Hello, I am about to reapply thermal paste to my CPU as i'm not too happy with the temps and feel I may have applied a bit too much Anyway what I need to know is what is the best direction to have the fan on the heatsink. I currently have it pointing towards the back output fan (East to West). Is this the best way or would it be better to have it pointing towards the top output(South to North)? Or even so the air is blowing into the front of the case(West to East)? Also do you think I should flip my PSU around so the fan is at the bottom? And yes I know the cable management is some of the BEST you have ever seen Cheers for the help in advance
flip the PSU, Flip the heatsink 180 Degrees, And get some cable managment going, really, it'll help temperatures so much.
^This. Don't forget to flip the fan as well though, so it's pushing air through the heatsink towards the back of the case and not pulling it towards the front.
^ +1 on turning the CPU cooler around so that the fan is blowing across the cooler toward the rear fan. That looks like an Antec 300 to me, as such there is no intake vent under the PSU so flipping it *may* result in the PSU getting hot (depends on PSU). I flipped mine but I cut a vent hole in the bottom to avoid any issues (see sig) and also because I wanted to play with a dremel . ATX PSU's are designed to expel warm air from a case, it is in the ATX spec. Try flipping it but keep an ear out for how fast the PSU fan is spinning. If I recall (at work so can't measure it) there is about half an inch or so between the floor of the case and the PSU. If the PSU fan seems to be spinning at high speed a lot, it may not be getting enough airflow.
Thanks for the ideas everyone. Have flipped the PSU over, but I think I will drill a hole in the bottom tomorrow so the PSU gets better airflow. Also moved the heatsink into the "correct" position, took a picture to show the state of the paste after I removed the heatsink, it's not pretty. Ran prime 95 and CPU (it-750 @3.2) didn't get above 50. While I was messing about I removed the plastic bit around my Graphics card and put some fresh paste on, seems to have lowered my "idle" graphics card temps by a few degrees, used to be just over 50, now just under . Cable management failed however Paste fail New layout
Silly as this sounds, if your flipping the PSU make sure the bottom of the case is vented. +1 on the cable management, it will help the air flow.
sorry for my noobedness, but can someone explain to me the advantage of having the PSU intake (slash case exhaust) fan pointed towards the floor? it seems to me that the fan would do a better job of extracting air from the case if pointed up where it might actually be able to suck in hot hard drive or GPU air. what good does it do you to push cold air from the floor out of your case? also, i would think the PSU would stay cleaner in the long run (i know the bottom of my cases always develop a film of dust, even with regular cleanings).
Simply put, if the PSU is sucking in cooler air, the PSU will run cooler, it's fan will spin slower and make less noise. Wherther it makes a difference depends on the PSU and how much hot air is inside the case. The better quality (expensive) cases have a dust filter on the bottom and some even seal the intake from the rest of the case so that the dust on the bottom of the case floor doesn't get sucked in. In addition, if you look at the OP's photo with the PSU fan down, the cables coming out of the back of the PSU are against the motherboard tray and out of the way. this makes for neater cable routing (which he obviously hasn't started yet ). One thing that makes me nervous about having the fan face up is the risk of dropping a screw into the PSU when installing a GPU for example. In the case of the OP's rig, I honestly don't think it will make a difference which way up it goes but it is his rig and his personal preference. It is definately something he should experiment with to see for himself what the result is.
You need to plan your airflow. Simple guidelines are: Fan pulling air in through the front going over the harddrive(s). CPU fan pushing air through the CPU HSF (not sucking) with fan oriented so that the air flows from the front of the case to the back of the case. Air going out the back (passively or aided with fan depending on temps). PSU fan air pushed out of the case not into it. Have you tried using CoreTemp to see what your CPU temps are? PS. I hope there are holes in the bottom of your case under where the PSU fan now is and that there is sufficient clearance between the case and the surface your PC is on? If not your PSU isn't going to be very happy! EDIT: Just noticed that you have a fan at the top too. You might not even need it if your temps are OK as you don't have a lot of kit in there.
