Side panel fans getting ridiculous

[Zap]

First there was the 80mm fans to get a bit more air into cases that had bad ventilation to begin with.

Then there were the 120mm fans, again mostly to "fix" heat problems in cases with crappy ventilation.

More recently 250mm fans started appearing on craptacular cases made of too-thin metals.

Now we have 400mm fans masquerading as a complete side panel on a tin can case with otherwise crappy ventilation.

WTF? :disgust: I'd rather have a good quality chassis that has GOOD ventilation, as opposed to a crappy case with a new paint job and a huge fan for compensation.

 

[Quiksilver]

Over Here

 

[RallyMaster]

I prefer cases with no side panel ventilation >.>

 

[scruffypup]

Originally posted by: Zap
First there was the 80mm fans to get a bit more air into cases that had bad ventilation to begin with.

Then there were the 120mm fans, again mostly to "fix" heat problems in cases with crappy ventilation.

More recently 250mm fans started appearing on craptacular cases made of too-thin metals.

Now we have 400mm fans masquerading as a complete side panel on a tin can case with otherwise crappy ventilation.

WTF? :disgust: I'd rather have a good quality chassis that has GOOD ventilation, as opposed to a crappy case with a new paint job and a huge fan for compensation.

I am in total agreement with you. I joked way back to some friends that those who want to have side cooling should just take off the side panel and have a nice little desk fan blowing in as it would most likely do a better job.

It looks garish, most likely makes the computer noisier overall (which is a pet peeve of mine) and does little for overall cooling as you stated,..

The thing is, there is a market out there for this to some ignorant kids, otherwise it wouldn't have been made and marketed,...

 

[Zepper]

Dittos QuickSilver. No way that case has enough venting to deal with that fan unless the fan runs very slow. There was a 360mm fan out before the 400...

.bh.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Over Here

Whoa, welcome to last month, Zap!

The thing about many (but not all) of the cases with ginormous side panel fans is that there is nowhere for the air to go, especially out the front.

 

[MichaelD]

But it's got this!

FEATURES: Car style "Engine Start" power switch

:Q Gotta have that, man.


Seriously, what passes for a case these days is just sad. Bring back the days of the Chieftec full towers. In fact, if they could retrofit 120mm fans front and back on those cases, they would be perfect. They had great airflow to begin with; just needed bigger fans for less noise.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
But it's got this!

FEATURES: Car style "Engine Start" power switch

:Q Gotta have that, man.


Seriously, what passes for a case these days is just sad. Bring back the days of the Chieftec full towers. In fact, if they could retrofit 120mm fans front and back on those cases, they would be perfect. They had great airflow to begin with; just needed bigger fans for less noise.

Doesn't have 120mm fan in the front but it has one on the back.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811144135
Yeah it has some funky (probably dysfunctional) gauges on the door too. Had 7 HD bays though (3 in the bottom rack, 3 in the middle rack, and 1 in the top rack where the 3.5" external bays are).

The thing I don't like about those cases is how heavy they are. I had one of the original chieftec cases. Also they are a bit shallow for the longer graphics cards we have now.

 

[Zepper]

Yup, MickeyD, both chieftec and chenming based on the old designs are still available, many with updated rear fans, but since the front fans are on the HDD cage(s) it's hard to make them bigger. There are even a few Antec 1080 series in B-stock. Plus some Apevia models that Sparky mentioned. Probably others if one wanted to spend some time looking.

.bh.

 

[Tullphan]

Originally posted by: SparkyJJO

Originally posted by: MichaelD
But it's got this!

FEATURES: Car style "Engine Start" power switch

:Q Gotta have that, man.


Seriously, what passes for a case these days is just sad. Bring back the days of the Chieftec full towers. In fact, if they could retrofit 120mm fans front and back on those cases, they would be perfect. They had great airflow to begin with; just needed bigger fans for less noise.

Doesn't have 120mm fan in the front but it has one on the back.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811144135
Yeah it has some funky (probably dysfunctional) gauges on the door too. Had 7 HD bays though (3 in the bottom rack, 3 in the middle rack, and 1 in the top rack where the 3.5" external bays are).

The thing I don't like about those cases is how heavy they are. I had one of the original chieftec cases. Also they are a bit shallow for the longer graphics cards we have now.

A buddy of mine has that exact case.
I had it over here a couple of days working on it & while the interior's nice, I hate the rest of the case...the cute dials, the weight & most of all, the noise!!
He's got a X6800 inside that thing & a pair of 8800's running in SLI mode. Talk about heat!!
I've tried my best to talk him into getting a different case, but he's in love with that thing. He does agree with me about the heat, stating that his office is the hottest room in the house in the summer & the warmest in the winter!

 

[daw123]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Over Here

That case looks bloody awful.

 

[F1shF4t]

Originally posted by: daw123

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Over Here

That case looks bloody awful.

Those things are absolutely unnessary and useless, plus it would be interesting to see how much dust it sucks in. Why bother with case fans while we're at it. Get a large pipe with two fans on either side and hardware mounting in the middle, and you have yourself a wind tunnel.

I got an armour case myself with no side fans at all, and have no need for them. 2 *120mm fans intake at the drive bays. The TRUE 120 is positioned to directtly exaust the air out the back 120mm fan, and the psu does something up the top (although that HX1000 is sure quite, sometimes makes you think its fan is not even spinning)

 

[40sTheme]

Why don't they use a 200 mm fan but diagonally protrude the side panel from the rear of the case? That way it's blowing air TOWARDS the back of the case.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: 40sTheme
Why don't they use a 200 mm fan but diagonally protrude the side panel from the rear of the case? That way it's blowing air TOWARDS the back of the case.

Actually, some companies put these large fans (maybe AeroCool again?) in the front of the case instead of using a 120mm fan. Also, Antec puts them on TOP of the case as an exhaust (Antec 900/1200 for instance). These methods are a lot more useful than a huge side panel fan, IMO.

 

[40sTheme]

Yeah, Zap, I know about that. I was just suggesting a way to make the side panel ones useful, because they are definitely quiet fans with HUGE airflow.