Fractal Design R5 has a bad airflow

[glaeschenmaggi]

Hello,

I have got a Fractal Design R5 case and today I have found out about a big issue of this case. The thing is that I have a watercooled GTX 1080ti with a 240mm radiator which is mounted on the front. What I have noticed is that if the front door is closed the GPU is poorly cooled which led to temperatures as high as 70°C. When I open the front door but leave the dust filter on temperatures are significantly lower at 55-60°C which is still higher than it should be. Only when I open the front door and remove the dust filter temperatures are as they should be in the low 50's (about 50°C) or even cooler. This leads me to the conclusion that the slits on the right and left side of the front door do not let pass enough air to the front fans.

 

[mgallo848]

Nowadays, they design cases based on form not function. Sorry but I would never buy a case that's completely closed on the front or sides.

Have you tried mounting the fan on the top or back?

 

[Greeko85]

Well the R5 is meant to be a "quiet" case-as thus it comes with sound dampening material and tried to minimise the areas sound can escape from reducing airflow. You may have better luck mounting the rad as top exhaust.

 

[glaeschenmaggi]

Well the problem is that for me there is no other space to mount the radiator well. On the top I would not want to mount it because on the one hand the radiator would be fed by warm air coming out of my CPU-air cooler. And on the other hand between the radiator and the air cooler of my CPU there would only be a few millimeters of space - that is way too tight for my liking. On the back I cannot mount it since there is only space for one 140mm exhaust fan. And on the bottom it is also not possible because the cables of my PSU prevent an installation there. So the front side is really the only opportunity I have had.