I have one of these cases the one with the green frosted door. It has 2 exhast fans factory fitted. I have replaced these with two papst fans however I do feel the case needs an intake fan(s). Has any one else with this case fitted an intake and if so were have you put it?
it's always good to have the same amount of exhaust fans and intake fans... having only exhaust fans will create a negative pressure inside the case so the air in the case won't cool. you could put intake fans in the left door (don't remember if it has a window... if yes, put fans in it )
No my case doesnt have a window in it. I was hoping for an answer less drastic as I dont really want to cut holes in my shiny expensive case although the thought had crossed my mind. I cant understand when coolermasters designed this case why they didnt put intakes in
I asked myself this too.... even generic cases have a place for an intake fan in the front... but let's face it... where you want to put the intakes fans? there's no other places that you could put an intake fan... if you don't have an holesaw, go to your local hardware store and ask them to cut a 80mm hole on the inside side, that way they won't srcatch the outside side. then with a fan, see where you need the mounting hole and pierce them... or even better, stealth them glue the fan with epoxy on the inside of the panel
Hmmm never thought of getting them to do it. Will B&Q or Homebase cut holes. I know they will cut wood to size duno about holes though. Any sugestions on the position of hte hole, top, midle bottom?
well, if they cut wood, they'll cut your holes well I suggest you to put 2 intakes. that way you'll have a relative neutral pressure inside the case (same amount of air that goes in and out) as for the position... they should not be near the exhaust fans... because the air entering the case will go out as soon as it enters... personally, I would go for the middle since it's gonna make the circulation sweet (no blocking from the agp card, drives rack, etc)
have the intake fans over your PCI slots and northbridge that way they get cooled too.... I used to run a GF3 with passive cooling when I had an intake on the side of the case
Would one large intake be better like a 120mm fan then two smaller ones 80mm. I have a zalman flower cooler and the bracket could be a bit of an obstruction to the air flow and I also want a very quite PC so not sure what to do for the best
it's best to do some measurements, leave at least 20mm at the bottom of the fan to the lip for holding the side panel on, and then 20mm at the top (from the bottom edge of the flowercoolers fan), this is to ensure that the side panel isn't going to become weakened by having the fan too close to the bottom of the side panel, and also you don't want the fan interfering with your flowercooler.
well... a 120 mm can move more air than 2 80mm... you could get a 120mm panaflo 68 cfm which is silent and would draw about the same air in the case than 2 80mm 32 cfm fan... you better try to get a neutral pressure in the case than a negative or positive pressure since it will affect the case temps... what are the cfm rate of your 80mm fans?
If your case is completely sealed, e.g no blowhole at the top, no little holes at the back etc then there is no reason what so ever to have intakes. For example, say you had 2 80mm fan holes at the lower front and 2 at the back and the case was completely sealed you could just leave the holes at the front empty. What happens is the 2 fans at the back suck air through the fan holes at the front as there is no where else to pull air through. Intake fans are basically a gimmick and are nothing more than glorified holes. Thats what we get with the cheaper cases, you will see holes punched all over the place, at the back, the sides etc all this does is mess the airflow up. The ideal case would have 1 120mm fan at the back and nothing else. It pulls the cool air from the front, over the cpu and out the back. Pressure is your friend.
There is a 80mm blow hole at the top and the same at the back of the case. Aside from that then yes the case is sealed, the trouble with the case is that you can not put a fan at the frount. Becasue of the hot weather latly I have removed the side pannel off to aid the cooling. As I expected I get much better temps with the side off. To me this means I need an intake fan to get cooler air in my case. With the side on I get temps of 60+ idle on the CPU
well... both negative and positive air pressure inside the case affects the temps... so having 2 exhaust fan only in a sealed system (negative pressure) is a bad idea since the air won't cool... but a 120mm intake won't cool as much as the panel off
