Hi!
It's my first time on this forum although I'm a regular visitor to the SPCR.I will appreciate your advice on this subject.I ordered a new case (Antec P180B) and it's coming any day now but before it arrives I have a question about fan placement inside the P180 for my hardware.
Motherboard:Gigabyte GA-M57 SLI-S4 nForce570
CPU:AMD Athlon X2 64 4600+ Windsor core
CPU COOLER: Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 PRO
RAM: Transcend JetRam 2 x 1GB PC-800 DDR2
VIDEO: ATI RADEON X1800GTO 256MB (with Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 silent fan)
HDD1:WD Caviar 320GB Sata II 16MB cache
HDD2:Maxtor 80GB SATA 8MB cache
HDD3:Maxtor 120GB ATA
OPTICAL DRIVE: Pioneer 108D DVD/RW
PSU:Q-Tec 400W (stock 12cm cooler replaced with Cooler Master Ultra silent fan 720RPM)
In my old no name case the temperatures were getting really high while full load and noise was coming out in all directions due to the poor case quality, but now I'm hoping it will all change when P180B arrives.So I just need to know how many coolers do I need in the new case and what's the best configuration for my current hardware setup.Thanx in advance!
Advice on fan placement inside P180B
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
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where?wolf
- Posts: 198
- Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:10 am
- Location: Southern Sweden
Hi!
Well, probably you will manage with the included fans.
A small question about your harddrives?
Do you really need 3 of them?
If any of them are for just backup / storage? Then it could be a good idea to get an external usb enclosure for that drive.
This will lower both the temperatures, improve airflow in the lower tunnel. Wich will result in that the other drives will run cooler. And of coarce less noise. + that you can remove the middle fan in the psu tunnel.
Just make sure you tape up the case vents that goes around the psu.
The usb hd, you can have on or off as you please.
Seal the vent in the back of the case and some of the vented PCI slot plates at the rear of the case. Just leave 1 or 2 such plates open below the videocard.
Also seal the holes not in use in the hd cage.
Remove the upper hd cage and the plastic rails.
Remove the stamped and honey combed grilles in front of the fans. This will improve airflow and the noise will get lower.
Just be careful not to remove the holes that holds the filters in place.
Do this, before you mount anything into the case. And clean the case throughout afterwards.
If you wanna have the edges of the fan holes looking neater? Then glue some "U" shaped, rubber door or window isolation to them. Just make sure you stretch the isolation strips enough, so they dont get in contact with the fan blades.
If you feel you will need fingerguards for the exhaust fans? Then get a couple of 120mm ones made out of rounded wire instead. Those are better than the stamped ones at least.
Mount the fans with elastic cords instead of the screws. This will dampen the vibrations from fan to case.
Another mod, you can do. Is to use the uppr 3 cd bays as an extra, passive air intake. This works very well with this case.
Just remove the protective plates in front of those upper 3 x 5.25 cd bays.
Then tape 4 foam strips in a suitable size into the opening, using double sided tape. Then just wedge a 120mm washable fan filter in between those strips.
You can make this filter pretty easy yourself, by using a piece of nylon stocking and a thin home made wooden frame.
Then just glue the nylon onto the edges of the wooden frame.
Just remember to stretch the nylon enough. when glueing.
Tape up the holes in the cd cage to prevent air leakage.
When mounting the Freezer 64. Make sure to have the back of the heatsink facing the rear exhaust fan for best performance.
The Freezer 64 is rotatable. Consult the Freezer 64 manual.
If you feel you wanna have even more silent fans than the Antec Tricools included in the case?
Then Akasa, amber series fans. Nexus, Noctua, Globalwin or Yate Loon are good choises.
The Noctua 1200 rpm fan, have a sweet spot around 840 - 850 rpm. If you get a Zalman Fanmate II. And a"Y" split fan cable, 3 pin female and 2 X 3 pin male. You can regulate both Noctua fans with just 1 Zalman Fanmate II. And still have rpm reading from the sensors on the motherboard.
As you know, the cable manage ment is pretty tuff in a P180.
But there are some good places to hide those cables in the P180.
On top or under the psu. Depending on if you will have the psu mounted upside down or not?
In the floppy drive compartment.
Behind the mobo tray.
Some of the cables, you can hide behind the perforated lip of the side panel.
Fold any broad, flat IDE cable neatly. And out of the way of the fans / intakes. Such a flat IDE cable, you can fold pretty hard without it will take any damage.
Hope this have been of any help for you?
Well, probably you will manage with the included fans.
A small question about your harddrives?
Do you really need 3 of them?
If any of them are for just backup / storage? Then it could be a good idea to get an external usb enclosure for that drive.
This will lower both the temperatures, improve airflow in the lower tunnel. Wich will result in that the other drives will run cooler. And of coarce less noise. + that you can remove the middle fan in the psu tunnel.
Just make sure you tape up the case vents that goes around the psu.
The usb hd, you can have on or off as you please.
Seal the vent in the back of the case and some of the vented PCI slot plates at the rear of the case. Just leave 1 or 2 such plates open below the videocard.
