Mounting casefan with zipties? Safe?

[S_F]

Hello,

So I am actually wondering how safe it is to mount a 80mm case fan with a zipties. I have already mounted it and my computer seems to be running pretty stable. I was just concerned about them melting if the case gets too hot? My computer's ambient temp goes to about 30°c at max load. The cpu goes to max 65°c max load, and my both my gpu's can go anywhere from 60-80°c max load. I have pretty good airflow, running a corsair h80i as exhaust in push/pull config, and mounted this fan and another 40mm fan at the top of my case as an intake. Can you guys please tell me if it is safe to keep them on using zipties?

I have the 80mm fan mounted using 8 zipties, and the 40mm fan using 4.

In the image I only have the 80mm fan mounted with 4 zipties at the bottom holes and 4 pieces of metal wire wrapped in electric tape. I realized I had cheaper quality electric tape so i took it off and mounted it with zipties. Should i get better electric tape and do this same setup, or will the zipties be good enough. sorry this pic is from 2 days ago, but pretty much same thing.

also on hwmonitor, the tmpin 0 - around 50°c at max (this is as high as ive seen it) , tmpin 0,1, 2 are usually around 40°c.

 

[13thmonkey]

they will be fine, the 60C temp is very localised about 100mm^2

you should have intake at the front and exhaust at the back, having intake and exhaust at the back will roast any components in the front of the case, hdd's for instance.

 

[Bad_Kitty13]

the zipties wont melt if that was the case they wouldnt include them to use for cable management. it should be fine just probably a little noisy

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Zipties are fine - several hundred degrees to melt, by memory. They're used all over the place.

Just trim the zipties so that they don't get sucked into the fan or anything.

As above, you should have an intake of some sort at the front.

 

[S_F]

they will be fine, the 60C temp is very localised about 100mm^2

you should have intake at the front and exhaust at the back, having intake and exhaust at the back will roast any components in the front of the case, hdd's for instance.

the zipties wont melt if that was the case they wouldnt include them to use for cable management. it should be fine just probably a little noisy

So I do have a vent at the front bottom of my case, and there are 4 hard drive bays. between the hard drive bays there is a fan for intake. Should I still install a small fan? on the vent? And do you think that the zipties will become unstable and/or deteriorate over time?

 

[S_F]

Thank you everyone for your help!

 

[Bad_Kitty13]

no zipties are good if its what you want to do, you should have the front and side fan as an intake and the ones up top should be exhausts

 

[S_F]

no zipties are good if its what you want to do, you should have the front and side fan as an intake and the ones up top should be exhausts

Unfortunately I don't have a side vent. That is why i made the top an intake. Its an aurora r4, which is why.

 

[Bad_Kitty13]

then the same setup still applies you want the top as exhausts, right now you are keeping all the nasty hot air inside. you need a good airflow through your pc by having a front as intake and rear/top as exhaust this will create that. the side intake is only for gpu anyway.

 

[S_F]

then the same setup still applies you want the top as exhausts, right now you are keeping all the nasty hot air inside. you need a good airflow through your pc by having a front as intake and rear/top as exhaust this will create that. the side intake is only for gpu anyway.

So I just checked my case and it seems like it will be difficult getting another fan at the bottom. I have taken some pictures so you can see what it looks like. The hard drive fan at the bottom is an intake, but its between the hard drive bays. Should I leave the top fans as intake, or should I change them to exhaust. The back push/pull h80i is an exhaust. If i change the top to exhaust I wont have much air coming into the case. What would you suggest? Thanks

 

[Bad_Kitty13]

what case is that? and you need some sort of intake and exhaust to create airflow. just having intakes or just having exhausts is not ideal, it is also not ideal to use the top/rear fans in different setups like 1 intake 1 exhaust. you might want to save up for a new case

 

[S_F]

what case is that? and you need some sort of intake and exhaust to create airflow. just having intakes or just having exhausts is not ideal, it is also not ideal to use the top/rear fans in different setups like 1 intake 1 exhaust. you might want to save up for a new case

It's is an alienware aurora r4,so I am pretty much stuck with this case :/. I have currently removed the fans and set it back to the way it should be because I don't want improper airflow. Also on hwmonitor my tmpin 0,1,2 go up to 65°c on full load. Is that bad? Also how do I determine what 0,1,2 are? Thank you

 

[Bad_Kitty13]

tmpin0= overall cpu or socket temp not cores
tmpin1= mb/sb temp
tmpin2= to my knowledge this cany vary on what its tracking but my guess would be vrm's

what you should be looking at is the core temps below that, and safe operating ranges depend on cpu, which cpu do you have?

you can always get a new case you are never stuck with a certain case unless its still under warranty through alienware/dell
when was the last time new thermal paste was applied to the heatsink?

