hi guys,
 
I've been using my Intel i5 3570K on stock speed with the Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 on top of it for about 2 years now.
 
 
 
some of you may smile thinking why I don't OC the cpu but still use non stock cooler.
I don't need extra performance but silence as I work with the rig the whole day, that's it.
 
 
recently I bought a backplate for my EVGA GTX760 SC 4GB ACX and reapplied some Arctic MX-4 tim on the GPU.
(http://forums.evga.com/FindPost/2208659)

 
now I though it could be the right time to reapply the MX-4 on the cpu as well just to renew the 2 years old tim.
2 years a go while installing the Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 I just used the tim supplied with the cooler as I had no other.
so here it comes:
 
- the rig, both sides:


 
- the cpu cleaned, I didn't include pictures of the old tim as there was no mess. :)


 
- the MX-4 applied on the cpu, I use the "drop and manually spread to the corner" method


 
 
conclusion:
well besides the renewing the tim for the next couple of years I didn't encounter a big difference in the temperatures.
I'm aware it's not enough to compare the idle state as there the difference between the tims is the smallest.
but I had no time to exclusively test the load and max. temperatures and even gaming ones as well.
 
- here the cpu with the old tim with the Windows 8.1 desktop on idle:

 
- same conditions with the new MX-4:

 

When applying thermal paste to the cpu IHS, there is no need to spread it honestly. It greatly increases the chance of actually creating air pockets. If you just put a thin line down the middle of the IHS about the size of a grain of rice, it will cover the IHS and all of the area that gets hot, while reducing the risk of air pockets.

I spread the TIM on the gpu, because we want to verify it absolutely covers every tiny spot of the die itself.

I think you would be fine using two 20cm as intake and one 12cm as exhaust. If you build too much pressure, it is going to vent out of the PCI slots anyway, so that should be a non issue, I would think. Are you thinking of running the front and top fan as intake?

The only thing I would think is an issue would be the path of airflow. It may not have much of an effect, but it would be changing the direction a good bit. I run 5 in and 3 out for mine, and use low speed fans to keep it quite. I am not bothered by the noise either.

Do you have options for more fans? I haven't seen inside of the case, but, if you can fit a couple 12cm in the front, then we can easily fix that. I know my Phantom 630 had 2x20cm and I didn't like them.

Positive pressure is good. Just think of it that way.

You could always take the rear 120mm exhaust fan and put it as an Intake on the bottom 120mm mount, then you would maintain a better airflow pattern, have positive pressure, and same amount of fan noise.  I've actually built a few computers in a HAF 912 case, and the model I used always had a SSD mount where your bottom intake is.

If you really want to drop those temps, i'd look into deliding that processor. I'm getting close to doing that to my i7 3770K.

I would say delid it or sell it and get an i7 then delid that depending on how well your CPU overclocks. My highest stock temps on my h80i now with a delid i7 4770k is 50*c, Whereas before it was well into the 75-80+s.  http://www.overclock.net/...de/24680#post_22076162

 
 

 
Before delid temps @ 4.2ghz/4.2 1.18vcore 2133mhz ram MAX TEMP 80°c As5 h80i 2 fans MAX SPEED 

 
After delid temps @ 4.2ghz/4.2 1.18vcore 2133mhz ram MAX TEMP 60°c As5 on die and IHS h80i 1 fan!! 60% Fan Speed