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Inside of my casing: http://i.imgur.com/o2ILKrh.jpg

Front/back/side of casing; enter image description here

Just want to know if there are any simple things for me to do to improve cooling and reduce temperatures without having to invest in a new cooling fan.

This is a temporary stop-gap measure until I get a new casing when I upgrade my CPU/mobo/RAM towards the end of the year.

Would really appreciate any and all help.

Thanks!

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  • That case looks like it has plenty of allowance for air flow; certainly more than my home system would with similar fan layout. What makes you feel a need to improve cooling air flow in the first place? Please edit your question.
    – user
    May 12, 2016 at 13:11
  • You can remove the side cover. So that more air will circulate this would help you little.
    – BDRSuite
    May 12, 2016 at 13:13
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    Is your hardware overheating? Do you have any specific reason why you are concerned about the temperatures? The airflow in a case normally isn't a concern unless there isn't room for the air to flow, which isn't the case, based on your screenshots.
    – Ramhound
    May 12, 2016 at 13:43
  • The thing is, I had just upgraded my GPU from a 750 SC to a 960 SC. My 750SC could run at 100% load at no more than 72C, but my 960SC starts to get throttled at 80C under 100% load. Other than that, my CPU temps before and after have stayed the same, but a particular sensor on the motherboard that seems to control the speed of the case fan (TMPIN1 based on HW Monitor) has seen an increase in temperature. At idle, it is now 46C instead of 43C before, and at load it hits 64C instead of 58C before. I have no idea what exactly this temp is.
    – hsjj3
    May 12, 2016 at 15:19
  • i.imgur.com/U1u34Ur.png My temp reading. MAX refers to under load, VALUE refers to idle. Ignore MIN as that is on startup.
    – hsjj3
    May 12, 2016 at 15:22

2 Answers 2

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Here is a little trick:

The way your fans are currently set up you will be creating a negative pressure inside the case. Your chassis fan and your PSU fan are both pulling air from inside the case to the outside, meaning that cooling air is being pulled into the case through gaps in the case.

You want to create a higher pressure inside the case instead - this will mean more air inside the case to cool the units and less dust being passively pulled into the case. You can do this by turning your chassis fan around so that it is pulling air into the case rather than out of it. This will blow fresher air directly towards the components and aid the transfer of heat to the air. This warmer air will then be pushed out of holes in the case or out through the PSU fan.

Note: if your PSU fan is stronger than your chassis fan then you will still have an overall slightly negative pressure on the inside of the chassis - however you will be raising the pressure slightly and this should make some (perhaps slight) improvement to component to air heat transfer.

UPDATE: After doing the maths, I think you are relatively unlikely to see a marked increase in the overall pressure of the system due to the amount of ventilation holes in the case. This is a trick that will work better if you DO have more fans and, since you specify in the question that you do not want to get any more, I think perhaps it is not worth the effort. Something to think about for the future though.

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  • Is this dangerous? Would this have a negative impact on any of the components, especially on my motherboard? What about dust? Also, how do I go about doing this exactly? Never ever worked with any fans before in my PC.
    – hsjj3
    May 12, 2016 at 15:24
  • Dust settles more inside the PC case when you have a lower pressure inside than outside. While it might seem like dust will be blown onto the components by an inward facing fan, it is actually more likely to blow the dust off of the components :) Turning the fan around is easy: disconnect from power, do not touch the delicate components because static can damage them, unscrew the chassis fan carefully, turn it around and re-attach with the screws :)
    – Matthew
    May 12, 2016 at 15:58
  • But based on my configuration above, could/would it work? Won't the air being blown in just be sucked out by the PSU fan? Also, would doing this damage any component in the PC? Is there absolutely no downside of doing this? If this is better, why doesn't Dell design their PCs with an intake fan rather than an exhaust fan? PS: I am sorry if I'm asking too many questions. I really have no idea and would be glad to have them answered. TQ!
    – hsjj3
    May 12, 2016 at 16:24
  • I have to confess I do not know why Dell does not design their PCs with the back mounted chassis fans facing inwards - generally all front mounted fans face inwards, as do ALL GPU fans and CPU fans. However, I can assure you this setup will not break your motherboard. I have been running like this for years and have not had any problems. One could suggest that the flow of air in this configuration might prevent good ventilation of the HDD, but this is unlikely if you only have one HDD. If you are worried about the HDD then get another fan for the front, but your motherboard will be fine.
    – Matthew
    May 12, 2016 at 16:37
  • Ok, and so for confirmation, you absolutely do not think that by doing this, I will increase the amount of dust in my CPU and GPU?
    – hsjj3
    May 12, 2016 at 16:42
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So, you need a temporary solution to cool off your GPU temperature, but you don't need to spend money on it !. Well, the current cooling system that you have can't give you the results that you need. So, you need to think out of the box.

I have a bit of crazy idea, but I am sure that can give you the best results.

First, since the computer case is a mid size, the CPU & PSU fans are too close from the GPU, which means that their hot air will heat up the GPU, since the fan of the GPU will only pull in that hot air, because there is no cold air around it. ٍSo, @Matthew has described it in his answer, and I agree with him. That's one of the things that I always consider in choosing computer towers, which is the space between CPU, PSU, and GPU. Which is important in airflow.

Secondly, you may consider to generate a cold air manually not depending on the computer fans only. What I mean of that is to maintain the room temperature and also the location of your computer tower where it stands.

Lastly, my idea is that you can use any fan that can be found at your home not necessary to be built for a computer, and it should do its job. Surly, it'll be noisy, but it'll be effective solution. You can even rebuild it to suit your case. Also, if you want to be more creative, you can use water container and fill it with car radiator fluid which will cool the fan air. this will make it like a portable AC. You just need to think of a way to do it from the useless stuff around you. All you need is just a fan, cartoon box, bottle, and water. You can build it with your computer fan or a home fan.

Just think out of box.

This is what I have, hope it will trigger something that guide you to your goal.

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