Antec P182 Cooling

[Myrkul23]

I have an 8800GTX running in my P182 case, but the temperatures are just insane (75 idle and 104 max with GPU fan at 100%). It is likely an airflow problem as the temps drop to normal if I remove the side panel (58 idle and 78 max). Here is a diagram of how I think the fans should be blowing:

This makes the most sense to me, but I am not sure if the top and rear fans are blowing out of the case by default. Does anyone know the default directions of these fans? Also, does anyone have effective 8800GTX cooling in this case with the stock HSF?

 

[beurling]

My 8800GTS 512mb runs at 42C at 60% fanspeed and overclocked as high as it will go. Did you use rivatuner to change the fanspeed?

my p182 has all it's fans blowing out of the case and im pretty sure the top fan came as exhaust, not intake. Taking off the side panel shouldn't make THAT big of a difference, those temps don't seem likely.

Make sure the case isn't against any walls or anything that could obstruct the front intake or rear exhaust.....

 

[babybudha]

You can add another fan onto the hardrive cage in the middle. This will help create a vacuum effect, and blow some cool air on the 8800GTX. I have the same case, but with a 2900XT, and this works well.

 

[Myrkul23]

The hard drive cage in the middle is removed so that the 8800GTX can fit, and I put a fan up against the vent on the front of the case that blows air towards the graphics card.

Also, eVGA told me that the card normally runs 60s idle and low 80s stressed... that's what I get if the side panel is removed, so it definitely seems like an airflow issue. My case right now is not enclosed and has open space on all sides.

 

[jeremyrailton]

the top and rear fans blow out. Those temps are way too high. I have the same case and card. You can increase the speed of the fans for better airflow, but they can become noisy. I replaced them with quieter Yate Loon fans and added another to the front of the case as an intake fan. Another thing that helped me was reseating my cpu tower cooler so the fan blows upward instead of out the back. That lowered my 8800GTX's temps by around 4 degrees.

If i'm not mistaken, using the optional fan on the front of the hard drive cage can't be done with the 8800GTX, as it is too big and almost touches the cage already. You can, however, do like me and just put the intake fan at the front of the case behind the cage.

 

[jeremyrailton]

edit: double post

 

[Myrkul23]

How difficult is it to replace the top and rear fans? Also, what temps are you getting idle and stressed for the GTX?

Right now I don't have the hard drive cage installed, and instead I have a Tricool fan up against the front grill blowing on the GPU.

 

[rodney_ws]

Not (directly) on topic... but can someone tell me how to view the OP's diagram in a larger version? The caption says 600 X 600 but all I get is a tiny version.

 

[babybudha]

Not (directly) on topic... but can someone tell me how to view the OP's diagram in a larger version? The caption says 600 X 600 but all I get is a tiny version.

I second this ^

 

[ripvanwinkle]

I doubt it's the case!
Your 8800 probably needs some thermal paste or other
fix.

 

[skittle]

That was easy... check the image location:

th[/b].jpg]http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2062/p182layouter8.th.jpg

Remove the "th"... thumbnail.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2062/p182layouter8.jpg

 

[newnerd]

Hi Myrkul23:
I'm sure you already checked..........but, I've noticed that my P182 case moves so much air through it that the front intake screens accumulate dust MUCH faster than any other case I've ever used. If you haven't, check the screens on a regular basis and wash them frequently! It makes a big difference in the interior temps. Good luck with your video card cooling.

 

[Myrkul23]

Thanks for the suggestions... I guess the last thing I could do is get an aftermarket HSF. Any suggestions?

Also, can someone with the P182 and 8800GTX tell me what their temps are (idle and stressed)?

 

[rockbyter]

There are coolers geared directly towards that sort of card by zalman, thermaltake, etc. Thermalright HR-03 Plus seems to be a favorite.

 

[nukemaster]

My suggestion is in front out back and top.

BUT...
You may be getting hot air stuck in a circle.

Since the 8800GTX vents some hot air back into the case, it may get sucked right back into the card and re heated. On top of this the rear pci slot covers are all ventilated so hot air just goes out and then right back in to the case. The same goes for any rising psu heat in the back.

One thing to try may be to get a slot blower and cover ALL holes on the lower section(the water tube holes and the vents on the pci slot covers) and have the slot blower right under or 1 slot away. this would remove heat from the card and since all the holes are covered it can not come back in...

One more option may be to have positive pressure in the case.
This would be done with lets say the top and front sucking air into the case and rear out....the extra air would have to leave somewhere and that would make it leave through the PCI slot vents taking video heat with it....

Yet another way to make positive pressure would be with a side door fan.

This assumes both fans are sucking out and the from blowing in...this would cause there to be more out then in. so air would suck in the pci covers

 

[jeremyrailton]

the 8800gtx idles at around 57-60 and at load can go to 80. If i manually increase the fan speed, i can lower it 6-7 degrees.

 

[grieve]

One way you can check the direction of your fans that is easy/fast and a for sure answer is to light a match close to it and watch if the flame gets drawn in or blown out…

Works like a charm, 10 second answer, and 100% correct every time.

 

[dream1979]

Hi,

I have a similar problem.

I have the 182P as well.
I use 1 Noctua NF-P 120 in the front and 2 Noctua NF-S 120 in the rear and top.
I had both on suction till yesterday.

Setup:
CPU: Phenom 9850 @ stock
GPU: Radeon 4870 512MB @ stock
RAM 4x 1GB corsair XMS
Drive Bays: lower 3 filled with 3 Optical Drives.

I had till 2 days ago the Arctic cooling Freezer Pro 64 as a CPU FAN and touched with prime the 58°c mark so I replaced it now with the Arctic Cooling Freezer Extrem just to find out that I now hit the 60°c mark...

I happen to have a Gigabyte Odin GT PSU, so I placed the 4 temp probes on the following locations.

- in the center HDD bay (empty) for the intake temperature
- in front of the cpu cooler, for CPU cooler intake temp
- cooler surface, to get the temp difference between core temp and cooler
- behind the cpu cooler to get the exhaust temp

After about 10 minutes on Prime 95 I get the following readings:
Core: 59°
Heat sink: 44°
Intake: 23°
Front of Sink 37°
Rear: 44°

When I open the front and remove the clean filter the front air lowers about 5°
and the core goes down about 2 to 3°

So it looks like the two FANs in the rear can't manage to get the hot air out.
For this test I disabled Q Fan on my Mainboard completely, so all FANs where spinning on MAX

Yesterday I fliped the top FAN to blow AIR inside and I got 54°c Core temp but that is not realy a sollution I like as I get now all the dust inside.

Has anyone another idea?

Might it be that the 1 FRONt Fan can#t get enough air in the BOX and so the 2 rear FANs can't suck it out? I will test with a deactivated front FAN just to see the effect.

Cheers

Peter