# Cutting hole and adding intake



## Partholon (Feb 16, 2008)

I have an old case that i really like and am kinda nostalgic about so i hate to get rid of it. its a "micro atx" case making it the perfect size for the small spot on my dest that it sits.

the problem is, i recently put a newer CPU in it (athlon 2x core) and have noticed that the entire thing is getting kinda hot and after a while is restarting. this thing has only one case fan and its on the back blowing out.

the side pannel of the case has vent slits on it and i was thinking that i could just cut out all the slits, and mount a spare fan that i have to the hole as an intake. This would align the new fan pointing almost directly dead on to the CPU fan/heatsink. 

Would this remedy my heat problem? or is there a better idea someone maybe has? i am a fairly experienced metal worker so i am 100% confident that i can cut nice and neatly likely leaving the whole thing with a "stock" look.

Usually what i see is people putting an intake fan on the bottom front of the computer case, however this computer has USB and Fireware in the bottom front so theres no place to stick a fan.


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## MrChooks (Apr 19, 2008)

:wave: I am not a whizz at case mods - but if you are planning on putting an intake (pushing) fan in the place where intake air normally enters it should be fine. After all - all you are proposing is to replace a "passive" air intake with an "active" (fan assisted) air intake. The net effect should be to increase the overall airflow thru your case and with a bonus of focusing some cool intake air on to your CPU

The real trick is to ensure that you maintain a constant air flow direction thru the case - so that all the exhaust (hot) air is discharged in one general area (like the rear of your case) - that way you minimise the risk of "dead spots" (where the air doesn't move much) or even worse, set up a situation where multiple fans work against one another :4-thatsba.

At the end of the day - you have little to loose - so it's got to be worth a try.


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## Partholon (Feb 16, 2008)

here's a crude paint pic of my layout, which of the three suggest spots (a, b or C,) do you think would be the most beneficial location drill and mount? or somewhere better?

maybe the side window one lower to cool my video card? man im clueless...


http://www.postyourimage.com/view_image.php?img_id=L94bBHr2K2Afc9o1222034564


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## MrChooks (Apr 19, 2008)

:wave: OK 1st off - you are not clueless - getting air to flow properly around all the obstructions inside a computer case is always going to be a bit of a "black art" for everyone:sigh:

You have all exhaust flow is toward the rear of the case, that's good and you need to maintain that - so any additional fans must be intakes (pushing)

I presume site "C" is directly over your CPU - so that will give you the "draught" over the CPU. BUT, you would get a better all round airflow by siting one at "B"- but I guess that wouldn't give you the directed flow over your CPU. - I guess it's a bit of "suck it & see" exercise. 

If you are game and can put up with the extra noise and have the space - maybe you could look at a smaller (lower cfm) intake fan at site C and a larger one at site B

"A" is not a good place for an additional fan as it would likely cause a real dead spot towards the front of the case.

Hope this helps


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

The size of a fan used would depend more on the physical space available to make a mount. Get fans with speed control such as the Antec TriCool. That one has a 3 speed switch on a few inch piece of wire. Kind of a pain adjusting the speed, as you have to remove the side cover to do so, but once you find the best combination for cooling you'd be good to go. Higher the fan speed makes for more noise though, that's always a consideration. Also the smaller a fan is, the higher rpm's it normally turns at which makes for more noise too, and the real small ones can have a quite high pitched whine. Irritating, if you ask me. Big fans running slow give you lots of air movement and plenty of cfm. I've got 6 120mm. fans, 1 200mm., an Antec SpotCool, and another 120 on my cpu heatsink. All running at low speed, can barely hear it, just a low whoosh.


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## Partholon (Feb 16, 2008)

thanks for the tips, great responses.

what i have on hand is a 120mm fan and an 80mm fan. the 80 is a SilenX IXP and the 120 i have no idea as it has no stickers on it (was my roommates and he peeled it off and replaced it with some glow-in-the-dark spiral sticker)

What if i were to put the 120mm in slot "C" (yes pointed directly at the CPU) and the 80mm in slot "B" (which would be pointed almost directly at the Hard drive, sorry i didn't label that on my diagram)

I don't think that the 120 will fit on the bottom as its a relatively narrow case, but i can take the measurements if you guys think that's ideal.

Sound is literally non issue as i have headphones on 99% of the time when im at my computer and our office has a mini-fridge in it that creates a high frequency non-stop buzz anyhow (and i'll stop using a computer all together before i get rid of that fridge!)


oh, one more question. with all this new airflow do i have to worry about dust and junk getting sucked into my computer? I heard somewhere that dryer sheets and panty hose remnants make worthy make-shift filters, is this necessary/advised?


