Case mod - fan placement okay?

[jlee]

I have an Inwin Q500N full tower with 3 80mm Sunon high-speed fans now. I am adding two 120mm Deltas in the side panel, blowing onto the motherboard/processor area, and two 92mm Delta blowholes on top. I will probably put all 3 80mms to exhaust, to try and keep up with the 120mm fans.

What I want to check on *before* I cut into this case, is if my fan placement is okay.

Side panel 1 The circles are where the fans will go - one above the other, on the left side of the panel.

Side panel 2 The fans will be on the left side, blowing on the motherboard/processor area.

Top panel 1 You can see the pencil lines where the 92mm fans will go. Sorry its so light..if my desktop system's hard drive didn't die a few minutes ago, I could photoshop it and make it darker..sorry

Top panel 2 That's what's below the top panel. The hard drive sitting there is what I backed up my data with, it's not staying there.


I may add a second power supply just for the fans (until I get a 431 Antec or something..heh). I have a 200w AT power supply which I may install on top of my current power supply. Aside from cutting the back panel to allow the power cord to plug in, can you see any potential problems with a setup like that? The power supply has a rocker switch, so I could turn the fans off from the front panel, which would be convenient (I don't want to make a fanbus just yet, and there's no way I'm going to afford one).
The power supply will fit under the rear 92mm fan, but there isn't a whole lot of room between them. I really want two blowholes on top, though...

Blowhole + 2nd PS

Blowhole + 2nd PS pic 2

 

[MrThompson]

The pic links show 404 errors. I would suggest using cardboard side panels with your fans to check the airflow and temps before you cut your case.

 

[jlee]

Links are up now. My hard drive just died a few minutes ago, and I had to switch to my laptop and upload the images.

Trying with cardboard would be good, I guess. Any other thoughts, though? Someone must've modded a Q500 sometime..

What do you think about the second power supply?

 

[MrThompson]

The blowholes in the top will divert airflow from the motherboard area and actually raise your motherboard temps. Unless you have a radiator there or some really hot drives in the upper bays, you may not even want an exhaust fan above your PSU. Make sure your PSU has a fan in the bottom to help suck the hot air off the CPU HSF. Although it's built for water cooling, my Q500 has very good airflow. Case temps are within 1C of room temp. You can take a look at it and find a link to modding your front panel for better airflow here.

 

[jlee]

That link was for a mid-tower, btw.

My hard drive died, so I can't do temp tests now..I'm on my notebook.

Having 2 120mm intake wouldn't be any better than one? Now, I'm thinking of this:

120mm intake, side panel - where should be be blowing..right between the video card/processor?

92mm intake, front panel..? Probably won't do that just yet.

What about adding an 80 or 92mm fan to the underside of my current power supply, blowing air up through it, and exhausting it out the rear? There are vents in the underside of the PS, but I don't think there's a fan there.

Installing the second power supply, with no blowholes on top. I will lose the 80mm fan above the current PS, though, and probably add more heat to the system.. Would a single 92mm blowhole be good for that, or no? What do you think about an exhaust on the right side panel (right if you're facing the front of the case, so it should continue some of the air flow from the 120mm intake), pulling air from the area between the power supplies and drive bays?

Then again, if I only have a couple more fans, my current 300w will probably run it fine, don't you think? Duron 750, 2 20gb Deskstar 60GXPs (coming), DVD, CD-RW (coming), Kyro II, etc..

Ideas and opinions are quite welcome...this is getting cut Saturday (aviation mechanic friend is doing it for me), and I want this to work fairly well

 

[jlee]

Any thoughts? I can't check any temps, as I just RMA'ed my HDD, and the ones I bought didn't arrivce today, like they were supposed to

 

[MrThompson]

The link to Bench Test is based on a mid tower. The important part is the front bezel drilling. If you do it right, you will increase the airflow over no bezel at all. I have done this with success to several sizes of Q series cases.

