Antec SX630II

[White Rain]

http://www.antec-inc.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=80632#

This is the case I have and I was wondering about ways to cool it better, currently using stock fans and whatnot. I won't quote what I have running in it currently because temps are fine, but I'm wanting to start improving cooling for a future upgrade.

I'm wanting to use 120mm fans, prolly
http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/fan-18.html

Also, being I am only using one hard drive and one cdrom, nothing else in the bays I was thinking of getting an adapter for the harddrive so it will go in the 5.25 bay and then remove the removable 3.5 bay for added airflow.

Not sure as to what powersupply I am going to end up with yet.

Most likely going to be getting an AMD FX-55, an SLI motherboard, and 2 top of the line nvidia cards.

74gig raptor, and been thinking about
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-131-328&depa=0
for the CDROM

For a heatsink I want to get the XP-120 if it will fit the motherboard I pick, and using another one of those fans I listed above on it.


Any suggestions?

Currently using a dual fan cooler in one of the 5.25 slots but would rather replace that w/ a blowhole and another 120mm

I've never done any modding before or anything of the sort so plz give me an explination along w/ your solution if there's any doubt that I might not understand what you are talking about.

 

[White Rain]

Eh.. Bump


Anyone have any tips they could share? If you follow the link it has the case right there, click on the picture of it and a window will pop up letting you see the inside and whatnot.

 

[syberspy9]

Ok well if you are going to buying all that gear i have to say why not go out and but a Antec SLK3700BQE??? it holds 120mm fans its big and hides cables well.
i have pics of my case if you want.

But if you are going to but the 3700 or keep the case this should be done regardless:

cut out the front and rear fan grills (if you want put a aftermarket grill on the rear but the front you dont need a grill.
this will bring down the noise and up the airflow.


now if your going with the 3700 case i recomend then this is what you want to do:
(after fan grills are removed)

buy 5 of those 120mm panaflows (there really good fans)

buy a fan controller (that will fit when the door closes im thinking o the hardcano 12)
the hardcano 12 is a HD cooler, has temp sensors for your cpu and gpu, and also controlls fans.)

buy the xp120.

buy a good dual fan PSU (antec or enermax)

mount the fans:

1 rear
1 front
1 on xp120
1 blow hole
1 side panle

hook them up to the harcano 12 and bring the rpm down untell you find the noise is low enuf.

now it may sound liek alot of fans but this is thereson tthis setup is the best:
the fans are #1
the case is #1
the fan controller is #1
the HS is #1

you will be running large fans at lower RPM's thus needing less speed/noise to move air.

so your pc is nice and quite your cooling is great your hardware is top of the line.
when you dont need the cooling so mutch turn off the top and side fan.

(The Antec SLK3700BQE comes with a washable fillter for the front and this helps so mutch i havent even had to clean my case in 1 year i just clean the fillet every month)

but even though it will reduce air flow a bit i recomend buying a 120mm fan grill/fillter for the side 120mm (this way all your intake is fillterd and your case will be clean.


that is the best setup on air.

now if your going to keep that case i would say mount:
1 120mm on the top as a blow hole
1 120mm on the side.

cut the front and rear fan areas and make room for 92mm's

you should be able to mount 92mm in the front and rear

(but get a fan controller and bring down the RPM's so its not so loud.)

o and ya use a 120mm on the xp120 if u use your old case as well)

 

[White Rain]

Well the reason I have this case is my grandpa built a special desk on rollers basically and I have everything inside of it, prolly has a 2 foot by 2 foot bottom and is high enough for the keyboard tray to slide out and give me a comfortable typing height (mouse beside keyboard) while sitting on the couch, chair or loveseat in the front room.

The height of that case would need to be the same or smaller than the one I posted for it to work, if it is (i'm having problems finding the overall height of that case) it would work (if you know what it is please post it.)

Don't have enough room (small rental house) for a full sized computer desk w/o displacing most of the funiture hehe.

Was thinking could make enough room in the front for a 120mm in this case by taking out the removable 3.5 bay and using brackets to put my HDD in my 5.25 bay then dremel out the front to make enough room.

intake does have a filter and does keep my case quite clean, any intake fans I'd put in would need to have a filter because I've had this case dirty before and it does hurt temps.

