# Cooling for Asus CM5570 case



## CrossLight (Dec 27, 2009)

I just got a Radeon 4890, and I notice the temperatures get to hot, especially during game play, so I touched the side of the computer and its HOT, not warm its hot. With all the clutter inside my case, and with the massive amount of wires the corsair 750tx gives you, I figured its the lack of room and air flow inside the computer causes all the heat so I decided to look into case cooling which I've NEVER done before. 

After reading a few post on here I saw someone mention this, http://www.amazon.com/Antec-TriCool...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1263098654&sr=8-1

which sounds like a good choice, and I also wanted to get this to, http://www.amazon.com/Antec-Cyclone-Blower-Case-Expansion/dp/B000051299/ref=pd_sim_e_4

and put it under my video card to maybe help fend off some heat. But I was wondering with my case would that first fan fit? And how would I install that, or even plug it in to power it, like I said I never done this before and I have NO idea how any of this works.


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

Allo Crosslight :wave:

Firstly, the 1st fan you linked to is a case-fan, rather than a 'component-'fan', meaning it fixes to the inside of the case itself, either the back-plate or a side panel. (There's usually a fixing point on the front, but that's ofte a 120mm fan).

The 1st job to do would be to clean out the insides of all dust, including the heatsink-vanes and fan-blades on the CPU and graphics-card. A tin of compressed air and a stiff artists paint-brush is handy for this. Be wary of using a vacuum-cleaner to suck up the dust, don't put the nozzle closer than a couple of inches from any components, moving dry air and plastic generates static-electricity which can zap chips and components. Holding the nozzle outside the case to catch the floating dust is OK though.

Then tidy the cables away, route them tidily, tucking them into spare drive-bays or under the mobo, where possible. Cable-ties are handy for this, that will help the airflow and reduce 'hot-spots'.

After that lot, you might need some fans for the case/components. Depending on your PC case, fans can be mounted on the back, side (facing the mobo components) and front - Newer cases also have fan-mounts on the top towards the rear.

For your graphics-card, you might need something like *this*, or an equivalent, there's lots to choose from but you'll need to be specific for your card, the variations are mostly for amount of cooling and what else is near your card and could block access.

These type of fans can be tricky to fix if you're not very experienced inside a PC. They involve dismantling the existing fan mounting, cleaning the thermal-paste off the GPU-chip and fitting the new fan unit (Thermal-paste is usually pre-applied to the cooling unit, but not always).

Depending on what CPU your PC has, you might need a better CPU cooler, too. These can be just as tricky to fit, as they usually involve removing the mobo from the case then removing the heastsink+fan and replacing with the new unit, then re-fitting the mobo and the loads of plugs that connect it.

It all sounds rather terrifying when reading about it, but taken one step at a time, it's not so daunting. I replaced my 1st ever graphics cooler a few weeks ago and it took longer to find my toolkit than it did to actually replace the cooler (approx 30 mins working time from power-off to power-on again)

Oh, the fans you linked to in your post are powered from 'Molex' plugs, your PC uses them to power the older type 'ATA' hard-drives/CD/DVD drives :wink:.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Have you considered a larger case? Compared to fans and aftermarket GPU coolers that might be the most economical solution.


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## CrossLight (Dec 27, 2009)

Well I got a fan for the back of my computer, a 80mm, and I got a pci slot double fan for under my video card, and when I open up my case to install them I will try to see if I can reposition the cables better to help improve the air flow. Also I would get a better cooling system on my video card but I'm not comfortable doing something like that and don't want to risk breaking something, and actually I do have a huge case, from my last computer but I wouldn't know how to transfer everything over.


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

While you have your case open, check for dust build-up on the heatsinks and fans and clean it all out, if present - It's not long job and well worth it. 

Dust acts just like the lagging used on hot-water tanks and pipes, holding the heat in - Also, the dust build-up on the fan-blades disrupts the smooth air-flow and severely reduces any fan's effectiveness at moving air.

Depending on your budget and specific case, you might well be able to add more fans, the more the better for cooling, but unless you get the more expensive quieter fans, the noise increases. If it's the 1st fan, it's best to put it on the back of the case to suck the hot air outwards (If you find it's blowing air in, just turn the fan around :wink

Fitting a VGA cooler can seem daunting at first sight, but (usually) there's just 4 bolts on the back of the card that holds the stock cooler in place. Remove the fan's power-plug from the little socket on the card (usually the fiddliest part of the whole operation), unscrew those bolts and remove the existing heatsink+fan then, using a folded paper kitchen-towel and rubbing alcohol or surgical-spirit, clean the residue off the processor chip until it has a mirror shine.

