New Case Need Airflow.

[mrgrins]

Hello i'm TV's grinspwned for Owned Well and i need a new case for my compooter.

I was streaming Legend of Grimrock 2 last weekend. At around the 6 hour mark my game froze and my windows began blinking in and out (graphic Issues). I can only assume my gear was overheating.

So I have deemed it necessary that I procure myself a new structure to house my electronic wonderland of parts.

Right Now I am looking at this beauty. Corsair Carbide Series Air 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case CC-9011030-WW - Black





If anyone has used this particular model or another cube case plz let me know how it goes? Also I will take suggestions of other aircool cases of great respect and endowment. Note: I am not interested in water cooling at the moment because I am very messy and will most likely end up dousing my electronics with liquid bad.

Thank you for your input. Have a nice day.

[Bas]

Nice case i have this one and its excellent for air flow



The In win FANQUA not the prettiest but does the job.

[m3ss]

- Full tower w/ plenty of built-in fans and air flow. Highly recommended for the price.

[blade]

Hello old buddy mrgrins.

1-What you want is a bottom-psu mounted case as that allows better air circulation.
2-IMO, you want an intake fan in the front of case and outtake fans on top, back and sides of the case as warm air rises.
3-Steel cases are better overall as far as heat considerations go
4-One of the biggest issues I have with ATX mobos is that the front of videocard faces DOWN. That means the warm air blows out and then it rises back up right onto the videocard and rest of the motherboard. That's a design flaw for ATX. Videocard should run in parallel direction as the RAM. Sorry, just a rant

The case you chose looks good. Only thing missing is a fan at the top in the back of the case. Warm air does rise so I am not sure why they don't have a fan there at the top

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119260 -- This has very good airflow. I would choose this case if I was building my own pc as it is full steel.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811133192 -- This is an expensive case at $180, but the airflow is insane .

m3ss also recommended a very good case.

For in-depth reviews of other elite cases:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mou ... 19-14.html

[spydee]

before buying a new case you should confirm first you need one. make sure it is actually overheating and not some other hardware issue and that it is a case issue that can't be rectified with 5$ fans. even a single fan can make a difference

nice case though if you do end up getting it :p

[blade]

I agree with spydee. I thought you knew for sure that it was an overheating issue, but is it truly airflow issue?

grins:
1) what's your current case?
2) specs of pc?
3) how many fans you have?
4) where are the fans facing? intake/outtake
5) did you check to see how high the temp gets for gpu/cpu?

Try running your current case open for a couple days with the sides open. If it runs stable with sides open, that usually is a telling sign that your current case is the issue

[Shotman]

I just gotta ask, do you keep your pc clean?

[mrgrins]

Right now I have this case.

NZXT PHANTOM ATX Full Tower Case, Red PHAN-001RD




Inside is 1 top fan, 1 back fan, 1 side fan. The other side fan I do not have an extra power thing to plug it into.

specs are roughly from memory.
Some sorta MOBO with an I7 3.6 something or other.
16 gig Ram - (4 4gig sticks)
GTX 780 vid card and a 750 watt psupp.
after market cpu cooler that's not massive but not tiny.

I am pretty sure it was the vid card overheating because I was getting graphical blinks n whatnot.

Yes the case is not dirty

I do see what you mean by the video cards seeming to face the wrong way but i guess the fans are supposed to push the air through the card and to the exhaust fan?

[spydee]

you dont need a new case. get gpu-z and monitor the temperature that way (there are some for cpus too, realtemp i think works well). if it reports vrm temperatures, those can go pretty high before they become a problem (like 90C high). i wouldnt go over 80C on the gpu core. with a full tower case and a single video card you shouldnt even be that high though and should have 0 airflow issues. its probably some other hardware issue tbh. if you ever mucked with overclocking and stuff, might be a voltage problem so lower the clocks or up the voltage (you need to find out what is right for that). you can get cables and stuff so that you can power all the fans if needed. may not be able to monitor or control their speed without a separate addon but they will run

airflow is kind of tricky but in general i would prioritize intake/exhaust over a sidefan (unless it is very well placed). youll need to do some testing

[DREW-TANg]

is a top vs. bottom psu that much of a factor?

[KillEmAll]

You want negative airflow in my opinion. It will cause more dust inside and the need for the occasional blowout with a can of air.

"For a negative air pressure system, the goal is to have more air being forced out of the case than is being forced in. This will create a vacuum inside the case which produces a steady stream of cooling air, and will help minimize dead zones where no cooling air can reach. Remember that air is usually exhausted through a top-mounted blowhole fan and by the rear fan(s). This leaves the front and side for intake fans. Generally, an 80mm-120mm blowhole coupled with a 120mm rear exhaust, plus the power supply fan, will be more than sufficient in any properly cooled case. With a 120mm front intake fan and an 80-120mm side intake fan, this setup will usually produce the desired “negative-pressure” effect. Just make sure that the CFM of the combined outputs of the three exhaust fans is greater than the CMF rating of the combined outputs of the two intake fans."

[InfamousRaider]

It is also important to note that the ambient temperature of the room plays a big part in the fans ability to keep your case cool. Obviously you want to introduce the coldest air possible so consider that as well.

[HULKSMASH]

[spydee]

if the bottom of your case (facing the floor) has a psu vent/grill/whatever, make sure the psu is mounted with the fan pointing down (so its against the case) so it pulls air from the bottom of the case straight out the rear of the psu. if you mount it opposite then you are just going to muck up your airflow

[blade]

[blade]

grins, you have a very good case - it is a steel full tower, bottom-mounted PSU and nice distribution of fans. Case is clearly not the issue. Clean any dirt out of videocard+cpu with some compressed air and electronics cleaner. Apply new layer of ceramic paste to CPU. Open up videocard and put custom fan+heatsink on it, This cost $20 max TOTAL! And 1 hour of your time.

BTW - for your fans.. You want both top fan+back fan to be EXHAUST. Both bottom/side fans should be INTAKE.

If you still decide to buy new case, how much you willing to sell the old case for??

[DREW-TANg]

[mrgrins]

That vid card was less then a week old when this happened so its not dirty. I think I might just get that case because it looks cool and then I dunno put Christmas lights in it or something. ill take pictures.

[HULKSMASH]

OMG CHRISTMAS LIGHTSSSSSSSS

[Bryandigm-]

mr.grins, did you ever get a new case? I found a good one from razerzone.

http://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/149- ... tower.html