[SOLVED] Solutions for hot GPU on restrictive case

[pongopea]

A few months ago I got myself a Corsair Carbide 100R Silent Edition and it’s pretty great for me, except for when I realized that my GPU was hitting some pretty high numbers when playing super GPU intensive games, I’m talking 85-88 degrees C.
On my previous case I had no such problems, trying to diagnose what the problem is, I removed the side panel and put my hand right under the GPU, the thing gets absolutely no air, not even a bit.
I removed the rear exhaust and put it in the front under the single exhaust that came with the case, which helped, but now I have another problem, after just a couple of minutes gaming, the hot air gets trapped inside the computer with no way of getting out since there’s no rear exhaust, rendering my solution useless.
I was conteplating buying two 140mm fans to put in the front and leave the 120mm in the back, I don’t have the money for them just yet but I do have money for a single 120mm to put as an exhaust, my only fear is that the two front 120mm fans won’t be enough and I just wasted money on a fan I have no use for.
Any tips?

 

[kerberos_20]

u gonna need strong exhaust since that case has insulated roof panel
otherwise blower type cooller on GPU is recommended with poor airflow case

 

[pongopea]

u gonna need strong exhaust since that case has insulated roof panel

I see, would it be wise to plug a fan to molex in the back so it runs at 100% speed at all times?

 

[kerberos_20]

I see, would it be wise to plug a fan to molex in the back so it runs at 100% speed at all times?

you can configure fan speed in bios settings

 

[punkncat]

That case looks to have really poor air flow.
If it has any dust filters, pull them out. Would probably try to flip the PSU so that it's pulling from the inside air rather than from the bottom*. Would fully populate the fan slots. Artic makes some fairly inexpensive fans that perform quite well. They are also available in packs of 5 for less.
Make sure to check the size fitment for the fans.

*keep in mind that pulling hot air out of the system via your PSU can shorten it's life.

Dropping your side panel should have a cooling effect for your GPU. It could just be that it has a poor cooling solution or needs a different fan curve.

 

[pongopea]

That case looks to have really poor air flow.
If it has any dust filters, pull them out. Would probably try to flip the PSU so that it's pulling from the inside air rather than from the bottom*. Would fully populate the fan slots. Artic makes some fairly inexpensive fans that perform quite well. They are also available in packs of 5 for less.
Make sure to check the size fitment for the fans.

*keep in mind that pulling hot air out of the system via your PSU can shorten it's life.

Dropping your side panel should have a cooling effect for your GPU. It could just be that it has a poor cooling solution or needs a different fan curve.

I’m gonna try flipping the PSU, I’ll also buy more fans and manage the power cable mess a bit better, hopefully that will help.
As for the PSU lifespan, I want to buy a new one soon, mine isn’t bad, but I don’t trust no-name brands, so a new PSU is already on my shopping list.

 

[kerberos_20]

I’m gonna try flipping the PSU, I’ll also buy more fans and manage the power cable mess a bit better, hopefully that will help.
As for the PSU lifespan, I want to buy a new one soon, mine isn’t bad, but I don’t trust no-name brands, so a new PSU is already on my shopping list.

before you flip your PSU, check manufacturer operating temperature for your PSU...they are made these days to operate within 40-50C temperatures, which may overheat it once you flip it and that would shorten its life if it keeps sucking hot air from GPU(running it outside operating temperatures)

 

[geofelt]

What is your cpu cooler?
What is the cpu?
What is the gpu?

Using the two 120mm fans that came with the case, I would use them both as INTAKES to supply fresh air to the graphics card and cpu cooler.
Whatever air that comes in the front will eventually exit the case somewhere, taking component heat with it.
If you will be buying fans, buy two 140mm front intakes. 140mm moves more air at lower rpm.
You can buy 140mm fans at very high rpm, but I would think 1500 rpm might be plenty.
Then use one of the 120's as a rear exhaust to mainly direct the airflow over the motherboard.

Do not use any top exhaust fans, Such fans redirect the airstream up and out of the case before it can cool components.

On the psu, it does not matter much.
The psu fan should not play a part in case cooling.
I would keep the normal orientation of using outside air.

 

[Phaaze88]

What is the hardware? Depending on that, this whole endeavor may just be futile.
NZXT's H500/510/510 Elite, for example - they didn't have good airflow either, and there were limits to the hardware that could be crammed inside due to the power consumption.

 

[pongopea]

What is your cpu cooler?
What is the cpu?
What is the gpu?

Using the two 120mm fans that came with the case, I would use them both as INTAKES to supply fresh air to the graphics card and cpu cooler.
Whatever air that comes in the front will eventually exit the case somewhere, taking component heat with it.
If you will be buying fans, buy two 140mm front intakes. 140mm moves more air at lower rpm.
You can buy 140mm fans at very high rpm, but I would think 1500 rpm might be plenty.
Then use one of the 120's as a rear exhaust to mainly direct the airflow over the motherboard.

Do not use any top exhaust fans, Such fans redirect the airstream up and out of the case before it can cool components.

On the psu, it does not matter much.
The psu fan should not play a part in case cooling.
I would keep the normal orientation of using outside air.

