I have a P180 and an 8800 Ultra. I've realised that the 8800 is pumping copious amounts of heat in the case, causing all other components to heat up (reduces the effectiveness of my CPU cooling by about 12 C). Using temp probes the air just above the 8800 is around 35-40 C, when ambient is about 23 C. I tried a small cardboard duct on the 8800 to vent more air outside thru the back but it doesn't seem to change that much.
Am I correct in thinking that there really is nothing (without increasing noise significantly or going to watercooling) that can change the heat inside due to the 8800?
I already have one intake fan, and two exit fans at the top rear holes.
Suggestions for cooling the 8800 Ultra in P180
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strangesnow
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MikeC
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There are things you can do...
1) Reduce the front intake impedance: See Sticky: P180/182/190 Intake Airflow Restriction: A simple solution
2) Don't put any HDDs in the top drive cage and add a 120mm fan with the wire clips (supplied with the case) on the HDD cage -- to blow air in towards the 8800. You might also use some duct tape or whatever to seal the gap between HDD cage and the front vent.
3) remove all the PCI slot covers -- to allow the fan in 2) to blow the heat from the video card out the back.
4) use the top vent for a 120mm intake -- this will keep the CPU much cooler
If the additional fans are chosen carefully and run at low speed, you should get pretty good cooling with hardly any increase in noise.
1) Reduce the front intake impedance: See Sticky: P180/182/190 Intake Airflow Restriction: A simple solution
2) Don't put any HDDs in the top drive cage and add a 120mm fan with the wire clips (supplied with the case) on the HDD cage -- to blow air in towards the 8800. You might also use some duct tape or whatever to seal the gap between HDD cage and the front vent.
3) remove all the PCI slot covers -- to allow the fan in 2) to blow the heat from the video card out the back.
4) use the top vent for a 120mm intake -- this will keep the CPU much cooler
If the additional fans are chosen carefully and run at low speed, you should get pretty good cooling with hardly any increase in noise.
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strangesnow
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thanks for your suggestions.
1. I've tried it with all front doors open, no dust filter and no effect on the inside temps.
2. I have no HDDs in the top cage and have an intake fan on the mount there. Speeding up this fan does nothing to the inside temps either. besides, mounting it just in front of the 8800 ultra doesn't work as there is no space.
3. I have a tv tuner card as a wells as a sound card which takes up some slots and vents. however, i have removed the water cooling ports of a bit more air.
4. I have tried the top fan as an intake before but was going with the theory of creating negative pressure in the case. Which makes me wonder if i should have any intake fans at all. My only issue of changing the top fan into an inlet is that now there will be only one exit fan (a positive pressure case) but given the design of the case maybe that is all is possible?
thoughts?
1. I've tried it with all front doors open, no dust filter and no effect on the inside temps.
2. I have no HDDs in the top cage and have an intake fan on the mount there. Speeding up this fan does nothing to the inside temps either. besides, mounting it just in front of the 8800 ultra doesn't work as there is no space.
3. I have a tv tuner card as a wells as a sound card which takes up some slots and vents. however, i have removed the water cooling ports of a bit more air.
4. I have tried the top fan as an intake before but was going with the theory of creating negative pressure in the case. Which makes me wonder if i should have any intake fans at all. My only issue of changing the top fan into an inlet is that now there will be only one exit fan (a positive pressure case) but given the design of the case maybe that is all is possible?
thoughts?
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MikeC
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The biggest bottleneck is probably the stock VGA cooler. No matter how much airflow you put across or near it, the GPU will only get as much cooling as the blower fan can blow across it. You might have to resort to an aftermarket cooler that's more efficient and not so closed as the stock ones are to additional airflow.
I'd still try the top fan.
You can also try a Kama bay w/ fan -- goes in unused optical drive bays and turns them into an intake vent.
I'd still try the top fan.
You can also try a Kama bay w/ fan -- goes in unused optical drive bays and turns them into an intake vent.
You want to get the heat out, using the top as an intake just circulates the heat around.
I thought the 8800 Ultra had a slot cooler that blows air outside the case in the first place? My 8800GT blows hot air in the case and system temps don't increase much (even tho Ive now ducted the hot air outside for the sake of it). Similar setup to you, 2 exhaust at top and one intake. I do however have 1 90mm fan blowing at the southbridge heatsink which happens to be right under the video card. That helped drop temps of video card by 2 degrees.
What hsf do you have on your cpu?
I thought the 8800 Ultra had a slot cooler that blows air outside the case in the first place? My 8800GT blows hot air in the case and system temps don't increase much (even tho Ive now ducted the hot air outside for the sake of it). Similar setup to you, 2 exhaust at top and one intake. I do however have 1 90mm fan blowing at the southbridge heatsink which happens to be right under the video card. That helped drop temps of video card by 2 degrees.
What hsf do you have on your cpu?
It's very simple.
If it's case temps you are concerned with, you must move more air through the case (at least where the hot spots are).
I would seal all the possible intake points other than the front fan, this will assure that the cool air is bieng directed over the components like the video card first, especially since you have the second fan there. I used aluminium duct tape over all the holes in the front of the case, and the rear vents/ slots, etc...
Next, cut the grilles out of the exhuast fans. You can replace the one on the rear with a round wire grille if you are worried about fingers and such, while the top fan has the plastic shroud to protect it.
The top fan needs to have slightly more CFM than the rear fan, and the front fan need slightly more than the top fan. You can use fan controllers or your motherboard settings to accomplish this. What that does is assure the air is bieng directed evenly toword the top and rear of the case. I found that when the rear fan out performed the top fan, the top fan did not even move any air at all (which is why many people block the top fan off). This created dead air right above the graphics card, because of the air bieng drawn from the top front portion of the case (where the 5" bays are).
