180mm fan wooden itx

XeaLouS

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Dec 29, 2015
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Over the last few weeks i have been playing around with the idea of a shortened Sugo SG13, with an AP181.

I eventually decided to make a case out of 19mm:


Key features:
  1. Supports Graphics up to 170mm long
  2. Supports Sfx/SFX-L psu's.
  3. No front panel usb/sound
  4. Supports 2x 2.5mm cards
  5. External volume: 10L (sugo 13 = 11.29L)
  6. Internal volume: 7L~
Now for some images:

2x SSD support


Motherboard and gpu just sit straight on top of ssds


PSU is screwed into the top.



3/4 front view.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now onto the build!



This is after i've inserted the power button and routed the bottom out. I've also wood stained all the wooden parts.


Test fitting the fan and the lid
 

XeaLouS

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Dec 29, 2015
180
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Build Log
Components:
Mobo: Asus Z97i
CPU: Xeon 1231v5 (84w TDP)
CPU Cooler: Gelid Slim Hero
CPU Cooler Fan: Noctua P12 120mm (3pin)
Case Fan: Silverstone Air Penetrator AP181 180mm (3pin)
GPU: Asus GTX 970 Mini (170mm)
PSU: Silverstone 500w Gold SFX-L
Hard drive 1: Samsung 840 Evo 240g
Hard drive 2: 1TB 2.5mm WD Slim (5400rpm)
Hard drive 3: m.2. SSD 120gb


Testing outside the case. It made beeping sounds. Probably because the graphics card wasnt inserted and the Xeon 1231 doesn't have a graphics card.


Screwed standoffs in. I got slightly shorter ones (4mm instead of 6.35mm) due to the fact that the motherboard was sitting over a giant ditch (12mm in depth. ssds 9mm tall). The only problem was that the standoffs took m3 screws instead of 8/32 screws. I couldn't find any m3 screws at first in my pile of screws but eventually found some.


Inserting the 2.5mm drives first using velcro. I found that one of the drives needed to be placed upside down because the power cables didnt quite reach. Also they were centered rather than offset to the left like the CAD drawing. This proved useful later as i could stuff the 180mm fan cables in the SSD ditch.


Placing the motherboard with gfx card and cpu cooler pre-attached. The sata cables reached easily.

running the cable for the 180mm fan. The cable comes in two parts - a switch for 1200rpm/700rpm (this cable is like 20cm long) and a 3 pin cable (also 20cm long). I stuffed the switch into the ssd ditch and rant he 3pin cable under the graphics card. Had to pull out the graphics card and reinsert it a few times to get it to work.



Screwed the lid and plugged in all the cables. Before i screwed in the lid i plugged I ran all the cables. That way all i had to do is plug in the PSU end after inserting the lid.



The back. No backplate. Hopefully no one ever looks here.



New case next to old (sugo sg09). Huge size improvement (10L vs 22L)
 
Last edited:

XeaLouS

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Dec 29, 2015
180
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Thermal/Noise testing:
Specs again:

Components:
Mobo: Asus Z97i
CPU: Xeon 1231v5 (84w TDP)
CPU Cooler: Gelid Slim Hero
CPU Cooler Fan: Noctua P12 120mm (3pin)
Case Fan: Silverstone Air Penetrator AP181 180mm (3pin)
GPU: Asus GTX 970 Mini (170mm)
PSU: Silverstone 500w Gold SFX-L
Hard drive 1: Samsung 840 Evo 240g
Hard drive 2: 1TB 2.5mm WD Slim (5400rpm)
Hard drive 3: m.2. SSD 120gb


CPU Testing
Ran HyperPi on all cores.
180mm Fan: 500rpm (minimum)
CPU Fan: 350rpm (minimum)
Temp: 54°C

Overall noise: The fans were fairly quiet. The PSU fan was very audible above the cpu/case fan.
I'm impressed that it only goes to 54° with a tiny ITX cooler but at the same time it has a 180mm fan blowing straight
onto it.

