Need help with great airflow mid-tower case

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Mar 31, 2017
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Having some serious airflow concerns after upgrading my video card and need recommendations for a new case with proper airflow.

I currently have a Phanteks Eclipse P400 Tempered glass. It has spots for 2 140mm fans at the top, 1 in rear, and 3 120mm in the front. The front panel is covered by a plastic panel which is absolutely killing my airflow.

It currently has a Corsair H100i V2 cpu cooler in the front two fan spot, two 120mm fans at the top and one 120mm fan in the rear all acting as exhaust to cool the video card (3080) (i had it set as front rear intake (3 fans) and 2 exhaust (top) and it was much much worse.) The fans are all Noctua NF-F12's

If i play battlefield 5 which stresses the gpu and cpu to the max, my cpu is hitting 90-100C due to the cpu radiator acting as exhaust and pulling the video card heat past it. The other 3 120mm cannot seem to keep up with the heat load being generated in the case. If i run the cpu as intake, it doesnt seem to help at all and the gpu still gets hot.

If if leave the tempered glass and front cover on.. im seeing 80C+ on the video card and 90c+ on the cpu. If i take the side and front covers off, im seeing 65-70c on both. I clearly have an airflow issue.



So my question is... what case is available for good air flow for the setup i have? I need a good balance of intake/exhaust for this setup since the video card is dumping all the heat in the case, but i also cannot top mount the cpu radiator unless i run a full tower case due to the extreme bend in the cpu cooler lines.

Ive been looking at the Lian Li Lancool II mesh, and the Phanteks eclipse p500A (which seems identical to my case except the front being mesh.. but has no place to mount my H100i cooler). And also the Thermaltake view 71 - which is a full tower, but would give me a place for the radiator to mount and still have front intake fans.

sorry for the long post, but i wanted to get all the info out there so i can get the best recommendations. If i can figure out how to share a picture of my current case setup, i can do do that to help.
 
If you have all your fans acting as exhaust, where are you getting fresh air from? I don't think that case is designed to have a front exhaust. The hot air just sits behind the front panel. I would have your CPU fans act as an intake in the front and then leave the rest of your fans as exhaust.

Your case is probably fine if you configure your fans better.
 
In addition to setting the cpu cooler fans as intake and popping off the front panel (should take care of the cpu temps), I'd also suggest making dead-sure that it is cooled using negative pressure (so: ensure more air is expelled than is pulled in). That way the video card fans can get fresh air from outside the case through the expansion card slots.

Even if you want to get a new case anyways, it should be good as a temporary solution.
 
In addition to setting the cpu cooler fans as intake and popping off the front panel (should take care of the cpu temps), I'd also suggest making dead-sure that it is cooled using negative pressure (so: ensure more air is expelled than is pulled in). That way the video card fans can get fresh air from outside the case through the expansion card slots.

Even if you want to get a new case anyways, it should be good as a temporary solution.


If you have all your fans acting as exhaust, where are you getting fresh air from? I don't think that case is designed to have a front exhaust. The hot air just sits behind the front panel. I would have your CPU fans act as an intake in the front and then leave the rest of your fans as exhaust.

Your case is probably fine if you configure your fans better.
You couldnt be more correct! Switched the front cpu radiator fans to a push/intake setup and it made a *huge* difference. I'll continue to monitor how it does.. but right now with the front panel off, i haven't seen over 70º and averaging in the mid 60s now. Not sure what i was thinking trying to setup more exhaust with no intake.... *facepalm*
 
You couldnt be more correct! Switched the front cpu radiator fans to a push/intake setup and it made a *huge* difference. I'll continue to monitor how it does.. but right now with the front panel off, i haven't seen over 70º and averaging in the mid 60s now. Not sure what i was thinking trying to setup more exhaust with no intake.... *facepalm*

Glad it works. Just out of curiosity, what's the difference with the front panel on vs. off temp wise now that you have the front as an intake?
 
Glad it works. Just out of curiosity, what's the difference with the front panel on vs. off temp wise now that you have the front as an intake?
Did a 10m stress test with superposition - front panel off I saw 70-71º fluctuating. Panel on I saw saw mostly 74-75ºC with a split second of 76º. This is with a 3080 Ftw3 Ultra gaming with a mild +75 core / +500 memory overclock (enough to get 2ghz core and 20gbps memory.

Apparently there is a mesh cover for the older P400 that im going to look into. *edit* found it here: https://www.phanteksusa.com/products/phanteks-eclipse-p400a-air-mesh-front-panel
 
For $20, that's cheaper than buying a whole new case I'd think. Is the P400 compatible with the P400A?
Sure is! Just verified it and ordered it. The original P400 case is nice - except for the plastic front panel. It's worth a try for $20. Swapping a system into a new case can be a process - especially if you are super picky about cable management and positioning! 🤣
 
Did a 10m stress test with superposition - front panel off I saw 70-71º fluctuating. Panel on I saw saw mostly 74-75ºC with a split second of 76º. ...
Assuming that is cpu, what are the temps on the video card?
 
Glad you solved it, for future reference, you can go to a place like home depot and pick up the thin foam style air conditioner filters for really cheap, and they make great filters for PC fans. Just cut out a fresh square when your current one is clogged, I used to run those on my systems with open panels/exposed fans.
 
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