The CM Stacker case and some mods !!

[Sorrento]

Very nice... the picture I liked the most was the one with the Evercool viewed from the side and with the video card behind, showing the clearance

 

As for all the tubes in plain sight... ???? IMO there is NOTHING wrong with that, on the contrary watercooling needs to be shown as well. There is something about seeing tubes filled with liquid inside a compuer for a person to say "OMG!"... hehe, that is priceless

 

 

 

/Edit: I have an observation about the fan diagram AG drew, very cleverly I might say , but I have one doubt: The top 80 mm fan blowing in or out... is it doing anything?

 

Air flow goes directly towards the 120 mm fan on the back, and the two 80 mm on the bottom (second psu space)... any cool air going in would just barely touch the top of the RAM modules before going out of the case. I think this 80mm fan is plain useless, and not sure exhaust or intake would change anything much. What do you think guys?

[red930]

Unless and until you build a rig and test the fans you'll never know because there are some seriously flawed theories floating around the Internet.

 

I have three completely different rigs setup with two or more 120mm fans blowing in. One fan provides intake air to the drives and another provides intake air to the CPU area. A third fan simply stirs the air inside the case to keep it moving.

 

The only exhaust is through the PSU, every damn hole and gap in the case and around the external drive bays. There are plenty enough holes and gaps in a typical case to deal with the airflow unless you're going way overboard. The flow through the PSU isn't limited to the fan, more air can pass through and around the fan than it's rated for.

 

My rigs provide the exact same outstanding cooling performance standing up, on their side and upside down.

 

The key to excellent cooling is testing and verification.

 

Negative pressure, positive pressure, heat rising; all great theories until you test them. There are so many different case designs that seem great on paper but are seriously flawed upon execution.

 

The Antec P-160 case with the rear 120mm fan setup as intake is excellent as well as the Antec SuperLanboy setup the same way.

 

The CM Stacker case has proven its performance especially with the cross-flow fan installed. This fan keeps the air inside the case stirred up quite nicely.

 

Don't fall for these self fulfilling reviews no matter how well they're written. Ask questions like, how many temperature probes were used, what were the probe locations, did they test the rig upside-down, did they test with every fan reversed and all the combinations in between?

 

There's a lot of misconception regarding airflow through a computer case based upon hearsay and conjecture.

i actually just read an article on case cooling...the best config was a top and rear exhaust! all fans simultaneously blowing was NOT the best config...however i was pissed off that they did not do a rear,top, and front intake test...in my opinion this would be best...as long as there is somewhat negative pressure. If you have too many fans blowing in ways that wont allow for a "flow" than air spends too much time in the case getting warm before it gets out which creates more heat.. so my logic...if u have good exhaust and good intake thak will let it flow in and out...than your good to go. Angry's looks ok because of this reason, for example ...but....personally i would have the top fan blowing out...maiily because that extra air at the top that isn't caught by the rear exhasut, will be expelled VIA the top fan so yea..

in my stacker i have 4 fans pulling in air from the intake through my rad..then 2 more 120's in the back, also the top is blowing out. And i do not use the side fan..(in my opinion it just screws up airflow)

[red930]

BTW If you find your rig is cooler with the side panel off, you've got some work to do!

[Angry_Games]

BTW If you find your rig is cooler with the side panel off, you've got some work to do!

actually you will never get your rig as cool with the panel on as with it off

 

you just won't

 

I've never been able to achieve this and I got to say I've probably built more systems than everyone in this thread combined hehe

 

but ExRoadie is correct in the sense that you must find the best airflow for your setup

 

having 19 120mm fans blowing is not always good

 

I've achieved some serious cooling with a single 80mm in front and a single 80mm in the rear with the psu having front-to-back air exhaust (instead of like my OCZ psu in the pics where it sucks air up from the bottom then out of the back)

 

I've also seen some awful setups with mega fans that just couldn't get the job done

 

watercooling is about 10x harder because you lose all that 'ambient' airflow off the cpu heatsink fan...you don't realize just how much that cpu fan flows air around the cpu/pwm area (especially with an XP-90 etc that actually pushes air out and around) until you go with watercooling.

