Hard drive cooler for Antec Fusion

[rexian96]

I have 2 PATA drives (Seagate 300GB & WD 250GB) in my Antec Fusion and the temps are around 44-45°C even when I am just browsing, and I use round PATA cables.

My 750GB SATA is in an external enclosure and runs so hot that I have to run a fan with the cover open. Now I am getting a new motherboard with native SATA ports & planning to put that monster 750GB drive inside the Fusion case along with the other 2 drives, but I am worried about it's longevity.

Any good coolers you guys would like to suggest? I used to use these in my older case box, but I can't seem to fit them inside Fusion.

 

[jkresh]

easist thing to do may be to swap the 120mm case fans that came with it with faster/more power full ones (though if its an htpc make sure the new ones are fairly quit).

 

[rexian96]

Thanks jkresh. Those 120mm fans are running in low mode (since it's an HTPC) and are pretty quiet too. Even in "high" mode, they hardly make any difference as the hard drive chamber is sort of isolated I was copying a few big files around & the temp of 1 drive rose to 51°C. The CPU & GFX cards are pretty cool comparatively. I think I need to add another fan but can't find the perfect place.

 

[bigsnyder]

Your best bet might be to try adding a fan to the hard drive area. If you can live with just once drive in that space,
you might be able to use your vantec cooler.

 

[Oyeve]

Those fans do not work. I had used them afew years ago when I put SCSI drives inside a system, did squat. Can you mount your drives in a 5 1/4 bay? They have 5 1/4 fans for HDs. I use to use them for HDs but now use em as extra cooling for my system.

 

[rexian96]

Originally posted by: Oyeve
Those fans do not work. I had used them afew years ago when I put SCSI drives inside a system, did squat. Can you mount your drives in a 5 1/4 bay? They have 5 1/4 fans for HDs. I use to use them for HDs but now use em as extra cooling for my system.

I have 2 drive bay coolers too like these, but unfortunately, the Antec Fusion case has only 1 external 5.25 bay and that's taken by the DVD writer.

I initially thought I'd go for RAID 5 with 3 drives, but now I find it hard to accommodate even 2 drives. I did get some good temps yesterday after increasing the fan speed, but that's a bit too noisy But the temps were down to 38 and that's with those PATA drives, this 750GB monster will not be so cool I think.

 

[DaveSimmons]

For the external drive:
www.SilentPCReview.com just reviewed Antec's enclosure and gave it a thumb's-up for being cool and quiet.

Check their reviews of the NSK2400 or Fusion for cooling suggestions.

 

[olmer]

Install slim 7v modded 60mm (or smaller if 60 would not fit comfortably) intake at the bottom left area of the chamber, ideally allow at least 3mm gap (use bluetack or locking strings if you have/made some sort of a spacer) as the holes are insufficient and will disturb flow. Or you can even position it at some angle against the left wall of the chamber, but make sure the only air it intakes would be from the bottom holes ? make some sort of walls.

You must be using some high capacity (750?) or unusually hot drives or your room temperature is way too high as I have two WD 500GB KS series (quietest 500GB i found) without any fans and with room temperature at 19C they go no higher than 47C under constant load (encoding).

 

[rexian96]

Thanks DaveSimmons, I'll check the review.

Olmer, my current PATA drives are okay, not too hot but not very cool either. They go to 51°C occasionally under load when the fans are set to low. On high, the load temp for the hard drives is more like 38/40°C, but it's a bit noisy. The CPU & gfx card are cool, so the Antec case fans do work.

Tonight I'll install my new X2 3600+ on the new TF7050-M2 motherboard and will see if that changes anything. My worry is that 750GB drive, which is in an open external enclosure now exposed to a 16" fan. That disk has already gone above 60°C I suspect as it was too hot to touch a few days ago. That's when I got the idea of the pedestal fan I didn't have a SATA motherboard, tonight I'll be able to monitor it's temperature. Thanks for the fan mod suggestion, I may have to try it if that monster drive is still not happy.

Also my room temperature is more like 22/23°C, so li'l higher temperature than you makes sense.

 

[olmer]

I also have my 120mm Antec exhausts on low (the only quiet enough setting). But then i have very hot passively cooled graphics (until my £131 8800gts 640 arrives) and oced 6420. I had to install 7v modded intake because using Intel?s stock fan (at below 1100rpm to keep that buzzy Nidec motor quiet) - in the square area with extendable wall (with a 4mm spacer) - 2 degrees cooler CPU in orthos (with arctic silver) as a result.

Mid 50s under load is okay for 750GB (especially if it is Seagate .10) and due to hot room temperature it can go to up to 60 ? nothing to worry then/no point to waste money ? it is not due to poor ventilation. Just run it ? that is what 5 year warranty for (as long as it does not affect temperatures in your case drastically).