Problem with airflow Define R5

[Esarus]

Hi everyone,

I'm having some trouble with my Define R5. I bought a brand new one a week ago to replace my cooler master N300. Sadly the temperatures have gone up and consequently the noise too. Because of the temperature the GPU fans starts spinning a lot harder compared to the situation in the N300 case.

I have two front intake fans. Both are the Fractal Design 140mm fans. One outtake fan at the back which is also the Fractal Design 140mm fan. (I bought an extra fan when ordering the case). I have all 3 fans connected to the Define R5 fan controller and running at max speed (1000rpm). I have a MSI R9 390 GPU and a i5-4690 non-k CPU with stock cooler.

I have removed the moduvent in the side panel to let some heat from the GPU escape/fresh air come in.

I have removed both HDD cages and removed the ODD cage. Then I put the largest HDD cage on the position of the ODD cages so it barely blocks the air flow from the two 140mm fans.

Problems: Not a lot of intake still because of front dust filter. I can't feel a lot of air leaving the back either when the PC is under heavy load (Witcher 3 for instance). Would adding a good CPU cooler like a Scythe Mugen 4 or PCGH edition help this problem?

Would replacing the HDD with a large 1tb SSD and mount it at the back of the motherboard help a lot? This would allow me to remove all the HDD cages.

I'm just very disappointed in the case overall. In graphics intense games the overall noise production of my PC has actually gone UP instead of down by switching to the Define R5...

All tips are welcome.

 

[GhislainG]

The case is designed to be quiet, not to be the most efficient at cooling components. Adding two 140 mm fans should help. Even though they tested various fan combinations on the R3, their findings probably apply to the R5: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/02/10/the-big-cooling-investigation/2 Five properly placed fans seems to be optimal.

 

[Esarus]

The case is designed to be quiet, not to be the most efficient at cooling components. Adding two 140 mm fans should help. Even though they tested various fan combinations on the R3, their findings probably apply to the R5: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/02/10/the-big-cooling-investigation/2 Five properly placed fans seems to be optimal.

Thank you for the reply!

Where would I place these two extra fans? And do you think the front of the case is better overcome with a different type/brand of fan? I have these at the moment: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/casefans/dyn...

Also, what do you think of the lack of outtake during load? I can seriously barely feel air coming against my hand when I hold it in front of the back fan.

 

[GhislainG]

You can perform your own tests, but instead of buying more fans, you could move one front fan to the side and the other one to the floor. If you check their results, the side fan seems to be required to keep the GPU cooler.

Using your hand as a thermometer isn't that good; checking the GPU temperature while stress testing it with fans installed in different locations is much better.