OK - I plan to build a system with:
Coolermaster Cavalier 3 (I like the look and will mod to increase front intake airflow)
AMD 64 3000 Venice
Seasonic S12 430W
2*Spinponts suspended vertically in lower cage
Low power passive PCI graphics (not interested in 3D for now - but maybe a passive cooled 6600GT later...)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64
Nexus 80mm front case fan
Stock 120mm rear case fan
(All fans undervolted with fanmates for quiet operation)
As you can see this is not an overly powerful system so I'm hoping the 80mm intake will not be too restrictive. What do you think?
My main dilemma is which way to point the Freezer64. Depending on which motherboard I get I can either point it towards the PSU fan (most motherboards) or twoards the rear 120mm case fan (DFI motherboards).
There's a good picture of the internals of a cavlier 3 here...
I guess that pointing the Freezer 64 towards the rear will keep the PSU cooler but I wonder if it will create too much turbulence / restriction around the PSU intake fan? Maybe I would be better pointing the Freezer64 up at the PSU intake fan - thus letting the rear fan take heat flowing up from the hard disks? Will the orientation make any appreciable difference?
Or would I be better with an upward blowing CPU cooler like Zalman 7000?
I guess what I'm really after is a mental picture of the airflow in these 3 different scenarios and which is best.
I thought about making a PSU duct from the 5.25 bays as described in these forums - but I really want the S12 PSU and I guess a duct won't work with a downward pointing intake fan.
Your thoughts much appreciated
![Smile :-)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)