new intake fan in front

[bigray791g]

i want to install a new fan in front of my case and i was just wondering where to begin because i think it might need some modifications.

fan is a 140mm and case is an hafx

i want to mount it in place of the 4 bottom bays. its a pretty tight fit horizontally so fan mount isnt really an option unless its 142mm large lol

i never modded any case so im asking if anyone knows where to start or if someone has seen anyone install a 140mm there (seen a couple 120mm installs with mounts though)

ive tried tiewraps but it doesnt seem to fit...

im thinking some sort of ''L-shaped'' brackets maybe, i dunno ... would that work ?

any ideas ?

 

[TransformedBG]

what case do you have?

 

[bigray791g]

hafx

 

[magellan]

Intel and AMD did some studies that suggested front, bottom intake fans in cases did practically nothing for CPU temps -- but that was for older cases/CPU's and didn't consider high heat load video cards.

 

[bigray791g]

Intel and AMD did some studies that suggested front, bottom intake fans in cases did practically nothing for CPU temps -- but that was for older cases/CPU's and didn't consider high heat load video cards.

so where do you get your air intake? top ? lol

on a more serious note, are you suggesting i put intake in the back and throw the air out in the front ? im really confused about your message...

anyway, that didnt really help but thanks for info

edit. i just reread all of this and maybe my op wasnt really clear in the first place. The new fan would go sit in place of the top front bays, where you usually put cd/dvd/etc. The HAFX case has 6 of those so i would like to put it in place of the 4 that are at the bottom...

i might just use glue or epoxy to put the 4 bay covers together then the fan to them, sounds good or anyone has a better idea ? (or could recommend a type of glue/epoxy/something like that... ?) ?

 

[magellan]

so where do you get your air intake? top ? lol

I don't have any intake fans. My CPU fan is shrouded and has a filter assembly
that pushes it pretty close to the front of my case so that's where it gets it's air from.

I have one 120x38mm high power Delta fan attached to my video card heatsink that is really close to the intake fan grill on the bottom of my case, that's about the closest thing I have to an intake fan in my case.

Mounting a front intake fan in my case would be such a PITA I just left it out.

 

[RnRollie]

just keep the fan in place with some velcro/sound dampening material
only the visible part needs to look good

 

[EarthDog]

Intel and AMD did some studies that suggested front, bottom intake fans in cases did practically nothing for CPU temps -- but that was for older cases/CPU's and didn't consider high heat load video cards.

Having proper airFLOW is key to getting the best temperatures. A general rule of thumb people agree on for most cases:

Front/sides = intake
Top/rear = exhaust

I prefer to have more exhaust than intake, but that debate is never ending so it is up to you on that. What we can agree on is having 'positive pressure' (more intake than exhaust) helps keep dust from coming in the cracks of your case.

 

[bigray791g]

yeah Earth, thats what i have been reading and trying to achieve, hence why i want to add more intake since i added some extra exhaust on top to keep my rad as cool as possible.

this will need some good testing and tweaking through pwm control. at least thats what im expecting since i might have a bit too much exhaust, but will see.

anyway, original post was about asking if anyone knows of a good way to mount that extra fan in front. again, its a 140mm trying to fit into the front top bays.

my idea is pretty much made up though, will be using some epoxy and add some sort of latex for a more lasting effect. will let you know when its done and i hope i dont mess it up with the glue'ish stuff ^^

downside is itd be pretty hard to undo if i ever want to mod this again grrr

ill probably be painting some of those bay cover mesh'es while im still thinking about it

 

[ehume]

so where do you get your air intake? top ? lol

Yes, actually. I have a top intake on my current rig, and I had one on my previous rig.

edit. i just reread all of this and maybe my op wasnt really clear in the first place. The new fan would go sit in place of the top front bays, where you usually put cd/dvd/etc.

In this thread I show how I 1st put a 120mm fan in my 5.25" bay. Then I show how I swapped in a 140mm fan.

As a bonus, you can see my top intake fan.

just keep the fan in place with some velcro/sound dampening material
only the visible part needs to look good

Velcro is great. In item 6 of my sig in OCN (reachable through the link in the comment above) I demonstrate a couple of ways to use Velcro to fasten fans.

BTW -- moving air from the lower front to the upper rear causes the air to pass warm motherboard components. In the old days, motherboard components needed cooling at least as much as CPU's and GPU's. But these days, not so much. That's why I like to get my airflow from the closest external source -- it's cooler. Hence, top intake.

Air doesn't go upward when there is a fan involved. Air goes where you push it.

 

[magellan]

Fans add heat to a system, not only because of the resistive load of the fan's motor but by the mere fact a fan increases the kinetic energy of the air being passed through it.

One motherboard component that probably requires active cooling these days are VRM's.

In the rackmount server systems I've seen airflow is always directed at high heat load components, it's not just blown into the chassis. Of course, they don't use water cooling either and usually have required ambient, operating temperatures.

 

[EarthDog]

Fans add heat to a system, not only because of the resistive load of the fan's motor but by the mere fact a fan increases the kinetic energy of the air being passed through it.

Fans add heat to a system, not only because of the resistive load of the fan's motor but by the mere fact a fan increases the kinetic energy of the air being passed through it.

While this is technically true, it is also irrelevent. Most fans are not even close to an Amp's worth of power. So anywhere between 3-6W for most fans (there are of course exceptions). That amount of heat dump is really but a drop int he bucket in the overall picture. Also, I have tested this before with a temp sensor before and after the fan. While the tool I used is not incredibly accurate, the temperature differences were within the margin of error (tenths of a degree it displays note).

One motherboard component that probably requires active cooling these days are VRM's.

Depends on the board really. Most do not unless you are overclocking an AMD FX or using the X79 platform.

In the rackmount server systems I've seen airflow is always directed at high heat load components, it's not just blown into the chassis. Of course, they don't use water cooling either and usually have required ambient, operating temperatures.

True also... but is there really a choice in a rackmount? No. I work in a Data Center and have a CDCDP. The required ambient, I'm sure you would be surprised, is a wide range of temperatures that are acceptable. In this industry we mostly use standards published by ASHRAE. As you can see there, temperatures of up to 27C (80F+) are well within range (reccommeded). It has been a looooong time since the old 72F was the maximum was the norm and DC's were iceboxes. The green movement and hardware tolerances are the root cause for the range increasing.

 

[bigray791g]

i feel like this thread has been taken over by people very more technical than me...

i dont want to build a server or anything so maybe some could move this thread to ''Case and Case modding'' forum ?

Please

 

[EarthDog]

This is the right section.. the section you refer to is about modding cases, not cooling. Excuse the server talk...but your answers are littered throughout the thread minus those posts.

 

[magellan]

I just read the specs on the IBM x3550 systems and ED was right, the ambient operating
temps are a lot wider than I figured they were.

I've never been in a DC that wasn't too cold to stay in without a jacket, or too loud to want to stay in at all.

I see ED's point on a fan's insignificant contribution to heat load.