Also seal the holes not in use in the hd cage.
Remove the upper hd cage and the plastic rails.
Remove the stamped and honey combed grilles in front of the fans. This will improve airflow and the noise will get lower.
Just be careful not to remove the holes that holds the filters in place.
Do this, before you mount anything into the case. And clean the case throughout afterwards.
If you wanna have the edges of the fan holes looking neater? Then glue some "U" shaped, rubber door or window isolation to them. Just make sure you stretch the isolation strips enough, so they dont get in contact with the fan blades.
If you feel you will need fingerguards for the exhaust fans? Then get a couple of 120mm ones made out of rounded wire instead. Those are better than the stamped ones at least.
Mount the fans with elastic cords instead of the screws. This will dampen the vibrations from fan to case.
Another mod, you can do. Is to use the uppr 3 cd bays as an extra, passive air intake. This works very well with this case.
Just remove the protective plates in front of those upper 3 x 5.25 cd bays.
Then tape 4 foam strips in a suitable size into the opening, using double sided tape. Then just wedge a 120mm washable fan filter in between those strips.
You can make this filter pretty easy yourself, by using a piece of nylon stocking and a thin home made wooden frame.
Then just glue the nylon onto the edges of the wooden frame.
Just remember to stretch the nylon enough. when glueing.
Tape up the holes in the cd cage to prevent air leakage.
When mounting the Freezer 64. Make sure to have the back of the heatsink facing the rear exhaust fan for best performance.
The Freezer 64 is rotatable. Consult the Freezer 64 manual.
If you feel you wanna have even more silent fans than the Antec Tricools included in the case?
Then Akasa, amber series fans. Nexus, Noctua, Globalwin or Yate Loon are good choises.
The Noctua 1200 rpm fan, have a sweet spot around 840 - 850 rpm. If you get a Zalman Fanmate II. And a"Y" split fan cable, 3 pin female and 2 X 3 pin male. You can regulate both Noctua fans with just 1 Zalman Fanmate II. And still have rpm reading from the sensors on the motherboard.
As you know, the cable manage ment is pretty tuff in a P180.
But there are some good places to hide those cables in the P180.
On top or under the psu. Depending on if you will have the psu mounted upside down or not?
In the floppy drive compartment.
Behind the mobo tray.
Some of the cables, you can hide behind the perforated lip of the side panel.
Fold any broad, flat IDE cable neatly. And out of the way of the fans / intakes. Such a flat IDE cable, you can fold pretty hard without it will take any damage.
Hope this have been of any help for you?
Thank you very much for your suggestions.I will certainly make very good use of them.And yes you're right about having three HDD's inside the case.One of them (Maxtor 120GB ATA) I use just for backup and I have an empty external USB HDD rack laying around so I will put that HDD in there.All of your suggestions are great but I only have one doubt.I am afraid of removing the cooler in lower chamber in front of the PSU because of the low RPM fan(720) that I've installed in the Q-tec so maybe it will overheat.It looks like I'm going to spend a lot of time modding this case before I can assemble it all, but I'm sure it will be worth it.
One more question about the fans.I live in Serbia and as you probably know it is a very poor country and hardware dealers are only selling the cheapest goods there is because of the general lack of money by the population. So I think it will be very hard for me to find brands like Noctua,Akasa,GlobalWin and others.I can only find Arctic cooling, Coolink, Coolermaster,Zalman and maybe a couple of other brands.Can I go with one of these instead of your recommendations?
One more question about the fans.I live in Serbia and as you probably know it is a very poor country and hardware dealers are only selling the cheapest goods there is because of the general lack of money by the population. So I think it will be very hard for me to find brands like Noctua,Akasa,GlobalWin and others.I can only find Arctic cooling, Coolink, Coolermaster,Zalman and maybe a couple of other brands.Can I go with one of these instead of your recommendations?
-
where?wolf
- Posts: 198
- Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:10 am
- Location: Southern Sweden
Hi!
Then I belive the blue bladed Coolink SWiF fan is a good replacement for the orginal Antec Tricool fans. It's said to match the Papst 4412 F/2GLL 120mm fan, noise / preformance ratio. Wich is a silent one.
The 9-17dBa version seems nice. But It's probably more close to 20-21 Db at full speed 1200rpm (12V) in the reality.
Here are the specs:
• Size (mm)j 120x120x25
• Rotation Speed (RPM j+/-10%) 700-1200
• Airflow (m³/h) 40-65
•l Acoustical Noise (dB/A) 9-17
•j Input Power (W) l0,84
• Input Current (A) 0,07
• Voltage Rangel (V) 6-13
If you get the retail version. Then you also get a PCI plate fan speed regulator included in the bundle. The basic version is just the fan.
The other one, that could be a candidate is Arctic Cooling.
But at full speed, this fan have a low frequent "refridgerator" hum to it.
And it lacks rpm reporting.
But at about 1100 rpm, I should be pretty silent.
You will have to experiment with a Zalman Fanmate II regulator, till you find the sweet spot = where the fan is most quiet and still blows a decent amount of air.
