This is what to do when you first get YOUR new PC case.

[AntDX3162]

is to add these grills!!! to prevent the dust from forming on the fans from extreme prolong use!

I have to get screws for the rear though! I didn't use the thick plastic ones because it would require longer screws and getting it slightly wrong could damage the fins.

 

[HerrKaLeu]

Are those exhaust fans on top of the case? why filter the air leaving the case? The dirt still will get on your cooler etc.
Air filter upstream of intake fans and creating positive pressure (more air blown in than exhausted should be better.

unless I'm missing something...

 

[Red Squirrel]

I too put furnace filters at all the supplies, instead of the return. 😛

Yeah this seems like an odd filter placement. I'd put them on the intakes. Suppose one on top would not hurt too if you have a cat that likes to go on top of the case.

 

[HerrKaLeu]

if the cat sits there, the radiator won't cool..... but I see why a cat would like to sit there 🙂
If this really is exhaust, I think it is a bad since it creates more pressure drop, reduces flow and creates noise.

 

[AntDX3162]

Isn't the air going up instead of down? Sure airflow will be somewhat restricted but it would be more restricted when dust gets trapped in between the fan and the radiator. Cleaning that up is a huge hassle as most of the dirt cannot be cleaned easily off the fans. Having it trapped on the filter is the best way. I do this to my current watercooling system and everytime I clean the filter the temps drop 20C.

You guys should realize it's 3 fans instead of 2.

The case I have has no intake. It's the Genome II. I'll take a pic of it after my thermal compound arrives and everything is installed. Probably take no longer than 1 hour to do as I have to drain the old systems coolant but I can still do the swap w/o removing the cooling system at all as I've designed that system to be easily upgradeable. I don't have waterblocks on the GPUs anymore as I found out that to become a hassle. I'm on the same cooling setup since '06! This is the reason why I got this. It would cost more to change the system by doing a new case and determining what is clogged. Flow rate is like gone but it still works.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well, the filters are very "kewl." Neat! Good-looking!

But I don't use metal screws with fans or filters. I am religious about totally isolating radiators and their fans from case metal (or isolating fans from radiators) using various rubber or rubber-cushioned fasteners.

And --- sorry -- I can't wrap my brain around the notion of a case without intake and sporting only exhaust through the radiator.

 

[AntDX3162]

I mean, it will get air in some how because of the 14.7 air pressure even with no intake fan. Air will still be drawn in because the air gets pushed out the top and the back. Most of the air gets trapped in the top and back of the case. They still get dirty. All fans get eventually dirty. The solution is to add a mesh filter to the intake side so you can just wipe it every now and then than trying to pick it off from every single blade and trying to suck more out with the strongest Dyson vaccuum. Even doing it that way stuff will still remain.

The idea is to think of it like you are in a sealed house that is hot with all windows closed, a fan blows on you and you still get cooler.

 

[MrTeal]

I just always mount my rad with the fans pulling through, so any dust that is in the case gets stuck on the open side of the rad where its easy to vacuum off. Those filters look extremely high restriction though.

 

[MrTeal]

I mean, it will get air in some how because of the 14.7 air pressure even with no intake fan. Air will still be drawn in because the air gets pushed out the top and the back. Most of the air gets trapped in the top and back of the case. They still get dirty. All fans get eventually dirty. The solution is to add a mesh filter to the intake side so you can just wipe it every now and then than trying to pick it off from every single blade and trying to suck more out with the strongest Dyson vaccuum. Even doing it that way stuff will still remain.

The idea is to think of it like you are in a sealed house that is hot with all windows closed, a fan blows on you and you still get cooler.

That's a completely different mechanism in most cases, unless your CPU sweats. 🙂

 

[AntDX3162]

That's a completely different mechanism in most cases, unless your CPU sweats. 🙂

Any fan in the entire world will dust up. Stuff falls from outer space and spreads out and it collects that dust. It collects dead skin dust. It collects carpet dust. It collects dust from outside that goes onto the clothing. Unless you have a super clean room and body, there is no way it won't stop collecting dust to the point where it matters. I use the PC all the time. It never turns off. I added a mesh to my radiator fans and all that has to be done is to wipe it. Sure it might block airflow faster but it's either that or removing the radiator fans then cleaning the inside. Maybe a small rechargeable USB vaccuum would be the solution to clean this up quick.

 

[twinrider1]

I find compressed air to be much more effective than just a vacuum. When the avg cpu temps get to a certain level I take the computer out to the garage and blow the dust out. I used to do it inside the house, using compressed air to dislodge the dust and a vacuum to suck it up. But the vacuum doesn't get everything so it just made more sense to take it outside.

 

[AntDX3162]

I find compressed air to be much more effective than just a vacuum. When the avg cpu temps get to a certain level I take the computer out to the garage and blow the dust out. I used to do it inside the house, using compressed air to dislodge the dust and a vacuum to suck it up. But the vacuum doesn't get everything so it just made more sense to take it outside.

yeah but I want to actually clean the dust while the PC is plugged in an online

 

[twinrider1]

Ahh, I missed that detail from your earlier post. Sounds like a good solution then. Accepting the steady restriction of the screen to prevent the fans from getting super dirty. I wonder how restrictive the screens actually are. It would be an interesting test; measure the amperage drawn by a fan with and without the screen.

