Overclocking and Air Cooling in 700D/800D a bad idea?

Are these cases meant for water cooling or with H70/H50's?

 

What about air cooling?

 

I'm putting together an SR-2 build. I have Corsair RAM, Corsair PSU, and currently a 700D that I haven't opened yet because I'm now hearing that air cooling with this case isn't the greatest. I'm overclocking dual Xeon E5620's and I want to use air cooling. I planned on using 3x 120mm fans up top exhausting all hot air out but with only one intake fan at the bottom, will there be enough cool air? Is air cooling just a mistake with this case? Thanks.

I have never had any issues and from what I have seen, most of the info online claiming our case is not good for air cooling is just speculation. Few if any users have actually done comparison testing. Some users have done some interesting fan placements and changes to bring in more fresh air. Look through our CASES and ENTHUSIASTS pages for examples.

If you are going to solely air cool the system, I'd recommend getting a Scythe Kama bay fan/grill.

 

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/008/sckb1000_detail.html

 

The airflow is pretty good, but unless you put a higher flow fan between the PSU and main compartments, it's going to be very low pressure inside.

If you are going to solely air cool the system, I'd recommend getting a Scythe Kama bay fan/grill.

 

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/008/sckb1000_detail.html

 

The airflow is pretty good, but unless you put a higher flow fan between the PSU and main compartments, it's going to be very low pressure inside.

 

get the kama scythe bay plus version

same price but the fan spins a little faster at 1200rpm

it's really quiet and i have it in my 800d

the fans used are not the the normal spec'd 120mm

there 120mm but 12mm thickness vs the normal 25mm

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/073/scbk2000_detail.html

+1 on the Scythe Kama Bay PLUS for better fresh, cool air intake!

I am using a Lian li PC-343B fan module in my 800D and it fits perfectly and looks great

http://www.xoxide.com/pc343b-fan-module-525.html

 

The 800D is fine for air cooling and OCing. I have a i7 950 @ 4.2 Ghz with a Thermalright Venomous X cooler and my temps are good. I also have 3x GTX 580 in Tri SLI all on stock cooling and the temps on those are great as well. As long as you add enough fans the 800D is perfectly fine for air cooling. I replaced all of the fans with Scythe S-flex fans and added 3 on the top panel blowing air in and it seems to be working well.

Does anyone have a suggestion for the top area? I would like mount just 3 fans up there for air flow if necessary. What would be the simplest way to do that?

 

Thanks in advance for input.

 

Awesome 5.25 fans! I may just be getting one of those. We will see how the cooling goes with a fair cpu OC and 2 460s

The top area is spaced for a radiator+fans, so you can simply screw fans in (or use rubber fan mounts as I do). Three low noise fans there will do fine (I have three Noctua NF-P12s on pull on a 120x3 radiator).

do you have a link to the mounts you use?

Sure: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/akasa-ak-mx003-20x-pack-of-siliconized-pins-for-anti-vibrational-fan-mounting

 

I use 8 of those to secure the fans to the top of the chassis, along with 4 of another type that I picked up elsewhere that have a fixing pin in the center (you put the rubber plug in, then push a plastic pin into it to secure it). However, before I got the 120x3 radiator I had two fans in push/pull on a Corsair H70 hanging from the top exhaust on my 700D - held there by 4 of the Akasa pins alone. I have no doubt that 12 of them could hold up a radiator with three fans on it, I just ran out :p