Small cases with BIG fans

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 7:43 am

Performance PCs sell that 22cm (or 220mm) fan that's become (erroneously) known as a 25cm unit for $22.50 with blue LEDs added. But there is strong evidence that the fan is lots cheaper in OEM lots: you can buy a PSI Solo 604 case and big fan and PSU for $45 at Directron! (BTW, PSI stands for "Purple Sky Island"). This is a "mid-tower" case; another mid-tower with the same big fan is the Powerup 2559 from TigerDirect for $50, PSU not included. (Froogle will reveal that these two cases are widely available in the US of A.)

So far I seem to have the only uATX case with that 22CM fan mounted, darn it. And mine doesn't even have blue LEDs.

Some folks seem to think that because that 22cm fan is big, it has to be noisy. Exactly the opposite, for a given CFM. Think about it: at the same CFM, is an 80mm or 120mm fan noisier? Right!

The size of the cases that use this big fan is dropping.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 7:57 am

FC, soon you are going to have a fan bigger than your case!

GHz · Post by **GHz** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 8:22 am

I wonder if having such a large side intake is really a good idea. The problem is that it totally annihilates the normal flow of air required to cool *all* components of a system. Sure, it will cool the motherboard, cpu, and video card, but what about the hard drives sitting in the front? I imagine that with such a huge volume of air coming in from the side, any and all openings become exhaust ports. So your intake area would suddenly become an exhaust. The question is whether there would be enough airflow coming over the HDDs to keep them cool. And forget about installing intake fans; they would make a mess of the air flow direction (i.e. they would be fighting against the big side intake, and who knows where the deflected air would go).

My concern is genuine. I used to install side intake fans until I came to SPCR. Then for the sake of reducing noise (i.e. another path for noise to escape) I removed the side intake fan and covered it up. Not only was noise reduced, but temperatures dropped too! And when I thought about it, it made sense (re: the way air moves in your case). I'd prefer to draw you a picture because what I'm saying might make more sense, but I think you get the idea!

McBanjo · Post by **McBanjo** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 9:01 am

A fan is measured by the frame not the blades. Otherwise it wouldn't exist any 120mm or 80mm etc

Not sure on how it cools and sounds but they do have bigger bragging potential compered to...well, every other computerfan on the market

natethegreat · Post by **natethegreat** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 10:14 am

GHz wrote:I wonder if having such a large side intake is really a good idea. The problem is that it totally annihilates the normal flow of air required to cool *all* components of a system. Sure, it will cool the motherboard, cpu, and video card, but what about the hard drives sitting in the front? I imagine that with such a huge volume of air coming in from the side, any and all openings become exhaust ports. So your intake area would suddenly become an exhaust. The question is whether there would be enough airflow coming over the HDDs to keep them cool. And forget about installing intake fans; they would make a mess of the air flow direction (i.e. they would be fighting against the big side intake, and who knows where the deflected air would go).

Why not just have the large fan (22cm) set as the exhaust not intake? You could then get air drawn over the hdd's in the front.

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Sat Dec 09, 2006 12:16 pm

GHz, you have a valid concern. Cooling the HDDs is (to me) an absolute necessity. That's why I mount my two HDDs 3 to 3.5" apart, bottom facing bottom, and place a Scythe 100mm 1000RPM spot cooling fan in the middle. Then I surround those on 5 of 6 sides with McMaster buna rubber. I add a shortish "air flow separator" so the input cooling air does not mix with the output heated air (not heated very much!)

.

This means I do not need any cooling air passing thru the front panel at all! So I cover the front panel, and all the holes not related to the floppy and optical etc, with 1/8" buna rubber, with the complete fan-HDD(s) package then suspended with Stretch Magic. I've posted pics of this in the "show your HDD suspension" sticky (page 7) in the General Gallery.

The 22cm fan, which has a low blade pitch, is (correctly) designed to pressurize the case. The air then naturally finds the PSU and exhaust fan outlets. Very simple. The 22cm fan is not, itself, directly involved in determining the case air flow. This is an important point.

Since no fan is needed at the exhaust position, in the PSU, or as an intake (other than the big fan itself), all rotating machinery in the computer except for the floppy, optical, and the big fan itself are suspended.
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Further, I have already posted where I suspended a Silent Wheel 13cm fan which was additionally treated with a very soft foam. I plan to expand this concept to the 22cm fan. I only use the floppy and optical for backups, once every week or two.

Ideally, all rotating machinery should be suspended.

I hope this has clarified my idea of a big fan in a small case, and also some details of its implementation.

P.S.: after looking around, I now think those two cases are really the same fundamental case with bezel changes etc. Just as the Athenatech A301 is the same fundamental case as the TJ-08.

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 3:50 pm

Add a third inexpensive case with the big 220mm fan: the XCLIO 3060BK, $35 at Newegg. I seriously believe that these three are all the same basic case, although some have a mobo plate and some don't. The details of the HDD and optical drive cages are the same, the PSI and Clio have identical mounting mechanisms for the big fan, and some details of the intake and exhaust fans are the same. Also they are all 3 about 17" x 17" x 7.9".

This one seems to be a different case, but similar... with a front panel cover. $57 at Newegg. A gaming machine with a 600W (rated) PSU.

After the Xmas rush, I think I'll see if one of these can be turned into a quiet case with the big fan. I've already proven (to myself at least) that the big fan is not, of itself, noisy at all.

edit: added the Broadway case & fixed a typo

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Mon Jan 01, 2007 5:31 am

My conjecture that the Powerup 2559 is essentially the same case as the Xclio & PSI Solo is correct. The fan exhaust grille is for one 120mm instead of two 80mm, and there's provision for an intake fan in front of the internal 3.5" drives. Naturally, the decorative bezel is different (it's always different). Everything else is the same: you can see the pics here.

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:58 am

The Xclio 3060 and the PSI Solo 604 are identically the same case with different bezels but no other differences except the paint job. I know, because I now have both cases. That means the left side panel with the big fan is interchangable, so I can leave one hard-mounted and suspend the other, and quickly change for test/comparison purposes.

Further, Aplus has surfaced with two cases based on that same underlying structure. And this gets interesting, because Aplus makes the same 3 models with 220mm fans as Xclio, even using the same model numbers. Aplus comes via maxpoint.de, a german outfit, which the xclio.com site cross-references!

So the same units are available at Newegg from two different sources, with different prices and different shipping charges! I love it. If this interests you, go to Newegg and search either xclio or aplus.

The "3060" and "188A" cases are based on the same xclio/psi case(s) I now own - the 188As have doors on the bezel, if you like that sort of thing.

I love the incestuous PC marketing world.

edit: added pic

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 12:19 pm

The Xclio and Aplus "188A" cases are only 7.3" wide. So not even a 126.5mm (spec) Freezer 64 Pro will fit inside.

A 9.3" wide case (hello, Ninja) has surfaced, the Linkworld 313-11, which calls the standard 13-blade 220mm fan a "26cm" fan. <---This is WRONG!! The dimensions listed by Newegg are for the packing box! I was fooled when I tried to scale from the rear view Newegg posted, and I scaled from the "120mm" exhaust fan hole. It's a 92mm fan hole!; apparently the actual case is only 19CM or 7.5" wide.