View Full Version : What a difference a case makes (Antec 900)
Viventis
04-08-07, 02:05 PM
Although I always knew the importance of good air flow in a system, I never could have imagined how important it really is.
I installed my Opteron 170 in my old case (a Rosewill with two 80mm fans in the front and one 80 mm in the back and a side vent/tube pointing at the cpu. I was getting idle temps in the 40-45C range, even at stock speeds. I could not run reliably at 2.5 ghz, and got a couple of high temp warnings during gaming.
I bought an Antec 900, that has the power supply on the bottom, two 120 mm fans in front, a 120 mm fan in back, and a huge 200 mm fan on top. The top fan, with no power supply in the way, pulls heat right out of the cpu. This minute, with the Opteron overclocked from 2.0 to 2.5 (I am slowly working my way up) my idle temps are 24 and 28C per Core Temp. This is with the stock cooler and at stock voltages. All fans are on their medium speed settings. If the included fans are not enough, you can add two more 120's.
This has got to be the coolest case on the planet!
I got mine from Fry's for $99. The description is better at Newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021
slaWter
04-08-07, 02:48 PM
Nice improvement man!
Xion X2
04-08-07, 03:09 PM
Yep. Airflow makes all the difference.
kevJ420
04-08-07, 03:43 PM
Replace the 120mm fans w/ Panaflo's 108 or ~114 cfm ones.
CaptNKILL
04-08-07, 04:30 PM
Yep, I had a pretty significant temperature drop when I went from a generic windowed case to an Antec P180B.
Antec cases FTW. :thumbsup:
My old Antec I have now has 3 intake 80mm fans and 2 exhaust 80mm. It also has 2 80mm in the PSU. Needless to say, it runs pretty damn cool. My new Lian Li case is aluminum but only 1 120mm in the front and 1 120mm in the back. I am anxious to see how it performs in comparison.
kevJ420
04-08-07, 05:45 PM
My old Antec I have now has 3 intake 80mm fans and 2 exhaust 80mm. It also has 2 80mm in the PSU. Needless to say, it runs pretty damn cool. My new Lian Li case is aluminum but only 1 120mm in the front and 1 120mm in the back. I am anxious to see how it performs in comparison.
I have some great suggestions. Get a genuine Lian Li side panel w/ a window from performancepcs.com and have them drill a 120mm fan holes in it and replace the stock fans w/ either the Panaflo 108 cfm or ~114 cfm.
You're temps will go way down, lower than a lot of water cooling would do, in fact.
buffbiff21
04-08-07, 07:10 PM
You're temps will go way down, lower than a lot of water cooling would do, in fact.
:wtf:
You cannot, on air, lower your GPUs to below 40 degrees idle, 50 degrees load. Ever.
Xion X2
04-08-07, 07:29 PM
:wtf:
You cannot, on air, lower your GPUs to below 40 degrees idle, 50 degrees load. Ever.
Well, technically you can. ;)
My 7900GTX idled at 39C w/ the stock cooler on it and loaded at 47C. I had two 120mm 78cfm thunderblades on the front feeding air to it and a side fan on the window of the case.
My roommate's 1900XT w/ an Arctic Silencer idles at 38C, but his case sounds like a vacuum cleaner with all the little 80mms he has in it. (4 on the back, alone.)
But most watercooling setups will help you get significantly lower temps than air... especially with the G80s. I've yet to see any of those load under 60C. Mine load at 47/52C.
buffbiff21
04-08-07, 07:35 PM
My 7900GTX idled at 39C w/ the stock cooler on it and loaded at 47C.
Well, I meant the 8800 cards. :o
and you had crazy airflow! :p
Xion X2
04-08-07, 07:49 PM
Yeah. Serious air. The fan on top was actually an 84cfm Sunon.
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=20771&d=1159764082
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=20773&d=1159764226
I kept the front panel shut unless I was benchmarking. Temps on the CPU would drop ~5C w/ the extra airflow. At 1.5v on my X2 4400+ @ 2.7ghz I was loading at 56-58C in dual-prime.
The downside was the noise. When I opened the front panel it sounded like a quiet vacuum cleaner. :)
Bman212121
04-08-07, 09:21 PM
Well, I meant the 8800 cards. :o
and you had crazy airflow! :p
I can prove you wrong. :D When it is 0F outside, I'm pretty sure I can get the card well below 40C. :p
Sweet improvements with the new case. I'm still looking for something that I like with 120MM fans. I was amazed at the temps difference between just removing a single 80MM fan from the front of my current case did. I ended up putting it back in there because the 8800GTX generates a ton of heat.