What you want to accomplish is smooth and even air flow, into then out of the case. This keeps air from stagnating over hotspots like the top of the video card, and PWM circuits.
You can always add direct air pressure (a fan) toward a hotspot, but it is more efficient and quieter, to increase the CFM of the case in total, and make the air flow over the hot spots.
If it's case temps you are concerned with, you must move more air through the case (at least where the hot spots are).
I would seal all the possible intake points other than the front fan, this will assure that the cool air is bieng directed over the components like the video card first, especially since you have the second fan there. I used aluminium duct tape over all the holes in the front of the case, and the rear vents/ slots, etc...
Next, cut the grilles out of the exhuast fans. You can replace the one on the rear with a round wire grille if you are worried about fingers and such, while the top fan has the plastic shroud to protect it.
The top fan needs to have slightly more CFM than the rear fan, and the front fan need slightly more than the top fan. You can use fan controllers or your motherboard settings to accomplish this. What that does is assure the air is bieng directed evenly toword the top and rear of the case. I found that when the rear fan out performed the top fan, the top fan did not even move any air at all (which is why many people block the top fan off). This created dead air right above the graphics card, because of the air bieng drawn from the top front portion of the case (where the 5" bays are).
What you want to accomplish is smooth and even air flow, into then out of the case. This keeps air from stagnating over hotspots like the top of the video card, and PWM circuits.
You can always add direct air pressure (a fan) toward a hotspot, but it is more efficient and quieter, to increase the CFM of the case in total, and make the air flow over the hot spots.
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strangesnow
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I will try the intake and see where it goes but I think your comment is accurate in that the stock GPU fan can only evacuate limited heat from the case.
With the side panel off, I can get about 9 C on the CPU cores at idle with the air just above the 8800 at around 25 C.
With the panel on, the air just above the 8800 rises to 40 C at idle and as a result, my CPU core goes up to 20 C.
These are already decent temps on their own but it's the change that I'm trying to focus on as changing the side panels implies that my air flow really isn't working out, hence my questions. The overall noise thus far of the system is less than the hard drives (i.e. i hear the hard drives more than the system) so I am happy with that performance. That is why I suspect that the case doesn't have enough air flow for the 8800 Ultra or that the fan on the GPU needs to be a lot stronger.
The 8800 does include a vent out the back but it also has slots at the near the exit that vent into the case, hence causing the temps to rise.
With the side panel off, I can get about 9 C on the CPU cores at idle with the air just above the 8800 at around 25 C.
With the panel on, the air just above the 8800 rises to 40 C at idle and as a result, my CPU core goes up to 20 C.
These are already decent temps on their own but it's the change that I'm trying to focus on as changing the side panels implies that my air flow really isn't working out, hence my questions. The overall noise thus far of the system is less than the hard drives (i.e. i hear the hard drives more than the system) so I am happy with that performance. That is why I suspect that the case doesn't have enough air flow for the 8800 Ultra or that the fan on the GPU needs to be a lot stronger.
The 8800 does include a vent out the back but it also has slots at the near the exit that vent into the case, hence causing the temps to rise.
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strangesnow
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I didn't have the time to follow the other suggestion of taping everything up and directing the air flow better. I'm not I have hotspots of dead air as the real problem is that the 8800. Will try when I get more time.
However, turning the upper fan into an intake did drop temperatures down significantly by about 4C on the CPU core. Will try some more experimenting but not entirely sure where the air actually goes in the case now! Thanks Mike for the suggestion. I will likely try to increase exit flow as much as possible somehow. Not a lot of places in P180 to do that tho...
However, turning the upper fan into an intake did drop temperatures down significantly by about 4C on the CPU core. Will try some more experimenting but not entirely sure where the air actually goes in the case now! Thanks Mike for the suggestion. I will likely try to increase exit flow as much as possible somehow. Not a lot of places in P180 to do that tho...
A bit off topic here, sorry.zorrt wrote:My 8800GT blows hot air in the case and system temps don't increase much (even tho Ive now ducted the hot air outside for the sake of it).
How did you duct your 8800GT? I'm in the progress of building a duct (only 1 intake in the case, the 2 standard exhausts, completely sealed off HDD / Power Supply).
By opening the the water cooling holes and directing the heat from the 8800GT through those and the lower PCI slot exits i've managed to get a 5C degree drop in idle so far (58C to 53C)
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strangesnow
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So I think I will move to some sort of watercooling for the 8800 Ultra. My two top choices are 1) buying refurb'd Freezone for it and have it vent out the front where the hard drive cage is or getting a small radiator and channel the heat down to the hard drive / psu chamber and put the rad right on the chamber fan in the middle.
So the question is does anyone know if the amount of heat from the GPU will threaten the performance of the PSU and the hard drives?
So the question is does anyone know if the amount of heat from the GPU will threaten the performance of the PSU and the hard drives?
I had an 8800GTS SC (640MB) and what I did was make a duct to keep the air from being released into the case. There are some vents at the bottom of the cooler that allow air to enter the case from the video card. I kept the fan spinning fairly slow (quiet) and maintained about 51C on average use (not gaming) and non of the heat affected the CPU.
I have a P180B that has a fan in the upper HDD cage. I was thnking of making a scoop to attach to the screw holes on the 8800's heat sink that would allow more cool air to enter the cooler.
I have a P180B that has a fan in the upper HDD cage. I was thnking of making a scoop to attach to the screw holes on the 8800's heat sink that would allow more cool air to enter the cooler.