How to stop turbulent fan noise without cutting up my case...

[glorygunk]

Here's the problem:

I have two Panoflo L1As on the rear of my case. They generate a lot of whining because the air is forced through little holes on the in the case. It has been suggested I dremel out the back to allow for smoother airflow. But I neither have the equipment nor the will to do this.

Is there another way?

Love to hear some ideas on this...

 

[IntegraGSR]

depending on the thickness of your case, you should be able to use some semi-heavy duty wire cutters, or sheet metal cutters and cut it off that way.... other than removing the case fan grills, i dont see any way to get around the noise they create, and airflow they disturb

 

[L00PY]

Two other things you might try is to slow down the Panaflos or to mount them deeper / provide more room between the fan and case. Both will impact your cooling of course.

IMNSHO, you really should either cut them out or find a better case.

 

[lestat0521]

I first removed all of the fan grills. Then I took a pair of decent wire cutters and just clamped down did a 180 turn and the little metal pieces snap off, keep doing it and you can cut off the entire thing. It significantly lowerd the noise my pc emitted. Just be careful of the sharp edges and bend them back if you can.

 

[glorygunk]

Originally posted by: lestat0521
I first removed all of the fan grills. Then I took a pair of decent wire cutters and just clamped down did a 180 turn and the little metal pieces snap off, keep doing it and you can cut off the entire thing. It significantly lowerd the noise my pc emitted. Just be careful of the sharp edges and bend them back if you can.

Interesting idea. Did you try installing a fan guard over that, or were the little sharp edges blocking the way? It seems a screw on fan guard causes far less turbulence than the cheese grater-like holes in the back of the case.

 

[Tiamat]

depending on how big the holes are, I succesfully removed the grillework using a pair of Diag wire cutters for $2 at the local hardware store and completed in less than 10 minutes.

If you want to cut turbulence, you gotta get rid of the material, or get rid of the fans.

 

[0roo0roo]

if they are the most horrible tiny circular drilled holes..then you better slice it out any way you can. either with snips or whatever you can. the more metal the harder of course. grid grills are the easiest to cut off of course. as for dremel, yes that works well. though if i were u i'd put the dremel money towards a new well designed case instead. a dremeled pos case is still a pos case. dremels only good if you are going to do several older pcs. just get a sonata or something.

 

[imported_rod]

Using a hole saw and drilling out most/all of the metal in the way would be the ideal option. Can't you borrow a drill off a mate?

RoD

 

[IntegraGSR]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
as for dremel, yes that works well. though if i were u i'd put the dremel money towards a new well designed case instead. a dremeled pos case is still a pos case. dremels only good if you are going to do several older pcs. just get a sonata or something.

i completely disagree in just about every way possible.. using a dremel you can turn a horrible (cooling) case into a case much better than a sonata. i would MUCH prefer to buy a cheap case (you will get more choices in overall appearance too) and modify it to specifically fit my cooling needs, than pay extra just for someone else to do what i could do in a fun little project

 

[lestat0521]

Originally posted by: glorygunk

Interesting idea. Did you try installing a fan guard over that, or were the little sharp edges blocking the way? It seems a screw on fan guard causes far less turbulence than the cheese grater-like holes in the back of the case.

I did not add fan guards after because i did not want to add noise. To answer your question, the sharp edges do not block the holes to reattach the fan guard and fan.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: IntegraGSR

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
as for dremel, yes that works well. though if i were u i'd put the dremel money towards a new well designed case instead. a dremeled pos case is still a pos case. dremels only good if you are going to do several older pcs. just get a sonata or something.

i completely disagree in just about every way possible.. using a dremel you can turn a horrible (cooling) case into a case much better than a sonata. i would MUCH prefer to buy a cheap case (you will get more choices in overall appearance too) and modify it to specifically fit my cooling needs, than pay extra just for someone else to do what i could do in a fun little project

"better" is subjective. if you mean a wind tunnel that sounds like a tornado? yes that kind of better is easily dremeled. i've done such. but over all appearance/features..you cannot dremel good design into a cheap pos case. if you want a well thought out designed case that is whisper quiet, get something purpose built, like a sonata. you aren't going to design those drives rails with rubber grommets and rubber fan mounts with baffled front intakes into a pos case. atleast not easily. the time tools and effort spent is not worth the result. if he's asking the question he asked, he's not an artisan about to build one of those award winning 100% custom mod cases. only then the result is worth the effort.

