anyone tried reversing the airflow on a sonata for ...

Dr. Smith · Post by **Dr. Smith** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 8:02 am

better cooling? ( I already removed the plastic vents on the front of the sonata)

I'm using a fortron PSU w/ 120mm fan
the stock antec 120mm fan on fanmate ~ 7v
NF7-S (with zalman on the NB)
2600xp w/ thermalright sk-7 & panaflo 1LA on fanmate (full speed)
and 1 80mm 1LA @ 12v positioned in the hard drive cage to assist in drawing air in.
radeon 9500 (non-pro) 128mb
& M-audio delta 410
80gig cuda iv

right now the 3 main fans (PS CPU & Exhaust) are forming a tight triangle w/ the exhaust and PS blowing out and the CPU fan blowing down. My idle temps are 42 cpu and 33 case (I think the case is right...I'll double check when I get there this evening). After watching a movie for 1hour (in a warm room...due to the projector, computer and closed door), the CPU is up to 52...and thats with the front cover open.

The 9500 fan is the noisiest thing in there. I would like to cool the entire system down before dealing w/ removing the vga fan, and was wondering if anyone used that big 120mm fan as an intake, providing fresh (cooler) air to the cpu?

I could see this as helping your cpu temps and PS temps, but at what expense to the bottom part of the case (HD & VGA temps)?

just expressing some ideas out loud and wondering if anyone already tried it and could give me some ideas or tips for cooling this thing down

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 8:39 am

I think your idea is worth a try. You probably want to play with the case fan speed for an optimum balance with minimal turbulence (think of it as eddies in a stream...)

Your front/hdd temps probably won't be affected because of that front fan.

The whole system has to be pretty loud! IMO, even Panaflo 80Ls are not quiet at 12V. Have you tried enlarging the bottom opening in the front plastic bezel for more inflow?

For your ATI9500, this cooler might be just the thing: The VGA Silencer from Arctic-Cooling. It actrually blows the heat from the VGA OUT of the case. Needs the PCI slot directly below the AGP. My sample is very impressive! Too bad I don't have a 9500-9800 to try it on. Yet.
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/en/products/vga_silencer/

mynci · Post by **mynci** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 9:21 am

i have the fan directions reversed at the moment, not in a sonata though. to be homest it hasnt made that much of a difference to the temps or the noise, the hdd is a little hotter, but other than that pretty much the same. i have got the top bay of my computer completely open though, this means the psu blows almost straight out with a 5-6v lia pushing it.

its a little hotter without the bay open as its harder to push hot air down and out the front rather than letting it float to the top as it naturally does. i think that makes sense.

not sur eit helps much tho - as mike says that system will be loud and those temps arnt too bad, id worry about the noise first and the heat later, ie if the fans dont cool sufficiently 'forwards' try them 'backwards'

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 10:46 am

Hey mikec when will that arcitc cooling review be out. If my replacment zm80c doesnt work better on my 9800pro than the first time I installed it then I might need to try one of these out.

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 11:07 am

GamingGod --

Whenever I get an ATI sample board sent to me. I like this thing, it's elegant & well designed & I think it would work really well. Check out this roundup of cards -- the HIS Excalibur IceQ 9800 Pro 128MB comes equipped with the AC VGA Silencer. They give it a total thumbs up.

I've plugged the thing in. The fan has a high/low switch; at the low, it is plenty quiet, and you can still feel a good amount of air flowing through/across the HS. The config of other VGA coolers just swirls already hot air around and the flat positioning of the fan against the HS means a ton of turbulence noise. This is much better.

The most amazing thing, as usual with AC products, is the MSRP: US$22! Looks like it is not available in the US yet. I may post a quick mini review/preview in news later.

Dr. Smith · Post by **Dr. Smith** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 1:23 pm

yep, the system is pretty loud right now...I just finished it this weekend, so I'm trying to make sure its stable and get the basic apps up and running before I worry about quieting it down.

I think the ati fan is actually rubbing on the little housing...its extremely loud during startup and bios...then when xp finishes loading, it quiets down a bit....but still the loudest thing in there.

(at this point the projector is louder than the pc anyway...next project...hushbox)

I opened up the bottom of the case a little before I assembled everything. I guess its time to break out the tools again and re-examine what I can open up.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 6:48 pm

well my 9800pro heatsink is very very loud. I mean it sounds like a hairdryer from 3feet away seriously. And its offbalance or something. Whenever i cold boot it rattles and makes even more noise than normal, I have to give the card a little smack to make it sound right.