Intake fan does nothing but add noise

[kami]

Yeah I was doing some experimenting today...I have a P3-700 o/c'ed to 980mhz @ 1.85v cooled with a golden orb, two 7200rpm hard drives, and a geforce2 clocked at 230/375...those are the primary heat creators anyway. For case cooling all I had was a front 80mm intake fan and a rear 80mm exhaust in my Enlight 7237.

Idle temps (room temp is about 23/24C)

No case fans: CPU - 38C Ambient - 29C

Front intake only: CPU - 36C Ambient - 27C

Exhaust fan only: CPU - 28C Ambient - 24C

Both intake and exhaust: CPU - 28C Ambient - 24C

Full load temps (after 30mins of playing UT)

No case fans: CPU - 47C Ambient - 30C

Front only: CPU - 44C Ambient - 29C

Exhaust only: CPU - 39C Ambient - 25C

Front and Exhaust: CPU - 39C Ambient - 25C

I suggest you guys try this out for yourself. That damn intake fan was just adding more annoying noise.

 

[toph99]

is there anything blocking the intake? ribbon cables maybe? also depending on how low the fan is on the case in relation to the rest of the motherboard, it could be that the air is just blowing over the PCI slots, and not over the CPU where you want it to be. if that's the case, you could make some ducting to angle the airflow upwards

 

[jsbush]

I droped from 41C idle to 39C idle when I added a front fan on my antec sx830 case. My motherboard temp wend to from 26C to 22C.

So I does help, something must be stoping proper airflow in your case.

 

[kami]

My results already concluded that it DOES help on it's own...but when it's combined with the exhaust its effect is gone. there is nothing block its airflow and it is ducted slighty (that's how it comes in an Enlight case). My cables are very neat and none are hanging down blocking its airflow.

I'm pretty damn happy with ambient temps 1 or 2 degrees above room temp and a CPU temp below 40C when under full load though. Why would I want more useless noise making machines anyway?

 

[toph99]

my reason is just to say that i have more fans than the other guy

 

[GiZzO]

The intake of the enlight 7237 is very poor. From the little tiny holes air is supposed to go through on the front brazel and the noisy stamped grill where the front fan is mounted. I can imagine with a medium cfm fan it would be pretty noisy trying to force it through those small pathways. Easy modifications can be done to the case like getting some metal cutters and cutting out that stamped grill, alota ppl have enlarged the front holes i think too 1/4 inch big? Or ya can wacko like me and just cut a big 120mm opening in the front to allow the minuim air abstruction, and get the max airflow outta your intake fan, with less noise.

 

[Jhhnn]

Gizzo is right, the front fan mount on a 7237 is a non-feature, at least in stock configuration. The only way to go is to mount the fan on the back blowing out. Between the front vent(such as it is) and the side slots, it works surprisingly well.

Want some really easy improvement? Snip out the stock grille in the back and use a wire grille. There is no point in doing anything with the front unless you are willing to open up the bezel.

 

[Startide Rising]

kami, do you think that rounded cables would help take advantage of the front cooling fan in your case?

 

[nivw]

Hmm.. hot air travel upwards, so did any1 tried drilling hollows at the top of the case and leaving only the cpu and gfx card fans running ?
If so, what cpu/gfx/hdd combination is it?
As I like my PC working 24/7 I am looking in to using less fan to decrease noise.