Need help on improving cooling (Inwin Q500)

[iluvdeal]

Here's a side view of the case (not my pic):

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/1q99/q500side.jpg

reviews: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/1q99/q500a-2.html

First off, my case came with the power supply fan pointed at the top, so it is sucking air in from the top side. This seems like an easy question but shouldn't I flip that power supply around so it sucking the air directly across from the motherboard? I don't know why I didn't do that sooner...


The big problem is that front intake at the bottom located inside that plastic housing does not bring in enough air. I put my hand in front and barely feel anything. The reason being, the fan is right up against the metal with only a bunch of small hole to draw air in from and also because the plastic front casing does not provide much openings for air either. The author of the review mentioned this is a perfect case to use a dremel tool? What exactly is it, how much does it cost, and how would I use it here? I know the solution to my problem involves cutting the metal and maybe altering the front of the case, so what other options do I have? Is the dremel tool the only tool that can do this? Thanks.

 

[iluvdeal]

One more thing, what do you think of using the front as an exhaust and the PS as an intake since the front fan is such a poor intake? Thanks.

 

[mechBgon]

A Dremel is a high-RPM handheld rotary tool that accepts a variety of bits, ranging from carving and polishing to cut-off wheels and grinding points. The ball-bearing model costs about $60US. The tool to use for cutting case metal is the fiberglass-reinforced cut-off wheel.

You can also cut case metal with a metal-cutting blade in an electric jigsaw, after drilling a starting hole big enough to get the blade into.

To make a long story short, a pair of 80mm blowholes on the side panel would really help. One can feed cool air to the CPU fan, and the other can blow cool air between the cards. Add one 80mm fan to each of the exhaust positions, and you're fairly well balanced... three 80mm in, three 80mm out. The nice thing about the 80mm fans is that they range from very quiet to very powerful, so you can quiet down your case later if noise becomes an issue.

The older version of Q500 had both 80mm rear exhaust positions above the power supply, and the newer version has one up there and one below the power supply by the CPU.

If you like the idea of side blowholes, one easy way to make them is with a holesaw. Caseetc carries holesaws, fans, and grilles, among other things, or you could get the holesaw locally too. You could also use them to remove the restrictive metal where the fans mount.

To help that intake fan get more breathing room, have a look at the last picture on my slow-loading web page, which shows the part of the bezel you can cut off and still have it look 100% stock from the front. Highly recommended simple mod.

 

[Charles]

If you really want to improve cooling, you should build yourself a fan ducting system. Take a look at this: http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/reviews/systems/dell_p4_thx/5.shtml#3

Installing dozen of fans in a case won't efficiently improve cooling, they just make your PC sounds like a vacuum cleaner.

 

[iluvdeal]

mechBgon, YGPM.

Charles, the fan ducting sounds good, I'd love to use as least fans as possible. Know of any good how-to sites that explain how to build that? Thanks.