HAF X: Positive or Negative Air Pressure?

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Fear Feathers

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Right now I am using a outdated gtx 295 (that still gets the job done) which has a fully sealed cooling design. My problem is the idle temps are always around 60c+. I have done some research and stumbled upon positive and negative air pressure in a chassis and how each have its flaws.

Right now this is my default fan settings:
HAF-X-slots.jpg


Correct me if I'm wrong but since I only have 2 intake fans and 3 exhaust fans I have a negative air pressure. I've read that having a negative pressure makes it harder for the gpu to exhaust the hot air and so on. So what do you guys think? my question is should I be making any changes to my intake/exhaust fans, if so any helpful tips or reassurance would be much appreciated.
 
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Lets set aside the airflow dilemma for a second and I guess I'll be the dummy who asks this question. Did you clean your GPU's cooler, and change out the thermal paste?

Back to the air pressure question, its dependent on the amount of air the two intake fans pull in and how much the others take out.
 
What is your load temp if that is your idle?

And considering the HAF X is considered one of the best air cooling cases out there and the default setup is probably what everyone uses, I would say that that is not the problem. And as phalanx said, figuring out whether you have positive or negative pressure depends on the amount of air each fan moves, not simply the total number of fans.
 
I'm your huckleberry said:
What is your load temp if that is your idle?

And considering the HAF X is considered one of the best air cooling cases out there and the default setup is probably what everyone uses, I would say that that is not the problem. And as phalanx said, figuring out whether you have positive or negative pressure depends on the amount of air each fan moves, not simply the total number of fans.
Click to expand...

I hope its not hot enough to cook an egg..
 
In my experience, positive flow has always worked best. This thread has been my model for good airflow. Keep in mind that with all the people who experiment with this, most have noted that there is no temperature change with adding exhaust fans. This means that those exhaust fans only added noise and didn't help at all. And, of course, check your GPU first. The HAF-X is works well, so it's probably not that.

Beta_Evo_Quiet_Rig_02.png
 
Okay, bad news guys.
So today I decided to disassemble my 295 but failed when I got stuck on trying to unscrew those tiny, little, uncooperative son of a gun screws so I put it back together and into the pci express slot. When I turned my pc on, Dr. Debug greeted me with a D6 error, followed by 5 beeps and then a 62 error code. I've spent the last few hours trying to troubleshoot this but failed and couldn't find any real solutions on google. I've tried sticking it in a different pci express slot but still no luck. Nothing comes up on screen so no I can't go into bios. Lastly I ended up pulling the plug on the 295 and just used my onboard display and everything works. boots up properly and no error. Now I've turned to the forums for personal help, hoping my worst nightmare has not come true. You gotta help me! I don't have $300 to spend on a 570 :/
 
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Fear Feathers said:
Okay, bad news guys.
So today I decided to disassemble my 295 but failed when I got stuck on trying to unscrew those tiny, little, uncooperative son of a gun screws so I put it back together and into the pci express slot. When I turned my pc on, Dr. Debug greeted me with a D6 error, followed by 5 beeps and then a 62 error code. I've spent the last few hours trying to troubleshoot this but failed and couldn't find any real solutions on google. I've tried sticking it in a different pci express slot but still no luck. Nothing comes up on screen so no I can't go into bios. Lastly I ended up pulling the plug on the 295 and just used my onboard display and everything works. boots up properly and no error. Now I've turned to the forums for personal help, hoping my worst nightmare has not come true. You gotta help me! I don't have $300 to spend on a 570 :/
Click to expand...

In my experience, your card is dead. The high temperatures were a warning sign of a failing card or a dead fan, etc. There are cheaper options than a three hundred dollar card and still get a good result. Look on newegg for any sales happening or maybe a price drop since the new GTX 690 came out this month on the third of May.

The only option I can see you attempting to recover this card and again I say it's a chance with no guarantee. Get the card open and blow it out with compressed air as dust build up promotes higher temperatures on computer hardware. If the dust build up was preventing the fan from working and now it is free to work, you have a chance of recovering the card. It is not likely but I've seen it work a handful of times so don't get your hopes up but it's worth trying before spending any money. Good luck!

Edit- I poked around on newegg for you and this video card is VERY reasonably priced and is said to be a really good video card. The card is $114 after rebate but the up front price is $134. Not bad at all I must say. Here is the link: EVGA GTX 550 ti

This card is a little more but it is what I personally own and very much enjoy this card.
EVGA GTX 560 ti
 
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Fear Feathers said:
Okay, bad news guys.
So today I decided to disassemble my 295 but failed when I got stuck on trying to unscrew those tiny, little, uncooperative son of a gun screws so I put it back together and into the pci express slot. When I turned my pc on, Dr. Debug greeted me with a D6 error, followed by 5 beeps and then a 62 error code. I've spent the last few hours trying to troubleshoot this but failed and couldn't find any real solutions on google. I've tried sticking it in a different pci express slot but still no luck. Nothing comes up on screen so no I can't go into bios. Lastly I ended up pulling the plug on the 295 and just used my onboard display and everything works. boots up properly and no error. Now I've turned to the forums for personal help, hoping my worst nightmare has not come true. You gotta help me! I don't have $300 to spend on a 570 :/
Click to expand...

