Question Cooling for an SFF system GPU card: axial or centrifugal?

[Latios]

Howdy!

so... i tried to build a HTPC that was also capable of running a couple of games and well... i failed a little bit since i knew nothing but i'm getting there slowly... my issue is cooling, i had stuck so many high power parts in such a small space it gets pretty hot, the GPU gets to a good 70 degrees Celsius under load

This system is powered by an AMD FX 6300 B.E six core which is somehow ridiculously slow but its in an old Retro beige case, one of those laying down ones yet its big enough to support a full ATX build, problem is there is only one 92mm fan mount in the front in total for cooling, i put a Delta AFB0912 there since it has a fairly high RPM for a 92x25mm fan but for some reason the BIOS insists on making this fan run at 300RPM and the software in windows i forgot the name makes the fan run at a constant locked 4000RPM which is very loud

i had also stuck in a front bay vent as extra cold air intake.

as for the GPU im lost on solutions for it and wish to ask for advise about that- i already changed the thermal "flakes" with arctic silver 5 and cleaned the card thoroughly of dust

the current cooling setup features a Wraith prism and a Reference style GTX 770 but i had removed the window on the cooler faceplate exposing the heatsink to a mounted PCI blower next to it to help with dissipating the hot air

the CPU temps are fine, its just the graphics card that seems to make the most heat, would i be better off putting the window back on or getting one of those custom coolers with axial fans like an EVGA or a ZOTAC as a lot of people would argue they are better at cooling etc

i had bought a reference card specifially because i love the design but more importantly it feature the centrifugal fan blowing hot air out the pci slot vent which sounded ideal for such a build

any help or advise would be greatly appreciated ♫

full system specs if needed:

AMD FX 6300 Black Edition 6 core 3.5GHz AM3+ - AMD Wraith Prism
GIGABYTE 970A-DS3P REV 2 ATX
4GB DDR3 (2x 2GB) generic
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770
Corsair CX750
WD greenpower 160GB SATA
Windows 7 SP1

 

[DSzymborski]

If you're getting 70 degrees from the GPU at 100% load, that's not actually concerning.

 

[Darkbreeze]

70°C is well within spec. I'd recommend a different case, or modding the case to accept at least one 120mm intake and one 120mm exhaust somewhere if you're going to run it with the top on.

A new case would be a really good idea, since that one is about six hundred years old and wasn't ever intended for use with this kind of hardware.

That's actually NOT what we'd call a SFF system. It's an old "desktop" style system, which is PRE-tower case era.

This would be miles better, and is pretty affordable.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qP8j4D/corsair-spec-05-atx-mid-tower-case-cc-9011138-ww

 

[Karadjgne]

That card fan isn't doing much of anything for the gpu. By removing the window, you've actually lowered its ability to cool the gpu. That blower fan shoves a decent amount of air down the fins and normally it'd go right out the back, but instead it now has easy escape access out the gap before even hitting the card fan. The only temp sensor on that gpu is at the processor itself, nowhere near the majority on vram and voltage regulatory circuitry at the other end of the pcb, which only has whatever draw that wimpy card can supply for cooling. So you are getting a decent sized chunk of warm air shoved out the bottom of the gpu, only to get picked up by the blower fan and recycled.

What you need is air flow. That means some way of getting air to the gpu, so it can use it and shove it out the back. Right now, you have a definite hot-spot in that area.

It's physically impossible to cool something below ambient temps, by mechanical means. And the ambient temp isn't what's outside the case, it's what's inside and available to the gpu. Without flow to remove and replenish that warm air with something cooler, constant dumping of increasingly hot air means temps will constantly go up until saturated, and loss of efficiency/effectiveness of the heatsinks ability to dissipate heat.

Personally, if wanting to do it on the cheap, I'd modify the left side of that case to house 2x 120mm fans. You'd just have to tidy up the wiring some, but it's totally doable, just need to cut a long, lozenge/octagonal shaped hole, cover it with some grill type mesh and 8 screw holes later and a splitter, and Bing, you got plenty of air shoved into the case, directly at the gpu (that you just returned to normal) and towards the cpu. You'd have a perfect left to right airflow, which would only help with cpu and even psu intake and consequent exhaust.