GPU Testing
Ran Furmark.
GPU Fan 60%
180mm Fan: 700rpm

GPU got to 80°C and throttled. At GPU 60% fan and 180mm 700rpm the fans are fairly audible.
In my previous case (Sugo SG09) with no case fans the gpu only got to 72°C. It had a lot more empty space around the GPU though, and case cutouts so fresh air could be drawn in.

Even in games the gpu goes to 80° and throttles. I think the card might need a little more room to breath which is weird seeing as it is a blower type.


Next steps:
I'm going to cut some exhaust holes in the side of the case for venting the GPU further.
 

XeaLouS

Cable-Tie Ninja
Original poster
Dec 29, 2015
180
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I like the layout, it's promising !
Yeah i was prototyping on sketchup and it hit me that a 180mm fan is basically 90% of the size of gpu+motherboard so one giant fan can cool everything.

i was thinking of a 200mm fan version since itx + dual slot is around 200mm, and then this gives it additional height for a tall cpu cooler. WIth 5mm panels (instead of 19mm) this would be a similar volume but let you use 80-90mm cpu coolers. Though seeing as my cpu only gets to 54°c with this tiny ass cooler, not much point of adding height.
 
Last edited:

K888D

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Feb 23, 2016
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Very nice. Your CPU is running nice and cool because the giant fan is helping to supply it with fresh external air, hot air is then exhausted out the rear of your case rather then being re-circulated back into the cooler, nice and efficient layout!

But I think your GPU may be acting in the opposite manner. There are 2 main reasons that your GPU may be throttling:
  1. The Asus GPU cooler exhausts in all 4 directions (Top, Bottom, Front and Rear), I suspect this hot air will be working its way back round to the cooling fan. When the hot air exhausts from the card it will hit the side panels of your case and spray outwards in all directions - imagine spraying a hose pipe at a wall, the water sprays out in all directions. Airflow acts in a similar manner to waterflow.
  2. The side panel of your case is almost completely blocking the intake fan of the GPU - this is your main reason.

I think fans in general need something like 30mm of unobstructed clearance to work efficiently, obviously this isn't possible in small cases like these, so the next best thing is to provide some direct air paths to the fan such as ventilation slots or holes, this will provide the most benefit to the card allowing it to breath in cool air.

To help prevent re-circulation of hot GPU exhaust air, you could also consider some ventilation holes/slots on the top and/or bottom of your case in line with the GPU exhaust fins.

Some other things to consider - If you cut some holes in the side of your case to allow your GPU to breath, you may find that the 180mm front fan works against the GPU fan (the GPU fan is trying to pull air in, whilst the case fan is trying to push air out, the overall effect is reduced airflow into your GPU).

I suspect that in your particular layout the 180mm front case fan will work best as an exhaust fan. Your CPU may run a few degrees warmer in this configuration, but the the 180mm fan will help pull fresh cool air through the side GPU vent helping to feed the GPU, your GPU will run cooler and much quieter. The key is getting the right balance of airflow that works for all your components and not just 1 component in particular. In other words there is no point having a setup that benefits the CPU to run at low temps if your GPU is running at throttle temps and vice versa.

I ran quite a bit of testing in the LZ7 early prototypes which is a similar layout to this fan (except for main case fan position), The testing showed that a negative pressure setup (case fan set to exhaust air) greatly reduces the GPU temps which leads to lower GPU fan speeds and lower overall noise output, this is because the negative pressure is assisting the GPU fan to pull cold air through the side vents directly into the GPU. The downside in the LZ7 is that the hot GPU exhaust air is then dragged across the motherboard and into the CPU due to the location of the case fan being on the opposite side of the case, so the overall effect was a louder system as the CPU fan was running much faster. But, in your layout the fan is at the front of the case, therefore exhaust GPU air will be pulled towards the front of the case and not over the CPU.

