Ghetto Mod: 120mm fan in three drive bays

firewolfsm

Golden Member
Oct 16, 2005
1,848
29
91
Definitely a ghetto mod, I taped the fan to the top of the second 5.25" bay and put a little support under it. Works best with tower coolers, making a straight intake-tower-exhaust wind tunnel. Dropped my case temps from 37-40, to 34-37C. Sure you can buy a fan that fits the three drive bays perfectly and looks better, but it costs 20, and you don't get to choose the fan. I would add a dust filter to mine though, I still need to buy one. Maybe I can use mesh and cover the entire hole so it looks more professional.

Surprisingly, it works slightly better (1C) with the door closed then with it open. So I leave the door closed and the tape doesn't show. I'm sure there are better ways to mount it there, I considered black zip ties but didn't think it was worth the trouble.

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/2416/img0432bi8.jpg
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/7236/img0433fz6.jpg
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/210/img0434mt6.jpg
http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/5543/img0438ta1.jpg
 

LOUISSSSS

Diamond Member
Dec 5, 2005
8,770
54
91
not bad, been there, done that, why not get the scythe Kama bay, looks much sleeker, allows you to change out any fan and allows better airflow from the front
 

ChefJoe

Platinum Member
Jan 5, 2002
2,506
0
0
Back in my case-modding days I took those enermax 80 mm fans with the potentiostat that would allow you to manually set the speed and put that in place of two bay covers. You could do a little bit of dremel-ing to cut the bay covers but leave the outer rim so that when you put the fan grill in it would hold the whole thing together. I had my IBM 75GXP hard drives mounted on 5.25" adapters behind this fan and that was (probably the only) reason they lasted for 3 years 24x7.

Props to your ghetto mod... a little black electrical tape or black duct tape will clean that up nicely.
 

RallyMaster

Diamond Member
Dec 28, 2004
5,581
0
0
Taking a page out of my Raidmax X-1 storybook, eh? :p

I now have a Cooler Master 4-in-3 device module in there. My Raidmax X-1 looks nowhere close to what it was before. I would also remove the door if you don't mind the notches on the front bezel.