It's amazing what cutting fan grills can do

[JBrown]

I recently bought a Ahanix Black Knight case from Newegg. When i first installed my system into this case i was a little bit disappointed with it's cooling ability. After reading around this site i decided to cut the fan grills out. Before MBM was registering 47C idle and 58C load. now it's down to 37C idle and 47C load. On top of greatly increased cooling it's also a lot quieter than it was. i was thinking about buying some nexus 120's to replace my Vantec stealth fans. The vantec's aren't that noisy but they have a weird hum similar to the sound when i'm tuning my guitar, two tones clashing to make a weird wave type of sound. anyway. I hope this helps any newbs like me that are having a hard time with quiet cooling.

-Jeremy

[burcakb]

i was thinking about buying some nexus 120's to replace my Vantec stealth fans.

You do that. Vantecs are noisy. Nexus is heaven

The vantec's aren't that noisy

You'll realize how wrong you are once you use the Nexus. HUGE difference. What you're experiencing is relative quiet. With the primary noisemaker (the stamped grill) gone, you find the vantec relatively quiet. As your ears get used to the lower sound level, the vantecs will become increasingly troubling.

[inet]

You can silence the vantec a bit more by putting 2-3 drops of car motor oil into the inside of the fan where it is sealed. This will lessen the friction taht is present even when new.

I've done this and have noticed a remarkable difference in sound.

Should you decide to do this, put a small piece of paper under the fan for the next 3 weeks in case small amounts of the oil flies out the sides. Obviously you shouldnt ever do this for a PSU fan as any oil that comes out can spark a fire.

[frosty]

White sugar & fan grills are evil.

[pony-tail]

I posted in another thread where I took the wire grill of my 92mm panaflo CPU fan - and the load temps improved by 2 deg C.
So in my opinion FAN GRILLS ARE DEFINATELY EVIL