Cases Silverstone FT03 build (now turning into post your pics of FT03 builds thread)

I think 2 x 590 will be too hot as they don't exhaust all the air out the back like a reference 580 does.

I tried a single 580 twin frozr ii in the case and didn't like the temps so went back to my reference 580.

For anyone thinking of changing all the fans out to air penetrators i tried this and increased the temps in the case, the stock ones work better for this size of case spreading the airflow more.

 

Akasa Apaches have been the best I have tried so far.

 

Hey D_R_B. Thanks for that... yup, heard good things about the Apaches. Was just looking on Scan now; are you using:

Akasa Apache Black Ultra Silent Fan HDB bearing PWM fan 120mm

or

Akasa Apache Ultra Silent Fan HDB Bearing PWM fan 120mm

Maybe these are the same fan with just a different paint-job?

 

Yeah they are, i've used them before also, nice fans.

 

There exists different cooling options for the gtx 590's, which one do you have?

These are the options:
http://www.hardware-revolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/gtx_590_featured.jpg
http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u127998/vidcard_gtx590_7197.jpg
http://www.xtremeshack.com/immagine/i79299_evga-gtx590-gemini.jpg

Number 3 would probably be your best bet when running 2, bundled with the GPU exhaust (suggesting silverstonetek fn92 - it fits, I tried it) and some pretty high powered intake fans. You might still need to underclock the cards, and just generally accept them running hot.
On another note, for running only 1 monitor quad sli doesn't help you anywhere. You should probably consider 3x24", maybe even 3D monitors (total res of about 5760x1080 and "double" the requirement for 3D) if you wanna use all that power. I believe 2x580 (or 570) can take all games to max settings in 2560x1600.

You could try to mount the H70 on the angled CPU intake bracket, and put the cpu exhaust fan on the outside of the case (but still under the lid) to make room for GPU exhaust bracket.

Or consider exchanging the FT03 with the FT02 if you really want the power!

Someone have drilled holes in the side of the FT02 and mounted a radiator for watercooling, you could consider that as well.

What I would probably do: For 1x27-30" monitor I would either exchange both GPU's to GTX 580's or run with only 1xGTX 590. 2xgtx580 will perform better, but they might run hotter. However they have external exhaust, so they won't send a lot of hot air through the CPU cooler, which the gtx590 will (unless you create a wind tunnel or something fancy).
And I would buy gtx 570's instead of gtx580, as the performance gain for the price difference is very small.

ohh and I think the strider 1200 is a fine choice, because you are gonna need a lot of power, the more wattage it offers, the less heat it outputs.

that's my 2 cents

 

Thanks for the input mate, I have replied to you on the Hard Forum

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1539037&page=30

If you could help me with the perfect fan set up that would be great - I am limited to what I can order on Amazon Japan.

Tom

 

I use the black OEM ones which are the fan only. The camouflage ones come with the rubber mounting pins and a fancy paint job but are otherwise identical.

 

Brilliant. Cheers for that. I'm relieved - camo isn't really my thing!

 

oops... double post - see below.

 

great post.

i'm in the same boat (love apple hardware, but hate apple BS) so i have three FT03 builds i'm working on for our little design studio ... very similar to yours except with P8P67-M Pros and 2600Ks, although i'm stuck with 3 of the ST50F-Ps cause I ordered them too long ago to exchange.

i've only built one of the systems so far and trying to figure out what coolers to get for the rest. i've got a corsair A70 cooler to test out and it's not too bad, but the push fan doesn't clear the corsair vengeance RAM (using all 4 slots) so i'm using it with a pull fan only.

temps with pull fan only aren't bad -- 4.3ghz topping out at about 65 degrees under Cinebench -- but i was thinking that a cooler with a push fan would do a bit better. the pull fan is only about an inch from the case fan so it seems like a waste.

the dark rock advanced was the main cooler i was looking at. when you say it clears all slots even with vengeance, do you mean it's high enough off the motherboard that it can go over the top of the ram, or does the fan fit between the ram and the heatsink? a photo would be fantastic if you have a second.

also, for your fan dilemma; maybe try the same bequiet silent wings fans that are on the dark rock? i've replaced all the stock case fans & corsair A70 pull fan with them and it's inaudible at idle and very tolerable at load. much better than the stock fans.

 

I now know that a 2x590 set up is possible in the FT03 case as Origin have done it:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/reviews/origin_chronos_review

I now need to find a way to improve the noise level!

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1037265910&posted=1#post1037265910

 

Hey dbx. Glad some of the ramble was useful. Okidoke where to start. Right. Your post prompted me into checking something that had been bugging me for a while - namely had I got the orientation/fan direction of the cooler correct? The short answer is no... Yup. Not my finest moment. Orientated with the cooler fan facing UP (i.e. towards the exhaust fan) was resulting in a pull/push configuration between the cooler fan and the exhaust fan.

A couple of hours later, and with the cooler re-orientated (fan facing DOWN towards the ram), the case airflow is all one way - up and out. I can say that the results are pretty dramatic. Idle temps have dropped a couple of degrees to around 26/27C and under full load (small FFT, Prime95), temps have dropped at least 15C (an hour into the FFT test, core temps currently read 54C/56C/56C/54C respectively, down from low 70C's before. I should also say that air temps have fallen a little today here to around 20C, and that I took the opportunity to remove and re-apply the TIM (I'm using Thermalright CF3 rather than the supplied TIM) as I thought I'd been a little over-generous with it before.

However, re-orientating the cooler has meant that the CPU bracket + fan will no longer fit. Also that I have had to switch the ram to the 2nd and 4th channels (no, the ram doesn't fit under but rather between the cooler and the fan. The fit is very snug but without having to force or 'bend' anything). I suppose there is always the option of removing and 'flipping' the cooler fan to turn it into 'push' rather than 'pull'. This way, the fan could sit between the cooler and the top exhaust fan, allowing (just about, I think...) the CPU bracket to be re-installed as well. I may or may not try this at some point but for the moment I'm happy with the temps and, with the cooler fan & two system fans (GPU bracket and top exhaust) on PWM, happy with the noise levels. Whether this set up would be as effective for an overclocked 2600K I obviously don't know.

I am really sorry for any confusion my previous posts may have caused; I fully realise that the capacity to use the 1st ram channel as well as the CPU fan bracket are pretty major decisions in choosing a cooler with this particular case. Sorry for that. dbx, or anyone else come to that, I still can't seem to post pics so if you drop me a private message with an email address i will send them through. And if anything is unclear or more detail needed, just let me know.

Oh, finally on the Silentwings fans - I agree but had had trouble finding a reputable UK stockist before. Just looked again and I may have found one, so I'll let you know how it goes with that.

 

no worries at all, dude. thanks for clarifying it, and cool that you got the orientation & temps sorted.

i suppose for anyone reading this i should specify that the Corsair A70 also would necessitate removing the CPU bracket fan if the heatsink push fan was on (assuming the ram would clear that fan).

apparently running a pull fan (i.e. a fan pulling hot air through the CPU heatsink) vs a push fan (what is mounted by default on the dark rock advanced) loses about 1 degree, so it's not a massive difference. i'm still not sure if it's better to have the CPU bracket fan cooling the RAM and feeding cold air into the CPU heatsink, or if it's better to just have the push fan on the heatsink and lose the CPU bracket fan.

it looks like the Thermalright MUX-120 (50cm wide) might fit a push fan and still allow 4 slots of vengeance ram, but even that will probably be a tight fit. might pick one up and see what happens.

to make it simpler, here's a photo of my setup with the A70 minus push fan. to make sure i understood right, the Dark Rock Advanced has the same issues with fitting?

(btw - regarding uploading photos, try imageshack.us and then just embed them in the post with tags.)

 

Hey dbx. My curiosity got the better of me. So, I removed the dark rock fan, inverted it (effectively turning it into a pull fan) and fitted it to the top of the cooler (i.e. nearest the top exhaust fan). This allowed me to refit the CPU bracket + fan & move the ram back to the 1st and 3rd slots. Result... surprisingly little difference. If anything, the temps fluctuated a little more at idle (still around 28-30C but a bit jumpier) and maxed out very similarly at load (approx. 60C). In fairness to the dark rock, I should say that I didn't remove and invert the cooler itself, only the fan... the side the fan is fitted to by default is slightly concave (presumably because this increases cooling capacity), so the test wasn't 100% fair or conclusive.

Anyway, I have put the fan back as it was (fan facing down towards the ram) in a push configuration. Photos (bad ones. Via imageshack - thanks!) below. As far as I can tell, yup - the scenario I outlined above is pretty much identical to your (very professional) pic. Basically, with the dark rock advanced you are not going to get: fan (whether push or pull) facing towards the ram + be able to use 1st slot ram + cpu bracket & fan. I think this is what you're basically asking (if not, just let me know!) And the silentwings fans are ordered.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

What kind of HDD temps are you guys getting?

I've got two Barracuda 7200.12 1TB (as well as a Vertex 2) installed and, strangely, one of the Barracudas is running at 46c and the other at 35c. In my previous case they both ran at 36-37c. The one running hotter is the one mounted high, near the top of the case.

Anyone experience a similiar variation in temps?

 

Dammit! I just figured out how to watercool it, now i want one!

 

Yeah, i miss messing around with my old watercooling setup and i'm considering sticking a 120 in mine just for the sake of it.

 

Here are some links to by FT03 build

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/811/img2151n.jpg

Unboxing

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/215/img2224ju.jpg/

Front

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/89/img2222a.jpg/

Back

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/714/img2231u.jpg/

Setup

 

Corsair h60?

Does anybody know if a corsair H60 would fin in the case? I got the case in yesterday and am trying to contemplate my options. You can actually remove the top exhaust fan and put it on top instead of mounting on the underside. I figure this way an H60 with its low profile would be almost invisible from the side. The only thing I wonder about is if there is room to mount the radiator since they are a little bit longer than a standard 120mm fan.

 

Over @ hardforuns there's a couple of builds from guys using the H60 and even the H70.

You shouldn't have any issues.


On a more recent news, I've bought a H60 for myself and the case is finally arriving next week.

The only issues I've heard with the corsair kits is the inhability to use the 92mm fan mount for the gpu area.

Hop it helps...