front fans in case???

gardo- · Aug 20, 2003

hi all this is my first post on this great site and i was wondering if anyone has any ideas on my question.

as you can see from webpage of my case it has no front fan holes visible but when you remove the plastic case front theres holes, for up to 4 fans in the steel front but if i replace the plastic front which i have to as the switches are located on this area how do i get the air through to the fans to suck air in?.

don't understand why they make cases this way and block the front off ?.

i suppose i can drive some holes in the front but as you can see from pictures of case i don't have much room on each side of the switch .

any ideas please

gardo

http://www.atccomputers.com/case-268bk.htm

emericanchaos · Aug 20, 2003

hard to tell exactly what's going on from that picture but could you fit it buy just using 2 fans in the front?

fhanderson · Aug 20, 2003

If you can see the fan holes from behind the front cover, you probably need to slide the fans behind the HDD bracket then put the screws in from the front. If something is blocking the holes from the inside, you need to remove it.

Kdog154 · Aug 20, 2003

My case is exactly like that in the inside. Up to 4 spots in the front. Even if you remove the inside steel holes there will be no airflow since the fornt cover does not have enough holes for the fans.

gardo- · Aug 20, 2003

yeah i can put just 2 fans in ,i was'nt going to do 4 just theres enough holes there for 4 fans thats all emericanchaos.

hi kdog154 glad im not alone with this prob ,i guess i could drill some holes out and put 2 fans in front and see if thats anygood or what im doing at moment is:

ive removed the 2 5 inch spare bay covers and put a fan in the front blowing air in and made a bracket and taped it in there ,it works but looks bad my inside temp is at 33c and chip is at around 48c loaded and 43c just running ,room temp is around 23c so not bad .

anyone else done the same by removing spare covers of unused bays and stuck a fanor 2 in there i reckon i will do that and make some nice mess cover to close it off.

gardo

Fallen Phoenix · Aug 20, 2003

I've got the exact same case except no window on the side. I can't figure out any way to get air in there. I think it's because the metal part of the case is interchangable with lots of different covers and some have vents in the front.

gardo- · Aug 20, 2003

hmmm i reckon your right fallen , guess its leave fan in open bay space or drills holes in front and see how that goes .

i am tempted on buying a whole new case thats got good circulation but wife would kill me lol .

gardo

MassiveOverkill · Aug 20, 2003

I just bought a similar case from ICUTE from Newegg. That front lower bezel should come off and you should be able to cut the front bezel (anyone you know who works with wood should be able to easily mod it for ya) to allow cool air to come in. Just cut a square out and glue some metal mesh on the backside of the bezel for a clean look. Look at Xoxide's custom steel cases and you'll see what I mean.

You can relocate all power and reset switches, and LED lights to one of the 3.5 bay covers (once again, your woodworking pal or even yourself can do this).

I'll post some pics on some pre mods I'm doing to mine in a bit.

MassiveOverkill · Aug 20, 2003

Here are some pics of my new case with the front panel stripped while I perform mods:

This case didn't come with a 120mm front fan option, it had the four 80mm fan configuration like yours did. What I did was undo the rivets on my old case and swap the 3.5"-5.1/4 cage from my old case to my new one. Luckily, this is a very popular chasis, that alot of case builders use. Here are pics of my old case:

You can see the front bezel on my new case is a simple piece of clear acrylic backed by brushed aluminum. If you don't want to hack your original piece, you can use it as a template to make a new front bezel out of anything you find suitable. I'm probably going to mod mine, but I may just find a flat piece of lexan and make a new piece, and then paint it.

gardo- · Aug 20, 2003

nice job there overkill i think im going to do what you did to the old case and mod my 2 spare bay clip ins like you did .

looks nice and tidy and wife won't start maoning again and tell me to just leave it as it is but like you guys i now have the i have to mod it bug lol

thanks for info all

gardo

MassiveOverkill · Aug 20, 2003

If you're going to mod your 5-1/4" bay covers as your intake and leave your bottom front bezel alone, I'd relocate your hard drive to the 5-1/4" bay.

gardo- · Aug 20, 2003

hmmm why move the hard drive overkill ?, if i did my round cables are too short , surelly its fine were it is or there something your not telling me lol .

gardo

MassiveOverkill · Aug 20, 2003

It looks like you want to do the 80mm fan in the 5-1/4" bay mod that I did on my old case. That's fine, but then your hard drive, which is mounted in your 3-1/2" bays doesn't get any air cooling unless you move it up.

JerkasaurusRex · Aug 21, 2003

I have the same problem but i noticed their was a cut on the bottom of the case in the front bezel. What i need was i made 4 legs about 2 inches in length and attached them to my compute. My computer was now raised 2 inched and the front fans pull up air from under the computer.

gardo- · Aug 21, 2003

cool god idea constantinos ,i went ahead and brought a 80mm x38 fan today and a grill and cut a hole in the 2 spare 5 inch bay covers and stuck it in there ,its loks pretty good and my case temp has dropped another 2c to 30 c so im happy ,thats me done thanks all for the help and ideas.

gardo

ps: will post a pic asap.

quietecho · Aug 22, 2003

yup i did what Constantinos said i think that is how its suppose to be done for those bottom front fans.

front fans in case???

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