Antec NSK 4400 w/250mm Fan. DIY.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:37 am

First off......I'd like to thank Felger Carbon for giving me the incentive to attempt this project. Without his help, I wouldn't have even started it. And it's not even close to being finished, but I do have the intake setup in place. When finished I'll be drawing air in from the bottom of the case, through a large filter. The side panel will be covered. But for now, during the testing, the air comes in through the stock side panel holes, and the two lower pci slots (left open}. There seems to be plenty of intake airflow like this....even at 12v. So conceivably one could use this particular case, or a similar case, completely un-modded on the outside...no metal was cut, only a few small holes drilled for the housing. The fan is mounted with an adjustment capability....in/out about 25mm. This is achieved by different length rubber spacers. Works good. I intend to use an XP-120 on an MSI MATX board. This leaves an open space on the bottom of the case, which is necessary for the intake chamber. More to come......

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:52 pm

Holy crap! Look at the size of that fan!

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 3:08 pm

Heh...no wimpy 120mm Nexus fans for me anymore. Seriously, this fan is a perfect size for an MATX board. With the right selection of pieces, I won't need any other fans. It looks like this case was made for a Fortron Zen fanless PSU. I'm going to try out the Antec OEM PSU for a while, before I get another Zen, however. I've got a nice M-Cubed FanAmp controller for the fan. I'm hoping to idle around 5V, and hit 12V around 50C. This is easy with a FanAmp. At 5V I cannot hear the thing even with the side open. There seems to be plenty of exhaust vents.....the rear 120mm hole, the vent holes around the front bezel, and right through the PSU. I've run this thing closed up, without the MB so far, and there is a lot of airflow out through the PSU, without the PSU fan running. Looks good so far.

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 3:48 pm

What brand fan is it? And where did you buy it?

Do you think that ducting the air will be necessary?
What cpu heatsink are you going to use?

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:28 pm

It's an Xclio fan, and apparently came with a case. I have Felger Carbon to thank for this fan. I'm going to use an XP-120, hopefully without a fan and no ductwork. This fan can be moved inward using longer spacers......so it will get fairly close to the heatsink. The edge of the video card is the limiting factor of how close to the heatsink you can get. If necessary, I can add a duct to the top of the XP-120, but I hope not to. Obviously this will be my ultimate positive pressure case. I continue to be amazed how quiet this fan is....with absolutely no vibration. It's soft-mounted anyway in this setup.

In case you cannot tell from these photos.....the fan box comes right out with the removal of three screws....visible in the last photo. This gives easy access to the board and the cards. The wood frame remains attached to the computer. The board can be removed/installed with the wood frame installed. The wood frame is two pieces attached to the computer with four screws....two on the bottom, and two on the right side behind the right panel.

Link to similar fan

=assassin= · Post by **=assassin=** » Mon Feb 26, 2007 7:02 am

Wow, that fan is huge

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:00 am

Holy moly... that's a tight fit... pretty impressive pictures though.

aegan · Post by **aegan** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 12:21 am

love the fan housing...

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:10 am

I'll put up more photos as I progress with this project. Right now I'm waiting for an order to arrive, containing the heatsink. I don't have anything right now that would be suitable. As you see it, a 3.5" drive won't fit in the drive bays. I would have to cut off the lower three bays and mount them side-ways.....somehow. However, I have soft-mounted a 2.5" drive in one of the stock bays.....might go that route. The stock setup would not need any mods this way.

With this setup it's really easy to modify the airflow. For instance.....if I want more airflow out the front, over the drives, I just block off some of the rear vent hole. There's a lot of stuff to do here before I'm finished, but you can see the basic design. I repositioned the fan inward slightly. It is now against the edge of the video card, 1/8" clearance. This leaves 1" clearance between the fan and the outer panel. I think this will be sufficient.....but it remains to be tested.

more to come.....

oh....in case anyone would want to try this intake setup with a different fan, I think you could fit at least two 120mm fans in place of the big fan, maybe two 140mm Yate Loons.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:47 pm

Heh...nothing is ever easy. I was unable to mount my new Xp-120 to the MSI board I had intended to use. But no problem....I have an ASRock board that will work. I'm not sure If the XP-120 will work with the heatpipes pointed down. It fits better this way...I'll find out. I did make a few cuts in the case...and mounted the PSU partially outside the case. This is how a Zen PSU will mount (if/when I get one).

And here's a shot of the soft fan mount....uses rubber hose and zip-ties. Easy setup, and works well. The view is from the MB side of the fan housing.