Fan mod or new case?

[Lfluxx]

Hey,

So I'm looking to xfire my 6950 to give me two 6950's to run my 3 1080p monitors, atm I have an i5 650 with a non xfire board and one 6950. So in the near future i'm going to be getting a nice xfire board/2500k. The second 6950 however is going to take me a while to save up for. Now in my current case it will quite easily take the second 6950 and the second motherboard despite it being a prebuilt ( I have swapped everything apart from the cpu/mobo/ram ) as it is quite big however the PSU is mounted at the top and often the airflow in it's current format struggles to handle one 6950, often there is a pocket of heat under the card filling the bottom of the case. I managed to stop it a little bit by drilling holes in the bottom two pci slots and mounting a fan onto it to hopefully clear some of the excess heat, however I have a feeling the second 6950 will be too much for it. While looking at cases I saw the silverstone raven 2 with the fans mounted at the very bottom of the case with the air blowing up over the components and exhausted out of the top which seemed like a good idea, however I couldn't justify the extra £120+ on the upgrade with a functional case sitting here at the moment. This got me thinking about a possible mod of drilling holes into the bottom of the case and mounting some fans there. I have about a 30cm length (from front of the case to back) and 20cm width to work with and about an inch from the motherboard to the bottom of the case, with an extra 2 inches in the very bottom ( some sort of foot/base thing seems to be attatched which could house the fans).

Am I going crazy? or is this a possibility? How would I go about drilling the holes in the bottom and what size fans should I go for? (120/140/180/200)

Thanks, hopefully all of that made sense!

 

[Rugger]

It would be more effective to mod the case with an intake fan on the side instead of the bottom. Take a look at this article on fan placement and the impact on cooling: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/02/10/the-big-cooling-investigation/1

On a side note...6950s are getting quite scarce with the release of the 7000 series GPUs. I wouldn't wait too long to get the second 6950. Newegg hasn't had them in stock for a couple of weeks...

 

[Lfluxx]

It would be more effective to mod the case with an intake fan on the side instead of the bottom. Take a look at this article on fan placement and the impact on cooling: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/02/10/the-big-cooling-investigation/1

On a side note...6950s are getting quite scarce with the release of the 7000 series GPUs. I wouldn't wait too long to get the second 6950. Newegg hasn't had them in stock for a couple of weeks...

Thanks for the reply, that links looks very interesting. I'll take some time to look at that, as for the 6950 I did wonder about the stock levels and overclockers UK seem to be the only ones with them in stock http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-299-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752 at a low price too, last week they had them for £140/150. As soon as they drop below the 10 i will likely grab one, maybe get the GPU before the cpu?

Also, I have a window on the side of the case and with the PSU being top mounted the motherboard sits lower so the part where I would place the side fan ( over the GPU ) would be half perspex/half metal. I did consider the side fans I just don't know how I would go about doing so.

 

[Rugger]

In this situation I'd definitely get the GPU first. You can optest it in your current rig to make sure that it's not DOA.

I'm not sure about having the fan mod overlap the metal/perspex. You might be able to make it work, but would the mod look good...you'd have to be the judge of that. If you went that route, then I'd cut out an opening for the fan, make sure that the sections where the plastic/metal meet was securely joined, and install a new fan grill...not just cut holes/slats in the side. How much space is there between the side of the case and the GPUs?

 

[Lfluxx]

In this situation I'd definitely get the GPU first. You can optest it in your current rig to make sure that it's not DOA.

I'm not sure about having the fan mod overlap the metal/perspex. You might be able to make it work, but would the mod look good...you'd have to be the judge of that. If you went that route, then I'd cut out an opening for the fan, make sure that the sections where the plastic/metal meet was securely joined, and install a new fan grill...not just cut holes/slats in the side. How much space is there between the side of the case and the GPUs?

2 maybe 3 inches, I'll look into the side fan I just can't see how I can get it to work unless I were to move it up so it was all on the window so it only supplied the top card, and did a floor one for the lower card? the lower card looks as if it will be extremely low to the ground depending what slot it is mounted in, so it could lead to another problem.

 

[Rugger]

Placing the fan too high on the side may not allow it to give the good cooling to the bottom card. Maybe just go with your initial thought of a bottom-mount intake. If you don't get sufficient cooling with the bottom mount, then you could potentially add a side mount fan.

The issue with the bottom mount fan will be dust...you'll definitely want to put some sort of filter on that one.

 

[Lfluxx]

Placing the fan too high on the side may not allow it to give the good cooling to the bottom card. Maybe just go with your initial thought of a bottom-mount intake. If you don't get sufficient cooling with the bottom mount, then you could potentially add a side mount fan.

The issue with the bottom mount fan will be dust...you'll definitely want to put some sort of filter on that one.

