Hard drive cooling kit...

Basically, my case sucks, as far as cooling is concerned. It has no spot(s) in the front to mount a fan, to drawn air in. Well, I think there is one...but it looks like a waste, if that is, in fact, what it is for.

Anyways, in an attempt to overcome the problem (If only a little) I picked up one of those hard drive cooling kits. It's, basically, 3 fans mounted on a piece of plastic that can be mounted in one of the front bays (Where the CD drives go). I couldn't think of a better description right now, but I think you all get the point...

I was just wondering how much good it will do? I know it is definately better than nothing...and better than just leaving the extra front bay open, with a lamely rigged up filter over it. But, just how much better?

They're actually not that bad. I wouldn't run a 7200rpm or higher without one.

Well, I'm not actually using it to cool my hard drives. While I do have two 7200 rpm drives...I left them in their normal, respective spots.

I was just asking how much they would help, as far as air movement through the case is concerned...because, like I said, my case sucks and doesn't have a spot for me to mount an intake fan at the front. The intake fans in the front bay (HD cooler kit) are in an attempt to compensate for the "suckyness" of the case.

those little bay cooler things are good for cooling HD's.. but they don't have enough airflow to really affect case temps unless they use some super annoying screamer fans...

here's a test you can do... check your cpu/case temps after running your computer at full load for a bit (gaming, etc), then remove your case-side... if the temps drop significantly, (10 degrees or more) then you might want to think about improving your case cooling...

generally, using all of the stock fan locations will give you 'OK' results... but you'll get better temps by modding your case a bit with a blowhole or 2

If your confortable with casemods I suggest side blow holes. A 12CM fan on the side panel slightly offsetted over the processor will drop temps drastically. Those HDD coolers don't do much for case temps. I used to think more fans= more cooling, but it's all about airflow.