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Ghetto Fan Mods! (Updated with Pictures)

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govtcheez75

Platinum Member
Aug 13, 2002
2,932
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After installing my Water Cooling system, I noticed that all the other components were suffering from the missing CPU Heatsink fan and the rear exhaust 120mm fan. I noticed that my RAM, Chipset and HDD temps were now worse than they were before installing WC by a few (sometimes more) degrees. The RAM was the most worrisome as it was scolding hot to the touch and giving me errors after several hours of Memtest (I guessed to to heat). I then thought about how I could install a fan to blow air directly on them. I saw a few aftermarket products that did this, but they were mostly 40-80mm fans that probably didn't do much. I then thought about suspending a 90-120mm fan somewhere or glueing it to the bottom of my power supply, or some other way. I didn NOT want to drill or cut any holes on my case as my true modding skills (i.e. Dremel skills) really sucked. After thinking for a while, I decided to mod a PCI bay cover to securely hold a 120mm fan to blow air directly onto the Memory Dimms. What a difference! They went from being scolding hot to barely warm to the touch and would not error out even after 24+ hours of memtest! :)

I was happy for a few days and noticed that my two SATA drives were getting very hot (45-50 degrees at full spin/heavy usage). My first ghetto fan mod was so successful that I tried to think of new ways to cool down the HDD's with some fans I had laying around. I have an Antec case with a HDD cage and those HDD slide trays. I have one slots open on top and between the HDD's. I mounted a 80mm fan on the slide try with a zip tie and tested it out to see how restrictive the air flow was (since the back side that the fan is drawing air from is mostly covered). To my surprise, these fans were pushing a decent amount of air! I installed them above the two HDD's and it actually dropped each of the temps by 3-5 degrees at idle and about 7-10 degrees under heavy usage! I was very happy. I don't think I can fit any more fans inside my case now.

They look VERY ghetto, but highly effective. The 120mm fan especially, since it's got some paper towel wedged between the PCI bay cover and the zip tie to hold it in place and dampen the noise....but I really don't care. I'm all about function over form at this moment. I don't even have a windowed case. :)

*edit* Pictures!
Picture of the 120mm Fan mounted with the bent PCI Bay cover
Close up of how it is installed using zip ties and paper towel.
The Hard Drive cage with the 80mm fans blowing down on the Sata drives.
Close up of the fan mount.
Complete setup.
Case Closed from Behind (with radiator)
Towards the front.
Front of Case.
 
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jimmyj68

Senior member
Mar 18, 2004
573
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Pardon my interrupting, but though I admire your ingenuity, I'm a little uncomfortable with your characterization of such mod efforts as "ghetto."

We all know what Ghetto was in the early days of WWII, and we also know what Ghetto means in America since the late fifties onward. I won't hazard a guess as to what "gehtto" means to you or what earns a less than professional case mod such a designation. I will however politely suggest that you and all others who refer to some case mod efforts as "ghetto", use a little mature thinking about the words you choose to use.

A hint, Zalman makes a little bracket that would save you tie-wraps and paper towels. Look it up.
 
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govtcheez75

Platinum Member
Aug 13, 2002
2,932
0
76
Originally posted by: jimmyj68
Pardon my interrupting, but though I admire your ingenuity, I'm a little uncomfortable with your characterization of such mod efforts as "ghetto."

We all know what Ghetto was in the early days of WWII, and we also know what Ghetto means in America since the late fifties onward. I won't hazard a guess as to what "gehtto" means to you or what earns a less than professional case mod such a designation. I will however politely suggest that you and all others who refer to some case mod efforts as "ghetto", use a little mature thinking about the words you choose to use.

A hint, Zalman makes a little bracket that would save you tie-wraps and paper towels. Look it up.
Click to expand...

Are you serious? If you are...I apologize if you're offended by my use of the word "ghetto". And thanks for pointing me to the Zalman product. I see that they offer the solution along with a 90mm fan. I'm guessing that it probably costs $10-20. Why pay for something that won't do what I can make for free and do a better job at it (120mm vs. 90mm)? :)
 
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jimmyj68

Senior member
Mar 18, 2004
573
0
0
Admittedly I am not informed technically, but I believe the differnce between a 120 MM fan and 90 MM in the application you are using is negligible. It is $14 shipped from NewEgg and would look more professional. But you are right - free is better.

Your apology is accepted though not necessary. You had no maligning purpose in mind. We are all victims of the culture in which we live and are not to blame if what we accept as the norm is somehow not the most innocent in effect.