 

[Jhhnn]

Sometimes fan noise can be reduced by putting a spacer between the fan and the grille. As air exits the fan, it's actually spinning, like a tiny tornado. It quickly changes into a more linear flow a short distance from the fan. Using the housings from old junk fans as spacers has worked for me in the past. It also works on fan intakes, for slightly different reasons...

 

[IntegraGSR]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

"better" is subjective. if you mean a wind tunnel that sounds like a tornado? yes that kind of better is easily dremeled. i've done such. but over all appearance/features..you cannot dremel good design into a cheap pos case. if you want a well thought out designed case that is whisper quiet, get something purpose built, like a sonata. you aren't going to design those drives rails with rubber grommets and rubber fan mounts with baffled front intakes into a pos case. atleast not easily. the time tools and effort spent is not worth the result. if he's asking the question he asked, he's not an artisan about to build one of those award winning 100% custom mod cases. only then the result is worth the effort.

of course better is subjective, but not when it comes to cooling.. cooler is always better.. and the point i was trying to make is that you can take any case and make it efficient for cooling.. i wasn't trying to talk bad about the antec cases, not at all... i was disagreeing with this... " dremeled pos case is still a pos case. dremels only good if you are going to do several older pcs".. of course a sonata is a good, quality, quiet case.. but i prefer to have a choice in what my case looks like (those antec cases are ugggglly), then, if necessary, improve cooling to my needs... those award winning custom cases you're talking about are usually mostly for looks.. that's a completely different' ballgame.... dremeling your case for looks is A LOT different than dremeling your case for cooling.. cutting a hole in a strategic spot and putting a fan there isnt' hard at all..

 

[0roo0roo]

yes but its a costs benifits thing. a pos case + dremel = cost of a good case - time and trouble. cooler is better, up to a certain point. once cooling becomes loud and a nuisance then its more trouble then its worth for most people that don't need those extra 5fps

 

[CrispyFried]

My TT side fan is actually quieter with the fan guard it came with. I guess a lot of the noise comes from the hub, and the guard blocks it.

 

[Zepper]

Modding cases isn't the only use for a Dremel...

Radio Shack carries a nibbling tool for around $10. Or you could just drill some of the air holes larger and use one of those Stanley-type hacksaw blade handles on a hacksaw blade to cut the rest out. Or you can get a relatively low speed (10k) Dremel-type (generically called die grinders) tool for ~ $10. around the web that would work - at least once. Or you could get a fairly high powered lab laser and a laser focuser and laser cut it, or, or, or...

.bh.

 

[slicker1]

I have a VERY horrible confession.....

I too had the same problem.....so i cut out the "cheese cutter holes" with this:

Nasty Tool

But it did work. I also bought some round wire grills from Fry's. Running smooth as silk now.

Used it yet again when I put my thunderblade 120 in the front.

It's an old case any way.....

poor thing now I feel sorry for it.

 

[Chode Messiah]

NASTY TOOL!!!!!!!!!!! LOL:thumbsup:

 

[mshan]

Wiss tin snips should be under $15 at your local home improvement store:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=2307

And you can find some U-molding at various webstores (http://www.bestbyteinc.com, for example)

 

[lestat0521]

Well I have done it. Heh, so I was thinking about this thread and how to lower my own cases fan noise even more. It sounded like a hair dryer in my room. Wish I could post pics but here we go.

I dig in my box of old computer stuff and find a thermaltake fan controller. It can control 4 fans at a time. I removed the controllers from the frame they where on, one because I have no room in my front bays, and two I want to hide them away. They are in pairs, so I took some velcro and made a place for them to hide near my hd bay. I hooked up my two window fans, my panaflo 92mm for my Cpu, and my fan blowing out the back. I turned all the fans down to the lowest setting and put the computer back together. The computer happy to say is almost inaudible, my cpu temps rose from 31c to 32c, and 43c on full load. Happy to say I am very happy with the results.

So to help you out, go to a local fry's or whatever or eBay a cheap fan controller and turn the fans down a bit and you will have a lot less noise.

Then run some programs for a while with speedfan on to monitor the temps and make sure everything is fine, and away you go!