Modding Coolermaster Stacker airflow problems...

Basically my new case has 5 120mm fans, one in the front and one at the back. and 3 at the top. One of the 120mm fans for the PSU flows into the case and out at the back and cannot be changed.

I am stuck on which way the fans should go because using the basic ariflow rules, the only intake fan at the front will have 3 HDDs in it, leaving only about 1 inch worth of airflow space.

So which way should the fans go? Piccy:



The crossflow fan is a feature of the CM stacker cases here. The 80mm fans at the bottom of the back, in red is an option.

 

personally, and this is just me, but i would have the top 3 fans blow downward, since air travels good downward, and since it will be cooler air it wont have the tendancy to come back up, and then id have the front fan also blowing inward, becuase its always good to have more intake fans then outtake fans, just becuase of all the little holes and such in a case, and its good for airflow to have some compression for air on the inside

as for the back fan it most definitly needs to be an outtake fan, as well i really think you should cut those 2 fan holes at the bottom, just to give a good wall of air that flows from top to bottom

just imo id try that, i had a very similar setup going in one of those super tall raidmax cases, and it worked like a charm, kept my prescott idling at 33 and load of 40ish

cheers

 

I did think about having the top fans blowing down, but that means more dust getting into the case? If it blew up, dust wouldn't be so bad.

What I was thinking is to have the bottom 2 80mm fans intaking, as well as the front 120mm intaking. And have the back and top 120mm fans outtaking? Would that be good or not? Hot air rises, so would it be better to have the top 120mm fans blowing out?

 

i see where your comming from w/ the dust, but you could try air filters, i had some one mine, and i was able to run the fans sliglty faster and keep the noise down, but im still gonna go with however you want to arrange your fans, i really think you should have more intake then outtake...

basically my reasoning is that, its better to have lots of cool air and nothing to do with it inside ur case, then have air leaking in due to negative compression becuase your case has more out then in, and have that air just blow over the com. ports, and silly spots

 

well, your sketchup drawing does explain your problem really well, but i agree with warrior_rocker, the top 3 fans should blow down, put some dust filters on them, then also make the 2 80s exaust fans, wiht the 120 in the back next ot the IO bracket exaust. that should do it.

 

Hmm.. Is it possible to get clear dust filters or something? Because I really want the LEDS to shine out from the top.

 

put the filters on the bottom of the fans, so that the fan blades are visible from through the grill. also, they have those white paper filters that would defuse the light into your case quite nicely, if my imagination is correct.

 

Surely, Hot air rises? What about have the top fans as exhausts and the rest as inlets with dust filters, the top rear 120 would put cold air over the CPU, The front 120 over the hdds and the bottom 80's onto the gpu. It would then all get pulled out of the top fans, hopefully eliminating any hotspots...

 

You have a fair good point, didn't think of that. It is a big case and with the reduction in airflow from the front having the fans blow from the back would be the same as having the fans blow from the front. The PSU is not a problem as no air in the case gets into the PSU.

 

main problem tho, is that its much much harder to push air up then down, since in alot of cases you will be using your computer in a room with a fan, that will be pushing air down, also if you have ac vents that blow downward, i just dont think i know of anyone who blows the air upward


but most important willy, what i would do dude, is its really just not that difficult to spend the extra time seeing which setup works best, after all it is your baby, and she is worth it, just try both, and use mbm5 or equivilant utility to monitor temperatures, see which setup presents better values

 

Do you have 3 (consecutive) spare 5 1/4 bays? If so, slap on of these in there:
http://www.coolermaster.com/index.p...&other_title=+STB-3T4-E1+4-in-3 Device Module

I have a Thermaltake case, and had a similar issue. Thermaltake makes their own version of this gizmo as well. http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase/icage/icage.htm

Either should fit your case.

I just stuck it in with no HD's in the cage. Worked like a charm

 

But if hot air rises naturally, won't you just be fighting it? And it might be me reading it wrong, but I dont understand your second point.

 

Don't have any spare space - see my mod in my sig and you'll see why. I think I will be having my front and back fans intaking and the top outtakiing. The crossflow fan should keep the CPU and RAM nice and cool.

 

I'm another who can't agree with the top fans blowing air down into the case. I'm of the opinion that front and side fans should be intakes... and rear/top should be exhausts.

Since hot air rises... having the top fans blowing air back down into the case, means you're effectively forching the hot air around the case again

You'll be aware that the nickname for top fans are 'blowholes'. You may not not however, that they were given that nickname, because they're meant to perform the same function as the blowhole whales/dolphins use to expel air

It's an easy way to remember which way top-mounted fans should direct air

 

What he said +1

My chieftec gets all cool air in the front and expels it all out of the top/back

 

For what its worth, now take this with a grain of salt as I had my wisdom teath ripped outta my skull lately. In my stacker, i purchased a second 4in3, device and have 4 hard drives in the one that came with the case, and 1 in the new one. I havent really done any actual numerical testing or anything but the air comming out from behind 5 hard drives in RAID5 doesn't seam too warm, definately no where near to make me nervous. Purely observational.

Ed

 

Perhaps is becasue you have two of the 4in3's, I only have one, which will have 3 HDDs in it. From my project log:



You can see that I don't have space for more front fans!

 

Just a thought - if absolutley necessary, you can just slap an intake fan on the window panel - not ideal but can look good if done right.

Also, how much space have you got on the rhs of the case beteen the mobo - would screw up the wrap but you could put an intake on that side if there is a path for the air into the main cavity for the case.

Has the wrap arrived yet?

 

Not sure what you mean, but are you talking about between the mobo and the case for the dvd drives etc? I'm having a crossflow fan there, which will cool the mobo and act as a intake fan.

The caseskin should arrive in the next 2 weeks.

 

I meant between the mobo tray and the side panel of the case - rhs when looking at the front. my bad!

Is that the final design for the skin then? Whats it setting you back? (if you don't mind me asking...)