Specs:
Model AF12025
Spec
Type Case Fan
Compatibility Case
Fan Size 120mm
Bearing Type Fluid Dynamic
RPM 1500 RPM
Air Flow 56.3 CFM
Noise Level 24.5 dBA
Power Connector 3 Pin Molex / 400mm
Color Black
Physical Spec
Dimensions 120 x 120 x 25mm
Package Contents
Package Contents Case Cooling Fan
Screws
If you place a Coolink SWiF at 5 V down in the lower chamber. That should be sufficient to cool the hdd's and draw air to your modded psu.
The Tricool, even at low setting down there, vibrates quite much against the thin metal mounting plate. I even tried to place foam strips between the fan / wall, and soft mount the Tricool fan with rubber straps. But it did'nt help that much.
The lower hd / psu tunnel, is probably the worst place to have an Antec Tricool fan.
The Zalman fan, I have heard is quite noisy.
Also, just buy one new fan first and test it. If it's good to your ears and cools well? Then get a couple more.
Noise is after all something subjective.
And as I have'nt used the Coolink SWiF myself. I have to say,
what I tell you here about it. is only from what I read about what others have said about that fan.
And as far as I know, SPCR, have'nt tested this Coolink fan.
Then I belive the blue bladed Coolink SWiF fan is a good replacement for the orginal Antec Tricool fans. It's said to match the Papst 4412 F/2GLL 120mm fan, noise / preformance ratio. Wich is a silent one.
The 9-17dBa version seems nice. But It's probably more close to 20-21 Db at full speed 1200rpm (12V) in the reality.
Here are the specs:
• Size (mm)j 120x120x25
• Rotation Speed (RPM j+/-10%) 700-1200
• Airflow (m³/h) 40-65
•l Acoustical Noise (dB/A) 9-17
•j Input Power (W) l0,84
• Input Current (A) 0,07
• Voltage Rangel (V) 6-13
If you get the retail version. Then you also get a PCI plate fan speed regulator included in the bundle. The basic version is just the fan.
The other one, that could be a candidate is Arctic Cooling.
But at full speed, this fan have a low frequent "refridgerator" hum to it.
And it lacks rpm reporting.
But at about 1100 rpm, I should be pretty silent.
You will have to experiment with a Zalman Fanmate II regulator, till you find the sweet spot = where the fan is most quiet and still blows a decent amount of air.
Specs:
Model AF12025
Spec
Type Case Fan
Compatibility Case
Fan Size 120mm
Bearing Type Fluid Dynamic
RPM 1500 RPM
Air Flow 56.3 CFM
Noise Level 24.5 dBA
Power Connector 3 Pin Molex / 400mm
Color Black
Physical Spec
Dimensions 120 x 120 x 25mm
Package Contents
Package Contents Case Cooling Fan
Screws
If you place a Coolink SWiF at 5 V down in the lower chamber. That should be sufficient to cool the hdd's and draw air to your modded psu.
The Tricool, even at low setting down there, vibrates quite much against the thin metal mounting plate. I even tried to place foam strips between the fan / wall, and soft mount the Tricool fan with rubber straps. But it did'nt help that much.
The lower hd / psu tunnel, is probably the worst place to have an Antec Tricool fan.
The Zalman fan, I have heard is quite noisy.
Also, just buy one new fan first and test it. If it's good to your ears and cools well? Then get a couple more.
Noise is after all something subjective.
And as I have'nt used the Coolink SWiF myself. I have to say,
what I tell you here about it. is only from what I read about what others have said about that fan.
And as far as I know, SPCR, have'nt tested this Coolink fan.
Last edited by where?wolf on Sun Feb 11, 2007 9:38 am, edited 2 times in total.
O.K. Thank you once again. You've been most helpful and kind to explain me in detail all this things.I think I will go with the Coolink fans, although I found some very nice Coolermaster fans 120mm 720RPM and I have one of them in the PSU and I'm very pleased with it. What do you think of those fans?
-
where?wolf
- Posts: 198
- Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:10 am
- Location: Southern Sweden
Well, I dont have any personal exsperiense about the Coolermaster 720 Rpm fan.
But from what I read at Newegg USA. The customer reviewers, seemes to like the very silent noise ratio.
But if it's just blowing around 12 CFM, as according to specification? It's a bit too weak for my taste. And I would'nt recommend such a fan as case fan.
But for "spot cooling" it may work well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811999072
I want fans that is able to blow at least 30 CFM.
I'm just glad if I could be of any assistance to you.
You're welcome.
But from what I read at Newegg USA. The customer reviewers, seemes to like the very silent noise ratio.
But if it's just blowing around 12 CFM, as according to specification? It's a bit too weak for my taste. And I would'nt recommend such a fan as case fan.
But for "spot cooling" it may work well.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811999072
I want fans that is able to blow at least 30 CFM.
I'm just glad if I could be of any assistance to you.
You're welcome.
-
where?wolf
- Posts: 198
- Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:10 am
- Location: Southern Sweden