Corsair 600T Case Airflow For Water Cooling...

[airplanes717]

Hi, I currently built a new system! The specs are:

Intel i7-920 (2.66ghz) Processor (Overclocked @ 3.2Ghz)
Asus Rampage III Extreme Motherboard
Three (3) nVidia 8800gtx Graphics Cards in sli
12gb DDR3 Corsair Dominator Ram
Antec (HCG-750) 750 Watt Power Supply
Corsair Air Series AF120 Fans (X2)
Corsair Special Edition White Graphite 600T Case
Xigmatek XOF-F1251 Case Fan
Cd/Dvd-Rw Drive With Lightscribe Technology
Two (2) Kingston Hyper X 3K 6Gb/s 120Gb SSD (240Gb) in Raid 0
Windows 7 Ultimate Operating System

Liquid Cooling:

Koolance CPU-340 (cpu water block)
Koolance VID-282 (graphics card water blocks)(X3)
Koolance MB-ASR3E (motherboard water block)
Koolance HX-CU720V Radiator
Koolance RP-1005 Reservoir and Pump with Temperature Sensors
Koolance LIQ-702 Coolant

So here is my problem... this was my old setup:







The two fans on top would pull cool air from the outside, through the radiator, and expell hot air into the case which would flow out through a fan in the back. This setup would keep the inside of my case REALLY hot.


I then tried something different.. this is my new setup:








The new setup pulls cool air from the back and into the case which is pulled through the radiator and the hot air is expelled from the top of the case. I also repositioned the drive bays to allow the intake fan in the front to push more air through. The inside of the case is cooler but the cpu temp is still around 140F... :confused:

Any ideas, suggestions, or comments on what I should do to improve temps?

Thanks

P.S. I will fix those cables in the pictures 😛

[Zka17]

My first question: when your CPU temps reaches 140F/60C? Is it under max load (like stress testing)?

Regarding the airflow, well you do have to experience that... you know, there are theories and there is the real life... - I just learned this recently too... :cool: The most important thing is to supply the coldest (ambient temp) air for going through your radiators... the way you achieve that is very particular to each setup... for me proved to be the top intake...

Having the top fans (those on the radiator) pushing fresh air from outside through the radiator into the case is a very good idea - your first setup... you just have to be sure that you can remove the air from your case... and forget the hot air thing from the radiator! - that's usually just slightly warmer then the ambient... if you have the correct setup - if you feel that the air leaving the radiator is warm/hot, then you're way over the limits! there is something wrong...

If the temps are getting hot inside your case, that's an airflow problem... have you calculated the intake amount vs exhaust amount of air?

And a notice at the end... I know, you didn't ask for, but will mention it... 🙂 Your PSU may run at it's higher limits... 750W for a 3 way SLI may not be enough for long time... specially as the PSU will get older...

[airplanes717]

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[airplanes717]

Zka17 wrote:
My first question: when your CPU temps reaches 140F/60C? Is it under max load (like stress testing)?

Regarding the airflow, well you do have to experience that... you know, there are theories and there is the real life... - I just learned this recently too... :cool: The most important thing is to supply the coldest (ambient temp) air for going through your radiators... the way you achieve that is very particular to each setup... for me proved to be the top intake...

Having the top fans (those on the radiator) pushing fresh air from outside through the radiator into the case is a very good idea - your first setup... you just have to be sure that you can remove the air from your case... and forget the hot air thing from the radiator! - that's usually just slightly warmer then the ambient... if you have the correct setup - if you feel that the air leaving the radiator is warm/hot, then you're way over the limits! there is something wrong...

If the temps are getting hot inside your case, that's an airflow problem... have you calculated the intake amount vs exhaust amount of air?

And a notice at the end... I know, you didn't ask for, but will mention it... 🙂 Your PSU may run at it's higher limits... 750W for a 3 way SLI may not be enough for long time... specially as the PSU will get older...

Thanks for your reply!

My cpu temp reaches around 140F on idle, just sitting on the windows desktop!

I thought that my first setup (intaking from top through radiator) was better too... However, i felt that the air flowing through the radiator into the case was not sufficient and it was very warm. I could feel very warm air being exhausted from the the fan in the back of the case. I was thinking that maybe the radiator is not big enough/does not have enough surface area to accommodate the heat generated by 3 liquid cooled cards, motherboard, and cpu...

I have not calculated the intake amount vs exhaust amount as I don't know how...

And yes, I was going to use the powersupply for another setup but it ended up not working so I used it in this build... what would be an adequate wattage amount? 1000W+?

[Zka17]

When you feel that the air coming through the radiator is warm/hot, it's meaning that you overwhelmed it... yes, a single 2x120 radiator is just simply not enough for the CPU + 3xVGAs... that radiator should be only cooling the CPU, and get an another one for the VGAs...

[Arniebomba]

Indeed. These temps could be WAY lower than they are now.
I've clocked my 3930K at 4.9Ghz and my temps dont pass 65c at full load Prime95. (CPU 3x120 loop)

[ilidaan]

The 240 rad is realy not enough for your current setup. The 8800 GTX are realy hot even in idile state. For your setup you realy need at least 480 rad and thick one to. U can easly put 3 x 120 rads 60 mil thich in that case and on the top 120 stealt GT rad. With changes in airflow u will not going to solve anything.

[xeromist]

ilidaan wrote:
The 240 rad is realy not enough for your current setup. The 8800 GTX are realy hot even in idile state. For your setup you realy need at least 480 rad and thick one to. U can easly put 3 x 120 rads 60 mil thich in that case and on the top 120 stealt GT rad. With changes in airflow u will not going to solve anything.

This is true. Just for giggles I once tried 360mm worth of rad for a CPU and 3 8800GTX's and they were still hot so that is just waaaay short on rad surface for that build.

[airplanes717]

xeromist wrote:
This is true. Just for giggles I once tried 360mm worth of rad for a CPU and 3 8800GTX's and they were still hot so that is just waaaay short on rad surface for that build.

Thanks guys for all the help! Yeah the 240mm rad isnt enough to cool all the components. Im probably gonna add a few more radiators to try to bring the temps down. Thanks again 🙂

[Retired]

I did like this, and it works very fine>

1 loop for cpu (0,62 amp pump) = 240 rad, blademasters 120mm
1 loop for gpu's (1 amp pump)= 2 x 240 rad, blademasters 120mm
2 x 250ml balancers

No need for push/pull.. I use push config

total of 3 x 240 rads ( EK XT)

No 90 degrees fitting.. only 45 degress

Dead silent, and chilly...............