Cooling Ducting and Arctic Silver Questions PLZ!

hiya,

my temps are not that great, and since i will soon have two fans at the rear of my case, i want to use some pvc pipe to duct the top one onto my cpu. im pretty sure, but just wanted to check, the cpu fan blows down on the heatsink right? so if i switched my exhaust to intake and ducted it right on the cpu, that should get me a ton more air going down on the heatsink, without any more noise than i already have right?

-also-

im gettin a new hsf and arctic silver 5, if the new hsf has a thermal paste/pad thing on it, do i need to remove it before i apply the arctic silver? and the same goes for the cpu, if there is any residue left on it?

thank you much

 

As a general rule, you should have the same number of intake fans as outtake. If you switch one of the fans to intake, make sure the rest of the fans in the system are compensated to balance.

The reason people use ducting is to bring cooler air to the processor heatsink, not to raise the ammount of air flow. Bringing cooler air in from outside your case will help out your temps by introducing cool air, rather than having warm air from inside your case being blown on to the heatsink. Why duct the top fan? Hot air rises so it would be best to keep the top fan as a blowhole, exausting as much hot air as possible from the case. Are there any other fans you could possibly duct?

As for your other question, you MUST remove all thermal pads/paste in order to make the AS5 work at its best. Use 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol and some swabs to clean both the new heatsink and the processor before you install the new stuff. A thermal pad is junk anyway...I'm not suprised that your temps are higher than you would like.

 

about the fan, im going to have 2 REAR exhaust, not my top exhaust, i meant the top one of the two rears. thank you very much!!

 

What is the current layout of all fans in your case?

What is the proposed full setup when/if you start ducting?

 

as of now, i have two front intakes at the bottom front (durr)
one top blowhole
and one rear exhaust.

the plan is to make a second rear exhaust, and then duct one of the exhaust fans onto the cpu to get it some fresh air.

youve been very helpful, i really appreciate it,

thanx much

 

If you add the 2nd back exaust fan, and duct one of the outtake fans, then you will be all set. I would caution you against ducting the blowhole because thats where all the hot air goes to and it needs a place to escape in the best of all possible situations. If possible, you might want to make a new hole in the side pannel for a fan right over where the CPU is. That would create a very direct route for the duct, and you would keep all your exaust fans doing what they do best.

 

Will it not just suck in the air from the one below it.

 

Yup.

Thats the reason why ducting from the side or front is the best.

 

cool, i see what your saying, thank you very much