Airflow suggestions please

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Here is the archive with some pictures of my case. What kind of airflow would you suggest?

Currently I'm thinking about blowing air from sysfan and air duct and expelling it via the chimney, perhaps also getting some air from down there in the case. However, it's going to be tedious on the technical side, so I might as well install the missing sysfan and put a 12*12 cm fan (intake or expulsion) in 5.25'' bays, and swap hard drive with floppy to make the cool air sweep over it. The downside would be pretty high intake - about 20 cm above the ground. Probably easier than making holes in the case, anyway.

Still, I'm sort of inclined to think it's better for the processor to face some fresh air from the outside in close quarters (like getting some from both the duct and sysfan) than to be in the way of 80*80 expulsion of a current initiated by even a 12*12 intake fan 46 cm away.

The downside of the chimney solution would be that all intake-fans-initiated-currents would short-circuit and follow the shortest way there. RAM might become a dead zone. CPU will only get a marginal sweep through the top on the air's way from sysfan to chimney. So perhaps a long flow would be better - front to rear or rear to front.

What's your opinion? Feel free mark things on the pictures with arrows and send pictures back onto chevalier@o2.pl if you can't upload them anywhere.

Thanks in advance for helping me. I'm not good at physics.

 

Well...the ATX standard basically is designed to take in cool air from the bottom of the front of the case, move it up towards the CPU, and out the back of the case via the PSU and/or the rear exhaust fan.

My suggestion to you after seeing that monstrosity of a cabling job (looks more like a rat's nest), would be to start by buying round IDE cables. That will save space and clean up *a lot* of clutter that's messing up your airflow. At a bare minimum you need to take some Zip ties and organize as much as you can.

Fan-wise, you should install the 120mm fan on the back panel...as you don't *really* need an intake fan (the exhaust fan will be able to suck the cool air from the front panel), but it's a good idea to have both.

I don't know what you are talking about with a "chimney", but as far as I can tell, you're thinking of a wind tunnel...which is a bad idea unless you have a Silverstone case that is set up to make perfect use of a wind tunnel...but you don't. If you're totally obsessed with a wind tunnel, take a look at the Sliverstone TJ06. Making on yourself reeks of disaster...not that I doubt your skill...just looking at your current case make me doubtful.

 

Yep, even before reading your post, I decided to instill some order in the cable structure. Basically, some folding, some rubber elastic, throwing one IDE cable under the mobo and using the FDD cable to hold power cables down. Should be neat now.

120mm on the back panel? I only have room for 80. I could buy a converter, but I'm not sure how well it would do.

Eh, you would do well to doubt my skill. I wasn't that bad at physics, but it's simply not my kind of thing and I've generally never done any case modding. OCing one or other component a bit, maybe, but drilling holes in my case? Nada, not ever. But I decided to make use of the 5.25'' bay and perhaps use a small intake fan on the PCI slots (basically hanging it on a re-bent binder like I did with the smallish recycled sysfan I have for now).

Ideally, I would use an intake fan at the front and bottom, but I can't because of the power switch and all. The bottom of the left side of the case wouldn't be that bad, but I'd have to drill.

Are you sure about using the 5.25'' bays as an expulsion channel?

Anyway, how about a couple of easy things I could do? Maybe you could mark something in pictures?

If this matters anyhow, my current CPU cooler is this piece of copper with an 80 mm fan blowing down on the CPU and cooling the parts around it. I'm going to replace it with a 92 mm or more (but I don't have the clips for bigger stuff) and use the 80 mm one as sysfan and then maybe put the recycled 60 mm sysfan down there on the PCI slots to help with intake.

 

Well...if you want hot air blowing out of the front of the case, you might want to try the Scythe Kama Bay. It's a 120mm fan that can be installed in two 5.25" bays. Considering the common logic of ATX cases and cooling, I'm 95% sure the fan with blow cool air *into* the case. But there's nothing keeping you from turning the fan around in it's mounting bracket.

I don't really know why you're trying to go against the standard ATX standard for cooling, but for best cooling, you need to go with the flow...pun intended.

All you really need is the CPU fan, the GPU fan, an exhaust fan on the back of the case, and if you want, a front intake fan. Most cases that you buy now have all the fans you'll ever need already installed. It's not 1988 anymore Chev...let that beast of a case go already. Head on over to Xoxide's PC case section to see dozens and dozens of different PC cases.

 

Hehehe. Well, I basically thought that blowing tons of air on the processor from two directions (sysfan and tube) would be good, but then I saw the bottom of my PSU... holes. Holes plus fan means expulsion already in place. You see... I just can't blow from down there, so I can only blow from 5.25'', which is slightly above sysfan. Wouldn't like to blow on the PSU alone. Can you suggest something... don't know, maybe a fan in the bottom right section of the left wing of the case?

I'm attached to my solid iron case. I love it. My memories are associated with it. I want it to hold my computer guts so long as possible and preferably without even drilling holes or otherwise damaging its original structure. It's hard to explain. It's an emotional thing.

The tube has arrived. I can drill holes and make it a processor air duct or I can apply it elsewhere. Any suggestions?

 

If you want airflow directly to the processor, drill/cut some holes in the side of the case and install one or two 120mm fans there.