fan adapter question -- 3700amb case

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 4:45 pm

Will a 120 to 80mm adapter fit in the lower front intake? i.e., will there be enough clearance for both the adapter and the fan?

I'm wanting to cut out the stamped grill and slap an 80mm panaflo there.

MrMajestic · Post by **MrMajestic** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 8:27 pm

There is enough room, but you wont be able to use the driverack.

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 9:40 pm

Well, that's why I was asking if there was enough room: I wanted to put a hard drive in the rack and and use the fan adapter.

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 9:56 pm

Could you trim/cut the front grill to an 80mm hole instead of a 120mm hole and mount your 80mm fan with EAR isolators or something similar?

MrMajestic@Work · Post by **MrMajestic@Work** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 10:49 pm

Wedge wrote:Well, that's why I was asking if there was enough room: I wanted to put a hard drive in the rack and and use the fan adapter.

Yeah, I kinda figured that. You wont be able to fit both.

MrMajestic@Work · Post by **MrMajestic@Work** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 10:50 pm

aphonos wrote:Could you trim/cut the front grill to an 80mm hole instead of a 120mm hole and mount your 80mm fan with EAR isolators or something similar?

Could be possible. The holes might line up for an 80mm already. I dont have my grills left so I cant check. Bare in mind that the grills are not flat. Check the review for a picture.

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 11:10 pm

Can't match up all 4 fan holes to 4 stamped holes. I can get maybe 2, but the other 2 just won't make it. It seems I would be better off to remove the grill then think of other means for mounting an 80mm fan.

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Thu Jul 17, 2003 11:30 pm

Wedge wrote:Can't match up all 4 fan holes to 4 stamped holes. I can get maybe 2, but the other 2 just won't make it. It seems I would be better off to remove the grill then think of other means for mounting an 80mm fan.

Hmmm.....yeah, I saw that the grills were not flat. They bow outward from the case, right? I thought if you centered the 80mm fan, you'd still be able to keep from hitting.

How far off are you on the mounts for the 80? Do you have EAR isolators in the fan while you're doing the fitting. I had to bend/pull a bit in my Cheiftec to get the isolators to fit in the holes that were there from removing the purple plastic clip-in mounts. I found the isolators are rather flexible. Do you have a pic of how close/far you are to having the 80mm fit?

EDIT: could you hold the fan in with 2 isolators on diagonal corners or at both top corners and use foam tape to pad the other two corners from hitting the case?

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 3:23 am

Just use twisty ties.

Jan

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 4:09 am

There's just over 1.5" of space between the front of the case and the HDD rack so if the 80-120mm adapter isn't over 1/2" thick you'll have just enough room for a regular 25mm thick fan.

You do know that you'd still have to drill 4 holes to mount the 120mm adapter though, right? If you were going to do that anyway, you may as well just drill a 4-hole pattern for the 80mm fan and bolt it directly to the case, skipping the adapter all together.

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Fri Jul 18, 2003 6:36 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:
You do know that you'd still have to drill 4 holes to mount the 120mm adapter though, right? If you were going to do that anyway, you may as well just drill a 4-hole pattern for the 80mm fan and bolt it directly to the case, skipping the adapter all together.

True enough Ralf. I had thought about that. I have 4 unused 80mm panaflos and no 120mm fan, except the one that came with the case. So, I might find a way to avoid the adapter if I insist on using a small fan. Otherwise, I might just drill those holes and order another 120mm fan (panaflo maybe? NMB?).

FLD · Post by **FLD** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 12:52 am

Hi! FYI, I just mounted 2 80mm S2 inthere, removing the Antec 120 adapter. The 2 S2 simply sit one above the other, tied together with rubber band (yes, it's cheap but works fine), and are hold in place between the hdd rack and the grid with soft acoustic foam (2cm thick at the bottom, 1 cm at the top). This gives me complete isolation as the fans do not touch any metal. They are centered with the grid of course, but intake is not an issue, as there are a couple of rectangular holes below the grid that let plenty of air flow. I pu the hdd in the rack, right in the middle, so there is one S2 blowing above it, and the other right below it (my hdd gained 10 C degrees with that).