[mrzeld]

argh

 

it probably isn't making any sense how I am trying to describe it =(

it makes perfect sense. now that i think about the water cooling. there is no large heat source around the CPU like usual. it is all in the radiators. since they are in the front blowing their hot exhaust into the case, you need to get that air out ASAP. therefore the two bottom 80mm are probably doing quite a bit of good.

[red930]

BTW If you find your rig is cooler with the side panel off, you've got some work to do!

OK so I exaggerated a bit there.

 

I pulled the side panels off of three rigs and the ambient temps went down by about 1 degree C on two and 2 degrees C on the third.

 

Anyone that follows my posts in the forum regarding cooling will tell you that I do a lot of testing using different setups to get things cool and quiet.

 

My old roommate Cobia69 thought it was cool that when he shut his rigs down the room went silent. But all three of mine were still running.

 

I always shoot for being able to pass the ceiling fan test. If you can hear your rig above the level of a ceiling fan on low, it's too loud.

[Angry_Games]

ya

 

i've totally outgrown supa-cooled overclocked nonsense

 

I'll take a 2600Mhz cpu that keeps my rig nearly silent over a 2900Mhz cpu that is louder than the games or music I am playing =/

[supershanks]

Canon A620 camera that I still haven't played with enough to get it off AUTO settings yet

Sounds about right know that feeling:)

 

cheers for info

[Sorrento]

OK so I exaggerated a bit there.

 

I pulled the side panels off of three rigs and the ambient temps went down by about 1 degree C on two and 2 degrees C on the third.

 

Anyone that follows my posts in the forum regarding cooling will tell you that I do a lot of testing using different setups to get things cool and quiet.

 

My old roommate Cobia69 thought it was cool that when he shut his rigs down the room went silent. But all three of mine were still running.

 

I always shoot for being able to pass the ceiling fan test. If you can hear your rig above the level of a ceiling fan on low, it's too loud.

You weren't so far from the truth about the diference with side panel on and off: its all about getting the least diference posible. IMO if this diference is of 5° C or greater then the ventilation inside the case is not working well, if its around 2 or 3 deg then I would say it is ok; would 2 deg being that much of an issue, I believe so.

 

Lets say I have seen computers that just opening the side panel would cool (cpu and system) something like 8 to 10 deg. One case in particular with the worse ventilation is IMO the CM Wavemaster, only after serious modifications you can fix the bad air flow in this case.

 

As for the ceiling fan test, excellent call there. I coudln't put it in words better than how you did, for me its either I can hear myself think or not which is hardly a good way to call it. A ceiling fan is sometimes too loud, with the noise pruduced by the air being moved... EWWW, but thats not a seriuos problem since I keep hearing music in my head all the time, all the frikking time :mad:

 

Hehe

 

 

 

Btw, still haven't got an answer about the CM Stacker T01 top 80 mm fan blow hole: is it do anything? I have mine as an exhaust, AG has his as an intake... IMO and from the flow diagram drew by AG and my own system I don't think its doing anything, well maybe taking care of the top pocket of hot air (PSU is Epsilon 700w).

[TheGeekMistress]

the rear 120 + bottom 2x80's are for pulling air pretty much straight through

 

You got 2x120 + another 120 stacked in the front (and the front of a Stacker is of course mesh so it can breath) like this:

 

 

 

yes that is a very crappy drawing but I am not an artist

 

but it is a basic idea of airflow in the Stacker

 

so without the 2x80mm fans at the bottom, any air from the lower 2x120mm (or 4x120mm really) fans on the radiator at the bottom-front would have to go up to the rear 120mm and the OCZ psu 140mm to escape

 

this is not bad at all

 

 

but

 

 

you get more airflow straight-through with two 80mm's at the bottom

 

its more of a 'straight-through' airflow technique to me

 

argh

 

it probably isn't making any sense how I am trying to describe it =(

heh, this "drawing" hehe, is exactly how i have my case and water cooling rad setup, minus the top fan; i don't run it. plus i have the crossflow fan running in there. at 3200mhz i get 31 idle / 39 full load. werx great! i love having a quiet running case.

 

TGM

[red930]

The sounds of silence...

 

 

BTW Has anyone built a rig in the Cooler Master Stacker 830 RC-830-SSN1 ?

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16811119103

[TheGeekMistress]

exroadie, that case came out after i bought mine. i like my case better as i hate doors on the front of my computers. but i've seen people on this thread posting pix of the model you're referring to.

 

TGM