Give it a shot and see what happens! I would be very interested to see what the difference in your results are with a positive and negative pressure setup and whether they stack up with the testing results from the LZ7.
 

XeaLouS

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Original poster
Dec 29, 2015
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Solved it!

When i started pulling apart the case i noticed the abysmal clearance for the gpu. Using the scientific test of putting my hand against the exhaust of the gpu, not much air was flowing. Due to the fact that I'm not screwing the gpu into anything, it sags against the side wall.

I fixed it using a folded up piece of paper wedged agains the gpu and wall.

The pictures below are kind of representative. When it was leaning against the wall it actually made a perfect seal that stopped air from getting through. Now it's actually slightly the other way.

Temps on furmark are now around 72-74°C, no throttling - basically just a few degrees hotter than in my old case which was basically open air.

 
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XeaLouS

Cable-Tie Ninja
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Dec 29, 2015
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But I think your GPU may be acting in the opposite manner. There are 2 main reasons that your GPU may be throttling:
  1. The Asus GPU cooler exhausts in all 4 directions (Top, Bottom, Front and Rear), I suspect this hot air will be working its way back round to the cooling fan. When the hot air exhausts from the card it will hit the side panels of your case and spray outwards in all directions - imagine spraying a hose pipe at a wall, the water sprays out in all directions. Airflow acts in a similar manner to waterflow.
  2. The side panel of your case is almost completely blocking the intake fan of the GPU - this is your main reason.

1. Yup - i was thinking about the gpu cooler exhausting in all directions last night (i originally thought it blew everything out the back.
2. Yup - increased clearance from 0mm to like 5mm and that improved performance a lot!

To help prevent re-circulation of hot GPU exhaust air, you could also consider some ventilation holes/slots on the top and/or bottom of your case in line with the GPU exhaust fins.
Some other things to consider - If you cut some holes in the side of your case to allow your GPU to breath, you may find that the 180mm front fan works against the GPU fan (the GPU fan is trying to pull air in, whilst the case fan is trying to push air out, the overall effect is reduced airflow into your GPU).
Ahh - i see. Yeah i originally thought slots in the side might not be great because it would fight the front fan.

I suspect that in your particular layout the 180mm front case fan will work best as an exhaust fan. Your CPU may run a few degrees warmer in this configuration, but the the 180mm fan will help pull fresh cool air through the side GPU vent helping to feed the GPU, your GPU will run cooler and much quieter. The key is getting the right balance of airflow that works for all your components and not just 1 component in particular. In other words there is no point having a setup that benefits the CPU to run at low temps if your GPU is running at throttle temps and vice versa.
That makes a lot of sense actually - since the 180mm will exhaust it won't be fighting the gpu fan anymore.

Give it a shot and see what happens! I would be very interested to see what the difference in your results are with a positive and negative pressure setup and whether they stack up with the testing results from the LZ7.
Due to the way the fan grill on the AP181 is setup, it's a little... dangerous to test with a negative pressure setup. Basically the grill protects the fan from hitting all the cables. In fact when i mount it i just squish the fan and cables and the grill solves everything. If i flip the fan then theres a super high chance the fan will eat my sata cables.

It's winter right now so temps are nice - I will probably be flipping the fan/drilling holes above/below the gpu when it gets to summer and the gpu gets a few degrees hotter.
 
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XeaLouS

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Original poster
Dec 29, 2015
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Just an update on this,
I ran it all through summer and temps didn't really get any higher.

GPU would max out at around 65-70° (playing games, none of this silly furmark business)
Cpu never went above 50° when gaming. Rendering videos brought it up to 55°.

The loudest thing would be the psu fan when not gaming, and the 180mm fan at 700rpm when temps went above 65° GPU or 50° CPU.
The cpu cooler was silent (compared to everything else) even at max rpm.

Ambient temps would be around 28-32°C
 
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