To cut... or not to cut? (fan grills)

Seal · Post by **Seal** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 3:17 am

I cant decide whether or not to cut out my fan grills. Theyre the honeycomb type. From what ive read theyre the least restrictive... but theyre still a little restrictive.

Shall i cut them out? Will it increase airflow/improve quietness?

Thanks
Seal

Seal · Post by **Seal** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 3:19 am

oh yeah, and btw the case is an antec 3700BQE

ABAQUS888 · Post by **ABAQUS888** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 2:11 pm

CUT IT! DON'T HESITATE!

Harry Azol · Post by **Harry Azol** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 2:14 pm

I'd also say cut it.. but don't expect a huge difference

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 3:05 pm

I think you'd get a noticeable increase in airflow if you cut it. Someone else on the forums noted that a wire fan grill drastically reduces airflow (although not as bad as those stamped ones) - so if you remove it altogether then it should work wonders.

I removed the fan grill from my psu, I've got a slower fan in there that is pushing a lot more air out the back than a faster fan with grill.

Seal · Post by **Seal** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 3:22 pm

ah ok, sweet... more moddage action for me tomorrow

its just as well you guys say remove it cos ive got an itchy trigger finger on my dremel! ive also got some nice trim waiting to be used!

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Fri Dec 19, 2003 3:29 pm

remember Seal: we want pics!

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Sun Dec 21, 2003 11:04 pm

I decided to cut out my front grill too, just for kicks (it serves zero purpose anyway). I took the cut out grill later and tested it with an antec 80mm rigged up to a 9V battery, and I was surprised how drastically the grill reduces airflow!! I know this isn't as big an issue if you don't have a fan mounted right up against the grill, but if you do, the airflow (imo) is substantially improved with the grill removed.

I'm thinking about cutting out the rear grill too

Seal · Post by **Seal** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 4:08 pm

chylld wrote:remember Seal: we want pics!

Ok you asked for it!

My mom stole the digital camera and took it on holiday though :/, i told her to bring me back a nice new canon ixus 400 though

but for now you'll just have to do with some naff webcam pictures.

Before ^ notice how its more hexagonal than circle.

A cd is the perfect size for a 120mm fan hole, if not very slightly bigger. I just used it and marked with a pencil where i should cut

Cut, - as the cd markings were slightly bigger than a 120mm hole i cut it slightly smaller than my markings.

... as is shown here

However i couldnt hide it all behind the blowhole cover rubber, it also quite evident that the original grill was hexagonal. so tomorrow im going to re cut it but this time im going to cut it all to the CD line.

^ cut to the line there, itll also make it nice and perfectly round.

Seal

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 5:37 pm

hehe that's exactly what i'm going to do .. mine looks exactly like yours without the rubber stuff which i'll get in january sometime.

can we do the same rubber thingo for the back? or will that prevent the fan from being properly fitted?

Zyzzyx · Post by **Zyzzyx** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 9:41 pm

Dremel? Bah... too slow and noisy.

Get yoursself a set of tin snips and REALLY look forward to those case cutting projects.

Bought a pair m'self, and they paid for themselves on the first project. Quick, quiet, clean, easy.

Oh yeah, and good choice on cutting 'em out.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 9:45 pm

lol i just realised you were using a dremel, seal

that would have taken a loooong time.

i cut mine out with some AUD10 (USD7) side cutters from the hobby shop. I also used them to cut out the rear case grill and psu fan grill on my sister's shuttle sn45g. and they're still going strong! (the side cutters)

mpteach · Post by **mpteach** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 11:21 pm

Im about to do the same, my stupid grille is twice as bad as the one in the picture. it has a buncho of drilled holes in a decorative spiral pattern. I think it was engineered by a de-evolved monkey, I dont beleve in evolution. Well i didnt untill looking at my grille.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 11:57 pm

Makes you question those cheesy laser-cut fan grills doesn't it

I think the only suitable grills are those regular shiny wire ones. I have the fan from my bqe's psu wired up to a 9V battery and by some simple fan-in-hand tests I can tell you that the regular grill hardly restricts airflow, whereas the bqe's honeycomb grill greatly restricts airflow.

