Dreamer_of_the_past wrote:

What PC cases for a such system would you suggest?

At the very least something with one 120mm front low intake and one 120 rear up exhaust:

Inexpensive example: Zalman Z1

Even better, as above plus one 120mm top rear exhaust, or top mounted PSU with 120mm fan:

Food for thought:

· Uncle Tom's - How To: Properly Plan And Pick Parts For An Air-Cooled PC

· The Big Air Cooling Investigation

Personally I don't care for top or bottom fans.
Top fans too easily get things dropped into them and get in the way of setting anything up there.
Bottom fans tend to suck dust bunnies off the desk and blow them into the case.

I also don't like negative or neutral ventilation plans.
Positive ventilation (slightly pressurizing the case) helps keep crap out of all the cracks in optical drives, card readers and such.
Positive ventilation with filters keeps everything pretty clean inside as well as in the cracks.

For me filtered front or side fans all blowing -in- is the way to go.
The only exhaust fan is the one in the PSU. (These are typically around 40 cfm regardless of diameter.)
Vent holes should be opened or covered until there is a steady gentle draft blowing out from inside the case.
Two well placed 92-120mm fans is usually plenty of flow even for a hot system so long as you've adjusted the air flow correctly.
Three of course can be quieter and achieve the same thing depending on the fans.

Too many unfilled holes (especially near a fan) will cause air to be short cycled which means the air is just going in a circle through the fan and holes and you aren't really getting full flow -through- the case.

A tower case is approximately 1.5 cubic feet so 2 or 3 properly set up inlet fans (no short cycling) providing 90 cfm total (after filter drag) will change 100% of the case air once per second.
That is actually more than is needed.
.

http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2012/02/the-big-cooling-investigation/dsc_6889-614x250.jpg […]
Show full quote

"The two exhausts around the CPU cooler are two of the most important fans in the case"

^ Fundamental truth (for ATX mobos with CPU at northwestern corner).

QBiN, I'd love to see more benchmarks please.

Especially 3DMark2001 SE, 3DMark03, Aquamark 3 and Code Creatures. They are all free and straight forward to run 😀

I've recently build a i865PE based 3.2 with CL3 memory and wondering how much faster yours is.

Great example of how to short cycle.
This is why there should be no open vents near fans.

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

QBiN, I'd love to see more benchmarks please.

Especially 3DMark2001 SE, 3DMark03, Aquamark 3 and Code Creatures. They are all free and straight forward to run 😀

I've recently build a i865PE based 3.2 with CL3 memory and wondering how much faster yours is.

Ok. I'll get to work on those.

Thank you.

PCBONEZ wrote:

Great example of how to short cycle.
This is why there should be no open vents near fans.

short cycle.jpg

I try to do the same. One of the cases I have, came with a black cheap square-shaped bit of plastic with 4 intrusions at the same spot the screwholes on the system case are located. It's specifically made so one can simply press it into an open fan opening to close it and prevent it from being an airflow short cycle.

But I reckon theres easy do-it-yourself solutions for this?

Tetrium wrote:

PCBONEZ wrote:

Great example of how to short cycle.
This is why there should be no open vents near fans.

short cycle.jpg

I try to do the same. One of the cases I have, came with a black cheap square-shaped bit of plastic with 4 intrusions at the same spot the screwholes on the system case are located. It's specifically made so one can simply press it into an open fan opening to close it and prevent it from being an airflow short cycle.

But I reckon theres easy do-it-yourself solutions for this?

1: Cut a piece of sheet metal, paint it and use screws.
2: Spray adhesive or tape a piece of construction paper over the hole from the inside of the case. It can be painted if you want.
3: Get a fan filter kit and replace the filter with cardboard painted to match.
4: Cut a piece of hardboard to the footprint of the fan. Paint to match. Attach on the inside using screws from the outside.

If you have to paint hardboard then brush paint it with some watered down white glue (like Elmer's) and let it dry first.
That keeps it from sucking the paint right in umpteen times before you get a good top coat.
.