 

[MrTeal]

Any fan in the entire world will dust up. Stuff falls from outer space and spreads out and it collects that dust. It collects dead skin dust. It collects carpet dust. It collects dust from outside that goes onto the clothing. Unless you have a super clean room and body, there is no way it won't stop collecting dust to the point where it matters. I use the PC all the time. It never turns off. I added a mesh to my radiator fans and all that has to be done is to wipe it. Sure it might block airflow faster but it's either that or removing the radiator fans then cleaning the inside. Maybe a small rechargeable USB vaccuum would be the solution to clean this up quick.

Not sure what you're getting at here, especially with the outer space stuff. That comment was that the reason you feel cool even if a fan is blowing hot air on you is that you're perspiring, and you cool off because the sweat absorbs heat from your body to evaporate. Your CPU obviously doesn't sweat. 🙂

yeah but I want to actually clean the dust while the PC is plugged in an online

In regards to this, it's IMO still a little sketchy to be vacuuming inside your computer while it's running, simply because most vacuums produce so much static. If you want to do this, a really effective way is to flip the fans around on your radiator and mount those filters on the top of the radiator. You're then drawing outside air into your case through the filters (and rad), and letting it diffuse out through all the holes in the case. Because it's positive pressure dust is much less likely to enter through all your system vents, and when you do want to clean it you just need to pop the top off and vacuum the top of the rad rather than stick the vacuum into your case anywhere near your motherboard or GPU.

 

[Ichinisan]

My foolish brother has his top-mounted 3x 120mm fans blowing inward. He insists it's the proper way.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I'm a big fan (haha) of having tons of positive pressure, seal up any unused vents, and force air out one or two different spots. The filters would go on the intakes. In the case of water cooling I'd probably have the rad sitting externally, as if it's internal, then what's the point of even doing water cooling if you're still relying on case air flow to keep the water cool, may as well just do pure air cooling. If you really wanted to geek out you'd have the rad in a completely different room. 😛 Or a central water cooling system that does all systems. That would be something fun to build actually but a failure would be catastrophic.

 

[EXCellR8]

I've used fine screens in the past and while it does help, I eventually need to take the compressor and blow all of the dust out.

Bought a winix air purifier that I put next to the computer and that does a good job, but those HEPA filters are expensive and only last 10 months.

 

[AntDX3162]

I'm a big fan (haha) of having tons of positive pressure, seal up any unused vents, and force air out one or two different spots. The filters would go on the intakes. In the case of water cooling I'd probably have the rad sitting externally, as if it's internal, then what's the point of even doing water cooling if you're still relying on case air flow to keep the water cool, may as well just do pure air cooling. If you really wanted to geek out you'd have the rad in a completely different room. 😛 Or a central water cooling system that does all systems. That would be something fun to build actually but a failure would be catastrophic.

This is what I was doing for years now it's time to do it this way as having a custom setup requires a top-off and algae and other things start to happen inside because when the air comes into the "closed" system there is moisture then after the coolant additives break down other bad things start to happen. I assume as this being a completely closed system that problem is gone.

The other problem with custom cooling is you have to do all the mounting yourself. I used to have 2x fan radiator at the bottom of the case which was outside in a custom box I made then a 2x radiator outside the case the back. I had to use 90 degree elbows get it to work. Still to this day I have some pieces from that build back in '06 or earlier.

I think the other problem is an incompatibility with metals. When going custom you may put the wrong combination together that you don't know about creating some bad synthesis that will show up as problems later on. It's like putting a drone together and you have default settings. It might not fly as stable as a DJI or Typhoon because those were perfected to work in harmony and just duplicated. I take that method of thinking and this was the reason for getting this case.

 

[AntDX3162]

Ahh, I missed that detail from your earlier post. Sounds like a good solution then. Accepting the steady restriction of the screen to prevent the fans from getting super dirty. I wonder how restrictive the screens actually are. It would be an interesting test; measure the amperage drawn by a fan with and without the screen.

I don't think it should be very restrictive. I have more restriction on the current watercooling setup I have now but the air draw is like quadruple maybe. I haven't put together the case because I'm waiting on my non-conductive thermal paste. I choose not to use conductive so I can make upgrade pathing problem-free. I saw how the best thermal paste (liquid metal) to an average one (MX-4) showed same temps from linustechtips on YouTube. The delidded ones have massive gains but a 5930k cannot be delidded as the IHS is soldered onto the chip.

 

[AntDX3162]

I put it together. Temps down to 26C and higher 74C. My other cooling setup could keep it at 70C but the fans were working way faster and ultra load but only 2 instead of 3 fans.

 

[Valantar]

Am I the only one finding it a bit funny that a new user comes to the Anandtech forums and tries to teach us all about this great new invention called "fan filters"?

On a more serious note, that looks like a god-awful case design. No intake fans? Ugh. And massive negative pressure = dust build-up on everything inside your case. Fan filters will make the fans cleaner, but what about the rest of your components? I take it your GPU isn't water cooled? Are you planning on filtering that as well? Otherwise, it will soon be caked with dust.

The best way of keeping your PC dust-free is to keep it dust-free. In other words, stop dust from getting into it. Stopping it from being blown out again by your fans isn't exactly going to help.