PC build thread

[emwearz]

I like how the air flow is in line with the rear exhaust fan. I have a Cooler Master V8 which is the same way. I feel like you're getting so much better air flow that way than with the stock (blowing down) CPU coolers.

I find the same thing, I actually ran so many benches when I first moved everything into my case, and intake in the front and outtake out the rear (I have another 120MM fan mounted on the spare PCI doors now and it dropped my GPU under load temp by like 8-10c) works the best, anytime I got a side intake involved it just made dead spots in the case and actually increased my temps by blowing the hot air around. I have always used blower setups over open air for my CPU's.

The Icy Vision 2 is the first open air cooler I have used, they take much more effort setting up your case as they blow the hot air around, but once you have your fans set up where the heat from them is removed the best you can, they do an amazing job.

EDIT: I idle around 27-30, under light load (like Pi to 1M) I stay high 50's - low 60's, under extreme load (Intel Burn Test) I can hit the mid 80's to 90's, but no real world applications would get it that high.

[Ziggy]

I have a Cooler Master Centurion case, pretty much the entire front of it is perforated. It has a low front intake fan, but it's pretty much being blocked by all the HDDs. But since all the unused bays are open for air flow, and the CPU cooler blows in line with the rear exhaust, it just pulls a LOT of air straight through the case. If you put your hand up to the front of the case, you can actually feel the air flow. It's quite impressive for such a minimal setup.

edit: Yeah, that's what I get for getting a first gen i7. I haven't really checked the specs in a while, but I'm pretty sure all the newer i5's and i7's use less power and run a lot cooler. I was sad to lose the bragging rights from the 920 but I suppose it's 7 or 8 years old so it is what it is. But now that I'm starting to get back into PC gaming a little, I can't believe some of the CPU specs for minimum/recommended requirements.

[marurun]

The Cooler Master HAF 912 is similarly perforated, though in truth, it doesn't matter how much air can get into your PC if it isn't being properly channeled, so sometimes I think all those extra holes can be a liability.

[emwearz]

The other point of all the "holes" in your case is to expel air from a case that has positive air pressure. Keeps dust out of your case and helps get hot air out. Win / Win.

[Ziggy]

The Cooler Master HAF 912 is similarly perforated, though in truth, it doesn't matter how much air can get into your PC if it isn't being properly channeled, so sometimes I think all those extra holes can be a liability.

That's my rear exhaust fan. I can't believe how much air it moves. My CPU fan could probably die and I wouldn't know until I started gaming or something.

edit: My point being, my exhaust fan is working well, and with the CPU cooler blowing in line with it, I have tremendous air flow through my case. The PSU also helps.

[wclem]

Gonna stop leasing my cable modem and buy my own. Thinking of getting an all in one router / modem. I currently use a 3-4 year old Belkin. It works good, and I have no complaints about it. It allows me to stream on one device and download on another without much slowdown. I have at times streamed on two and downloaded a game on steam and all three ran in harmony.

Now, is this something that newer router / modems allow? Or is this a feature of my Belkin? Will I take a performance hit by using an all in one? Should I stay with two devices? I have not really gotten into the latest tech, so please forgive me. I was building computers when all they had were ISA slots LOL.

[fastbilly1]

I am a huge fan of not fixing what is not broken. Gateways are great if space is a concern, but I am always in favor of dedicated hardware doing what it does best. So if you setup works great now, just go buy a modem and keep going with what you have.

On the flipside my parents had a gateway that worked great for seven years - only went down when the power was cut. The biggest issue I have with gateways is that they rarely get firmware updates to fix critical issues.

[wclem]

Kind of what I was thinking. My Belkin router has been great to me. May buy a newer model, but I am reluctant to changing all together.

[ElkinFencer10]

I'd buy my own modem, but I'm afraid it would be a pain in the ass since I have a 3-in-1 modem for my phone, internet, and TV.

[marurun]

I'd buy my own modem, but I'm afraid it would be a pain in the ass since I have a 3-in-1 modem for my phone, internet, and TV.

I know with TWC cable, if I bought my own modem, I'd still have to have their modem for phone service. Thing is, if I had their modem JUST for phone service, I wouldn't have to pay the monthly rental fee for it, since MY modem would be doing the data handling. So basically I'd end up with 2 modems but no monthly rental.