Filtering material for the P180's top blowhole.

Interitus · Post by **Interitus** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:34 pm

Didn't really find a good answer for this by searching....

I'm going to be using the fan in the top of my P180. The fan will help cool my setup a lot more than avoiding use of it, so it stays.

My only problem with this is that I do not want the top blowhole grille to be exposed for dust to just fall into the case. I have thought about just lining the grille with paper or something similar, maybe even tape, but I would imagine that this would increase air turbulence noise.

So I guess what I'm getting at is...

Is there any good very thin and readily/cheaply available filtering materials or DIY ways to filter that top grille while still allowing air to escape?

I could be totally wrong in thinking that a filtering material would reduce air turbulence over sealing the top of the grille completely.

Your thoughts are appreciated

vitaminc · Post by **vitaminc** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:47 pm

Here is a alumnium filter and its review.

I use ducktape to seal my P180's top vent hole since I am not using it currently (and I guess should since my CPU runs at 51-61 degrees), and I dont notice any air turbulence noise induced by the seal of top vent.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:54 am

Don't try to blow through a filter of any sort.....back-pressure, noise, reduced airflow, bad..... Turn the fan around and blow into the case if you want. Then you can use a filter. Or just cover up the hole. Blowing through a filter is a no-no.

Groovealufagus · Post by **Groovealufagus** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 11:05 am

Why not try putting some filtering material over the top intake and just leave it open without a fan?

If you use a rear exhaust fan and some thought out partitioning the rear fan will pull the air in from the top vent right through your heatsink and out through the back of the case. That's cool air pulled directly through the fins of the heatsink and one less fan to combat the noise from.

Take a look at the P180 Review that tests the two systems, mid-range and "hotrod" for reference.

uwbandman · Post by **uwbandman** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 8:45 pm

Interitus wrote: I'm going to be using the fan in the top of my P180. The fan will help cool my setup a lot more than avoiding use of it, so it stays.

My only problem with this is that I do not want the top blowhole grille to be exposed for dust to just fall into the case.

Out of curiosity, are you going to have the fan blowing out of the case or into it?
'Cause if you're going to keep the original configuration that has the fan blowing out as an exhaust, I really dont see why you're worried about dust falling in. Even at 5v, my top fan pushes enough air to float a business card off of it. (Please save the surface area ratio comparisons between a business card and a dust particle...you know what Im getting at here)
Unless you're eating cookies over that blowhole, I really dont think you have much to worry about as far as dust entering the case that way.
If you are turning that fan into an intake, well thats a different story - filter away. But Bluefront is right: blowing into filters = loud/hot = naughty.

Interitus · Post by **Interitus** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:52 am

My fault on the post. It was late and I didn't really clarify my end goal too well.

So here it goes one more time...

I will be using a fan in the top blowhole. Currently my setup has an Opteron 165 dual core running at 2.4ghz. That's a lotta heat. I imagined the top blowhole with a fan running at 5v for exhaust (not intake) would help a lil with heat management. I never really considered trying to use it as an intake...i'll try that out when i get the rig finally assembled.

So basically what I was after was this...

The fan won't be filtered. Nor do I want it to be. What I was asking is that since my computer can sit neglected for days at a time and "off" in my dusty room, top blowholes have always been a "hell no" for me. Even with a fan present blowing air out of the case I'm gonna need some kind of dust prevention for when the computer is off. (This room is hellatiously dusty and has no carpet) So I'm not looking for something to filter the fan itself, but rather something to filter the snap-on "scoop" on the back of the P180. This way when the computer is off, dust can't just fall right down into the case. If you saw my old case you'd realize that in this house this is a very realistic and valid concern.

I was going to just tape up the mesh-like part of the scoop so that air could still blow out the opening in the back, but wasn't sure if this would increase air turbulence noise significantly. I originally thought it might be better to find some kind of soft filtering material that was easily replaceable to line the scoop with....

Hope that clears up my intentions a bit

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 9:35 am

I would go to the furnace filters section of a hardware store. You should be able to find some white, cotton-like filter material for filtering (something). I don't mean the large, fiberglass-like stuff for lining furnace filter baskets, but the slightly thicker stuff that you also cut to fit. Unless you think the larger stuff will work.

Also, pretty easy to find are heat register sized rectangles of similar filter material. Maybe you could use those?

I'm not sure how much resistance they both give though... maybe you could cover the vents overhead instead....

Filtering material for the P180's top blowhole.

Filtering material for the P180's top blowhole.

Re: Filtering material for the P180's top blowhole.