Another Question About Cooling Hard Disks

[pete_r]

On the front of my computer there seems to be slots to fit fans and blow air on the hard disks.

I'm just wondering if it's for decoration, or if putting a fan there would work to some extent, given that (1) the holes look rather small for much air to be sucked in and (2) there is no opening in the plastic cover in the front anyway.

Any suggestions?

[opalhort]

This is what I've been wondering as well.

I have two GVIEW cases which have a front fan installed which blows across the HDDs but there is no air inlet in the front of the case.

Physics tells me that a fan like that will work harder and consume more power because of the negative pressure on the suction side.

opalhort

[A_Traveller]

This is what I've been wondering as well.

I have two GVIEW cases which have a front fan installed which blows across the HDDs but there is no air inlet in the front of the case.

Physics tells me that a fan like that will work harder and consume more power because of the negative pressure on the suction side.

opalhort

Same here, I've not been able to see a way to remove the front bezel either, have you?

Regards

[opalhort]

Same here, I've not been able to see a way to remove the front bezel either, have you?

Regards

No, but there must be a way. The cover is certainly not glued in but it probably requires removing all the innards of the PC and I have no intention of doing that.

opalhort

[Firefoxx]

Two things.

First, most cheap case manufacturers will have a single "main body" design, and several "faceplate" designs. This means that you'll find the faceplate and body don't seem to work out logically in many cases. That's because for some faceplates, you have the proper ventilation, and for others, it's lousy. You might help it a bit by drilling some holes.

Second, most cheap cases will have very bad mounts for the fans. In this case it means that the holes for venting are so small that the fan efficiency is reduced by more than half (a lot more). Solution would be to use a dremel to cut a single large hole. If you're afraid of your hands hitting the fan (fat chance here, but it can happen for other fan mounts, like the back and sides), then buy a fan grille. In the past, I would ALWAYS do this, but recently I've just resorted to buying more expensive cases, which have MUCH better mounts.

Gview cases, as I've said before, are stupid. But most people have them since they're cheap and sold everywhere. Think of this: Gview cases have a fan mounted on the side directly above the CPU (it has a little wind tunnel to connect it to the CPU). The fan is set to blow air OUT of the case. Your CPU fan is blowing air in the opposite direction. The case fan is not helping, but HURTING the cpu cooling situation. Yes, it's a simple matter to reverse the fan, but it's an example of how badly designed the Gview cases are.

Edited June 15, 2007 by Firefoxx

[A_Traveller]

Agree with Firefoxx, as I posted yonks ago I removed the fan altogether, and then replaced the standard cooling {Core 2} with an Asus Cool Square. Like many though the idea of moving all the kit over to a new case is a pain. May still end up doing it though.

Regards

PS Am considering some furtive drilling to provide some air flow.

/edit add PS //

Edited June 15, 2007 by A_Traveller

[palm]

Agree with Firefoxx, as I posted yonks ago I removed the fan altogether, and then replaced the standard cooling {Core 2} with an Asus Cool Square. Like many though the idea of moving all the kit over to a new case is a pain. May still end up doing it though.

Regards

PS Am considering some furtive drilling to provide some air flow.

/edit add PS //

Has anyone bought one of the Zalman (of Taiwan) cases that are built so you use NO fans whatsoever? It's a like a huge heatsink.

I saw a dealer selling them in Pantip for about 40,000 a pop. Not cheap but you get the joys of a totally silent PC.

I am thinking of that for my next upgrade.

[A_Traveller]

Has anyone bought one of the Zalman (of Taiwan) cases that are built so you use NO fans whatsoever? It's a like a huge heatsink.

I saw a dealer selling them in Pantip for about 40,000 a pop. Not cheap but you get the joys of a totally silent PC.

I am thinking of that for my next upgrade.

No, though the idea of a silent PC is tempting. However, since I'm not an air-con fiend, would the ambient temperature be a problem, I wonder?

I was tempted, if only because it looked so cool by the 'Rocket' water cooler but Jedicool were out of stock.

Regards

By the by with the Gview case I replaced the fans with Thermaltake 16db ones which did reduce the sound level dramatically.

Sorry for double post my link died.

Link Rocket

Edited June 15, 2007 by A_Traveller