A Positive Look at the Antec Nine Hundred (900) Case

[Hughyhunter]

@Gylen... Your side air fan should be pulling air in. Is it? If not you are not as efficient as you should be. I have my 2 fronts on low pulling air in, 1 side on low pulling air in, rear on low so it doesnt interfere with air being pulled up and HSF on medium blowing air up, with larger 200mm on low. So all the air should have very little turbulance and comes in through bottom of case and gets pulled out through the top. Temps on idle are 32C for cpu, 42C for gpu's

[Gylen]

@Gylen... Your side air fan should be pulling air in. Is it? If not you are not as efficient as you should be. I have my 2 fronts on low pulling air in, 1 side on low pulling air in, rear on low so it doesnt interfere with air being pulled up and HSF on medium blowing air up, with larger 200mm on low. So all the air should have very little turbulance and comes in through bottom of case and gets pulled out through the top. Temps on idle are 32C for cpu, 42C for gpu's

I don't have a side fan. The TRUE-120 doesn't allow for one. I've removed the plastic and left the door as is.

Here's a quick MS Paint (lol) picture to explain exactly my setup.



I kinda feel like the top 200mm is somewhat useless. Don't get me wrong, my temps are great. With the fans on high, and 20c ambient temp my cores are at 24-24-28-28 @ 1.265v (actual). (41c vid card, 55c during Crysis, 9800GX2)

Just wondering what I can do to possibly improve.

[MetalRush]

This is as good as it gets Gylen.
The 200 mm at the top is taking out the hot/warm air which still (could) remain in your case, so it is definately not useless.
The only thing you could do is change the lowest (fore-)fan into a 120mm.
Also you could set all fans to 'max', but then you would have to strap your case down, in case it would take off... and the temps would drop a merely 2 degrees (Celsius). This were my own experiences.
Hence: hardly anything you could do to drop the temps any lower (or you like sitting next to an aeroplane imitation )

[Hughyhunter]

I don't have a side fan. The TRUE-120 doesn't allow for one. I've removed the plastic and left the door as is.
I kinda feel like the top 200mm is somewhat useless. Don't get me wrong, my temps are great. With the fans on high, and 20c ambient temp my cores are at 24-24-28-28 @ 1.265v (actual). (41c vid card, 55c during Crysis, 9800GX2)

Just wondering what I can do to possibly improve.

The true will allow for one. Check out my pics on previous few pages... cant remember what page.
I cant see your pic... I'm at work... Mount your TRUE so that air is being drawn up through it from the bottom of the case. Warm air naturally wants to go up... so if you mount it so that air get's drawn up through it and out the 200mm fan than it will be more efficient. That's what I did and with my 4.05ghz overclock with 1.38v I was managing 34c idle

[Hughyhunter]

@ Gylen... I'm at home now and can see your pic.

I really feel as though having your CPU HSF in the vertical pos where air is being pulled from front of case and blown out the back just works against the larger 200mm fan. Two things: Heat rises, and 200mm is larger than 120mm. So with that said you would have more airflow effect if you pointed your HSF up. Here is a pic of my case. What you cant see is that I have a 120mm fan on the side panel pulling additional air in onto the video cards.

[IMG][/IMG]

[dalosiman]

Just added some new cold cathodes to my case, new processor and heatsink on the way as well. Going to clean up all the wires when I disassemble to install new processor and also paint the inside of the case and get a better cam to take some close ups.

[Chase]

Thought I'd show my casemod here aswel, did a few things:
- Spray painted everything black (still need to do the cages, but gotta find time)
- Extra HDD cage with 3rd fan
- Blue CCFL's





Cable managemend is abit messy atm, but i'm getting a NorthQ Giant Reactor pretty soon. Only problem is that is has red LED's, but I'll just cut those out

[Gylen]

@ Gylen... I'm at home now and can see your pic.

I really feel as though having your CPU HSF in the vertical pos where air is being pulled from front of case and blown out the back just works against the larger 200mm fan. Two things: Heat rises, and 200mm is larger than 120mm. So with that said you would have more airflow effect if you pointed your HSF up. Here is a pic of my case. What you cant see is that I have a 120mm fan on the side panel pulling additional air in onto the video cards.

