Inverted ATX Pros & Cons

[cyrixMII300]

Hello everyone. I hope I am not revisiting some old question here but I am very much interested in the advantages of the inverted ATX mounting. Does it have any advangate compared to the conventional ATX mounting? What do i have to gain by doing this? I have a CM830 casing.

I am thinking of remounting my system from ATX to inverted.

Also what would be the disadvantages? All and every input is welcome.

Or if someone can point me towards some literature on this matter, that would also be nice. cannot find anything on google.

[jimmyz]

I have been using my LIAN-LI V-2000 for 18 months now and feel it is the best waty to have it. It just seems better to me to have the card "right side up". I always disliked the regular (standard) ATX.

the only disadvantage I found is that with my psu being in the bottom means my plugs are upside down for my drives... hard to explain but you will see. not a deal breaker by any means but it is annoying, I never realized when they design a psu that they oriented the plugs.

[cyrixMII300]

I have been using my LIAN-LI V-2000 for 18 months now and feel it is the best waty to have it. It just seems better to me to have the card "right side up". I always disliked the regular (standard) ATX.

the only disadvantage I found is that with my psu being in the bottom means my plugs are upside down for my drives... hard to explain but you will see. not a deal breaker by any means but it is annoying, I never realized when they design a psu that they oriented the plugs.


do u see any improvement in terms of performance and temperatures? and btw, my casing doesnt allow for the PSU to be mounted at the bottom... so it will stay at the top but the cables will be routed down. actually, as i was thinking about it last night, it might result in better cable management. question is whether it will result in better temperatures.

[jimmyz]

don't know about temps, my cpu is at -45c right now...seriously though I never ran the same rig as the one in my unit to compare temps but I would assume there would be no major difference.

[cyrixMII300]

don't know about temps, my cpu is at -45c right now...seriously though I never ran the same rig as the one in my unit to compare temps but I would assume there would be no major difference.

i read the temp u had and i had to LOL. i understand man. u r in a different league. but thanks for the heads up anyway. :up:

[Rob_B]

I'm thinking about doing that too. Because I think it will make the tubing routing easier for me.
But I have read that the heatpipes on the MB don't work that good upside down.

Not a big deal for me, as I'm going to watercool the NB/SB now too.

[cyrixMII300]

I'm thinking about doing that too. Because I think it will make the tubing routing easier for me.
But I have read that the heatpipes on the MB don't work that good upside down.

Not a big deal for me, as I'm going to watercool the NB/SB now too.


actually the heat pipe problem doesnt affect me either since mine was lost from day one. :ROTF: thermal right city in place of it. and looking again at the pictures of my comp which i took yesterday night, i strongly feel that at least from the cable management point of view the inverted ATX might do me good. if only someone had some info about the temps too.

[karl_eller]

Providing the case has sufficient air flow, there shouldn't really be any pros or cons between ATX and Inverted ATX. It's really just personal opinion, plus convenience (eg if you have a window, and usually have your case on the left hand side of your desk, inverted ATX might appeal more).

Eller

[kiikkuja]

I've ran my comp inverted atx (stc-01) since building it. I think it looks so my ni-
cer when inverted.

When using small heatsinks for gpu ram you don't have to
worry them dropping and something terrible happening.

[nelsoncp21]

AS for the chipset heat issue with the inverted atx. yes if your using heatpipe and you don't have good airflow to the chipset than you will have heat issues with wramer room temps. I had a exhaust fan at the top of my case which is a lian li v1000 and during the summer I had no problems. When I moded my csae again and got rid of the exhaust fan at the top, I started getting high temps around 47-48*c for my MB during the summer with room temps around 75-80*F. I like having the inverted MB with no psu at the top so you can have the window in the top of your case. As far as overall temps other then the chipset I noticed no difference and actually had to buy longer cables to get power to my gpu. With having the psu at the top you may need to extend your cpu power cable in order to reach without having to pull it straight across your MB.

[JohnNYNJ]

don't know about temps, my cpu is at -45c right now...seriously though I never ran the same rig as the one in my unit to compare temps but I would assume there would be no major difference.

Best.Post.EVER. :up:

[burningrave101]

One component that I would say benefits the most from an inverted case is the video cards. This of course depends a lot on where the exhaust fans at the back of the case are located in the case but since hot air rises you would have less heat rising up to the CPU area when the video cards are above and possibly quicker exchange of their heat outside of the case.

[karl_eller]

The whole hot air rising thing only really applies when there is no air flow. As soon as you add movement (eg a couple of case fans), air pretty much does what it's told. So providing you have a decent fan layout, you wouldn't see any difference in the GPU temps.

Eller

[burningrave101]

The whole hot air rising thing only really applies when there is no air flow. As soon as you add movement (eg a couple of case fans), air pretty much does what it's told. So providing you have a decent fan layout, you wouldn't see any difference in the GPU temps.

Eller

That's true but keep in mind that in standard ATX cases the exhaust fans are typically at the top back since they also go off the theory that hot air rises and so the heat generated from say a SLI video card setup is going to be blown up towards the CPU and chipset area of the board and then exhausted out the back. Heatpipes also work off the hot air rises theory. Most heatpipes will not work well if they're turned upside down and it doesn't matter which direction the fans are blowing.

[cyrixMII300]

well ppl. i have not had the time to follow this discussion closely the last couple of days since i was busy... converting my system to an inverted ATX and lapping my HR-05s!!! anyway, just completed late last night and now i am at work. :(

i booted the baby up late last night and i wonder if i am wrong but CPU temps seemed to have dropped just a teeny bit. whichever way it is, the cable management sure was lots easier and seemed neater.

i will post some pics and screenies of temps and so on later tonight or tomorrow morning. i hope this would put an end to the discussion or not?

[mpilchfamily]

Lapping the cooler and remounting it can account for the CPU temps. Other then that inverting the board should affect the temps at all.

[cyrixMII300]

Lapping the cooler and remounting it can account for the CPU temps. Other then that inverting the board should affect the temps at all.


:confused: ummmm.... HR-05 is actually coolers for the NB & SB... I didnt remount or even touch the 120-Ultra Extreme at all. anyway, all questions will be answered when i bench the system tonight. we shall see if 8 hours of gruelling work sweating blood achieved anything.


:rolleyes:

[Cpl Ledanek]

I'm experimenting too with my incomplete CM830, you can start reading at Post #5930 (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=147163&page=238)...just watch out for layman terms for I am a n00b to this topic.:D