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## MrChooks (Apr 19, 2008)

:wave: Right On wrt the bar fridge - maybe some day some appliance whiz will develop a bar fridge with a computer in it!!! - now that would be really usefull gadget :laugh:

Probably better for the bigger fan to be at "B", but in the end - it probably wont make a big difference - so if space / clearances are tight - do whichever is easiest.

Yes - a gauze strainer (not too fine - else you stall out the fan and it will just "stew" the air) will help collect the larger dust particles - just make sure that whatever you use doesn't interfere with the fan blades and that it can be relatively easily removed to be cleaned - coz once blocked with dust it is worse than useless.:4-thatsba

Regardless - you will still need to occassionally give your computer's gutz a clean out with a mini vacuum and a can of compressed air - especially around the CPU heatsink and fan.


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## Partholon (Feb 16, 2008)

is it okay if i have the power to the fans coming from the same wire as the Hard Drive? If not, i'll have to totally rerun all my wiring as the rest of them are behind the mother board.


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

Yes, that is acceptable.


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## Partholon (Feb 16, 2008)

Alright so i got my 120inch installed and lookin pretty on my side vent rite above the CPU, temps are drastically lower.

BUT, upon testing i realized that my 80mm fan is dead. i'm glad that i didn't start drilling and cutting slot "B" yet.

Am i going to have a problem with no-air-flow in the front of the case now? im kinda worried about my Hard Drive.... should i be or is it safe?

it seems like my new fan in slot "C" is blowing nicely onto the CPU and that air is being sucked out by the preinstalled rear fan which is all good and well but does that leave a dangerous dead spot in the front? I could just order a new fan from newegg but that would take a while to get here and i need my PC now!


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## MrChooks (Apr 19, 2008)

Well done on the project - pretty quick work there.

I am no expert - but I would guess that there will still be enough air movement at the front of the case for the time being unless you have some really heavy heat emitting gear up there.

Magnet and others will know and hopefully come in and tell you how to monitor the temps of any gear at the front of the case.

But as you are using a smallish case and air circulation is always a bit of an issue with them - if it were mine & just for completeness-I would still order the front fan and install it - that should ensure there is plenty of air all thru the case.


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## Partholon (Feb 16, 2008)

I have no classes on Mondays and i was up early so i put that together this morning :grin: it was exceptionally easy, but i still have to work out a grill of some sort.


I really don't know what to look for with Hard drive temps, as of rite now PC Wizard 2008 is telling me that the Hard Disk is at 38c. The computer has been on for about 2 hours but not doing anything particularly stressful.

Is that safe temp? what number should i look for that is a blatant *DANGER DANGER DANGER!* ? and is pc wizard even accurate when it comes to this?


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## MrChooks (Apr 19, 2008)

As I mentioned - I am no expert on PC component temps - so we will have to wait till Magnet wakes up - but 38c is no more than a hot day here - so I can't really imagine that it would hurt a HDD and the like.

From my little knowledge on component temp issues - I think the CPU and graphics cards are the ones that get "antsi" about temps and if they are all cool - then should be OK


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

MrChooks said:


> As I mentioned - I am no expert on PC component temps - so we will have to wait till Magnet wakes up - but 38c is no more than a hot day here - so I can't really imagine that it would hurt a HDD and the like.
> 
> From my little knowledge on component temp issues - I think the CPU and graphics cards are the ones that get "antsi" about temps and if they are all cool - then should be OK


haha. I'm in college myself (univ texas arlington).

really, hard drives are har as heck to get hot. Out of all the amny (including very old) hard drives i've used, only one quit working due to heat (it seized the bearing). It was the origional HDD from my dad's dell 4700. My mom's (formerly mine) 4600 and my dad's 4700 both run hot on the hard drives because of the small case- i'm thinking my dad's was a fluke, but i also say they both run hot. I added fans however i could when i had the 4600, and didnt really help HDD temps any. I my antec 900, where all the HDD's have 120mm fans blowing directly over them, i'm at 26, 28, and 28 C. So 38 is up there, yes, but expected for a lack of air flow.

Rule of thumb: if you can't touch it while running, it's too hot ;P


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## stressfreesoul (Mar 17, 2008)

38 is good, Replace it if it stays above 50 most of the time.


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

stressfreesoul said:


> 38 is good, Replace it if it stays above 50 most of the time.


not true 100% of the time. The small cases afect it alot. As I said, both my parents 4600 and 4700 dell's run HDD's in the mid to high 40's C, and both HDD's are fairly new. Just a matter o how much air can be fed to the drives.


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## stressfreesoul (Mar 17, 2008)

True. Mines a low RPM (below 1000) and the HDDs are presently at 38. The room is mega warm though, I could probably bring all temps down by 10 degrees if I open the window (its that cold outside tonight!!).


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## Partholon (Feb 16, 2008)

It's been a few days sense ive started the project, and i never did get to the bottom intake. 

