Its getting hot in here

ZorbaDaGreek

Yesterday i added a second 4870 1GB Vapor-X to my system. To supplement this i also put in a Corsair 750W modular PSU. So my rig is now composed of

ASUS P5Q PRO
INTEL Q6700
CORSAIR H50 CPU COOLER
2 x 4870 1GB VAPOR-X
4GB DDR2 RAM
CREATIVE X-FI GAMER
500GB HDD
40GB SSD

All of this is packed into an ANTEC 300 CASE.
When i started playing COD MW and DOW2 the fans stared going mental and the heat on the inside rose considerably.
The sound card is placed in between the bottom GPU and the PSU with only about 1cm gap either side, could this be restricting air intake to both these components?
Also i have moved one of the original case fans (Antec Tri-Cool) from a rear intake to a front intake because the H50 comes with its own intake fan to cool the processor, but even on high speed the incoming air does not seem to be reaching the GPU's and the intake fan for the H50 is blowing the hot air into the case as it cools the CPU. I have done the best with cable management and am now considering modding it in some way to help banish any air flow issues.
Are there any other methods to reduce heat without resorting to buying new fans or a new case?

cherryghost

What temperatures are you getting in the first place?

Unregistered.

ZorbaDaGreek wrote: »

Yesterday i added a second 4870 1GB Vapor-X to my system. To supplement this i also put in a Corsair 750W modular PSU. So my rig is now composed of

ASUS P5Q PRO
INTEL Q6700
CORSAIR H50 CPU COOLER
2 x 4870 1GB VAPOR-X
4GB DDR2 RAM
CREATIVE X-FI GAMER
500GB HDD
40GB SSD

All of this is packed into an ANTEC 300 CASE.
When i started playing COD MW and DOW2 the fans stared going mental and the heat on the inside rose considerably.
The sound card is placed in between the bottom GPU and the PSU with only about 1cm gap either side, could this be restricting air intake to both these components?
Also i have moved one of the original case fans (Antec Tri-Cool) from a rear intake to a front intake because the H50 comes with its own intake fan to cool the processor, but even on high speed the incoming air does not seem to be reaching the GPU's and the intake fan for the H50 is blowing the hot air into the case as it cools the CPU. I have done the best with cable management and am now considering modding it in some way to help banish any air flow issues.
Are there any other methods to reduce heat without resorting to buying new fans or a new case?

Have you got a fan mounted on the side for the GPUs?

ZorbaDaGreek

I dont know how to measure the internal temp of the case short of sticking a medical thermometer up it's ar...:)
I ran GPU-Z during COD MW and DOW 2, while playing COD MW one of the GPU's, i suspect the new one with restricted air flow, hit 72C while the other was 10C lower, at the DOW2 title screen however the temps rocketed to 95C:eek: on one and 85C on the other, its the GPU fans that are ramping up. I dont have a fan on the side panel but on the front above the 2 drives as i was under the impression that front to back, bottom to top was the way to go for air flow but seeing these temps i might remove the sound card altogether and put the fan on the side panel blowing onto tho GPU's. God God Dammit Dammit. Will eventually get 2 more for the front i suppose, but then the side fan might start to cause air flow issues. Its all very complimicated.

Anti

How is your cable management inside the case, is there a good route for airflow. Any chance of a pic of the inside of the case?

Unregistered.

ZorbaDaGreek wrote: »

I dont have a fan on the side panel but on the front above the 2 drives as i was under the impression that front to back, bottom to top was the way to go for air flow but seeing these temps i might remove the sound card altogether and put the fan on the side panel blowing onto tho GPU's. God God Dammit Dammit. Will eventually get 2 more for the front i suppose, but then the side fan might start to cause air flow issues. Its all very complimicated.

It's way over-hyped. Check you're case for dust and get rid of any - front fans are lethal for sucking in dust. Try moving that one from the front to the side as an exhaust.

