Making a fan hole in the side of a case

[imported_earthslash]

I've noticed a lot of pictures of case mods and lots of in depth explanations and guides to people doing a full blown mod of their case. Right now I really don't have the time to do that, but I've been having problems with temps for a while and want to solve it. All I want to do is make either a hole for a 92 mm fan or a 120 mm fan in the side of my case, and be able to put a filter on it to keep most the dust out.

http://www.boomspeed.com/earthslash/CompSide1.jpg
http://www.boomspeed.com/earthslash/otherside.jpg

Theres a couple pics of both sides of the case (a bit big, sorry 56k users). As a temporary solution I used masking tape to put a 80 mm fan in the spot where a floppy would usually go (though I don't use a floppy). My cpu temps went down 6 or 7 c with that one fan alone. But this isn't permanent because its getting dust in my case, and I'd like to not have a fan there forever. Anyways I'd like to put a fan in the side of my case, but I don't really feel like going out and buying a bunch of expensive tools to do one hole. I don't want to ruin the side of the case either doing something without anyones advice, because I don't have any experience with this sort of stuff. Any suggestions on a decent way to do this? (best tool, suggestion on a fan, whatever is appreciated). Thanks.

- Steve

 

[Cheetah8799]

Buying tools is the way to go. If you don't want to invest money in tools, try to find someone local who can loan your the tools. Maybe you have a relative who owns a drill press and hole saws that you can drive to and use. I personally bought my own hole saws, then drive to my parent's house to use my dad's drill press.

 

[wkwong]

make sure you got a nice fan filter, the ones i picked up sucked cause typical computer fans dont have enough pressure to blow through them.

i have the review of them here:
http://www.insomnia-tech.com/reviews/filter/page1.php

some people use other kinds of filters from hardware stores and they say they work pretty good, havent tried them myself though.

 

[imported_earthslash]

Well if you have any reviews of good fans / filters, let me know because i'm looking for those. Hopefully I can find someone I know that might have a tool to make the hole in my case.

- Steve

 

[selfbuilt]

I suspect you probalby won't need a filter for the side panel fan. I found my dust levels went DOWN after I installed one (without a filter). The reason for this is that it helped push my system over to postive pressure (i.e. CFM in > CFM out). Having greater exhaust fans than intake always leads to dust accumulation (it gets sucked into the case through all the nooks and crannies and stays there).