Only one doubt remains before I cut out my bqe's rear grill however - being a 120mm fan hole there is actually a good chance of some foreign objects wandering into the spinning fan, so I want to put a proper grill there... but how? I can't figure out how to put them onto those silicone gel mount thingies

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 4:34 am

ahh, what the heck. my side cutters have been yearning for some action ever since they made their first cut, so i went ahead and cut out my bqe's rear grill

i took the fan out in record time (20 seconds? took me 20 minutes first go) and cut cut cut, then sticky-taped around the edges to prevent any nasty cuts.

already, through mbm5 the case temps are 5 degrees cooler than before, but then again i just did power up my system a bare 5 minutes ago. i'll prime it to get it back up to the temp it was at before, then i'll see how it fares

hooray for case modding!

edit: results: case temp remained the same, cpu load temp dropped by 2 degrees. Not bad!

edit again: i just realised hdd temp dropped 2-3 degrees also! Score.

wigworld · Post by **wigworld** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 1:55 pm

Does removing the grill give you a reduction in noise, or just a reduction in CPU temperature? I'm using a Zalman heatsink, and the fan is fixed to the back of my Nexus istyle case. I still get a little noise from the fan (it is on its lowest setting of 1350 rpm), and wonder if removing the grill would eliminate more noise, or just give more cooling (CPU temp at the moment is a steady 56 °C (133 °F), which I'm happy with).
Thanks.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 2:05 pm

chylld wrote:Only one doubt remains before I cut out my bqe's rear grill however - being a 120mm fan hole there is actually a good chance of some foreign objects wandering into the spinning fan, so I want to put a proper grill there... but how? I can't figure out how to put them onto those silicone gel mount thingies

Someone suggested hot glue in another thread. There's also a suggestion of screwing it into the isolators, but that was referring to the EAR isolators, not the silicone ones Antec included with their cases.

Gooserider · Post by **Gooserider** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 8:59 pm

wigworld
Does removing the grill give you a reduction in noise, or just a reduction in CPU temperature?

Theory says that a fan sucking or blowing through a grill will make more noise due to turbulence, and the closer the fan is to the grill, the more noise you get. With a slow fan, how much noise you get from the grill is debateable, so you might or might not see much improvement from cutting the grill, but for sure it won't hurt.

Gooserider

Zyzzyx · Post by **Zyzzyx** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 9:23 pm

Gooserider wrote: so you might or might not see much improvement from cutting the grill, but for sure it won't hurt.

Unless you cut yourself on the freshly cut grills.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 10:46 pm

wigworld: noise-wise you won't notice much difference at all, especially with slow fans as goosey pointed out.

airflow-wise however, you may get a substantial improvement. my temps dropped a few degrees C after i cut out my rear grill

also.. 56C is awfully hot - when you say zalman do you mean the 7000(A)? my cpu idles at 45-46C / load 52-53C and i thought that was hot.

wigworld · Post by **wigworld** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 12:18 am

Thanks everyone, I'll give it a try as I've nothing to lose. Is 56°C really so hot? I thought the AMD specs stated 80 or 90°C as a maximum temp?

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 12:22 am

Is that 56C an idle temp or a load temp?

If it's a load temp then it's fine, but if it's an idle temp then it's much higher than I've ever heard before.

What CPU is it?

Regardless.. it's within AMD specs so it's pretty safe to run it at that temp, but I think it's telling you that there are some issues that you might want to address in your case

ruprag · Post by **ruprag** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 2:38 am

Well if he is using an Abit mobo then they seem to report up to 10C to high a temperature.

I have 48C idle and my airflow is way to much (L1A @ 12v) I am planing on running it lower after I change harddisks

I had idle temps of 54C previously and was not all taht worried