Well, the case came with seven fans!Originally posted by sage0112@30 November 2003 - 01:23
thats got a shitload of fans in it. Its like the fans need their own cpu.
Now I'm down to five.
It's an addiction.
Edit:
If you have followed my series of threads about my new case, it might appear that I am just addicted to tinkering with it. This is true to a certain extent, but there is also a method to my madness.
From the beginning I was fairly certain that water cooling, or a combo of Peltier/water cooling was where I would end up.
First though, I thought it made sense to explore, as completely as possible, the limits of air cooling.
Efficient air cooled solutions, which are also acceptably quiet, are very difficult to achieve, I've found.
The common ( and intuitively reasonable) configuration- fans in the front blowing air in, and fans in the back expelling the hot waste air- just doesn't work as advertised.
Although this arrangement might work if I had been willing to really cut up the case and mount 120mm fans instead of the typical 80mm units, I didn't want to commit to such a permanent alteration.
If you were certain that air cooling was your method of choice, I would recommend that you skip the foreplay and move directly to 120mm fans. They can move alot of air at acceptable noise limits.
If your case is small enough ( mid-tower or smaller) you may actually even realize a perceptable air current as shown in many diagrams.
With a larger case and 80mm fans, unless you are willing to run them at 12v ( fast & noisy), I think you are wasting your time.
I have achieved the best results by arranging the fans, through placement and ducting, to be site/task specific. One fan, placed under the HDD and drawing air from the case exterior ( that's what the grill visible in the lower front of the side panel in the roof pic is for) which is dedicated to the HDD only, makes for nice, low and consistent HDD temps. I don't care if this fan has any effect on other components as they are dealt with separately. Two fans in the back which serve to supply the CPU HS with fresh, cool air. Again, they don't have to be concerned with anything else, just their main function.
Roof vents with fans are very effective as they utilize the natural tendency of heated air to rise. In fact, just the vents themselves are almost as good, the fans help alittle, but you may not need them at all.
Mainly though, my most valuable lesson learned has been "Assume nothing, don't take anything at face value". Every mod that I've made seemed like a great idea, some worked, some didn't, and some were inconclusive, but at least I now know, one way or the other.
It may seem tedious, I realize that not everyone enjoys disassembling/ reassembling their PC every day as I do, but your end result will be worth the effort. .
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