If it were my case, I would put a 120 in a blowhole focused on the video and expansion cards and a 120 in front with the drilled out bezel. Exhaust fans would be limited to the PSU and 80 mm fan next to the motherboard tray. If you have an exhaust fan above the PSU, some of the airflow will be directed around your motherboard, your CPU and motherboard temps will go up. It?s worked this way for every full tower system I have built. Put your system together and leave the exhaust fan above your PSU on and check your motherboard temps. Then unplug it, your motherboard temps will drop.

Should you decide to add a blowhole focused on your HD cage, you may want to have an exhaust fan above your PSU to balance the airflow. If you do, put a rheostat or LM317T voltage regulator on the exhaust fan, as you will want to tune it for the best temps.

Adding a 92mm fan to the bottom of your PSU will work. I do this to my favorite 400 watt PSUs. You will probably need to cut some of the sheet metal under where the PSU mounts on your Q500. I cut the grillwork out in the Q500 PSU mount for better airflow on every Q500 I have built.

Unless you have a whole bunch of drives, your 300 watt PSU will probably be fine.

 

[jlee]

So, nothing blowing on the processor? I suppose that a decent HSF wouldn't require any extra airflow on it....lol - I only have a retail HSF now..but I really want a better one. Any recommendations on the most cost-effecient Socket-A HSF? I'm low on $ now.

So..one 120mm on the expansion cards, and that's the only things I should cut on the outside of the case? Add a 92mm feeding air into the PS, a 120mm front intake..leave the 80mm by the mobo tray as exhaust, and that's it? That's not much exhaust for 200+cfm intake..

 

[MrThompson]

You got it. Positive pressure in a case is good. The excess air will flow out the vents and the drives, providing you filter your intakes, your drives will stay fairly clean. Bare in mind, my airflow studies on full towers were done with the benefit of variable speed control for each fan. This allows you to learn a lot by tuning the airflow in the case. A 120 mm intake in the front is given. As I suggested, try a cardboard mock up on the left side panel with a second 120 mm fan. You don?t want the blowhole focused on your CPU HSF as it may actually decrease the HSFs efficiency. Leave the exhaust fan above your PSU in place. Check your motherboard temps with and without the exhaust fan over your PSU running. I believe you will find it?s not necessary. My guess is you can get by with quiet Panaflow 86 CFM 120mm L1As for the intakes. There is no need to turn your case into a hovercraft although many would suggest you do. Lest you doubt this, take a look at some of the high-end servers. Many of the cases with Quake graphics and lots of fans were put together with lots of heart and enthusiasm and little science or practical engineering. Proper airflow is all about balance.

 

[MrThompson]

I forgot the HSF. On the cheap, the Akura is outstanding and has a great cam lock mechanism. I hope the new Asus dualy board will have room for the Akura as it is my current favorite of all the ones I have played with. If anyone else reading this thinks I have sold out, my dual pelt Athlon rig will remain in place, still dedicated to extreme speed.

 

[jlee]

Well, I already have two 120mm 131cfm Deltas, so I might just run them at 5v - a new HSF is higher on my list than new fans

What do you think of the WBK38? I can get one locally for $25. Do you have a product page for the Akura handy, and how much does it usually go for?

If I were to put two 120mm side intakes without blowing on the processor, I would probably have to put them side by side. That probably wouldn't help much, as the front intake fan is already sucking air in through the front. Then again, I'm new, and I don't really know much about this

 

[virtuamike]

I have the same case, been planning my mods for a while. Here's the plans I have for my case:

1. Cut open front bezel, add grill. Mount 3 80mm Panaflo's as intake fans, duct them to critical areas (1 to RAM, 1 to video card, 1 to sound card).
2. Mount 2 92mm Panaflo's on side of case, both positioned over the PCI slots to exhaust hot air.
3. Duct running from rear fan mount (below PS) to CPU heatsink (Alpha 8045), will be sucking cool air in from the outside and blowing onto the heatsink.
4. Remove hard drive cage, cut and mount above PS. Cut out top rear panel, have 2 80mm Panaflo's as intake fans to cool hard drives.
5. Have 120mm Panaflo on top of case, exhaust all the hot air in the top of the case.

