suszterpatt
Senior member
I built this rig with the notion in mind that if I have more air intake than exhaust, the resulting positive pressure inside the case will keep dust out. The current setup is the following, all inside a Centurion 534+
Intake:
- 120mm GlacialTech SilentBlade on the side of the case, with dust filter
- 120mm GlacialTech SilentBlade mounted on a Stacker Bracket in the bottom 3 5.25" bays of the case, also with dust filter
- 120mm GlacialTech SilentBlade on the bottom front of the case. However, there's not enough room here for both a dust filter and the fan, so obviously no filter here.
Inside the case:
- Stock fan on the Xigmatek S1283 (pulling air from the front and pushing it towards the back)
- Whatever Zalman fan on the 8800GT that it came with
Exhaust:
- 120mm GlacialTech SilentBlade in the back
- 120mm fan on the Corsair VX450W PSU
My main problem at the moment is noise: 7 fans total, even though they're low speed, make much more noise than I'm willing to tolerate. However, I'm not sure which ones to pull out and which ones to leave.
The Stacker Bracket - Xigmatek - Rear exhaust fans line up perfectly with each other, so I'd prefer to keep those the way they are.
I'd have no problem pulling the bottom front fan and mounting a dust filter instead. My HD wouldn't lose its cooling since it is mounted in the Stacker Bracket (I actually removed the original HD cage). This would get major points in the dust department and some in the noise dept as well, while probably not having too much effect on temperatures.
On the other hand, my past experience tells me that the side fan creates much more noise due to turbulence around the grills and being more exposed than other fans, as well as causing the entire side of the case to vibrate. Removing it would probably reduce the noise level of the machine considerably, though it would cut off fresh air supply to the VGA fan.
However, if I remove both the bottom front and the side fans, I end up with one intake (stacker bracket) and 2 exhausts (rear and PSU), which would create negative pressure and suck dust in from all the holes and cracks in the case. My previous machine had a setup like that and every time I opened it up I almost suffocated from the dust.
Perhaps the best option would be to only remove the side intake fan and ghetto hack a dust filter on the bottom front fan somehow, but that would take considerable effort and possibly a not insignificant amount of money, and in the end it might leave me with too much noise afterall.
So I turn to the collective intellect of AnandTech. What would you guys do? Strip all the fans you can and not worry about dust? Leave everything in and buy a set of earplugs? Any advice is welcome.
Intake:
- 120mm GlacialTech SilentBlade on the side of the case, with dust filter
- 120mm GlacialTech SilentBlade mounted on a Stacker Bracket in the bottom 3 5.25" bays of the case, also with dust filter
- 120mm GlacialTech SilentBlade on the bottom front of the case. However, there's not enough room here for both a dust filter and the fan, so obviously no filter here.
Inside the case:
- Stock fan on the Xigmatek S1283 (pulling air from the front and pushing it towards the back)
- Whatever Zalman fan on the 8800GT that it came with
Exhaust:
- 120mm GlacialTech SilentBlade in the back
- 120mm fan on the Corsair VX450W PSU
My main problem at the moment is noise: 7 fans total, even though they're low speed, make much more noise than I'm willing to tolerate. However, I'm not sure which ones to pull out and which ones to leave.
The Stacker Bracket - Xigmatek - Rear exhaust fans line up perfectly with each other, so I'd prefer to keep those the way they are.
I'd have no problem pulling the bottom front fan and mounting a dust filter instead. My HD wouldn't lose its cooling since it is mounted in the Stacker Bracket (I actually removed the original HD cage). This would get major points in the dust department and some in the noise dept as well, while probably not having too much effect on temperatures.
On the other hand, my past experience tells me that the side fan creates much more noise due to turbulence around the grills and being more exposed than other fans, as well as causing the entire side of the case to vibrate. Removing it would probably reduce the noise level of the machine considerably, though it would cut off fresh air supply to the VGA fan.
However, if I remove both the bottom front and the side fans, I end up with one intake (stacker bracket) and 2 exhausts (rear and PSU), which would create negative pressure and suck dust in from all the holes and cracks in the case. My previous machine had a setup like that and every time I opened it up I almost suffocated from the dust.
Perhaps the best option would be to only remove the side intake fan and ghetto hack a dust filter on the bottom front fan somehow, but that would take considerable effort and possibly a not insignificant amount of money, and in the end it might leave me with too much noise afterall.
So I turn to the collective intellect of AnandTech. What would you guys do? Strip all the fans you can and not worry about dust? Leave everything in and buy a set of earplugs? Any advice is welcome.