If you will, please forgive and old man for beibg a little overbearing. I too am a child of the culture I grew up in and the culture I live in juxtapostion to. I apologize for my brashness.
 
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greebler

Junior Member
Feb 10, 2005
9
0
0
Wow, we all took a few history classes in our day and should have a vague idea of the horrible living conditions of the getto slums. However this is a forum concerning computer electronics, I don't understand how relevant this "blame" is towards the topic.

From my point of view, the professional appearance of one's home computer case not a defcom5 level of concern. I understand that some people want everything looking perfect, but this is a clear example of a utilitarian approach towards case cooling. We all have a GeTTo (slang context) aspect to our computers, usually to avoid the annoying cost of the perfect setup.

I like what you have done here, who cares if it?s not the most pretty thing in the world.

Nice work!
 
JEDIYoda

JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
33,986
3,321
126
Are you serious? If you are...I apologize if you're offended by my use of the word "ghetto". And thanks for pointing me to the Zalman product. I see that they offer the solution along with a 90mm fan. I'm guessing that it probably costs $10-20. Why pay for something that won't do what I can make for free and do a better job at it (120mm vs. 90mm)?

Actually thats not true.....

You can interchange fans with that bracket or get inventive and get a different bracket...ohhh...I`m sorry...your trying to save money...my bad....

Instead of using the word-- "ghetto" who just use the word el Cheapo mods.....heheee


 
Fullmetal Chocobo

Fullmetal Chocobo

Moderator<br>Distributed Computing
Moderator
May 13, 2003
13,704
7
81
:music:If it makes you happy.... It can't be that bad:music:

Cool. I'm kind of doing the same thing, albeit I'm mounting the fans in the side panel. If something gets hot, I'll punch another hole and install another fan. ;) Nice job though... And I'll be adding your pics to the page later tomorrow. Can't do it at work.
 
mindwreck

mindwreck

Golden Member
May 25, 2003
1,585
1
81
Mite want to put some electric tape on hte bottom of that bent pci cover. Looks like it could touch the your video card.
 
BonzaiDuck

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,636
2,029
126
Well, I could split hairs in my appraisal.

Jedi was right about the bracket fan, and they could be had last year at NewEgg or a competing outfit for $9 -- including the 92mm fan. I know, because I bought two at that price.

PCI-slot-covers have many uses, and I have seen just this application before in VGA -card cooling.

The 80mm fans in the drive bays -- clever, functional -- but they take a lot of drive-bay space. If you could fit a single 15mm-thick 80mm fan between the hard disks and the front chassis, you'd only need one and there would be better air-flow.

Personally, I have no hesitation about cutting a 70 or 80mm hole in the front chassis-panel behind the bezel and mounting the fan on the outside of the chassis -- blowing in and on the drives.
 
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phlashphire

Golden Member
Jun 6, 2000
1,055
0
0
Nice job there. Just one thought though, most people who choose water cooling to escape fan noises, (dunno if that was your goal) but did adding the 3 fans increase noise noticeably?
 
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govtcheez75

Platinum Member
Aug 13, 2002
2,932
0
76
Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
Well, I could split hairs in my appraisal.

Jedi was right about the bracket fan, and they could be had last year at NewEgg or a competing outfit for $9 -- including the 92mm fan. I know, because I bought two at that price.

PCI-slot-covers have many uses, and I have seen just this application before in VGA -card cooling.

The 80mm fans in the drive bays -- clever, functional -- but they take a lot of drive-bay space. If you could fit a single 15mm-thick 80mm fan between the hard disks and the front chassis, you'd only need one and there would be better air-flow.

Personally, I have no hesitation about cutting a 70 or 80mm hole in the front chassis-panel behind the bezel and mounting the fan on the outside of the chassis -- blowing in and on the drives.
Click to expand...

I bought one of those Zalman brackets. Should be here in a few days.


Originally posted by: phlashphire
Nice job there. Just one thought though, most people who choose water cooling to escape fan noises, (dunno if that was your goal) but did adding the 3 fans increase noise noticeably?
Click to expand...

All the fans are on a fan controller. I used to have them all running HIGH and LOUD to get decent temperatures. Now I run them at low and very quiet and get better temperatures. Part of my reason was to get quieter but getting better temperatures was also a big reason.
 
JEDIYoda

JEDIYoda

Lifer
Jul 13, 2005
33,986
3,321
126
govtcheez75

bought one of those Zalman brackets. Should be here in a few days.

also take that bracket when you get it...and turn it all sorts of way.....its very adaptable if you think about it.....you can even mount a fan other places on that brackets such as the grooves going along the edge...etc....

Good Luck!!:)
 
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