Underclocking GPU due to noise (Case fan config questions)

[Matthew12106]

I have no idea why the picture turned out so small but you can just click on them

So I have a MSI R7950 Boost OC GPU

I found that I have had to underclock it because I really don't like the noise levels it's producing it's not sooo bad but it is still quite annoying I feel like if it was a bit a cooler I wouldn't have this problem. In normal gaming gpu is about in the mid 70s around 75 I think is when the fan hits uncomfortable noise levels but when I went back to tombraider it hit 81 which is pretty bad. So My case is a zalman z11 plus. When I bought the case I wasn't really aware of the whole positive and negative pressure thing. Here is a picture of the case and it's fans



You can't actually see it in these pictures but there are 2x exhaust fans, one in each side panel as part of Zalman's unique HDD cooling solution demonstrated in the following picture.


Is it just me or is this crazy negative airflow. There is one intake... Then two exhausts in the side panel and another two exhausts one in top and one in the rear. Could that be what is causing my bad gpu temps. So anyway on to the main question. If you go back to the first set of pictures where it shows you the fan options if you look at the small pictures the one at the very left you can mount a 140-120mm fan in the bottom for a filtered Intake



Now I take it allot of the intake fans air is being taken up by the two fans in the side panel but this fan would be literally pointing at the gpu. Now I plan to put to a 140mm fan here. Just so I know if it's worth it for a rough estimate how many degrees do you think that would help the gpu. I think it should help a bit as if you look it would literally be point at the gpu

Please do not suggest tweaking fan curve as I am not comfortable with it running any hotter



Also two more additional question

So the fan I'm going to be using is the Aerocool Dead Silence 140mm fans. At first I was thinking the AF140s which do 67.8 CFM which is good airflow and in terms of noise 24 DBA

But then I found the Aerocool Dead Silence 140cm Fans which do 64.8 CFM which is almost the same but at 14.4 DBA

and I have never seen a sexier fan here is a pic



Do you have any other recommendation?



and onto the second question I always keep the default fans of the case so I've never actually mounted one so from some research I'm pretty sure I mount it with the back of the fan, the side with the bracket looking up at the graphics card if I want it to be an intake. But which horizontal direction are you supposed to mount it does it matter do you just mount it where the cable is easiest routed?

Thanks so much

 

[mantadog]

The fan will have arrows depicting the airflow direction on it, so use those to dictate intake/exhaust directions.

It does sound like excessive negative pressure, before you go buying new fans I would experiment with swapping fans round, maybe even changing position to suit your needs. Perhaps change the 2x 80mm to intakes.

You shouldn't have to add any more fans, what you want to achieve is cool air coming in the front bottom of the case and exiting the top rear.

 

[tom_gr7]

Hi mate, before you start adding and moving around fans, have you got any pics of the inside of your rig? There are a few things you can do to help internal temperatures, such as tidying the cables out of the way or removing anything that doesnt need to be in the case.

I think the general consensus is to go with front to back airflow. So your front/bottom fans as intakes and the top/rear fans as exhaust. So the airflow kinda goes in the same direction. When you start chucking in side fans intakes or exhausts, it just messes with the airflow and sends it all over the shop in different directions. This can lead to little pockets of trapped air, that warms up. Or it can lead to not enough airflow going where you want it.

I'd probably chin off the 80mm fans, i doubt they shift alot of airflow and would only mess up the front to back airflow. I'd go for three exhausts and two intakes, - one on the front and one on the bottom. That should help with the temps and help with your gpu temps too!

 

[Matthew12106]

Hi mate, before you start adding and moving around fans, have you got any pics of the inside of your rig? There are a few things you can do to help internal temperatures, such as tidying the cables out of the way or removing anything that doesnt need to be in the case.

I think the general consensus is to go with front to back airflow. So your front/bottom fans as intakes and the top/rear fans as exhaust. So the airflow kinda goes in the same direction. When you start chucking in side fans intakes or exhausts, it just messes with the airflow and sends it all over the shop in different directions. This can lead to little pockets of trapped air, that warms up. Or it can lead to not enough airflow going where you want it.

I'd probably chin off the 80mm fans, i doubt they shift alot of airflow and would only mess up the front to back airflow. I'd go for three exhausts and two intakes, - one on the front and one on the bottom. That should help with the temps and help with your gpu temps too!

ummmm first of all it's not an side fan it's a bottom fan. I was told the airflow in your case is meant to travel from bottom right to top left seems like if I install a fan at the bottom right infront of the power supply. It would just help that.

 

[Matthew12106]

You can't change them to intakes. Also YEAH front bottom to top rear makes perfect sense. So that means I'll have one fan in the front bottom (main intake) and another fan in the bottom front as my new intake. Then at the other side I'll have one fan at the back top and another fan at the top back if that makes sense

 

[D1craig]

After reading this I am understanding you have 1 intake and 4 exhaust fans? 2 of the exhausts are pretty close to the front intake?

If I am correct in my understanding this would make almost 0 cool air get to the back of the case ie. gpu, CPU and any other components past your hdd.

I would change the little exhausts to intakes if possible. If you can't it may be worth adding extra fans on the side panel for intake as almost nothing is getting to the gpu. So the gpus own cooler is just using warm air.

After looking at some pics and reading some info on your case it seems you have no option for a side fan. Very disappointing. The bottom fan could be one to consider changing to a decent airflow fan ( I beleive static fans are better for restricted intakes? Maybe someone else can confirm?).