Well my Current case is a Coolermaster RC830 w/ 3x 140mm fans 1x front 120mm, 1x rear 120mm and 1x top 120mm. It's fairly quite infact i can hear my 8800GTX fan :( Looking to change to the coolermaster Cosmos case as i can't stand the motherboard tray in this case.
Have a Core 2 E4300 1800MHz @ 3400MHz / 1.66v 90% overclock temps 32C idle after 1 hour and 57C with 100% load on both cores. However my boards keeps crapping out when the PMW temps gets into the 80C's so provents me from. Gets very hot
as their is no direct airflow at the top of the case. Can't wait for my Coolermaster Gemni 2 to come ordered 2x coolermater 120mm, 1200rpm fans quite and provide good airflow. With the board currently running at or PMW should i say @ 78C i am hoping for a big diffrence. Quite happy with the CPU temps so.
Xion X2
04-09-07, 12:58 PM
Have a Core 2 E4300 1800MHz @ 3400MHz / 1.66v 90% overclock temps 32C idle after 1 hour and 57C with 100% load on both cores.
Wowza! Impressive. What board do you have? Your rig specs link is broken.
My bad updated it. http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.aspx?rigid=33951
For some reason i can't update it says there is an error so have to create a new one. Annoying.
Xion X2
04-09-07, 03:27 PM
I wish it wasn't a 680i. I've been through 3 of those in a span of 2 months and refuse to go back.
Nice overclock, though. What's your FSB at that overclock?
Xion X2, have you thought about this? I have used this on my case and I love it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999164
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=25003&stc=1&d=1176142251
I am looking at these fans to 120mm.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4279/fan-241/SilenX_120x120x25mm_-_14dBA_-_72CFM_iXtrema_Pro_Blue_LED_Fan_IXP-74-14B.html?tl=g36c15s550
Specs
SKU: IXP-74-14B
Noise Level: 14 dB
Size: 120 x 120 x 25 mm
Fan Speed: 1400 RPM
Air Flow: 72 CFM
Operating Voltage: 8-14v
Current Draw: 0.18A
Power Consumption: 2.16w
Bearings Type: Hybrid Sleeve
nekrosoft13
04-09-07, 04:44 PM
Yeah. Serious air. The fan on top was actually an 84cfm Sunon.
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=20771&d=1159764082
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/attachment.php?attachmentid=20773&d=1159764226
I kept the front panel shut unless I was benchmarking. Temps on the CPU would drop ~5C w/ the extra airflow. At 1.5v on my X2 4400+ @ 2.7ghz I was loading at 56-58C in dual-prime.
The downside was the noise. When I opened the front panel it sounded like a quiet vacuum cleaner. :)
having that fan with no filter, doesn't cause dirt/dust issues inside the case?
I wish it wasn't a 680i. I've been through 3 of those in a span of 2 months and refuse to go back.
Nice overclock, though. What's your FSB at that overclock?
Only 378MHz FSB i can't get it to boot too much higher for some reason.
Xion X2
04-09-07, 06:57 PM
mullet/nekrosoft,
I no longer have that setup. My current system is on water. That fan solution would've been nice, mullet. If I'd seen that while I still had the case then I might've tried it.
Not having a filter on the fan did cause a little dust, but most of it just shot out through the back exhaust fan. I had a direct wind-tunnel cutting through the top half of the case; you could feel the air pressure out the back exhaust fan increase immensely once you opened the front panel so the front intake fan could breathe. It also had kind of a low growl to it, which was kinda cool.
Loud, though. Fo' sho.
Xion X2
04-09-07, 07:06 PM
Only 378MHz FSB i can't get it to boot too much higher for some reason.
How did you get an E4300 to 3.4gHz, then? Aren't they at 1.8gHz from the factory?
Have a 9x multi, don't they? I need a 400FSB with a 9x multi on my chip for a 1200mhz overclock, and you have a 1600mhz overclock.
?
9 multi is correct for e4300
Yeah it's 9x 378MHz = 3800MHz, factory FSB of the Core2 E4300 is 200MHz rather then your 266MHz of the core2 E6600. Also it is cooler my a ThermalRight Ultra 120 with a 120mm @ 1300rpms
Heinz68
04-10-07, 03:22 AM
Some very strange arithmetic's here :)
"Yeah it's 9x 378MHz = 3800MHz"
Maybe the extreme overclock did screw up your calculator :)
Just kidding, take it easy.
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