Choosing a Case and have some questions

[HOOfan 1]

I have just seen that the Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 is on sale at CompUSA this week for $149 ($199-$15 instant savings-$35 MIR) Even without the rebate that is the best price I have seen it for for this current week. When I first saw the case I thought it was an abomination, but it has really grown on me and I might just choose this sucker in the end. The only thing that worries me is the hard drive cooling considering this one doesn't have a front fan directed over the hard drives. I will be running 3 Harddrives (2 150GB raptors and a 3rd 7200 RPM drive). The overall cooling also concerns me. I will be using a Zalman 9700 HSF as well.

Other cases in my roundup include the Antec P182 and NZXT Zero. I have also given thought to the Silverstone TJ10, but I am not sure I want to spend $300+ on a case.

 

[Navid]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...f+Silver+Computer+Case

It seems like the PSU is installed at the bottom with intake, for a PSU with its intake fan at the bottom, at the bottom of the case.

May be you can confirm this by looking at it at the store. But, it looks like there is no space under the PSU.

I would not want to have any intake fan at the bottom of the case since it would suck in dust from the floor.
You may say that you vacuum regularly and there is no dust. The point is that no matter how dusty or clean your floor is, the closer to the floor the intake fans are, the more dust they will pull in.

You may decide to install the PSU upside down to have the intake fan at the top. I would not do that either. The PSU is not in a separate chamber. If you drop a screw while working in the case, it could fall inside the PSU!

Edit:
I missed something. It looks like the VGA duct will be on top of the PSU. So, it may be separated from the top of the case.
But, still, i would want to have the freedom to install the PSU in either orientation based on where the cables come out of my PSU. I don't w ant to have to install the PSU upside down because of the intake at the bottom.

 

[jonmcc33]

If hard drive cooling is your concern then the best option is the Antec Nine Hundred. My hard drives run 31C in it.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: HOOfan 1
The only thing that worries me is the hard drive cooling considering this one doesn't have a front fan directed over the hard drives. I will be running 3 Harddrives (2 150GB raptors and a 3rd 7200 RPM drive).

Hard drives do not generate as much heat as a CPU or a graphics card.
You just need air movement around them. They do not necessarily need a direct fan blowing at them. It does not hurt. But, it is not necessary either.

I have 3 Seagate SATA hard drives in the lower chamber of my P182 and I do not have a fan in front of them. I only have a fan behind them blowing air towards my PSU at the back.
The hard drives right now are at 37 degrees.
In a warm day when the drive is active (copying a very large file), the temperature may reach 40.

Mind you, neither of these is a Raptor. So, your temps may be higher. Or, you could increase the air flow (my fan runs at a low RPM).

 

[JBDan]

I think you would be fine in cooling the HD's. I've just read about 3 reviews on the case and it does indeed look very interesting. There is an intake vent that spans the bottem between the HD cage (near front of case) and the single intake fan (~6 inches back towards rear). I assume (which I dislike to do heh) the pressure from the 3 exhausts alone will pull in plenty of air to cool your HD setup. Plus you can direct the intakes' air direction towards the upper HD area which does have vent holes. The lower part does not, but again still has the bottem intake vent.

The bottem PSU vent is an awesome idea imo. I think it's great especially if your PSU has a 120/140mm fan intake setup. I would point it down. Will run exceptionally cool imo therefore rarely ramping fan up as well as extending it's life.

As for dust, your going to get it no matter what. There are filters. I don't see how the Cosmos would collect anymore dust then my P180 bottem intake does. It's within inches of each other.

The Antec P180/82 is by far the quietest, coolest case I have ever used. It's just plain kicka_s!

So, to answer your original question (hehe)....you'll be fine with your 2 rap's and single 7200 rpm'r. Good luck...I wanna hear how the Cosmos build goes if you go with it!

EDIT: By the way Hoo....welcome to the forums!

 

[Navid]

When you use a vacuum cleaner, you put the intake of the vacuum cleaner right on the carpet. If you raise the input up from the floor even by one inch, it will definitely not pull in as much dust.

The intake fan of P182 does not pull in as much dust as the intake fan of the PSU would if facing the floor at a 0.5" distance.

And for what? To keep the PSU cool?
What you need to cool is the CPU, the graphics card and the chipset.

There are PSUs out there like Seasonic that are designed to run slightly warm and they run absolutely quiet.

 

[HOOfan 1]

I would probably turnthe PSU upside down with the fan facing up anyway. I wouldn't worry about dropping a screw in there as I would have it laying on its side while working on it anyway, so I wouldn't be in any more danger of dropping a screw in a bottom mounted PSu with the fan up than I would doing it with a top mounted PSU with the fan down. As for dust I can't imagine it would pick up any more dust from the floor than would settle on the top and be taken in from the top fans. Hopefully the bottom and top intake fans have filters.

