Antec SLK3700AMB - airflow

YCH · Post by **YCH** » Sun May 30, 2004 8:05 pm

Hi guys, I bought the AMB after reading a lot about cases/damping etc. I would write a review, but I'm too lazy right now, but here's what I think about airflow - HORRIBLE.

I'm a moderate overclocker myself, so cooling is rather important to me. But having a quiet computer is too. So, I thought I had an ace in the hole when I bought the AMB, seeing as how it's gotten so much positive feedback here.

When I got the case I was quite pleased with it, except the intake slots on the front bezel. They were terribly small and pathetic. Hey, guess they keep the noise in and most SPCR users said the AMB had good airflow, so its okay right? We'll find out.

First thing I did was cut the front and rear grills out. Then after putting everything carefully together, strung my fans on a Rheobus, got my CPU watercooling (Corsair Hydrocool) going, and tucked my cables to minimize blockage, I ran the thing. Yay wonderful, it's quiet with my fans at about 8 volts. Going higher would result in a ramp in noise levels so I left them there. BUT as soon as I ran my games, and engaged in fierce firefights for more than 10 minutes the PC froze. Woah WTF. Couldn't have been my CPU - it's about 32 C. My Radeon 9800Pro (Arctic VGA Silencer used) must've been overheating. After a little examination, I came to the conclusion that the bastard front bezel obstructed the intake too much. So I tested that thought.

Yeah well, as soon as I took the bezel out, the fans churned out so much more air (voltage not changed), and noise levels increased just a bit. The Artic VGA silencer now has air flowing through it enough that I can feel hot air over at the back. And yes the hangs were gone.

So, in conclusion, I would like to say that AMB in general is an okay case, but if you're a power user with a hot video card on air cooling, you might wanna mod that front bezel. "Very Good Airflow" as commented by MikeC is not particularly true. I would go as far as saying the stock case with fan grills removed has pathetic airflow if you're trying to maintain low noise levels. Turning up the front fan speed to even close to 12 volts would result in mad noise. And it's all because of that crappy bezel with tiny slits as an excuse for intakes.

*my PC specs are as follows:
AthlonXP 2700+ overcloced to 2405 MHz (/w Corsair Hydrocool 200ex)
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
1 GB XMS 3500C2
Ati Radeon 9800pro (/w Arctic VGA silencer)
2*120mm Papst fans on case
1*80mm L1A Panaflo in Antec Truepower 430

MonsterMac · Post by **MonsterMac** » Sun May 30, 2004 8:11 pm

modify the bezel to suit your needs and you'll be set

YCH · Post by **YCH** » Sun May 30, 2004 8:25 pm

MonsterMac wrote:modify the bezel to suit your needs and you'll be set

Yeah but I thought at first it wouldn't be necessary...now I gotta cut a nice big hole in front :/

Gholam · Post by **Gholam** » Sun May 30, 2004 8:26 pm

Or swap it for Compucase LX-6A19, which is the same case with a different front bezel that lets in like 5x more air. You can also do a side intake for GPU.

YCH · Post by **YCH** » Sun May 30, 2004 8:36 pm

Gholam wrote:Or swap it for Compucase LX-6A19, which is the same case with a different front bezel that lets in like 5x more air. You can also do a side intake for GPU.

Nah, can't swap it now, since I already cut the grills and stuff away

Although now I wish I had gotten the Compucase (with that handy removable intake cover)...can't believe I missed it while searching my ass off for a nice, quiet, cool case. *sigh* the gods are laughing at me.