Airflow advice...

[NightshadowUK]

After previously complaining about my rather toasty Opteron 170 I never considered that the airflow in my Eclipse-62 could be the problem.

I've got two 120mm Sharkoon 1000s for intake / exhaust and one 80mm Sharkoon 2000 blowing down on the PWM area.

Now with this setup my CPU was idling at about 50ºC, but I've just found that with the sidepanel off the CPU hits 55ºC full load (using Orthos), much better.

So here's my question, do I replace my case fans with something a bit more meaty (I do have some Akasa Ambers lying around but they're pretty noisy) or do I go for something like this sidepanel?

Many thanks.

[Clunk]

Lets have some pics of the inside of your case

[NightshadowUK]

Not mega tidy but not too bad:

Click here.

[Clunk]

Looks very tidy that mate

Unless it is overheating or unstable, I would leave it as it is. The side panel might give you a small decrease in temps with a fan blowing inwards.

[NightshadowUK]

Cheers man.

Just done some testing...

Sidepanel on
- Idle 49ºC
- Load 66ºC

Sidepanel off
- Idle 38C
- Load 56ºC

I'm tempted by the new sidepanel but I like my current one with the window.

[DratUK]

A possible reason and I am possibly wrong, the 80mm blower is blowing straight down on the extraction route for the hot air blowing off from the AC. I wonder if the air flow direction is being disrupted and recirculating air. It would be interesting just to see if there is any difference with that 80mm off.

Just an observation.

[sawyen]

I dont have a problem with my Eclipse tho,

having tested with side off, on, windowed window

here are some results..

I'm running a 4600+ at 2.8Ghz

aluminium side on,

idle 36C
load 50C

windowed side on,

idle 39C
load 55C

window side off,

idle 35C
load 48C

Not that much difference IMHO..

I suspect its that 80mm fan thats messing up things

I have 4 fans in total.. one exhaust, one inlet, one to the VGA and the CNPS9500

http://img179.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1669cv6.jpg

here's a airflow setup piccy of my Eclipse..

[CrazyMonkey]

Heatsink seated properly?

[scrandman]

A possible reason and I am possibly wrong, the 80mm blower is blowing straight down on the extraction route for the hot air blowing off from the AC. I wonder if the air flow direction is being disrupted and recirculating air. It would be interesting just to see if there is any difference with that 80mm off.

Just an observation.

Agreed - try ditching the 80mm fan - it will be causing turbulent airflow where it is.

[NightshadowUK]

Well I ditched the 80mm and it's made about a 1ºC difference.

EDIT: The exhaust fan seems to be kicking out hardly any air so I'll hook up an Amber tomorrow and see what happens.

[DratUK]

Well it was worth a try at least. If you've now found that the rear fan is doing zilch well at least the Ambers will do the job. Let us know what the result is. Have you reseated the cpu?

[No.72]

What about dust?
or it could just be where your tower is sitting, ie. room with good/bad airflow.
I have a de-humidifier in my room and it makes 3 degrees cooler.

[NightshadowUK]

Nah there's no dust inside my case, I clean it regularly.

I swapped the fans out for Akasa Ambers and aside from producing more noise they had no affect.

Think I'll be buying the previously mentioned sidepanel - does anyone have one of these on their Eclipse or Mirage?

[EtheAv8r]

I would:

• remove the 80mm fan and re-test the Arctic Cooling Freezer has deflected lower fins that should suffice

• the 1000 sharkoons could be replaced by 2000's - or other silent fans that would move much more air,

and does the main PSU cable pass in front of the Arctic Cooling Freezer - blocking airflow, or is it over-the-top and down the side panel and hence out of the way?

[NightshadowUK]

The 80mm fan has been removed and the AC Freezer has been re-fitted, no luck.

As for the main PSU cable, it's well above the AC Freezer and pretty much touching the side panel when it's on.

EDIT: According to the specs the 120mm Sharkoon 2000s do shift a lot more air so I'll look into them... anyone wanna buy some fans?