Some coolers come with little heatsinks that stick onto the card's RAM chips and/or voltage-regulator chips, the hardest part of that is trying to peel the backing-paper off the sticky-pads :grin:

Carefully line up the bolt-holes on the new cooler with the card and screw in the mounting bolts, finger tight at first, then tighten the diagonally opposite bolts to 'spread' the tension equally and plug the new fan's power lead back into the little socket - Job done :laugh:

That's only a generalised breakdown of fitting a VGA cooler, depending on the specific cards and coolers, the details vary slightly, but it will give you the general idea of how it's done. If you get stuck at any point, there's a very knowledgeable bunch of guys here, who'll be happy to help out :grin:

As I mentioned above, I fitted my first replacement VGA cooler recently and it's dropped the GPU temperature by between 20C-25C - A massive drop from the 70+C it was living with using the stock-cooler.


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## CrossLight (Dec 27, 2009)

Wow that is a massive difference.. and yeah i suppose it doesn't seem that hard but at this point I don't think I'd need one just yet as I don't really plan on OC the card. The thing I don't understand is, if they are able to cool the card further than what comes from stock, why don't they just initial make it that way. 

I'll check for dust to but the computer is only 3 weeks new so it better not have any dust yet haha, and you said to put the fan so it is sucking air out of the case, meaning the fan should be pointed and blowing out the back of the computer? Wouldn't it cool it more if the fan was blowing on the components? And would it really suck the hot air out, it's not that big of a fan.


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

CrossLight said:


> Wow that is a massive difference.. and yeah i suppose it doesn't seem that hard but at this point I don't think I'd need one just yet as I don't really plan on OC the card. The thing I don't understand is, if they are able to cool the card further than what comes from stock, why don't they just initial make it that way.


Mainly the cost - Like most manufactured PC's they're made to a budget, and it tends to be the same with the parts as well.



> I'll check for dust to but the computer is only 3 weeks new so it better not have any dust yet haha, and you said to put the fan so it is sucking air out of the case, meaning the fan should be pointed and blowing out the back of the computer? Wouldn't it cool it more if the fan was blowing on the components? And would it really suck the hot air out, it's not that big of a fan.


If it's only 3 weeks old, then it should be nearly pristine inside, but it's worth checking anyway, just to get an idea of how quickly or slowly any dust is collecting.

Having just 1 fan blowing on the components does provide some cooling but it's not very efficient, the air hits the card and tends to circulate around the inside of the case, so you end up blowing warmer air, and so on.

Putting the fan as an extractor on the back stops that circular movement and pulls the colder outside air in through the various vents and gaps elsewhere in the case. 

That 'backplane' fan that sits in a rear slot will certainly help to remove the warm air off the graphics-card, but it's not powerful enough to shift the warm air from the rest of the case too.


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## CrossLight (Dec 27, 2009)

Well I actually got 3 fans, I got one that fits in the pci slot that has two fans blowing up on the v-card, hopefully this pushes some of the hot air up and will help the back vent fan to suck more hot air out. 

Would it also help to get a fan on the side panel? I'm not even sure if they make one of those but I notice holes in it so I'm assuming you can maybe screw a fan into them?


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

A lot of cases have vent-holes in one side panel, if you look carefully, you might see 4 recesses forming a square, these are for the 4 mounting-bolts to sit flush with the panel and fix the fan inside.

Side-fans should blow air into the case and they help with circulating the air and preventing 'hot-spots' of little or no air-movement. Depending on which part of the mobo they happen to be aiming at, they might do lots or little to lowering specific temperatures. I'm lucky with my rig, in that the side fan aims straight at the Northbridge' chipset which has a big passive heatsink on it, that saved me having to get yet another fan to cool that specific bit :grin:


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

Addendum: The 'PCI-slot' fan sucks the hot air off your graphics card out the back of the PC :wink:


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## CrossLight (Dec 27, 2009)

So I don't put the blades facing the video card to blow on it either?


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

Nope, it's better to have the fan sucking all the warm air out of the case, the Radeon's own fan blows the hot air from the card out the little grille on the back-plane and the case-fan blows the hot air from the rest of the case out the back.

That way, it helps stop the Radeon fan from sucking in increasingly warming air from the case :smile:


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