Depending on how much dust gets into the system I might have the fans in #1 exhaust and the fans in #2 as intakes, we'll see. Also plan on cutting windows into the top and side, fans will be mounted onto the windows. As far as interior mods, I'm running all rounded cables (ATA100, LVD, SCSI-2, floppy) and I've begun doing custom work on the power cables. I'll post some pics as I make more progress. The Q500's are great cases to work with, plenty of room and lots of options.

 

[MrThompson]

CadetLee - The Global Win is a good HSF if you can stand the whine of the Delta. Here is one review of the Akura. Unfortunately it's related to the dismal ThermoEngine. You can find lots of information on it by doing a Google search for "Arkua 6128."

virtuamike - Please read the Bench Test article I referenced. The solution outlined there is much more efficient than cutting a large hole in the front bezel. There is no need to turn your case into a hovercraft. Take a look at the link on how I cooled my first Q500. It's relatively quiet and only one 51 CFM 92 mm fan in a blowhole is needed to keep four 7200 RPM IBM drives and one 5200 RPM drive nice and cool. At this writing, I have built a bunch of Q series cases. While my recommendations may be contrary to what you see in all the case mod galleries, they are well thought out and work.

 

[jlee]

So I should be set with 120mm front intake, 120mm side, and 92mm under the PS? Thanks - I appreciate your help

 

[virtuamike]

The reason I wanted to clear out the front was because I never liked the look of holes running up the side of my case. By opening up the bezel, I'd get practically the same results as not having the front bezel on at all. I guess my mod plans for the lower portion of the case are a little overkill, maybe I'll try it with just 1 92mm intake on the side and 2 80mm exhausts on the front, or the other way around. I'm still proceeding with my plans to move the hard drive cage though. I run 2 10k RPM SCSI drives and those things just burn up. 1 or 2 80mm fans blowing over them will cool things down a lot, but I didn't want the air warmed by the blowing over the drives to get anywhere near the CPU/mobo/video, that's why they're going up top. Also the reason I'm going with such a huge amount of fans is because I plan on running all Panaflo's, trying to keep every fan at or under 30dba. That means the 80mm fans will only move 24cfm, which isn't very much compared with what everyone else is running. A 120mm quiet Panaflo moves 69cfm and a 92mm moves 43cfm so those are the numbers I'm working with, trying to keep pressure as equal as I can. Positive I guess will be ok, trying to avoid negative though, plus with all the ducting I'm hoping to cut down on turbulence as much as possible. I guess the only way to find out is to try it, I'll take temps as I make progress. The goal here is quiet, cool, and clean, tough but I think it can be done.

 

[jlee]

I'm not too terribly concerned about noise..but it should be okay if I run everything at 5v.
One 120mm hole in the side panel...much easier than I thought it would be - I was originally planning on four holes

Any last thoughts/ideas before I do this?

 

[aka1nas]

I've also been planning to mod my Q500. So far, I've dremeled out one of the 5.25 bezels and installed a Compunurse probe attached to my CPU.(Did you know that if you put the contact of the probe on the Tbird's die, it fries just as fast as if it had no Heatsink?:QThe LCD read 20C, then 40, then 80, then XXX) I would like to minimize the noise, so I'd would probably just add a blowhole on top. I did add a bunch of Antec coolers, including one of those blue card coolers. I also am using a 5 1/4 bay HD cooler, so that gives me a little more intake. I was also thinking of adding Dynamat to parts of the case, to quiet it down a little. Those darn Deltas get noisy! What else do you guys reccomend?

 

[aka1nas]

Grrr, that was too confusing, I'll just post a pic.

 

[MrThompson]

Whatever you guys do to your Q500s, I wish you luck. Here's a link to an Akura review done by AMD Motherboards today. The cure for the Delta whine.

 

[jlee]

Thanks MrThompson - you helped me out quite a bit.

I'll put one 120mm directed at the AGP/PCI area, and eventually add the 120mm front intake and 92mm under the PS. For now, just a single 120mm in the side, and I'll see how it works out.

Thanks again
-CadetLee

 

[spamsk8r]

A single 120mm fan in the side should be fine, thats what I have in my antec, along with a 92mm front duct, 80mm exhaust below the psu, and 92mm blowhole on top, and it cools great