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So...got a Wave Master...but now...

9

996GT2

Diamond Member
EDIT:
Ok, I decided to get a 120mm-80mm fan adapter, as that seemed like the most hassle-free solution. Does anyone know the ratings on the front 80mm fans? I plan to keep them stock and just change out the back 80mm for a 120mm.

So, I'm going to get this adapter:
http://www.svc.com/fa80120-blue.html

As for a fan, I'm probably going to buy this or s 70+ CFM Panaflo that's louder but cheaper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185006

So how much airflow would be lost due to the adapter? Would this setup fix the Wave Master's cooling problems a bit?

BTW...completely unrealated, but I was fan shopping and saw Panaflo NMB fans...then I realized all the Dells in my house have NMB fans...so I guess they don't slack there :-D

ORIGINAL POST:
So I just bought a Wave Master, and I know that it's cooling setup is far from the best. With only 1 80mm in the back and 2 80mm fans in the front, the PSU fan has to do quite a bit of work to ensure that more air is exhausted than pulled in, which is ideal. I'm thinking of getting a replacement exhaust fan so that the back will have more airflow coming out of it. What kind of CFM should I be looking for for the 80mm exhaust fan?

I saw this Panaflo with a pretty high CFM rating (for an 80mm), but it is also pretty loud. Would this be a good choice for a system with a dual core proc, 2 7200RPM IDE HDDs, and Mid-lvl graphics (7600GT/X1800GTO)?

So how loud would this be in real life? How about airflow?
http://www.svc.com/fba08a12u.html

Also, I don't want to do the top exhaust mod, as that would mean drilling this nice case, and I don't think my system needs all that airflow anyways (not like I have X1900s in Xfire or anything). I plan on getting a windowed side panel tho, so I might add a 120mm fan in that later.
 
I used to have the Wavemaster, and there is no way to widen the fan opening, or get an adaptor for a bigger fan. If you want more airflow, you're gonna have to deal with more noise. That's why I got rid of that one 🙂
 
IMO, if you have 55+ cfm flowing in your case, you should be fine. But then again, I have about 85 so I can't exactly say much in this area.

Radical mod: Change the side panel to honeycomb mesh with a huge filter and plan out airflow from there (might want to mount a couple 120 mm fans at 800 RPM or so on it to keep the case cool. Happy modding.
 
Your first fan choice is an excellent balance of CFM for DB's. It will last a long time and is a quality fan all around.
 
You can add a top exhaust without any hard modification- all you need is a screwdriver. You will have to give up the top-mounted USB/Firewire/Audio connectors, though. In my experience, a top exhaust was able to drop CPU temps by 1-2C while adding a noticeable amount of noise due to its location. If you add a really high-power fan, i.e. >60CFM, you can expect a 3-5C drop, at the cost of a terrific racket (I tried a Thermaltake adjustable fan for this experiment).

The suggestion to mount a larger fan to the exterior via use of a fan adaptor is probably your best bet if you want increased airflow without the accompanying noise. You can easily do this without permanently altering your case- just remove the rear grille and fan, attach a 92-80 or 120-80mm fan adaptor, mount the fan to the adaptor, and you are set. Supposedly, adaptors are not so great when used with intakes due to backflow, but as exhausts, they seem to perform OK. You could also cut a side intake- this alone dropped my CPU temps by 3-4C (120mm hole without a fan; adding a low-flow fan drops temps another 1-3C).

If you want increased intake, you may have to do some drilling to open up the restrictive front grille holes. It is also possible to mount two 92mm fans in the front if you either drill out the 80mm support rack, or simply soft mount the fans with velcro or some other adhesive material; unfortunately, the efficacy of this would be limited by the tiny intake holes. It would potentially be quieter, as you could get the same CFM with lower RPMs using 92mm vs. 80mm.

With some simple modifications and a modest amount of work, the Wavemaster can be made into a pretty good performer cooling-wise. Well worth it, IMO.
 
You can do an outside the box rear fan mod as I suggested above - up to 92 or 120. It looks like the rear fan mount already has no grille, so that saves you having to cut it out. You can get aluminum fans and adapters to keep with the metallic theme or go with less expensive transparent plastic and/or black fans.

.bh.
 
I'd go for something more off the wall than your options listed. A couple of low speed 120mm intakes on the sidepannel and switching all the other fans to exhaust (front and rear) would be pretty nice. A lot of effort, but i think it'd work well enough.
 
I added a 80mm intake on the side panel of my wave master even with the CPU and replaced all the stock 80mms with Panaflos. Cools my Opty 165 at 2.4 just fine and it's upstairs in a hot bedroom in Florida.
 
Panaflo and NMB merged.

I run all my exhaust fans off the MB fan header for every system I build. Most if not all boards now have good automated controls that allow you to vary fan speed based on either CPU and system temp; in this case you'd have your exhaust fan controlled by system temp.

That Panaflo would work fine but would be fairly load at full speed, maybe look at something in the M range.
 
Drawing air thru the opening from the outside won't have anywhere near the effect that trying to push the air thru the small opening from the inside would have (that can almost stall a fan that has a relatively low static pressure spec like the Panaflo). That's why I suggest it. I suggest doing a free-air check on rpms of your fan and then put the fan on the adapter and do another free-air test and note any change. Then mount the adapter to the case and the fan to the adapter and run another rpm reading. I doubt that you'll see a lot of diff among the readings. IAC, let us know what you get.

.bh.
 
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