Cool air IN,or hot air OUT???

[Slik]

Thanks everyone. I think the best bet for keeping the inside of the case a bit cooler,is to go with air out. It should do fine, considering the 920 is supposed to provide better cooling than the Corsair H80. I think the 920 is going into my rig tomorrow. I'll let everyone know the results.

[MattC]

It's probably their "insurance policy" to say take air from the case and exhaust it out. It will work either way, but they figure "well we cant say for sure that everyone has good cooling inside the case to go OUTSIDE IN, and we really don't want people calling us left, right, and center".

[Slik]

I have the Thermaltake Level 10 case,which has no where near the amount of fan slots etc. as the Level 10 GT model. With the rad fans drawing air onto the Level 10,the only exhaust I have is through the Video cards. When I think about it,the tech guy from Antec was right. Too much heat in the case,with no efficient way to exhaust hot air. My case could be modded of course,and Killswitch offered to do that for me. However,both of us feel the Level 10 is too nice of a case,and too expensive to be drilling holes etc. in it. If,after installing the 920,we find that the cooling is not up to snot,I have all the faith in the world,that Killswitch can mod it,and make it look like it came that way from the factory. Take a look at his thread on his Level 10 GT,and you will see what I mean. I had the GT model,and in a lot of ways,I'm a bit sorry I switched to the non GT model. Not sorry enough to want a GT again,but I do miss all the fan and other cooling options in the GT. Once my 10 is done,I'll ask Killswitch to post some pics,and temperature levels etc. Thanks for all the input guys.

[Killswitch]

I think that since there is only one lonely ol' 140mm fan sucking air into the mobo compartment, the the Antec 920's fans should be installed the same way as the H80 has them now for maximum CPU cooling........ sucking air from the outside inwards.

[clshades]

you always want to exhaust hot air... so blow the air out of the case.

[Slik]

O.K. everbody. We have the 920 installed now,and with the rad fans blowing air OUT of the case. Just the way Antec and it's tech rep I spoke to recommended. I am very very impressed. The 920 settings were left as they were out of the box. I played games for about an hour,and the CPU temps never got over 50c. The level of fan or pump noise,never got louder than it's "quiet" mode. And I mean QUIET. The loudest sound coming from my PC,was from the Video cards. They too are very quiet. I set the Video fan speeds to 60%. At those speeds,the cards are really nice and quiet. As most of you know,Killswitch installed the 920 for me,and he can attest to how damn quiet this cooler is. I had the Corsair H100,and H80,but the Antec h20 920 beats the crap out of them,both for cooling,and quiet operation. Right this moment,I'm a believer in Antec coolers. Now, I also believe that "air out" is what's best for my Level 10 case. I have yet to figure out how to use the software and it's settings,so if anyone here has a 920,I would sure appreciate some help. How to get it to full screen? How to set fan speeds etc?? Thanks to all. I'm a happy camper.

[sswilson]

Not to rain on your parade, but did you hard fix your vid card fan speeds to 60%? Quiet is good, but setting a low upper limit for your vid cards is not a good idea. A better bet would be to use MSI Afterburner to set a custom profile with a low fanspeed (like 60c) at an acceptable temp (dunno your card, but I'd say no higher than 80c). It could be that your temps will never go above that temp, and your fans will never need to ramp up above the 60 percent, but at least that way if something does push your cards beyond normal temps (we've seen new drivers do that on their own... ;) ) you won't risk frying them.

[Slik]

Originally Posted by sswilson

Not to rain on your parade, but did you hard fix your vid card fan speeds to 60%? Quiet is good, but setting a low upper limit for your vid cards is not a good idea. A better bet would be to use MSI Afterburner to set a custom profile with a low fanspeed (like 60c) at an acceptable temp (dunno your card, but I'd say no higher than 80c). It could be that your temps will never go above that temp, and your fans will never need to ramp up above the 60 percent, but at least that way if something does push your cards beyond normal temps (we've seen new drivers do that on their own... ;) ) you won't risk frying them.

I set the fan speeds for testing noise etc. The video fans have never gone over 60% with default settings,and the maximum temp for video has never gone over 85c with the stock settings. I don't think I will need to set a custom profile,as everything is running cool and quiet at stock settings. I can only assume the 920 speeds etc. are at stock. I haven't figured out how to use the Antec software yet. Hard to see it,and don;t know how to expand it to desk top size.

[sswilson]

Originally Posted by Slik

I set the fan speeds for testing noise etc. The video fans have never gone over 60% with default settings,and the maximum temp for video has never gone over 85c with the stock settings. I don't think I will need to set a custom profile,as everything is running cool and quiet at stock settings. I can only assume the 920 speeds etc. are at stock. I haven't figured out how to use the Antec software yet. Hard to see it,and don;t know how to expand it to desk top size.

Ok that's fine then. I was worried that you might damage your kit if you had permanently set a 60% level. I do it the other way because I'm more concerned with keeping temps down than keeping noise in the basement down. I have been known to peg my fans at max while they're folding. :)