With just the side intake i modded in temps are drastically lower. I think my next step will be to move the "built in" USB and Firewire slots from the front bottom to the Floppy drive slot. Part of me hates to get rid of the ol' A: drive but i think its safe to say its officially obsolete. 

I've made the measurements and the plastic surrounding the USB/Firewire jack is about a 1/2 a centimeter too big, i'm thinking ill have the head room to "trim" it.

If all goes according to plan,I'll be cutting a hole in the soon-to-be-empty USB spot for another 80mm fan.

stay tuned!

Once I'm 100% complete i'll post a picture. Wish I took a "before"


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## stressfreesoul (Mar 17, 2008)

Not obsolete, just almost. Id keep one as spare, just in case. Doesnt take much to hook it back in when you need it.


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

stressfreesoul said:


> Not obsolete, just almost. Id keep one as spare, just in case. Doesnt take much to hook it back in when you need it.


I keep a USB floppy around


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## stressfreesoul (Mar 17, 2008)

Or one of those.


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## Partholon (Feb 16, 2008)

I kept that old floppy around for so long because for the longest time the only version of XP that i owned was the "upgrade" version and thus couldn't install fresh. 

i would install oldschoool windows 98 (needing a boot disk) and then upgrade from there.



back to relevance-


I'm considering removing that fan and getting an even bigger one. i dont mind recutting the sheet metal. I read somewhere that larger fans are actually less noisy, is this true? In theory i would think that larger fan blades can push the same air at a lower speed thus less sound, but i dont know how it works out.

suggestion on large (but not absurdly so!) fan to install?


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## stressfreesoul (Mar 17, 2008)

Less noise and more air moved. Yes its true. Antec do a Tricool "Big Boy" 200mm. Tricool being adjustable, so you can have it normal or extra chilly.


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

you have the antec big boy, the performance-pcs.com 250mm fans, or the thermaltake fans, also from performance-pcs.com, that is very quiet, has spots for 5mm leds to fit (but leds are not included). the performance-pcs.com fans include leds already, and the big boy does not have led provisions at all. also the big boy is actually rectangular and more expensive as to fit the way they installed it in the 900 and 1200 cases.


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## Fewmitz (Feb 6, 2008)

You could sort of circumvent the entire problem by just removing the side panel. Heat wouldn't get trapped that. Admittedly putting in a fan would cool it better, but I'm all about simplicity.


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## Partholon (Feb 16, 2008)

removing the side panel is just asking for tons of dust (i also have a dog, and i dont think dog-hair is PC friendly) I currently have a makeshift filter over the intake just because i dont want to have to clean my computer every two weeks. 

Ill take a look at the fan you guys suggested, i dont care about LEDs ive decided. Frankly i dont like them at all, looks tacky.

Any thoughts about pci-slot fan things? i dont know much about them but i guess they just get put in an empty slot? wouldnt that be good for my video card too? i havent overclocked it yet but i'de be interested in trying.

I had an evga 7600gt that had swollen capasators (sp?) i sent it in and they sent me back an 8600gts (big upgrade from my little bit of benchmarking) I have to read up on video card temps because i dont know what the safe levels are but i can prob squeeze at least some performance out of it. As of rite now i can run oblivion at max settings with butter framerates (indoors) but it does slag up a bit outside.


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

that sure was nice of eVGA. 

I've used a dual PCI slot cooler, it worked for my situation (an mATX case with only 1 fan) till i could get the 900.


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## Partholon (Feb 16, 2008)

Well... it turns out that my video card is running hot. like - really hot. Ive googled it and its not uncommon for this card to do that. It is the Evga 8600 GTS SSC edition - as in its pre-overclocked extremely high.

The side intake I modded in is too high and isn't blowing any air toward my PCI-X card. with no room in the front to mount a fan im out of options.

Just curious - if i were to put an old 80mm fan and kinda mount it hanging-ish from the harddrive bay and have it blowing toward the graphics card would this help at all? It would only be blowing air thatss already in the case onto the card but i was wondering if this would maybe stimulate airflow to a positive degree. 

For the time being i have simply under-clocked the video card (by the way its still runs great even so)



(instantaneous edit) i cant do anymore case cutting until i go back to my parents house, that's where all the tools are. which is why I'm trying to jerry-rig something for the time being.


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

Partholon said:


> Well... it turns out that my video card is running hot. like - really hot. Ive googled it and its not uncommon for this card to do that. It is the Evga 8600 GTS SSC edition - as in its pre-overclocked extremely high.
> 
> The side intake I modded in is too high and isn't blowing any air toward my PCI-X card. with no room in the front to mount a fan im out of options.
> 
> ...


What's the temp? 65C is about it for idle on any gfx.


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## stressfreesoul (Mar 17, 2008)

A house fan (prob been mentioned already) is a quick cooler. Powerful too. I blast mine in the middle of summer when any temps go above 50 (but thats cos Im paranoid and fussy)


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