 

[Zepper]

CM is offering a free bracket for mounting another fan at the top of the HDD stack to any Cosmos owner who asks due to the perceived problem with HDD cooling.

.bh.

 

[HOOfan 1]

Originally posted by: Zepper
CM is offering a free bracket for mounting another fan at the top of the HDD stack to any Cosmos owner who asks due to the perceived problem with HDD cooling.

.bh.

I thought I had seen that mentioned somewhere, but wasn't sure if they were suggesting moving one of the existing fans or adding another. Also I was trying to figure out where it would fit because it looks rather tight above the HDD stack

 

[Zepper]

There is a diagram in the FAQ on the CM USA site.

.bh.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: Zepper
There is a diagram in the FAQ on the CM USA site.

.bh.

That's great information! Thanks, Zepper. :thumbsup:

Link to FAQ page.

It's still disappointing, however. B/C if you relocate or add a fan to the HD cage you LOSE TWO 5.25" bays! So much for my idea of having a SuperMicro drive cage in the bottom three slots and two optical drives above them.

Damn. The HD cooling issue completely kills this case for me. The rest of the case is a "10" but this brings it down to a "6" quite honestly.

 

[Zepper]

Well, there is the possibility to rig a fan at the bottom of the HDD stack, etc.. Almost always a way to work around the obstacles the case makers create. The lack of creative thinking around here really disturbs me, but then, I grew up before the world of atari and even TV was absent for the early formative years - we had to create our own fun...

.bh.

 

[MichaelD]

Just a thought...in a $200 case, I shouldn't have to "rig or get creative" with anything.

I speak loudest w/my wallet. Or not.

Great case; got all the little things right but one of the biggest things wrong.

 

[HOOfan 1]

I went by and looked at the Cosmos after work today and that is one big sucker. It had a vent under the hard drives. One could possibly mount a fan on the outside of the case under the HDDs, but that would seam tacky to me. The way they have holes in the individual HDD cases, they could have easily put 1 or 2 120MM fans at the front of the case to blow through the cages.

 

[jonmcc33]

Originally posted by: Navid
Hard drives do not generate as much heat as a CPU or a graphics card.
You just need air movement around them. They do not necessarily need a direct fan blowing at them. It does not hurt. But, it is not necessary either.

I have 3 Seagate SATA hard drives in the lower chamber of my P182 and I do not have a fan in front of them. I only have a fan behind them blowing air towards my PSU at the back.
The hard drives right now are at 37 degrees.
In a warm day when the drive is active (copying a very large file), the temperature may reach 40.

Mind you, neither of these is a Raptor. So, your temps may be higher. Or, you could increase the air flow (my fan runs at a low RPM).

It is not necessary? Hard drives contain data. How is it not necessary to cool them? If I do not cool my Seagate hard drives they can get into the 46C range at idle. In my Antec 900 with a 120mm fan in front they are 30C idle. Considering the massive storage capacities of hard drives I believe that it's ideal to cool them.

That doesn't take away from backups but it takes a long ass time to restore 500GB or more from optical storage.

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: jonmcc33

Originally posted by: Navid
Hard drives do not generate as much heat as a CPU or a graphics card.
You just need air movement around them. They do not necessarily need a direct fan blowing at them. It does not hurt. But, it is not necessary either.

I have 3 Seagate SATA hard drives in the lower chamber of my P182 and I do not have a fan in front of them. I only have a fan behind them blowing air towards my PSU at the back.
The hard drives right now are at 37 degrees.
In a warm day when the drive is active (copying a very large file), the temperature may reach 40.

Mind you, neither of these is a Raptor. So, your temps may be higher. Or, you could increase the air flow (my fan runs at a low RPM).

It is not necessary? Hard drives contain data. How is it not necessary to cool them? If I do not cool my Seagate hard drives they can get into the 46C range at idle. In my Antec 900 with a 120mm fan in front they are 30C idle. Considering the massive storage capacities of hard drives I believe that it's ideal to cool them.

That doesn't take away from backups but it takes a long ass time to restore 500GB or more from optical storage.

I am not interested in your troll fights that you have been doing for a long time.

You were saying that if you put two fans in series, their CFM would add up and your attitude was just like your attitude is now even though you have not even understood the post that you have quoted here.
After you were proven wrong by many, you did not even admit to stand corrected.

That is why I will not waste my time.

 

[jonmcc33]

Woah, calm down. I'm not fighting with you on this. I just think it's best practice to put some form of cooling on a hard drive. That's not trolling.