binormalkilla

Ok well I was trying to figure out how to see how the air is flowing (pattern, direction) and I figured out a REALLY easy way to check this.
All you need is a thin plastic shopping bag, like from Wal-Mart or Kroger, some tape, and some scissors.

Cut about 3" long and 1" wide stips of the bag, one for each area you want to monitor.
After that, cut the smallest piece of tape required to affix the plastic strips to the area you want to monitor. This is important so you don't make the plastic rigid. You want it to flow easily with the air, sort of replacing colored dyes that they use in wind tunnels for cars.

After you tape them on, make sure that they can't be sucked into your CPU fan or ESPECIALLY your PSU fan.

Then put the side door back on and you're ready to see where that air is flowing!
Here are some pics of my setup. Here is my case cooling:
Intake:
120mm Silverstone @ 110 CFM
92mm Silverstone @ 75 CFM
80mm Apevia @ 25 CFM
92mm Sunon @ 45 CFM
Exhaust:
92mm Silverstone @ 75 CFM
80mm Apevia @ 25 CFM

Firestorm252

hmm, nifty. this'll come in handy getting rid of deadspots. rep+

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binormalkilla

Yea that's the reason that I tried this out. I was kinda scared that I had a dead spot next to my video card, but it turns out that there isn't one there at all.
I want to make this a FAQ because I've never really seen any way of implementing case air flow analysis, but I don't know how to submit a FAQ.

Any ideas?

binormalkilla

Bump 'til FAQ. I'm trying to get other people to post pics as well, as I'm interested in other's airflow patterns compared to mine.

Whodie

I'll do some testing on my folding computer and post up pics. Can't do it on my sig rig...well..as you can see in my avatar, just wouldn't work

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GaarBear

Interesting idea. I'll have to try it out +rep

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hvacgaspiping

Try burning several incense sticks close to the intake of the case and watch the smoke pattern. Don`t do this too long, or you`ll get smoke coating on your rig parts.

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binormalkilla

LOL that would work if the incense was colored. In wind tunnel tests I believe that they use some sort of yellow powder (probably latex powder) at the intake side of the tunnel. Of course this won't work with a PC, so incense would work just as well.

C-bro

Why not just use a bottle of liquid smoke? They use it for checking HVAC systems. Haven't tried it myself, but I think it would work just lovely.

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binormalkilla

Well that costs money, and plastic shopping bags are free!