I have a Deepcool Gammaxx GTE V2 CPU Cooler
My CPU is a Ryzen 5 3600 stock
GPU is a Gigabyte Dual Fan 1660 Super OC

My case is the silent version of the 100R so I can't (and wouldn't) put any top exhausts, I was wondering if it would be better for me to just buy the 120mm to put in the back before buying two 140mms that won't make any difference other than noise (which honestly I don't care all that much, I only got the case because it's not that RGB crapfest I see everywhere nowadays)

 

[pongopea]

What is the hardware? Depending on that, this whole endeavor may just be futile.
NZXT's H500/510/510 Elite, for example - they didn't have good airflow either, and there were limits to the hardware that could be crammed inside due to the power consumption.

Pretty mid tier stuff, nothing that should be hitting temps as high as 85-88 even under heavy load (even more considering my previous case had good airflow and I had never seen my gpu hit something above 75 ºC).
Ryzen 5 3600 stock
Gigabyte 1660 Super OC (Dual Fan)
16 gigs of ram

 

[geofelt]

Your parts are not overly hot.
Earlier, it sounded like the front fan was exhaust. That is wrong, the front fans should be intakes.
Two 120mm front intakes should be sufficient.
If not, replace them with two more capable intakes.

 

[pongopea]

A few months ago I got myself a Corsair Carbide 100R Silent Edition and it’s pretty great for me, except for when I realized that my GPU was hitting some pretty high numbers when playing super GPU intensive games, I’m talking 85-88 degrees C.
On my previous case I had no such problems, trying to diagnose what the problem is, I removed the side panel and put my hand right under the GPU, the thing gets absolutely no air, not even a bit.
I removed the rear exhaust and put it in the front under the single exhaust that came with the case, which helped, but now I have another problem, after just a couple of minutes gaming, the hot air gets trapped inside the computer with no way of getting out since there’s no rear exhaust, rendering my solution useless.
I was conteplating buying two 140mm fans to put in the front and leave the 120mm in the back, I don’t have the money for them just yet but I do have money for a single 120mm to put as an exhaust, my only fear is that the two front 120mm fans won’t be enough and I just wasted money on a fan I have no use for.
Any tips?

Update, after flipping the psu and doing some work on the cable management, temps went down about two degrees, but 86 degrees is still way to high for me not to get uncomfortable, I'll buy a 120mm fan to put as an exhaust and will see if that helps, if nothing changes I'll go for the two 140mm fans in the front

 

[Phaaze88]

Should be manageable, but there's A LOT working against you with that chassis.

Also, about this part right here:

I removed the side panel and put my hand right under the GPU, the thing gets absolutely no air, not even a bit.

You change the path of the air flow just from opening it up.
Underneath the gpu is the intake, your hand is blocking the intake. The air is exhausted out the sides with a card like that - that's where your hand should've been if you were trying to feel it.

 

[geofelt]

How are the front 120mm fans connected?
What speed are they running at?
Perhaps motherboard fan control is not running them full out.
Dangle a tissue near the fans to verify the airflow direction.

Also, if you are not using the hard drive bays, remove them to free up airflow.

 

[pongopea]

How are the front 120mm fans connected?
What speed are they running at?
Perhaps motherboard fan control is not running them full out.
Dangle a tissue near the fans to verify the airflow direction.

Also, if you are not using the hard drive bays, remove them to free up airflow.

Fans are connected to the built in fan controller the case comes with, it has three speeds on a switch, a low power mode that makes so the fans are practically doing nothing, a medium speed mode that makes so they are silent but still doing something, and full blast which makes them a bit audible but cranks them up to their max speeds.
I usually leave them in the middle slot of the switch so they have a balance of low noise but with some air being pushed, but when I game I crank them to their max, which makes little to no difference which made me think; perhaps these fans are meant to be silent and nothing more, so they won't push too much air to keep their noise levels to a bare minimum. Their max speeds are really... disappointing, to be honest but I have no other fans to test and see if the "problem" is on the fans or the controller.
In hindsight I should've bought something else, the case looks amazing but I have a lot of anxiety on temps and stuff because I don't have spare money to buy new parts if mine fail so now I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

 

[helper800]

Fans are connected to the built in fan controller the case comes with, it has three speeds on a switch, a low power mode that makes so the fans are practically doing nothing, a medium speed mode that makes so they are silent but still doing something, and full blast which makes them a bit audible but cranks them up to their max speeds.
I usually leave them in the middle slot of the switch so they have a balance of low noise but with some air being pushed, but when I game I crank them to their max, which makes little to no difference which made me think; perhaps these fans are meant to be silent and nothing more, so they won't push too much air to keep their noise levels to a bare minimum. Their max speeds are really... disappointing, to be honest but I have no other fans to test and see if the "problem" is on the fans or the controller.
In hindsight I should've bought something else, the case looks amazing but I have a lot of anxiety on temps and stuff because I don't have spare money to buy new parts if mine fail so now I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If you end up buying a bunch of decent fans to solve the problem of the case it might cost as much a good replacement case that would give you more cooling performance than the fans you put in the original case.

 

[pongopea]

Update: The problem was the noise dampening foam in the case, it was absorbing heat and not letting air flow correctly (I assume), after a bit of "modding" (I just ripped the thing out) the GPU has dropped over 10 degrees and I haven't even put the fan I ordered yet.

 

[Phaaze88]

Huh... that'll be something to keep in mind - the sound dampening foam traps heat too.
I'm sure some people already knew that...