# airflow



## jrockpunk1 (Dec 11, 2007)

This is my new case:
Zalman Z9 Plus Black Tower Case - Black (No PSU) - With Fan Controller | Z9 PLUS

currently I have the 4 default fans installed and running (large front fan, top fan, side fan and rear fan).

What would be the best setup with these 4 fans for airflow? (i.e. which ones to have on - maybe all of them - and in which direction?)

I'll take a photo of it later and maybe you could help me with the cable management, if anything needs doing at all? The computer shop near me fitted everything in, but they hardly put any wires behind the back-panel, and simply grouped them together between the HDD bays and the graphics card/CPU cooler.


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

I suggest putting the side fan on low-intake (directing cool air at the video card). 

Sticking to the basics would be the best bet IMHO...

PSU with the fan facing down (the case is ventilated on the bottom) allowing the PSU to keep cooler and run more efficiently.

It looks as though your case has a spot for a "floor" fan. I don't believe it will be necessary to use one.

Top fan and rear fan on exhaust... If you want quiet running during normal use, I suggest a good fan controller... otherwise, both on medium or high speed if applicable.

Front intake fan should be on low speed, only to direct air over the HDDs. Any more is unnecessary, the case has plenty of natural ventilation.

Definitely keep the hot air exhausting at a faster rate than the intake... This will allow cool air to be drawn in those vents and over components.


----------



## jrockpunk1 (Dec 11, 2007)

I'm not too happy with what the computer tech shop has done then, I may end up having to redo everything they've done (which was essentially moving hardware to a new case) and losing out on £30. Here's the inside of my case:










The first thing to note is that there are no individual fan controls, but I can control the speed of the front fan I believe with a turner on the front of the case. It may also control more, I don't know, but I always have it at 100% anyway. In any case (no pun intended) the front fan seems to be slightly less powerful than the others anyway, in that when I put my hand in front of it it's not as strong as, for instance, the exhaust at the rear.

The front fan is intake, so is the side fan. The rear fan is exhaust, however the top fan is also intake, but maybe this isn't so bad because it's blowing directly on to the CPU heatsink? My temperatures ar 34C idle CPU, 40~C idle GPU, 44C stress CPU and 60~C stress GPU, which seems okay to me. The temp monitor inside the case also shows usually 23C. Should anything be done here then, or is it okay as it is? (I'm not ignoring what you previously stated, just wondering whether the arrangement of my hardware - for instance the cooler right under the top fan - might make a difference).

Also, as you can see the wires are all just tied up inbetween the GPU and HDD bays. Is this a problem? Should I re-wire everything and try to wire things behind the back-panel? Also, as you can see they put the HDD in the bays above the fan... was this a good idea? Surely the fan should blow over them?

[edit]
Also note that the side fan is positioned so that it blows air to the space inbetween the PSU and GPU.


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

The top fan should be exhaust as well. The CPU fan should be pushing air from inside the case toward the exhaust fan.


----------



## jrockpunk1 (Dec 11, 2007)

alright, I'll turn that one around then. Would you say the cable management is a big issue? Or will it not be too big of a problem?


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

The cable management definitely needs work...

I wouldn't go as far as individually sleeving the cables on the PSU, it will void your warranty, but you can use the routing tips as laid out in the linked thread.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f76/tutorial-cable-management-506694.html

As for the airflow issue... What we want to do is keep air moving in one direction, from the front/bottom to the top/back and out of the case.


----------



## jrockpunk1 (Dec 11, 2007)

I don't fully understand what cable sleeving is anyway. The only issue with my PSU is that the wires are individually really fat (is that what cable sleeving would fix?), but this shouldn't matter too much with the Z9 anyway should it?

Sometime over the weekend I'll get to work on the cable management then. I shouldn't need to remove any hardware should I? I can just unplug all the power cables and route them behind the back-panel?


----------



## jrockpunk1 (Dec 11, 2007)

Also I can't seem to find any good amount of zip-ties and zip-tie mounts (I'd probably want 50+ to be certain I have enough) on the sites I go on - amazon, novatech, weAreElectricals.


----------



## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

Amazon.com: Zip Tie Mount, 1/2 X 1/2, 25 Pack: Electronics


----------



## jrockpunk1 (Dec 11, 2007)

Ah thanks, mustn't have been looking properly. I'm going to go down to PC world tomorrow and see if they have any (as I'd like to do it tomorrow and amazon deliveries would only get to me next week), but if they have none I'll get it from there.

Would it be Okay to put the leftover wires (as it's non-modular) in the space in front of the fan, under the HDD bay? I could maybe attatch them to the case, coil them around the bay or something - just so I have more room behind the back-panel.


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

It would be best to put the extra wires in a safe place (outside of the comptuer's case) for safekeeping until they are needed. That is the wonderful thing about modular PSUs... they only have as many wires as needed.


----------



## jrockpunk1 (Dec 11, 2007)

but my PSU is non-modular


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

I am sorry... I misread your post...

What I like to do with my extra wires (I have a non modular TX850 as well) is tie them together and attach them to a place that doesn't obstruct airflow... In your case, I would tie them together and attach them to a tie-block at the bottom of the case.

Also, if I am correct, there are ventilation holes on the bottom of the case (under the PSU). If so, flip the PSU over so the fan is facing the bottom. This will allow the PSU to draw in cool air from under the case.


----------



## jrockpunk1 (Dec 11, 2007)

Ah right, okay 

Does the PSU not help in cooling the case down then? (Taking air out of the case).



So to recap:
1) Buy zip ties + mounts
2) unplug everything
3) turn PSU over so the intake is downwards
4) turn top-mounted fan around so it's an exhaust fan
5) route wires behind back-panel with zip ties
6) put spare wires in front of the fan
correct?

what do you mean by the tie block? There's panels between the fan and the motherboard.


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

One of the biggest reasons enthusiast cases have bottom mounted PSUs is because the PSU is more efficient the cooler it is. When the PSU is located at the top of the case, it's fan draws the warm air from the top of the case and uses it to cool it's internal components before exhausting even hotter air out... When the PSU is mounted on the bottom, it can be mounted either way but, generally, can disrupt the good airflow I mentioned earlier... plus when the PSU is mounted fan up, loose bits can fall into it. In a properly assembled computer, this is a minimal possibility but it can happen.

By tie block, I am referring to the little plastic jobbies with the double sided tape that are used to fasten cables using zip-ties. My spare cables (in my Antec 300) are tied down in the lowermost HDD bays to keep them out of the way.


----------



## jrockpunk1 (Dec 11, 2007)

OK, I've sorted everything out but there are 2 problems:

1) Where does this fan connector plug into on my motherboard:
http://www.xsfans.com/images/medium/0533_MED.jpg
here's my mobo:
http://notebooks-computers4less.com/images/MA770-UD3.jpg
I've tried plugging it into the "sys_fan" socket on the bottom-left of the picture. And I don't think my PSU has any connector that matches that, at least, not one that's free for use.

2) The back-panel doesn't fit on properly due to the wires being too fat. It fits on apart from the bottom right (back) corner. Might have to move stuff around, but I can't see many ways around it.

I'll post a picture of what it looks like once I'm done.


----------



## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

I have marked the fan header locations on the photo.

If you don't have the MoBo manual, here is a link to it.
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-_ma770-v.2.0_e.pdf

As for your second issue... Take the time to try and flatten the wires down and spread them out. There is usually very little room behind the motherboard tray to store stuff, but if done correctly it can fit.


----------