[IMG][/IMG]

Ambient heat rises. Heat rising isn't going to have (barely) an affect on air moving at those speeds. And it's not like I have a lot of heat coming from the bottom.

Hrmm... Now you're making me wana remount it. I don't know :p Although mounted pointing up, wouldn't the rear fan basically be pulling air away from the upwards airflow as well? Basically affecting it the same way? Obviously not as much as the power of the 200mm howerver, I noticed the heatsink fan points directly into the middle spot of the top fan, perhaps blocking air?

[deees]

Ambient heat rises. Heat rising isn't going to have (barely) an affect on air moving at those speeds. And it's not like I have a lot of heat coming from the bottom.

Hrmm... Now you're making me wana remount it. I don't know :p Although mounted pointing up, wouldn't the rear fan basically be pulling air away from the upwards airflow as well? Basically affecting it the same way? Obviously not as much as the power of the 200mm howerver, I noticed the heatsink fan points directly into the middle spot of the top fan, perhaps blocking air?

I tried both the vertical and horizontal mount the of TRUE and the Infinity, and in both cases the vertical won out by 2-3C. It's worth testing in case you get different results. But I don't think the orientation is as significant as other factors, i.e., direct supply of cooler air from the front of the case or a reduction of turbulance.

[Hughyhunter]

Obviously not as much as the power of the 200mm howerver, I noticed the heatsink fan points directly into the middle spot of the top fan, perhaps blocking air?

Wait... "I noticed the heatink fan points directly into the middle spot of the top fan, perhaps blocking air?" could you elaborate. I'm not sure I understand.

The 200mm fan is set to medium. The cpu HSF is set to medium. All other fans (including rear) are set to low. This ensures that the air is pulled up through the cpu HSF out the top. The rear case fan more than likely doesnt get very much air or interfere with the air being pulled out the top.

In my personal opinion... Antec made that 200mm fan right above the cpu HSF for a reason. Why not utilize the extra size.

Like I said... My idle temps with a 4ghz overclock are 34C. That is 2C below a very detailed test article that anandtech (I think) did with my HSF (TRUE) with a 4ghz overclock as well (although I think it was with a 65nm) but still... that's pretty dang good to me.

[Fredthered]

Well, It certainly makes for interesting reading: which way we've each, orientated the HSF, and the reasonings behind it.
Speaking, (only personally), my reasoning ran along the lines of :
The most efficient airflow, is in a straight line. Straight in - Straight out, with the 200mm acting merely as an 'auxiliary' and also removing any hot air 'escaping' around the main thrust of the upper 120 Drivecage fan & HSF.
If you mount the heatsink horizontally, you're effectively, forcing air being drawn in the front of the Case to perform a right-angle turn, which surely(?) is either going to slow the airflow, OR create turbulence. (?)
I could understand it, if we had a 'floor' mounted 120mm intake fan, (or even better, TWO). But as things are........
Before I chose to mount mine vertically, one of the members (on another Forum) , was kind enough to try BOTH orientations, and take CPU temp readings of each. The results were very close, with the 'Vertical', taking it by literally a 'whisker' !
Perhaps this is one of those rare occasions, we can ALL, be 'right' !
Cheers
Fredthered

[Janno]

i just finished my cable management, it was hard work, but worth it
not happy, though, because i ed up most of the holes and they look like
when i have time, i'll show them some filing and cut a few extra ones to tidy things up even more
who knows, i might even paint the damn thing (black ofc)

pics at the 'air cooled case gallery' - http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...postcount=2938

[MetalRush]

Janno,
why did you leave your hdd's uncooled ? :|
Unlogical to me. That's the reason those frontfans are there :P
Also: loose the 'LifeStyle' insignia (last photo). Removed cools better

[=>WiLL<=]

Also: loose the 'LifeStyle' insignia (last photo). Removed cools better

You always say "loose" as a goose. You mean lose? =P

[Janno]

Janno,
why did you leave your hdd's uncooled ? :|
Unlogical to me. That's the reason those frontfans are there :P
Also: loose the 'LifeStyle' insignia (last photo). Removed cools better

studys have shown that the hard drives have an optimal working temperature, in an open case like the antec 900, they're cool even without a fan blowing directly on them (air still circulates and keeps them from overheating)
what has improved, is the wirflow because the hdd's are not blocking it

i thought of removing the lifestyle sticker, but forgot about it afterwards

[MetalRush]

Will, you have no right to talk about my typo's ass long ass you have thoose ugly feet under your case !
(But yes, I meant lose =P)

@ Janno:
You have a point there (not blocking your airflow). That is why I decided to have my (Raptor-)raid-config in the upper cage and data/bulk-disk in the bottom cage. Leaving the middle free to blow directly on my 8800 but also cooling my Raptor's as optimal as possible.

