Antec 900 & Cooling Q's

First of all I absolutely love this case. Ive been using it for about a year and its easily the nicest case I have ever had. Tomorrow Im going to be throwing an e8400 in with a AC Freezer 7 Pro. Ive been reading all the threads about the Antec on here as I plan on doing some dremeling for cable management, and I came up with a few questions that I figured maybe some of you could answer now that the case has seen many users.

* Any thoughts on having only the top fan be exaust?
First of all, I read in one thread a member suggesting to change the rear 120 into an intake fan, and have only the top fan be exaust. Now I know routine is to have air come in the front of a case and out the back...but conventional wisdom is heat rises...and now both options seem logical.

* Any thoughts on having the Freezer 7 Pro fan face towards the back (standard) vs facing the top?
Obvously if I had only the top fan on the Antec as exaust, up would make the most difference, but what about in the standard fan config?

* Would a side 120 fan as an intake make a significant difference?
Obviously the case has a mounting point for one...but it doesnt come with one standard so I havent been using one. Im thinking a side fan may help in cooling my 4870.

* Anyone replaced any or all of the fans for "better" ones? Did it make a difference for you?

Any thoughts or pictures would greatly help. Thanks for the read!

 

I've built and sold PCs in 900s, and hate the bloody things!

As a standard feature I change all the fans for Akasa Amber 120mm fans, which are obviously quieter, move plenty of air, and have a proper fan connector not a crappy ancient molex!

Of course the Antec fans are trispeed, but it's hardly user friendly to gut the PC every time you change the fan revs.

With proper fans you can use a front panel or PCI fan controller, and even if you don't, it is easier to attach proper fan headers to the motherboard than to have PSU cables going all over the place to feed the trispeed molex fans!

EDIT

I'd mount the CPU heatsink wit the fan blowing upwards, which obviously is as nature intended the hot air to go, but also means the coolant in the heatpipes can get back to the CPU quicker, as gravity will help. (They work anyway round though, due to internal wicking)

The main reason I never have the back fan sucking inwards, is that most graphics cards dump their hot air out of the back of the case, and a rear fan will suck the hot air back into the case again!

Otherwise you could have 2 slow fans in the front, a slow one at the back, and the 200mm on slow or medium speed.

Side fans normally do more harm than good, as they mess up nice airflow streams.
Of course, turbulence can help take heat away faster, but not in a large scale system like a PC case.

 

Interesting and valid points about the airflow, connectors & changing the fans in the 900 gunman, I think that's what I'm going to end up doing as I want to use a Zalman MFC-1 Plus fan controller (4 x variable & 2 x toggle)
except lighting will probably be on the toggle switch/es?

this 3-speed switch for the rear fan is just a bloody joke!, even if they'd made the leads longer & heavier so it could be mounted somewhere slightly closer & easier to get to!
hell, for the price of the case it should be sitting in a drive-bay!

those bloody molex connectors are more of a pain when it comes to cable management and you can never seem to get them completely out of sight lol

Like yourself Irish Pilot, I have a new 900 sitting here which I ordered for my last build but have decided to do a case mod for that so the Antec is just sitting there lol

the large fans, and the fact I think it looks good, were what I liked about the case. that big mutha on the top I thought would be ideal as an exhaust too

the mobo I'd probably put in it has 6 x 3-pin fan connectors & 1 x 4-pin for the CPU but is free if using a passive CPU cooler o.c.

 

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This is the best fan set up with this case, I agree with changing the stock fans if only to eliminate molex clutter.

 

With my 900 I actually moved the rear fan to the side panel, I have every one of my fans on Intake apart from the 200mm which I have exhausting. I moved the fan to side panel when I got my SLI and my new motherboard, I run it on medium speed just because it blows directly onto the 2 graphics cards and the heatpipes leaving the northbridge. I have found that the GPU's and Northbridge run a fair bit cooler in this configuration. The CPU is pretty much the same, the CPU fan is the NP9500 which sucks air upwards towards the 200mm.

 

seems everyone is in agreement about the top being best setup as exhaust, makes sense with heat rising

tuco you are saying side fan on exhaust bud yes?, while micketh, you're saying side-fan as intake right?

see, I have to admit to thinking as micketh here in as much as that side-fan, if positioned over the CPU/GPU area is, in theory, gonna blow cool air where you want it - right at/over your GPU & CPU

however, does it?, who's to say what effect it's having with the airflow coming in the front (which imho, helps cool the HDDs huh?)

gunman, soz for bein soo lazy & not lookin this up myself but are the Akasa Amber 120mm fans much quieter?, also what sorta price you talkin for a 120mm?

 

As you can see the side intake is right above my 9600GT Setup, idle temps are 37 for the bottom card and 41 for the top card.

 

see that's where I would think intake would do the most good?

also, as someone already mentioned, have the CPU cooler mounted so it's blowing out upwards (with the case sitting normally), this can then be exhausted by the big mutha on the top

that's just the way I'd seen mine being setup and by no means how I say everyone should have theirs!, just my tuppence worth

 

Best thing to do is experiment, The Antec 900 allows for many configurations, you might find that you only need 3 fans or you might need 5. More airflow does not always mean better cooling. The AIR it is shifting needs to be cool or it could have an opposite effect. The only thing that you can be sure of in PC cooling is more components = more heat. Adding more fans is just one way of removing this heat, however a well designed airflow model with less fans may provide better cooling than a case that is full of randomly placed fans.

consider this

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/238184-13-case-airflow-positive-negative-pressure

 

Now Ive got a Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer on the way. With the OCing on the 8400, Ive gotten nervous about the temps with the AC Freezer. I know its a great cooler, but Im paranoid and want a top notch cooler.

