[DavidTiger]

Trying to figure out the best config for the fans in my case.. I know in the front and out the back is the common way but my front is a mess with spare cables which have no where else to go...

Right now its running 1 in and 3 out + PSU out and temps are
CPU 40C idle at 3.6GHz with stock cooler
GPU 27C idle
Playing BF3 for a few hours at 1920x1080 and all graphics settings maxed out.... it peaks at 56C for CPU and 52 for GPU.

I'll be upgrading the cpu cooler to a H60 or maybe something else very shortly so I'm looking for the best config for the fans

Here's a quick pic of the inside with arrows of the current airflow from the fans..
Excuse the cable mess, having needed to replace the psu I've not tidied it all up yet

 

[chinesethunda]

make your top fans intake fans, try and put a fan in the 5.25" drive bays and take out the grills in your PCI slots

 

[Halostryker]

or make all of them intake and make some serious positive pressure

 

[shlesscamp]

You should try to stick to front to back and bottom to top airflow if possible. Because that's going to be most compatible with current hardware, and with future upgrades you might do. I know you said you have a mess in front but try to get creative cleaning it up, maybe moving components around.. Experiment with parts placement because nobody can tell you what works best with your exact set of components better than you can figure it out yourself with some patience and work. by the way your temps are already fine.

 

[DavidTiger]

Forgot to mention there is a 180mm intake on the side panel, doesn't it need at least one exhaust? apart from the psu.. which was taking in from the bottom but I turned it around so its taking the warm air away from the graphics.. which worked since idle and gaming temps dropped a good 6C.

I know the temps are pretty fine but I aim to keep them lower when under load.. I ran Prime95 2nd option for 30 mins and it topped at 72C after 10 mins or so and stayed there for the whole duration.. which on stock cooler and overclocked to 3.6 from 3.2 @ 1.4v is pretty reasonable imo.

 

[a pet rock]

You do not necessarily need an exhaust fan, though I would advise against having your rear fan be an intake. The suggestion for no exhaust would more than likely be removing that fan entirely. I also support the move to top intake. Either make both fans intake, or just the first and block off the second panel. Please, don't buy into the idea that since hot air rises, top fans must exhaust. My current setup, which is the best I've found so far for both GPU and CPU, is two intake on the front panel, one intake on top, the top back fan blocked off, and an exhaust fan on the back. Yes, top intake reduced my temps. Please note, that almost universally the closed-loop solutions perform much better with intake fans on them.

More than anything else, you must test it for yourself. There is no absolute answer to case fan situations as there are simply too many variables to take into account. Every single last idea is strictly on a YMMV basis.

Do not have your PSU intake from the case. Even the best PSUs are only rated up to 50C, and serious GPUs can approach 80-90C. This can result in inefficiency and lead to long term issues with the PSU. This is why good PSU reviews will use a hot box test because everything about a PSU performance tends to drop significantly with heat.

 

[chinesethunda]

everything intake except for the rear should be fine. or you could leave the top as exhaust test it to see

 

[DavidTiger]

Turned the top fans around as intake.. I'll give it a few days or so to test it out, idle temps for CPU haven't changed. Sitting at 41C.. 40mins uptime idle.
Also took the PSU out and turned it back around while I tidied the cabling up a little.. still looks a mess in the image but its better than before

 

[DavidTiger]

Just ran Prime95 for 22 minutes and maxed at 67 on CPU.. 56 for cores

(ambient temp is about 21C)
Its also running at 3.7GHz with the stock cooler so I would say that is pretty good, Just now need to wait until I purchase my cooler and hopefully join the 4GHz club