Silverstone LC13 with mini-ninja

vimaxus · Post by **vimaxus** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:42 am

Since it's not all complete yet I'm not sure it is the best place to post it but... here it goes:

I ordered the parts for a new computer and thought of transfering the old ones I had running in a watercooled system to a aircooled one.
I had a Silverstone LC13S I used on a dual-amd and thought it would be a good choice.

I especially liked the fact that there is a very small space between the psu and the cpu, so I figured I use only the psu fan and a minininja to cool the cpu passively.

I have a 580W Tagan which had a VERY loud fan. I swaped it for a 1600rpm scythe because I thought it would need all the power with the awful airflow the psu has.
Just look at the distance between the fan blades and the heatsink... crazy!
I went ahead and tried the system with only the psu fan.

It didn't work well at all. The fan was ramping very loudly and the noise was awful, so I tried it with a nexus mounted on the minja on both sides I figured it makes sense.
The first one made the hdd cooler but the back of the case was very hot and the psu fan was still out of control.

The case is pretty crowded but I think it moves the air in the right directions.

Then I figured I should connect the fan on the motherboard and keep it at what I figured it would be a reasonable rpm (I'm looking for a reason to buy a seasonic anyway in case it fails) and I also moved the ninja on the other side.
I then tried some cartboard to try to minimise the hot air returning to the case.

It seems almost ok, but far from great considering how much this thing costs.

Seeing as the psu doesnt seem that impossibly crowded without the fan, I'm considering removing the psu fan completely, build a tight airduct and use 2 nexus fans placed in 90 degrees from eachother.

That's mainly the reason for this post: I'm asking for opinions on this last part, does it make any sense?

Edit: I forgot a picture with the closed case although this has nothing to do with my personal build

scrandman · Post by **scrandman** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 7:56 am

You don't give any details about the PC components, but if it's possible to undervolt the CPU you will generate less heat from it, and reduce the load on the PSU allowing you to use a slower fan in it.

vimaxus · Post by **vimaxus** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 8:08 am

It's already undervolted but it didn't make much of a difference

The system components are as follows:

Asus P5W-DH
TeamElite 2x1GB
C2D E6600 ES
Sapphire 1900XT-CF
Terratec 5.1 Space
Cheap tuner
Seagate 250gb boxed in a homebrew enclosure
Samsung DVDRW

clalor · Post by **clalor** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 4:16 pm

I've been thinking about putting a Ninja mini in my LC13. It's interesting to see how much space it will take up. That heatsink is bigger than I thought.

What sort of temperatures do you see right now?

vimaxus · Post by **vimaxus** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 1:30 pm

The cooler is big but it's just right for this case I think. I thought it wouldn't fit because of the beam that sits just above the cpu. I could only put the thing inside with the cooler already mounted on the case because of it.

Well, I forgot to say anything about the temperatures (or maybe just omitted them because they aren't good at all)

I noticed that when I choose the quietest fan speeds (just below the threshold where I can hear them) that being 35% of the SFF21F on the psu and 50% of the DF1209SL-3 on the minja the temps go UP...:

Hdd 49C
cpu 59C
gpu 62C
... IDLE!!

I can't say the rpm because it is reported as 0 in speedfan so I prefer to mention the only measure I have on the speed.

These are the speeds I use while listening music so I don't use them very much. Obviously when I render or use 3D applications the fans are set on automatic variation and they really ramp up.

The temps are much better when I have the case opened, so obviously a BIG problem is that the case has no airflow design logic (that I can figure out anyway)

Your idea with the intake fans on the bottom is great. How did you cut it? What tools did you use?

clalor · Post by **clalor** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 3:42 pm

Ouch!

That case has air flow issues even with the stock fan setup.

I cut the intake holes using a rotary tool similar to a Dremel and a cutoff wheel. Actually, I used quite a few cutoff wheels. They only last so long.

mentawl · Post by **mentawl** » Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:15 pm

Why not mount the PSU fan on the "outside" of the PSU, so it has a little more space between it and the PSU heatsinks? Not sure if it would fit, but could be worth a look =).

clalor · Post by **clalor** » Sat Nov 03, 2007 10:28 am

One thing you might want to try is to mount the CPU fan on the side of the heat sink closest to the RAM and then duct that air out of the two fan holes on the back of the case. If your CPU is running that hot, sending its hot air into the PSU can't be helping the situation.