Ill be curious to see how it fits and how I should place it (blowing up vs down.) I recently pulled the fan off the back of the case and put it on the side to see if it cools the GPU more. Via speedfan, I hardly noticed any change in GPU temps or CPU temps. Im thinking of having the Sunbeam moving air out the back as well as the back fan, and having the top fan of the case on low-med as a "vent."

I could experiment all day with these if it werent such a pain to move the cpu heatsink around lol.

 

Here's what I did to mine:

For the 200mm, I flipped it around to act as an intake and set it to LOW.

The top front and rear 120mm fans are Kingwin dual-bb 79CFM fans.

The fan on the Kingwin HDT-12025 (Xigmatek RVT-S1283) is the stock one.

The side fan is the stock Antec 900 120mm fan set to LOW.

The bottom front intake is a generic 1000rpm fan. (Original Antec 900 fan died, but was also set to low).

I'm using a AC S1 VGA cooler, but have an AZENX Bliztorm (exhaust blower & 70mm fan) Works really well.

I also cut a hole in the bottom and flipped the PSU around.

 

nice neat job tucsonrider

what are those Kingwin double bearing 79CFM like in regard to noise mate?, 3-pin yes?

the PSU I'd put in my 900 would need turned upside down or a hole cut in the bottom as you've done too

do you have any before & after temps at all?, even your current temps would be interesting to know?

 

The dual-bb fans are LOUD. I had them on a fan controller, but when at 3.6GHz, I had them at full tilt. When I ran my system at 3.2GHz (24/7), I kept them at half power (pretty quiet)

All buttoned up, my internal case temp was 1C higher than Room ambient temp (using a thermometer)

3.2GHz @ 1.343v = idle 35C / load 59C (Prime95 SMALL FFT). Core-Temp TJmax @ 100C Ambient Room Temp @ 21C. HSF = Kingwin RVT-12025

Internal Temp read 22C. That would be a 13C rise above internal case temp at idle, and a 37C rise at load. A delta of 24C between idle/load.

I have since sold the PC and case though. I know have a CM 690. Just got it today. Will have it up by the weekend *crosses fingers*

 

I think double-bearing fans will probably always tend to be on the louder side?, mad as the double-bearings are supposed to make em run smoother etc

seemed to be doing the job ok from those temps you just quoted anyway

jus started a case mod, got a 'industrial' type look in my head but I'll have to sit down with a pencil & some paper
I did think about using the Antec but I'm nervous about taking the Dremmel to £70 of brand new case lol

CoolerMaster CM690 is a smart case, is it the new CM-690 V2 Dominator?, windowed side-panel with fan here ready to fit

I like the Stacker 830 Evolution 'nVidia' Special Edition Case but at £200+ I don't bloody think so!! lol

 

My 690 doesn't have the windowed side. It's just the plain 'ol 690.

It was a toss up between the 900, NZXT Tempest, and the CM 690. I went with the 690 because it was the cheapest of the three, and I wanted to try something different.

 

You do realize you don't have to change the fans to be able to use a fan controller right? The Antec TriCool fans can easily be hooked up to a controller as long as you aren't afraid to do some wiring.

Also unless you have a major in Aerodynamics you can not guess what will cause turbulence just by looking at the case.

If you are that worried about it get a smoke machine and watch your air flow, try to make the smoke exit as fast as possible after going through the front two intakes.

 

No there is a link to a windowed side-panel for the CM 690 in my last post is what I meant lol

nice choice of cases, those are all cases I have/would consider for myself too :thumbup:
those NZXT cases seem pretty sound, never seen one 'in the flesh' though so can't comment on the actual build quality though

yeah I know you can use a fan controller on any fan you want LedHed?, it's only a variable resistor. it could be used to dim a light if you want

it's not the first time I've placed a cigarette, jos-stick (spelling?) or some source of smoke inside an empty case & watched the airflow just for a giggle lol

 

I agree with Tucson when using the top fan as an intake. I have an Antec Three Hundred that I jusy bought which is really almost the same aside from my top fan being 140mm. I use it to blow down and with my Cooler Master Gemini II mounted vertically on a BFG 680i SLI I don't need to mount a fan on the cooler. Two trispeed fans blowing inward from the front and just the one trispeed exhausting out the back. My tempts at the moment are between 35 - 44 celcius.

 

Hmm...may have to test this later this week.

 

that does kinda turn things around a little but let's not forget it's not massive volumes of air we're talking about moving

my logic tells me that as heat rises it makes more sense to have an exhaust at the top (for it to rise up & out through) but the other fans have to be considered too?, placement, how much air they are moving, where they're moving it to

this is just mho & I've been around long enough to know that not everything that works for one person is gonna work for another

it just wouldn't be life if it did lol

the Gemini II is a nice cooler, I'm a big fan of heat-pipe technology and it's ability to take 2 x 120mm fans is the biz

can I ask what type of fans you have on it atm crazyboy81?

35-44deg Celsius, what is it that's actually that temp?, the CPU or inside the case?