Front case exhaust

Recently installed a Spin Q in my rig. See sig for temps.

Here was the airflow before the mod.





I could not run at 2.8, temps would climb to 60ºC over time.
When I was rewiring the fans, I took off the front drive covers & it was like sticking my hand in an oven. I definately needed to fix this.

While I had my had in the oven, I realized that this would be the perfect place for a fan.

I decided on a 120mm front exhaust, because I did not want to disassemble my rig for cutting a top exhaust. Also, my intake HAD to be in from the rear of the case because of the orientation of the Spin Q.

Here is the front with the drive covers in. They are quick release from the outside.





Here is the front with the covers removed.





Here is the swing open cover removed from rig.
I used the fan on the inside to drill the mounting holes with a 5/32 bit.





Here is the door with the fan guard bolted on.
A 11/64 bit fit between the first and second circles on the grill.
Drill holes about 1/2" apart all the way around the grill.





Here is the door with the holes drilled and the grill removed.





Then you cut the plastic in between the holes.
I used a Dremel with plastic cutting wheel.





Using a Dremel with sanding cylinder.
Smooth out the plastic using the outside of the predrilled holes for reference.
Here is the smoothed door (not bad for not using a 120mm hole saw. )





Here is the door with the fan mounted.



H

ere is the door on the rig with it open.





Here is one with it shut.





Pros:

Stable temps @ sig temps and settings.
Case door now closes by itself.
I open the door and reach in from the front when changing ram.
(changing ram around a drive cage and a Spin Q is kinda like yoga and twister, but for your fingers)

Cons:

I lost my Antech case badge.
I have warm air blowing on my face while I am using my rig.

Conclusion:
Me & my mods 1
Rising temps 0

The rear 120mm fan should be exhaust not intake. You should have also modded the front bottom for a 120mm fan. Air flow should be like so:

Upper Front > Intake
Bottom Front > Intake

Top > exhaust
Rear > exhaust

This way you'll have even crossflow of air going thru the case. Cool air goes in, hot air comes out.

Good try on the front panel mod tho.

The Spin Q intakes are on an axis. The Spin Q exhausts radially from this axis. On one side of this axis airflow is blocked.





I wanted outside air going directly to the intake on the Spin Q, hence the rear intake.

There is also a 80mm side fan exhaust directly over the Spin Q.





I had to vent the hotspot that the Spin Q was pumping heat into.
(see first picture top right in front of PSU above spinQ, into the top of empty drive cage)
Hence the front exhaust. Adding the front exhaust let me go from stock to 2.8.
stable temps.

I will be modding the front 80mm intake to 120mm this week.

Nebulous said:

The rear 120mm fan should be exhaust not intake. You should have also modded the front bottom for a 120mm fan. Air flow should be like so:

Upper Front > Intake
Bottom Front > Intake

Top > exhaust
Rear > exhaust

This way you'll have even crossflow of air going thru the case. Cool air goes in, hot air comes out.

Good try on the front panel mod tho.

Click to expand...

A giant +1.

That hotspot you defined...does it matter? There isnt a component even up there except for the optical, and who cares about that.

I would also make that side panel exhaust an intake blowing directly on to your cooler... and like Neb said, reverse the rear to exhaust. You have little case FLOW in this configuration.

Also, why the 8600gt in the main PCIe slot? Swap them around and use that 860gt for physx (if it can).

+20 to the top intake. That's how I run my case. Front bottom intake, front top intake, psu exhaust rear, exhaust and then push/pull TRUE.



It used to be two intakes on the top, but I got a new psu and it no longer fits two, but the front 120 remains in place. I now looks like:



In that picture, you can see where the top fans were.

EarthDog said:

A giant +1.

That hotspot you defined...does it matter? There isnt a component even up there except for the optical, and who cares about that.

I would also make that side panel exhaust an intake blowing directly on to your cooler... and like Neb said, reverse the rear to exhaust. You have little case FLOW in this configuration.

Also, why the 8600gt in the main PCIe slot? Swap them around and use that 860gt for physx (if it can).

Click to expand...

The hotspot may not matter. I am thinking about buillding a case like the exoframe on OC.com frontpage.

I will test the advised fan directions and get back with temps.

The GTS 250 will not fit in pciex16_1 the back of the board hits the hdd conectors; As it is, I had to switch my raid from 1&2 to 5&6 because 1&2 are blocked by the GTS250. My bios gives me the option to choose the primary video pciex16_1 or pciex16_2.

The 8600 gt is set for physx.

Looking for my screwdriver.

Thankyou MUCHO all.
Same low but 46ºC high same loads. HiGhFiVe

edit 49ºC high; still good though.

4*C ain't bad for a nice hole. Looks great and the temp drop is always welcome.

Realy nicely made mod you got there, but yeah I run my 300 with dual front intakes, side intake blowing on my GPU and top, rear and GPU exhaust. My 300 is god damn wind tunnel.

Your fan is not mounted as an exhaust, like in your picture here:
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab188/wbpayne/mounteddooropen.jpg

That is set as intake.

thideras said:

Your fan is not mounted as an exhaust, like in your picture here:
http://i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab188/wbpayne/mounteddooropen.jpg

That is set as intake.

Click to expand...

You are correct. I realized my mistake and turned it around after the picture.

I have since returned it to intake.