 

[Latios]

thx for the replies, yeah i know its not exactly an SFF since they are usually half height PCI and have a much smaller footprint but thats the closest thing i could think of
as for the card, where i removed the window the pci blower actually covers that space fully so i thought the air would be going out the blower and the card in a sort of 2-way airflow

the case is made from pretty thick metal, i tried drilling a hole in the side but all that did was make a nice dent, also i placed a 120mm fan inside and even if i did manage to get some mounting holes, the fan would not fit

although the way things are going i would just be better off sourcing a new case, but i need to find one thats identical to this shape and size as its to go on a shelf within a desk and for it to support full ATX parts

the only one i found was a Silverstone GD09B...

 

[tennis2]

Yeah, your GPU fan is blowing air out of the case. Put the window back on it and remove that goofy extra fan. Is it even pointed the correct direction? I thought the intake for those was always down and it's just solid plastic back on the top?

70C isn't bad at all for a GPU.

Your mobo fan controls are probably not great (from that era) but it's odd that it's only running a DELTA fan @ 300rpm. Are there any temp targets or "performance/standard/silent" for fan settings in the cooling section of your mobo bios?

I think you would've been better off spending $40 on a new case...

 

[ElectrO_90]

Put the plastic back on the GPU as it makes the hot air exhaust out the back, otherwise it stays in your case as well as not cooling the GPU properly
Also maybe you need something like this to help exhaust more hot air
https://www.amazon.com/Antec-Super-Cyclone-Blower-Expansion/dp/B0007MGEO2

 

[tennis2]

Look at the pic. The OP is already using a blower exhaust fan.

 

[Latios]

i should explain that the way i had the blower mounted before was where the window opened up the hot air would go through the blower and out or its own vent as well as the GPU doing its own cooling pattern, there was no gap for the air to come back out and into the machine

But yeah the BIOS was insisting on running fans at 300RPM no matter what settings were changed so ended up configuring it manually in Windows

as it was highly recommended i did put the window back on and moved the PCI blower 1 slot away as its the only exhaust fan on the system

the blower is an Evercool Fox-2 60CFM or something, seems to do really well since modding in a 120mm fan is out of the question as there is no space whatsoever to put it

i think for now its best to leave it in this configuration below until i source a new case of similar shape and spec

much appreciate the help & advice though ♫

 

[tennis2]

Country?

 

[Darkbreeze]

I could mod the top of that case to hold BOTH intake and exhaust fans, easily, with plenty of room, in about a half hour.

In the top of the case panel that covers the unit, near the blower fan for the GPU card, there is plenty of room for a 120mm fan to be mounted as an intake in the cover there if you move the graphics card back to the primary x16 slot where it belongs.

Then, on the back I/O grill right above the USB and sound ports, where there is already a bunch of holes punched into the metal, you could easily cut out the necessary holes to mount two 60 or maybe even 90mm fans there as exhaust.

Not a perfect solution, but much better than no fans. Easily done with a drill and dremel, or jigsaw, or even just a drill and a few grinding bits.

 

[Latios]

there is next to no room to put a fan on the top, there is barely enough room just for the PCI plugs for the graphics card which is already in the primary x16 slot as the others are x8 only due to lack of pins but good suggestion.

well.. as you say this case was never designed for such hardware so im picking up a Silverstone Grandia GD09B very shortly which can house 120mm fans and whatever else ♪

 

[Darkbreeze]

Probably the better solution anyhow.

 

[tennis2]

Good point. Similar to the Silverstone Grandia, you could drill/install fans on the "left" (under GPU) and "right" (behind PSU) sides. Use a hole saw if you're cutting fan holes, that way they're nice and round.

Grandia will look nicer.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'm actually interested in getting a few older "desktop" flat style cases and seeing what I can do with them for HTPC systems. There are some really good ideas using 90mm and smaller fans out there with low TDP hardware. These days there are some VERY good high airflow 40, 60 and 92mm fans out there with excellent noise properties.