I'm assuming those codes came up on the on-board LCD on your motherboard, if so, the codes will be available for you to look up in the handbook that came with the motherboard. There are a few things that come to mind that may have happened to your card. First, while handling the card, or any hardware for that matter, make sure you are completely grounded. Any sort of static can be the death of a component. Another thing I thought of was poor contact between chip and cooler, possibly causing it to overheat and possibly fail-safe shut off, or fry. Make sure all screws are secure on the card and that there is good contact between chip and cooler. If you were unsuccessful in removing the cooler, than this won't be the case. Another thing I thought of is for you to make sure that you've seated the video card correctly into the PCI-e slot, from what I understand D6 (5 beeps) codes refer to poor seating of a card in the slot. Error code 62 refers to fan speed error on your video card, again, make sure you've reseated everything properly, and plugged everything in. Reinstall the drivers, etc.
 
Sicko said:
In my experience, your card is dead. The high temperatures were a warning sign of a failing card or a dead fan, etc. There are cheaper options than a three hundred dollar card and still get a good result. Look on newegg for any sales happening or maybe a price drop since the new GTX 690 came out this month on the third of May.

The only option I can see you attempting to recover this card and again I say it's a chance with no guarantee. Get the card open and blow it out with compressed air as dust build up promotes higher temperatures on computer hardware. If the dust build up was preventing the fan from working and now it is free to work, you have a chance of recovering the card. It is not likely but I've seen it work a handful of times so don't get your hopes up but it's worth trying before spending any money. Good luck!

Edit- I poked around on newegg for you and this video card is VERY reasonably priced and is said to be a really good video card. The card is $114 after rebate but the up front price is $134. Not bad at all I must say. Here is the link: EVGA GTX 550 ti

This card is a little more but it is what I personally own and very much enjoy this card.
EVGA GTX 560 ti
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, those recommendations are meh at best, especially with the rest of nvidias new series being released hopefully soon. Even still, those weren't great prices before they started releasing them either. 550 Ti should be avoided as it provides limited performance, especially coming from a 295. While the 560 Ti performance should be similar or a little less, that price is atrocious at the moment.

This would have been my recommendation:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161406

But it is currently out of stock. Unfortunately, many of the 7850s are atm. Anyways, I would definitely wait for the card or 2 below the gtx 670 as performance has been quite impressive and prices have been a good deal lower than amds, so I expect more of the same.
 
I'm not sure what i did but I finally got it running again. I went out and bought me a pair of 2mm screw driver and I dissembled it this morning and applied some arctic silver. temps don't seem to have any difference but now GPU1 is idling at 65 - 75. If someone could help me figure out which one is gpu 1 and gpu 2 I can try to solve this issue. I don't wanna waste time re-doing both of them and making matters worse and frankly, I dont like the idea of disassembling my graphics card too often

Edit: My 295 is dual PCB GTX 295 version so it would look like this
geforce-gtx-295-pcb-detail-02.jpg


Also I'm not too sure just how muh thermal paste I should put. That would also help. Thanks
 
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First, it sounds like you just had a bad mount with the cooler. Second, clean off the arctic silver. That stuff is conductive and if it spreads to any of the PCB or circuits it can fry the card. It's great for CPUs but can be lethal to GPUs.

With temps like that, you should try cleaning and then re-mounting the cooler. Make sure you only use a drop of TIM the size of a rice grain right in the middle of the IHS. When you tighten the four screws, don't do it clockwise tightening as hard you can. Do a corner and get it theaded, do the opposite corner the same, and repeat for the other two. Then follow that same criss-cross X pattern and slowly tighten them all down but don't struggle with them. It lets you get even pressure on all the screws so that the heatsink is pressing flat against the chip.
 
TIM wha?

Edit: I've been thinking about just going with a after market cooler for the 295. What you guys think?
 
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Well all I have as of now is AS5 and Zalman zm-stg1 thermal grease which came with my old zalman cooler. I still need to figure out which gpu is which so I can fix this asap. its idling very hot right now
 
I'm your huckleberry said:
Unfortunately, those recommendations are meh at best, especially with the rest of nvidias new series being released hopefully soon. Even still, those weren't great prices before they started releasing them either. 550 Ti should be avoided as it provides limited performance, especially coming from a 295. While the 560 Ti performance should be similar or a little less, that price is atrocious at the moment.

This would have been my recommendation:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161406

But it is currently out of stock. Unfortunately, many of the 7850s are atm. Anyways, I would definitely wait for the card or 2 below the gtx 670 as performance has been quite impressive and prices have been a good deal lower than amds, so I expect more of the same.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your opinion but it's just that, an opinion. I just built a new machine with the 560 ti and it performs very well. I provided a solution within a reasonable budget as he's low on cash. Whether you meant it or not, your post came across as a put down. Try to be a little more constructive as we're all here to help and I'm sure everyone has their own opinions along with preferences. The 5xx series from nVidia are just fine.
 
It's not really an opinion, though. The 550Ti performs noticeably slower than a radeon 6850 which can be had for the same price. And the 560Ti, while a good card, currently has an absolutely horrible price tag on it. The Radeon 7850 is $50 cheaper and performs better, so unless you find a sub-$250 deal the 560Ti isn't a good buy.
 
I would like it if we could help the original poster, rather than argue with each other over video cards. Suggestions are appreciated, however arguing, bashing, being rude, etc. is not constructive to the discussion. I'd much rather help get the issue resolved than close the thread over an argument.
 
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