Mounting fan in 70 mm pipe?

Boris Bilinsky · Post by **Boris Bilinsky** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:12 am

Hi, I want to mount a fan in a wooden case that was built to silence a P2 some years ago. The size of the outlet is 73 mm in outer diameter, so my question is if you have any recommendations regarding fans and mounting options. I found a fan that maybe will fit: Adda 60mm, 16dBa, 22,4 mÂ³/t.

I'm planning to have som drives in the case and maybe mount a motherbord on one of the walls, but that depends on how cool I can keep it. The outlet consist of a small damped box so I think I can use a fan at high speed and still have a quiet system.

Boris Bilinsky · Post by **Boris Bilinsky** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:13 am

and here is an image of the case:

Boris Bilinsky · Post by **Boris Bilinsky** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:24 am

Think I'll gonna try a 80 mm Nexus and see how it works. I'm not sure how it will affect the airflow if the fan is somewhat larger than the pipe, some mm maybe is ok? What is the recommended ambient temperature for hard drives? As I'm using usb disks now I can't access the SMART features and measure the temperature of the disks.

ACook · Post by **ACook** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:41 pm

usb drives tend to get pretty hot on a desk even, if they're not actively cooled.

HD's like direct airflow, there's plenty of surface area to get a good cooling with very little airflow. what you have here isn't direct though, so not sure what is the best here.

Boris Bilinsky · Post by **Boris Bilinsky** » Fri Oct 31, 2008 5:26 pm

I found a 92 mm duct that allows for mounting a fan and hopefully a somewhat better airflow out from the case.

In the photo the small outlet also is shown. What I really wonder is how much performance I need from the fan in terms of airflow to keep the case at a descent temperature, maybe a 92 mm nexus at 27 CFM will do the job for 3 or 4 drives? (Without fan the temperature gets 5-6 degrees warmer when using two disks. ) The drives will be placed better as well, just testing them as heat sources. I like the idea of mounting a motherboard (low power atom or undervolted athlon) inside as well and only use SATA and IDE disks but then I don't know how to deal with the PSU. I don't find any low power PSU:s. It would be nice to have a passive PSU that could be placed outside the box, or is it possible to have a standard PSU in the case as well (without cutting a hole for it in the case)?