ZorbaDaGreek

Thanks for your replys guys. I have maximised cable management as much as i can for the case and all the associated cables (i will post a pic or 2 on the PC pic sticky at some stage for approval) and i probably will put a fan on the side panel to cool the GPU's but i have discovered some random posts through google that DOW 2 ramps up the heat on cards at the title/load screen, these other cards have all been NVidia though and it never happened when i had the single GPU in. Anyway I will have to keep away from DOW 2, at least its a good excuse to buy SC 2.
Until next time, Nanoo Nanoo.

ZorbaDaGreek

As requested, here are a couple of pics for the cable routing. All comments and suggestions welcome.

http://s915.photobucket.com/albums/ac359/Padek1/

Solitaire

Seems to be a combination of blockage due to sound card and "gasping" due to the PSU and GFX fans cancelling each other out, both fighting over the same air and neither getting it in the end

Unregistered.

Solitaire wrote: »

Seems to be a combination of blockage due to sound card and "gasping" due to the PSU and GFX fans cancelling each other out, both fighting over the same air and neither getting it in the end

In that case, get a fan filter and try a side mounted fan blowing air into the case. Maybe a low-speed or a PWM fan that ramps up with the heat.

ZorbaDaGreek

I thought as much. Obviously removing the graphics card is step number one and then drilling a hole under the PSU and reinserting the PSU upside down is probably the next step. In fact most PSU's i have seen in pics are placed that way, i presume for that very reason, but the clearance under the case is minimal, where would i find high enough case shoes (if thats what they are called)?

Unregistered.

Do you really need the sound card? I'd get rid of that first and run some tests

ZorbaDaGreek

I meant sound card, not graphics card obviously.The reason i have it is that i am not 100% convinced by onboard sound, but seeing the position i am in, beggars cant be choosers. And sure i could build a new rig around the sound card

cherryghost

You could always cut open the floor and add your own grill, and then reinstall the PSU the other way round

Unregistered.

ZorbaDaGreek wrote: »

I meant sound card, not graphics card obviously.The reason i have it is that i am not 100% convinced by onboard sound, but seeing the position i am in, beggars cant be choosers. And sure i could build a new rig around the sound card

What sort of audio set up do you have?

ZorbaDaGreek

Was using creative 2.1 setup but due to my baby daughter had to change to headphones for most everything these days, Sennheiser PC 350's, actually sound better than most speaker systems to be honest.

Unregistered.

Ah you won't miss the sound card so.

ZorbaDaGreek

Thanks for the replys guys,

Ah you won't miss the sound card so.

Am going to remove that this evening

You could always cut open the floor and add your own grill, and then reinstall the PSU the other way round

This is certainly the next step I will take but where can i purchase case feet to give me clearance under the case for the PSU air intake?

Nehaxak

ZorbaDaGreek wrote: »

This is certainly the next step I will take but where can i purchase case feet to give me clearance under the case for the PSU air intake?

Walk by a building site and pick up a breeze block to use, best platform you could have your computer on
Just tell anyone that stops you on the way home wondering wtf you're doing walking down the road with a block, that it's your pet dog Tyson, they'll leave you alone, trust me.

Champ

The thing about hybrid coolers like the H50 (I call them hybrid since they're not complete water solutions) and some motherboards is that plenty of motherboards depend on the airflow generated by the CPU cooler to move hot air from the motherboard. I know first hand that the X58 motherboard bridges get awfully hot for idle and under load without air moving over their bridges (dependent on the CPU cooler). When you have components next to said bridges well... burning to the touch comes to mind.

I know many motherboards have passive cooling but under load this is barely enough without some form of airflow in the case (provided by an air CPU cooler).

What are your motherboard temps?

I also am familiar with the vapor-x ATI series of cards. While they are good for the GPU persay it's not so good for the case as the design is such that expels most of the hot air back into your case even with the dual slot setup so... need a well ventilated case and no CPU air cooler means..