where should I place my first blowhole?

[fibes]

Hello,
This is going to be my first case mod with my new dremel, and I was wondering where I should cut my first hole? I'm new at this and need some expert advice. What I want to do is make a hole in my side plexiglass window. Should I make the cut toward the bottom of the plexiglass? Or should I make it toward the center of the case (to help cool off the CPU)? The fan I'm going to use is a generic 80mm fan pulling out 32 c.f.m.'s. I'm going to add more than 1 blowhole, but I want to do one at a time for now, and see how they turn out. I would like to make a blowhole on the top of my case, but I heard that you have to disassamble everthing. That's a project, I do not want to tackle at the moment. Anyway, please give me any suggestions that you may have. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

 

[mechBgon]

I'd suggest a 120mm low-rpm fan centered at the level of your AGP card. Half its output will flow among the cards, and the other half will go over the top of the AGP card and flood the northbridge & CPU with cool air. A Panaflo L1A 120mm fan is well-suited to this position since it doesn't make a lot of noise. Bonus: the larger radius of the hole will be easier to cut.

Good luck with your project! 😀

 

[Jeff7]

When planning it out, make very sure that the fan will not interfere with the rest of the case once the panel is secured on back in place.
Also, the fan templates here look pretty good.
Take it nice and easy too with the Dremel on plexiglass - if it slips, and catches really hard, you'll end up with a nice crack. Same goes for drilling the holes for the screws in the corners - nice and slow, and back off it for a few seconds after a few seconds of drilling, to allow the bit to cool a little.