Ok cool, thanks for the help. I'll probably pick up the second 6950 the next time its on sale, which should be soon. The side fan definitely seems like the best idea, as the bottom card will be a dual blower whereas the top one is a centrifugal one that blows out the back so would benefit more from the side fan than the bottom one. I'm guessing I have to drill the holes with a hole saw or something? I have a dremel would that do the job? I have no idea where to start with this mod >.>

 

[Rugger]

Dremel is the perfect tool for case modding. Youtube has tons of videos on modding...pictures worth a thousand words.

 

[Rugger]

Glad I could help you out some! Cheers

 

[Lfluxx]

Hey, so after researching some more things got a bit more complicated and maybe keeping the case wouldn't be such a good idea after all. For starters theres isnt a big enough gap inbetween the motherboard and bottom of the case, so I would have to mount it underneath the case with the gap created by the feet, which then I'm guessing would starve the fan of air a bit. Also the cable management is lacking a bit and I will face problems with the mass of cables that seem to come from the front i/o plate and plug in millimeters above the proposed fans. I also had the idea of maybe positioning a fan blowing diagonal where the HDD cage is as there is an intake there and that may be able to get some air to the top card. All made me look at new cases. I liked the look of the RV-02, alot. It was perfect it had a window, while keeping great airflow however the window was on the wrong side and I didn't feel like paying that amount of money for something that was sub par in my eyes.

Which leads me to ask you guys for help, can you recommend some cases for me?( If you think thats the right path to pursue ) I would like to keep the budget below/around £75 however if a certain case is a tad higher/with an exceptional advantage then I will likely consider it.

While I would love to have a window on the side and have great cooling I don' think that it is going to be possible, but hey.. I'm open to anything, apart from extremely over the top style cases.

Sorry If i'm being a bit picky and stringing stuff out,

Tl;dr : Should OP buy a new case / mod current?
If new what one for <£75?

Thanks!

 

[Rugger]

Not a problem at all. Here are some options:
1. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-storm-enforcer-black-mid-tower-gaming-case-with-side-window-usb-30-w-o-psu-new-version
2. No side window, but great case: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fractal-design-define-r3-usb-30-titanium-grey-mid-tower-case-with-cable-routing-and-noise-absorbing-
3. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silverstone-precision-ps06b-w-black-mid-tower-performance-case-with-side-window-with-usb-30-w-o-psu

 

[Lfluxx]

Not a problem at all. Here are some options:
1. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-storm-enforcer-black-mid-tower-gaming-case-with-side-window-usb-30-w-o-psu-new-version
2. No side window, but great case: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fractal-design-define-r3-usb-30-titanium-grey-mid-tower-case-with-cable-routing-and-noise-absorbing-
3. http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silverstone-precision-ps06b-w-black-mid-tower-performance-case-with-side-window-with-usb-30-w-o-psu

Thanks for the reply again! I like all of those cases, and I hadn't seen them before either! However are they going to be ok with a Multi-GPU setup? Wouldn't the R3's front intakes be blocked by the door? And for the others they lack a side fan, is that a problem? Thanks again for the answer!

 

[Rugger]

The R3 has side intakes up front...let's you close the door and still get good airflow. All of them will be good for multi-GPU setups. The Silverstone and the Define R3 both have bottom fan mounts so you can get extra air to the lowest GPU. The Storm Enforcer has 2x200mm fans that should be able to get sufficient airflow in the case to remove any hot air from the bottom GPU.....although the other two would likely perform better in a multi-gpu setup.

 

[Lfluxx]

The R3 has side intakes up front...let's you close the door and still get good airflow. All of them will be good for multi-GPU setups. The Silverstone and the Define R3 both have bottom fan mounts so you can get extra air to the lowest GPU. The Storm Enforcer has 2x200mm fans that should be able to get sufficient airflow in the case to remove any hot air from the bottom GPU.....although the other two would likely perform better in a multi-gpu setup.

Ahh dammit. I was leaning more towards the enforcer aswell :l, do you know of any cases like the enforcer? not too aggressive but not plain? it's alot like my current case which i hated at first but now love.

Thanks!

 

[Rugger]

I took a harder look and the Storm Enforcer will work just fine. The GPUs will be above the PSU and should get sufficient airflow around them with the 200mm fans and the rear 120mm fan.

 

[Lfluxx]

I took a harder look and the Storm Enforcer will work just fine. The GPUs will be above the PSU and should get sufficient airflow around them with the 200mm fans and the rear 120mm fan.

Ok great, thanks alot! I like the look of the storm series so i'll probably work something out. Thanks for all your help, it's greatly appreciated. How do I give you best answer?

 

[Rugger]

There should be a button on the posts. If you didn't start the thread as aquestion then you won't be able to do it. Just glad I could help; enjoy your new case!

Cheers!