What are your experiences with the settings of the fans?
In my setup it is 2 degrees Celsius cooler with all fans set to max (also stated a few postings up).
I am curious how your temps differ between 'min' and 'max' settings.

[malik22]

I don't have a side fan. The TRUE-120 doesn't allow for one. I've removed the plastic and left the door as is.

Here's a quick MS Paint (lol) picture to explain exactly my setup.



I kinda feel like the top 200mm is somewhat useless. Don't get me wrong, my temps are great. With the fans on high, and 20c ambient temp my cores are at 24-24-28-28 @ 1.265v (actual). (41c vid card, 55c during Crysis, 9800GX2)

Just wondering what I can do to possibly improve.

Thats about how my setup is and for the side panel fan I removed the plastic
and attached a 120mm fan to the grills so it would fit with my TRUE.DO you think theres a point in putting to fans on the true with the back exhuast so close?

[Janno]

What are your experiences with the settings of the fans?
In my setup it is 2 degrees Celsius cooler with all fans set to max (also stated a few postings up).
I am curious how your temps differ between 'min' and 'max' settings.

you made me curious as well... i'll do some testing and let you know
(my fans are always on low, unless i'm benching )

[Janno]

ok then... i ran some prime95 to test my CPU temps with this kind of fan configuration

specs in sig, Q6600 clocked at 3GHz, voltage from BIOS 1,35v
heatsink was a zalman 9500 with 92mm fan spinning at 2500rpm
all case fans are stock, no fan on side panel
the "average" is the average highest temp of all four cores

all the fans on "low" gave me an average of 56,5'C
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...fans_low-1.jpg

all fans on "high", the CPU was just a tad cooler 54,25'C
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...ans_high-1.jpg

not much difference, eh?
now, let's see your configurations and results, fellow ninehundred-ers

[Gylen]

Thats about how my setup is and for the side panel fan I removed the plastic
and attached a 120mm fan to the grills so it would fit with my TRUE.DO you think theres a point in putting to fans on the true with the back exhuast so close?

Probably not, but the case came with that exhaust fan. Think of it as a slight push/pull?

[Hughyhunter]

I currently have my exhaust fan still attached. I am a fan of having TRUE mounted parallel and taking advantage of 200mm for primary exhaust.
What would you guys think about this? I am going to remove 120mm exhaust fan... plug hole, and mount it on top of my TRUE so that I have it sandwiched. I'm thinking that it should increase airflow out the top and reduce turbulence around the HSF.

[MichelinGuy]

@Hughyhunter,
I had that exact configuration when I had my Antec 900, didn't help a bit. And the 200mm is low speed btw, so less concentrated, better use the old config, with the 120mm blowing the hot out from your hs.

[Hughyhunter]

@Hughyhunter,
I had that exact configuration when I had my Antec 900, didn't help a bit. And the 200mm is low speed btw, so less concentrated, better use the old config, with the 120mm blowing the hot out from your hs.

My 200mm has a three way switch... I have it set on medium now and temps at a 3.6ghz overclock is 31c. That's better than what the review was for the TRUE without an overclock. I'm very happy and can almost guarantee that with the sandwich config it will be even lower.

[Gylen]

Hughyhunter, that image was copyrighted! jk

Glad that configuration is working for you. It had also worked for me, and while idle temps seem to be 2-3c higher, I've noticed my load temps to be lower.

Q6600 @ 3.0ghz (1.265v bios), idle from 27c-30c. Full load, 42-43c on warmest core. 2c lower than my old setup, at higher voltage. (old setup was 1.20v bios)

[Hughyhunter]

Hughyhunter, that image was copyrighted! jk

He he! Little paint goes a long way!