Praetorian: anyone replace the stock fans?

[slowpogo]

I've got a new silver Praetorian case w/ 4 80mm fans (two front intake, rear and blowhole exhaust). It's kind of a loud little box with everything going (Fortron Blue Storm PSU, Sapphire x1800xt, Scythe Ninja are the other fans), and I'd like to replace the case fans with something quieter.

I'm wondering if any other Praetorian owners with a moderately hot system are able to keep things cool with lower-RPM fans, such as the Nexus Real Silent Case Fans.

 

[Operandi]

I've built several systems around the Praetorian, with the stock fans replaced each time, with two fan configurations.

1. Four Panaflo L1As: intakes running at 5v while the exhausts were thermally controlled; very, very quiet.

2. Four of these NMBs running at 1200 RPM on 12v, they don't start at 5v. Not quite as quiet as the 4x Panaflo configuration but it's easier to setup and is very economical.

The hottest system using the four NMB setup was an AMD Athlon 64 3700+, 6800GT with two SATA hard drives; it ran very cool as well as quiet.

 

[pkme2]

I've just got some (6) Yate Loon 80mm fans from Germany for $6.50/apiece off eBay. Verrrry cheap and still the best kept 28dBA secret. By the way, it took 7 days to Hawaii.
I got (2) 120mm YLs for $8.75 delivered to me in Hawaii too.

 

[dawza]

I have a P4 in this case, and despite the lack of mounting options for large fans, it is possible to keep even a Prescott cool, quietly.

You can mount 92mm fans in the front with double-sided tape or velcro. You can also mount a 120mm fan in the rear using an 80-->120mm adaptor mounted on the outside of the case. No fan in the blowhole (seal it off). Put all of the fans on a fan controller and crank them up only as needed, and only as much as deemed necessary.

If you have a quiet GPU cooling solution, and no annoying NB fan (or, if you do have a NB fan, undervolt it until it is quiet), this should give you as quiet and as efficient a system as possible without some serious case modding.

 

[slowpogo]

It seems like an 80-->120 adapter would overlap the pull tab for the side panel, potentially making it hard to take off. Did you avoid this, and if so what brand adapter are you using?

Also what would be the harm in using the blowhole as a passive intake? Why seal it off?

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: slowpogo
It seems like an 80-->120 adapter would overlap the pull tab for the side panel, potentially making it hard to take off. Did you avoid this, and if so what brand adapter are you using?

Also what would be the harm in using the blowhole as a passive intake? Why seal it off?

I wouldn?t even bother with fan adapters, I've already stated the case can handle power hungry systems with it's 4x 80mm setup quietly.

I would personally leave the blow hole as an exhaust but a passive intake could work if you have a PSU with a 120mm fan that moves a fair amount of air. That would give the PSU and perhaps CPU a bit of fresh air and perhaps keep it's fan at a slightly slower RPM.

 

[dawza]

The fan adaptor will get in the way of the side panel tab, and can be a bit of a pain to install if you have your CPU cooler in place. You will still be able to remove it, though. I like to have my system running as quietly as possible while maintaining decent airflow, and the use of the adaptor does allow me to do that. It will not make all that much of a difference, and a quality 80mm fan will work just fine- however, the 120mm in the back dropped my CPU temps by 1-2C at idle and 3-4C at load- and was also a good deal quieter. YMMV of course, depending on your case and component selection.

You would have to experiment with the blowhole- a slow-moving fan for exhaust could work, although I never found it to make much of a difference. You could use it for a passive intake depending on your overall airflow setup. If you keep the case on the floor, there is always the danger of liquids spilling into it, as well as the increased noise.

If you use it as a passive intake, you might want to filter the blowhole. Another possibility would be to craft a duct and use the blowhole for active intake while channeling the air to components that need it. This way, you would also avoid sucking in hot air from the top (interior) of the case.