 

[S_F]

tmpin0= overall cpu or socket temp not cores
tmpin1= mb/sb temp
tmpin2= to my knowledge this cany vary on what its tracking but my guess would be vrm's

what you should be looking at is the core temps below that, and safe operating ranges depend on cpu, which cpu do you have?

you can always get a new case you are never stuck with a certain case unless its still under warranty through alienware/dell
when was the last time new thermal paste was applied to the heatsink?

I just upgraded my liquid cooling system about a month and a half ago. The stock cooling system was flawed; so I chose to replace it with the corsair h80i, and it came with pre-applied thermal paste. I was going to purchase the arctic silver 5 to put on the cooler, but the guys at the computer store told me that the h80i's thermal paste will be just as good. I have the i7-3820 cpu and after installing the h80i the cores go up to 65°c at max load. I also disabled the overclock on my gpu, which is the primary reason I wanted extra cooling. I prefer not to switch cases, because I am not very experienced at building pc's. (which is why I went with an alienware system) What do you think about the tmpin 0,1,2 temps though? Are they too high for my cpu? Thank you.

 

[Bad_Kitty13]

well if your getting high temps thats not right anyway...did you clean the cap of the cpu before installing the h80i?

 

[S_F]

well if your getting high temps thats not right anyway...did you clean the cap of the cpu before installing the h80i?

I am assuming that you mean the thermal paste from the old cooler, and yes I cleaned it off before I installed the h80i. But would you say that the temps are high then? I am currently using my computer for web browsing, and tmpin 0,1,2 are all at 43°c. I cant remember exactly but the last time I ran my cpu at full load i noticed that they were all around 60°c. Tmpin 0 is always higher than 1 and 2

 

[Bad_Kitty13]

well just from doing a search your under safe operating temps
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-4770K-vs-Intel-Core-I7-4820k

and alot of people i read about have 60-64c dont know what cooler they are using though. i would just think that the temps would be lower
your puck for the h80i could just have poor adhesion, i would get some mx-4 and cleant the cap and the heatsink plate with 90% alcohol and a microfiber cloth (or coffee filter). if you use paper towel or something similar and can leave small fibers.

 

[S_F]

well just from doing a search your under safe operating temps
http://cpuboss.com/cpus/Intel-Core-i7-4770K-vs-Intel-Core-I7-4820k

and alot of people i read about have 60-64c dont know what cooler they are using though. i would just think that the temps would be lower
your puck for the h80i could just have poor adhesion, i would get some mx-4 and cleant the cap and the heatsink plate with 90% alcohol and a microfiber cloth (or coffee filter). if you use paper towel or something similar and can leave small fibers.

oh that might be the problem, I wiped it down with an alcohol pad and removed the rest of it with a paper towel when I was about to install the h80i. I will clean it and see. Is the tmpin 0,1,2 temps all on the cpu? Thanks

 

[Bad_Kitty13]

that could be it and to my knowledge
tmpin0= overall cpu or socket temp not cores
tmpin1= mb/sb temp
tmpin2= to my knowledge this cany vary on what its tracking but my guess would be vrm's

just pick up some thermal paste i like mx-4 and i prefer to use the pea method of appication it should drop your temps...i never use the heatsink thermal paste i dont trust it but thats just me, im sure some are good just not the pre-applied kind. but thats me

 

[S_F]

Ok I will try to apply new thermal paste to the cpu and see how it goes. Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.

 

[S_F]

that could be it and to my knowledge
tmpin0= overall cpu or socket temp not cores
tmpin1= mb/sb temp
tmpin2= to my knowledge this cany vary on what its tracking but my guess would be vrm's

just pick up some thermal paste i like mx-4 and i prefer to use the pea method of appication it should drop your temps...i never use the heatsink thermal paste i dont trust it but thats just me, im sure some are good just not the pre-applied kind. but thats me

Ok I will try to apply new thermal paste to the cpu and see how it goes. Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.

 

[Bad_Kitty13]

no problem and if you are still experiencing high temps after the re-application just make a new thread and im sure one of us can help

 

[S_F]

no problem and if you are still experiencing high temps after the re-application just make a new thread and im sure one of us can help

I will for sure, thanks again