise a little, and especially so since my radiator is in the front of the case - but ultimately I downsized for a reason. I'm very happy with my first ever built-from-scratch machine and happier still it's in a smaller and more powerful powerful package than I had before.

I'll say it again: I was just curious to see what folks thought here. I've seen numerous videos on it but never actually had a to-and-fro conversation with anyone about it and how it applies to my situation directly.

[LogicalDrm]

1 minute ago, The Pizza Man said:

Not sure but it sounds like you're accusing me of something that I already said I wasn't worried about; I mentioned it three times in my OP that I wasn't worried.

Didn't mean to be rude. My bad day is causing me to be bit more aggressive and overly sarcastic than usual. Overall having rad at front shouldn't be issue. But that case lacks bottom fan mount which would provide passive intake if nothing else. You could do bit modding-ish if you got PCIe extender for GPU and moved its fans to be more in front of intake airflow.

[The Pizza Man]

21 hours ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

Didn't mean to be rude. My bad day is causing me to be bit more aggressive and overly sarcastic than usual.

Don't worry about it. I work in construction and this time of year is - simply put - total and utter crap. So it doesn't help that I'm also a little antsy