Question Cooling of an inverted case

[jgps22c]

Hello friends,

I am trying to understand if I need to have a specific, new fan arrangement to cool my case.

Here are the specifics:

• be quiet dark base pro 900 rev. 2 case
• inverted setup, i.e. case window on the right, GPU will be above the cpu, cpu will be above the PSU
• the case has 2 be quiet silent wing 140mm at the front as intake, and 1 be quiet silent wing 140mm at the back as exhaust (lower half of the rear)
• I will run an i8700k and a gigabyte 2080 gaming OC (three fan setup)
• the PSU is a be quiet pro 850w
• I do consider OCing the CPU and the GPU
• the CPU cooler is a be quiet dark rock pro 4

Do I need to add additional fans at the rear (as additional exhaust) or at the top to push more cold air towards the GPU?

This is my first custom built, so I am struggling with a lack of experience, but also limited google results on such a specific case and atx setup.

Thank you very much!

Kind regards, J.

 

[Eximo]

Well, the CPU is going to have a fairly direct route from the intake, through the CPU cooler and out the rear exhaust. The GPU is pulling air towards itself, so if you use the top as intake that might work okay. Though you would then be relying on the rear exhaust only to get the heat out of the system.

If you use the top as exhaust then the GPU might actually stay cooler. Assuming enough cool air is coming in from the front.

Nothing says you can't try out both and see which is better.

 

[jgps22c]

Thank you very much. I ordered another 140mm fan just now and will report back as soon as the build will be finished!

 

[Karadjgne]

With the mobo inverted, that puts the gpu right-side up, fans pointing towards the top of the case, but it's still in the middle of the case, so fans on top as exhaust won't be an issue, be the same really as a standard layout. The rear exhaust will be basically dedicated to the cpu cooler as it'll be down low now, under the gpu, so you won't get gpu heat there now. Or any other heated airflow.

Only word of advice I have (just watched a video on inverting that case) is keep track of exactly what screw went where, there's about 30 odd screws you'll need to remove/replace, it's a job for sure. Definitely watch the video.

 

[jgps22c]

Thank you very much for taking so much time to help.
I will test the exhaust fan on the top.
Yes, you’re absolutely right: after watching the be quiet video I had the case supplier invert it. It took them (experts) three hours. It would have taken me a week and I would have had screws available at the end of it ... the case is brilliant, one of the few for an inverted setup, but that process seemed to be to brutal.
Again, thanks! I will report back!

 

[Karadjgne]

Hah, the 3 of them shoulda taken the 6 minutes to watch the video, woulda taken me less than half an hour to do that lol. (been building pc's for close to 40 years now heh)

(I bet 2 of them went to lunch part way into disassembly)

 

[jgps22c]

I’m still very happy of having avoided that desaster. My wife, too... didn’t want to face my anguish over destroying the case before even building the pc hehe

 

[Karadjgne]

One of the hardest things to explain to any Mrs. Just exactly why you are tearing something brand new and that expensive, apart.

Hey hunny, look at our new car, oh wait, lemme tear the hood and doors off...

 

[jgps22c]

Hello friends - the build is done ...

... and it is working 🙂 here is proof:

https://imgur.com/a/WpveYkN

View: https://imgur.com/gallery/WpveYkN
I am a very happy man - thank you all for your suggestions and great help!

I am using the 2 silent wings 3 for the intake at the front, 1 silent wings 3 for the exhaust, and I added - as advised - 1 silent wing 3 as an exhaust on the top. I have not yet oc'ed the CPU (i8700k), only the GPU (Gigabyte 2080 Gaming OC). The CPU cooler is a dark rock pro 4.

In idle state, the CPU runs at 30 degrees Celsius, the GPU at 32 degrees Celsius. Running Prime95, the CPU moves up to to 57 degrees Celsius. Running Furmark, the GPU runs up to 64-67 degrees Celsius.

Playing WOW at max settings in a current BOD raid with 25 men for three hours, the CPU and GPU temperatures stayed at 56 and 64 degrees Celsius, respectively.

I will attempt to overclock the CPU on Friday, and will report back to you guys regarding the temperature increases.

Having the inverted setup and using a Sound Blaster Z sound card leads to having a blocker between the hot air from the GPU going to the top and the top - so I moved the top exhaust fan a bit further to the middle; and I am thinking about getting 2 more silent wing 3 140mm to have 3 on the top ... but I will first check the temperature increase after overclocking the CPU.

Thank you again for your help!