 

[syberspy9]

yes fillters are the best (i love myn)
i didnt think you could fit a 120mm in the front of that case even with moding it but mabey.

as for my case ( antec slk3700bqe) i need to get the size tomorow it is 1:30 am and i looked around none in the house i dont want to go out right now so give me 12hr's

 

[White Rain]

yes fillters are the best (i love myn)
i didnt think you could fit a 120mm in the front of that case even with moding it but mabey.

as for my case ( antec slk3700bqe) i need to get the size tomorow it is 1:30 am and i looked around none in the house i dont want to go out right now so give me 12hr's

I made a 120mm x 120mm piece of cardboard and held it on the inside of my case in the front, I think it will work, barely but i think it will.

As for finding the size of your case to tell me .. Thank you, greatly appriciated.

 

[archilochus]

Solution Series SpecSheet Model SLK3700BQE
Case Dimensions 18.3"(H) x 8.25"(W) x 18.6"(D)


http://www.antec.com/specs/solu_slk3700BQE_spe.html

 

[White Rain]

Ah, Thank you, I'll measure my case to double check height, I can gain a couple inches (2 - 3) by removing the tray at the back of my keyboard shelf and moving the entire shelf up some to allow for decent exhaust from a vertical blowhole. The one thing I don't like about the case that you guys have been talking about is the side facing hard drive bay, is it removable? Seems to me it would be restricting a lot of airflow to cool the hard drives when I'd be needing the majority of airflow to cool the cpu, like I said on the other case I was going to use adapters to move my hard drive up to the 5.25 drive bays so I could take out the removable hard drive (3.5) bay and leave it out to get a better pathway for the air to travel.

 

[syberspy9]

Ya i was worried about that also but Its not a big deal if you want then just take out the HD racks your not using.

the side ways bays are one of the best things they have rubber mounts they let you hide your cables more its a great thing. here i will link you up with my case pics.

http://www.zippyimages.com/69667.html

thats not the most up to date pic but its good for now untill i finish my wireing
(need to re do the mobo power connector wire, vga and cpu fan wires.)

if you want any other pics form the front rear w/e i will take them for you. just say so =)

O ya thanx for the size Arch =)

 

[White Rain]

Is all the bays removable but the 5.25 ones? in reality all I need are 2 of those and get rid of the rest, I know you're stuck with the entire 5.25 enclosure but the sideways bays seem to be bolted/screwed down from that picture, and looks like the bay directly above it has a quick release?

Sure more pictures would be helpful for me to determine if I should go for that case or dremel the crap out of the one I currently have hehe

 

[archilochus]

Here's a pic after I removed both of my hdd cages...This is a Xaser III case...


please don't quote my pic.

 

[White Rain]

That's close to the effect I was going for, but what about the FDD? I'm not going to have mine installed, so could take that cage out as well, then use the 5.25 to 3.5 bay adapter to mount the hard drive with the CDrom in the 5.25 bay giving an even larger open space.

 

[archilochus]

Sounds like a plan..
Those are 92mm case fans, by the way.
This setup keeps my hdd cool..

 

[White Rain]

Well can always use a hard drive cooler with one of those little fans on the bottom of it, this way it keeps the ambient temp lower and the entire case cooler, cpu, gpu, psu, and hdd

If you got a bracket and moved your HDD up w/ the cdrom, and if you don't use it remove the FDD you'd have room for 2 120's easy up front, talk about nice airflow

Edit: 5:22pm cst 10/20/2004

Another way to mount your HDD is if it will fit and you don't want to remove your FDD cage could mount it under your FDD

 

[syberspy9]

the HD bays are removable (all of them, the parts that are above my HD)
yes the floppy bay comes out but why would you want it gone? thats where the floppy drive is.
you might not want a floppy but then fine you can remove the bay. here is a pic with all of the HD bays gone.

http://www.zippyimages.com/134845.html

 

[archilochus]

Syberspy, your rig looks nice...Clean wiring..

Sure more pictures would be helpful for me to determine if I should go for that case or dremel the crap out of the one I currently have hehe

I think the later one would be better..

 

[White Rain]

Dremel the crap out of the one I have? hehe would definately give me some much needed modding experiance, and I suppose I could always get the other case if I completely brutalize this one lol

 

[archilochus]

Thats an excellent idea..

 

[Electron Chaser]

Dremel the crap out of the one I have? hehe would definately give me some much needed modding experiance, and I suppose I could always get the other case if I completely brutalize this one lol

Absolutely, As a matter of fact I highly recommend it. After you do your first case mod you will come up with new ideas. Or see things that you would have changed. Often they are small items. Think of each case as a work in progress. Remember measure twice and cut once, I cannot stress that enough. You can always take more off but it is rather difficult to put it back.

 

[White Rain]

Thank you for your advice, I'll be sure to keep that in mind.