Fong Kai case

[bgatot]

I just read Anand's review and others of the Fong Kai case. It has a rear fan with shroud that sucks air in and blows it over the CPU. I'm wondering though, wouldn't the CPU's heatsink fan be trying to blow against this inflow of air, then? Should the CPU fan be reversed (so it sucks air in) with this case?

Also, do aluminum cases really have a cooling benefit vs. regular ones? Or do good airflow matters more?

 

[clumsum]

Most common hsf's are configured to blow air onto the heatsink, so in that mode it isn't necessary to reverse the fan .........

If your going to use a hsf designed to suck air off-from the heatsink (such as an Alpha PAL), then you would want to reverse the rear duct fan to exhaust mode ............ so the fans are not opposing one another.

Some of the Aluminum ATX pc cases' are designed for exceptional cooling, but just the fact that they are made of aluminum does not give them much of an edge in cooling (over the steel case) although they are better at dissipating heat ............ you don't see many steel heatsinks ............!
However the idea is too remove the hot air from the pc case by forced air ......... not by convection!

The Aluminum is not as effective at noise dampening (as) the steel cases' ............. so it's kind of a trade-off and basically just user preference ..............?
I prefer the steel cases' and the Fong Kai's are IMHO one of the best models available for the $$$!

 

[Bozo Galora]

the Fong Kai shroud is a stupid waste - the outlet doen't correlate with any mobo I ever used
first thing I do is rip it out.
since they use hard foam inserts that transfers all shock to case plastic, your chance of getting one
undamaged is about one in three
better off buying the new antec performance cases

 

[farmercal]

I have a FK320B and it did come damaged! Broke all to H _ _ L. The company shipped replacement parts but I had to wait. Also, the power on and off switch is the cheapest piece of a switch I have ever seen on a case and it tends to get stuck sometimes. It does cool well though.

 

[The Sauce]

I have 2 FK's...the smaller one (600-something model) and the bigger one (300-something model). I love them both - and I have owned almost every brand of case before them. I do not use the shroud in either of them. I use that fan mount as an exhaust without the shroud.

 

[Bozo Galora]

farmercal:

to make switches work you gatta put grease on it - plastic on plastic sticks
sometimes I have to file tabs a little too
trick: I use the sleep switch for reset and wire accordingly to mobo - that tiny pencil hole reset pin is also stupid

I/O shield also covers up KB/Mouse receptacles - I mill the thing like a slot

 

[SWScorch]

I bought the FK-320 from Directron a while ago. It was completely undamaged. The PSu failed, so I sent the entire case back, and the replacement was undamaged as well.

The case is very well designed. With 95% of all heatsinks, the rear fan + shroud should be left in its original orientation; blowing air INTO the case. This way, the heatsink is getting cool air from directly outside the case. If you were to reverse the fan, then it would be drawing air from the bottom/front of the cse, which has already been warmed by the various PCI cards and disk drives. If you have a heatsink that is set to suck air away from the CPU, then the rear fan should probably be set to exhaust.

My only complaint with the case is that the left side panel is incredibly difficult to remove/attach. Other than though I am very happy with the case. It is very well engineered, and the guys over at FK know what they are doing.

 

[farmercal]

Bozo Galora - Thanks, I'll try that it will probably make a difference.

SW Scorch - What symptoms did your case give when the PS failed? I am having a problem and can't seem to isolate the faulty component.

 

[SWScorch]

When the PSu died, what had actually happened was the PSu fan had quit, and the PSU overheated. The symtpms were as follows: the computer wouldnt turn on. I opened up the case to troubleshoot, and I burned myself on the PSU. I tried a different PSU, and it worked, so I sent the whole shenangle back.

 

[bgatot]

With name like SWScorch, no wonder you got, er... scorched!



Anyway, I didn't know that most heatsink fan pulls air into the heatsink. Then again, I do have an Alpha heatsink!

The Antec is a mighty nice case too. But it's more expensive than the Fong Kai.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

SWScorched, How does one get burnt on a psu?

 

[Derango]

<< SWScorched, How does one get burnt on a psu? >>



He had a network switch overheat on him once (I know, I was there )...he can get burned on a PSU

 

[ChrisADuffy]

I see

 

[SWScorch]

I am very talented at destroying things and making things catch on fire.

 

[ChrisADuffy]

I think I'll try throwing some lighter fluid in my case and lightin things up a bit:disgust: