Question for Lian Li & some "other" case owner

Fife · Post by **Fife** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 4:26 pm

On the back of my Lian Li PC-30, there are 3 40mm size areas that run vertical beside the agp/pci slots.
It looks like it could mount 3 40mm fans vertically.
What are LL owners doing with that space?
Adding 3 40mm fans?
Modifying the area for other fans?
Nothing....just letting the front intake fans blow straight through the case and out these holes?

Reason I am asking is that I only have 2 80mm front intake fans with no exhaust fans. This case does not have any other places for exhaust fans except for the PSU.

DonP · Post by **DonP** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 5:21 pm

I don't have a PC-30, I've got a PC-60.. but here are my views anyway..

As to the idea of running 3 40mm fans.. hmm.. not so sure it's such a good idea. The smaller the fan the worse the noise/airflow ratio gets.. small fans (anything less than 80mm) are bad news. You should also consider the fact that adding fans at the back won't increase your total airflow it'll just direct it more.. and that most of your heat is at the top anyway (coming off the CPU).. therefore the slits in the top of the rear panel are a good thing. A 120mm fan in your PSU is a good idea.

So my advice is not to install the 40mm fans if you want quiet.. if you have real heat problems then maybe you could fit a chimney style fan in the top panel.. but try a PSU with a 120mm fan first (I hate fans in the top panel).

DonP · Post by **DonP** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 5:28 pm

Fife wrote:What are LL owners doing with that space?

Not sure if it's a good idea in your case but I might be tempted to tape mine up.. so I can better control airflow.. in your case however I don't know. Try it and see what happens. I don't yet quite understand the positive/negative case pressure and holes issues so I'll end up experimenting. It might seem counter-intuitive but try taping up the holes and see how temps are effected.

PS the 120mm PSU fan idea is really a good one.. if you have two 80mm incoming and one 80mm outgoing your airflow will be closer to that of only one incoming 80mm fan (I think

).

Fife · Post by **Fife** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 11:02 pm

Thanks for your reply and help.

I did consider that using 3 40mm fans at back would just direct the airflow straight out, thus not really cooling the M/B and cpu area.

However, my PSU has an 80mm intake and 80mm outake. The intake is directly on top of the CPU/heatsink so it sucks the air right out from over the cpu.

Other than that, I think I may just have to think up something custom

Talz · Post by **Talz** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 11:49 pm

I considered it, but really there is little extra airflow would benefit in that area. And there is the problem of 40mm fans relatively poor cfm to db ratio. And finally the vents would be VERY restrictive without serious modding, the holes on mine are not very close together at all.

DonP · Post by **DonP** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:22 am

Fife wrote:..
However, my PSU has an 80mm intake and 80mm outake. The intake is directly on top of the CPU/heatsink so it sucks the air right out from over the cpu.
Other than that, I think I may just have to think up something custom

Just had a thought.. why do you want to improve airflow? Do you have problems with temps? What are your temps? (and CPU,HDD,GFX etc.. make and models)
I think your main heat source is your CPU with either HDDs or GFX in second. HDDs are cooled by your intake fans.. so the only issue you may have are gfx and CPU. CPU like you said is right next to the PSU intake fan.. so you can't get much better. So it's just the GFX card which could be a problem. is it?

If you are worried about the CPU temps then try taping up those three 40mm holes.. then airflow can only go out the PSU and across the CPU. There will also be some airflow out of the top slits.. which is good because that's where the heat will be rising to.

Fife · Post by **Fife** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 12:39 pm

Hi Don,

Maybe I am juts being paranoid. I havent really tested the temps yet and was just wondering what kind of things I could do with those original 3 40mm holes. Maybe I will just cover them up.

Btw, I also have a pci slot fan below the video card so I think I am pretty well covered.

I guess I am just thinking what I can do to improve.

I guess my next post will be in Fans & Control forum about noise.

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 1:26 pm

I have a PC-60. With the front fans on medium, with an Enermax 80mm exhaust and True330, I was running a slight negative pressure. (Surprised me, too...) I taped up the 40mm holes giving a MUCH cleaner case with no increase in temps.

DonP · Post by **DonP** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 2:10 pm

HammerSandwich wrote:I have a PC-60. With the front fans on medium, with an Enermax 80mm exhaust and True330, I was running a slight negative pressure. (Surprised me, too...) I taped up the 40mm holes giving a MUCH cleaner case with no increase in temps.

I'm running a PC-60, stock front fans set to low speed (ADDA fans I think), True380 and a Papst 8412NGML exhaust (I think.. haven't been in there in ages).. I think my pressure is negative too.. lots of dust inside.

Since you have a PC-60 I thought I should divulge my master plan for my PC-60. The rear 80mm is high enough in the rear panel to allow another 80mm below it ( I think ).. once I find time I'll be installing a PAL8942 with a fan sucking through a duct and out of the current 80mm rear hole. I'll cut a second 80mm hole below it to exhaust air coming off my (future) Zalman GFX sink and general case air. The direct exhaust of CPU air should drop the case temps quite a bit I hope and the PSU fans should run slower.. maybe I could even remove one of them.

DonP.

PS Since you've taped up the holes you should probably tape around your 5.25 inch bay devices.. I get quite a bit of dust collecting around them too.

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 3:53 pm

DonP wrote:PS Since you've taped up the holes you should probably tape around your 5.25 inch bay devices.. I get quite a bit of dust collecting around them too.

Only a very small amount of dust gathered there, so I'm not too worried about it.

Your plan sounds good to me, Don. I agree that there is (just) enough room for a second 80 on the back, and I've been tempted to cut another exhaust there. However, I've just moved over to a new case, so my PC-60's not getting any serious work. While aluminum cases don't get much respect here, I think Lian-Lis are wonderful cases which can be quieted fairly well. Probably the hardest part is dealing with HD noise since it has a short path out the front vents. Keep us posted with your progress.

DonP · Post by **DonP** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 3:52 pm

HammerSandwich wrote:...Probably the hardest part is dealing with HD noise since it has a short path out the front vents. Keep us posted with your progress.

Rather than mounting my WD800JB (gasp!) vertically in the front drive cage, I drilled holes in the "unholed" vertical plane and ran elastic through it. Then I suspended my drive horizontally in the elastic and it's much quieter now.. I'm having a hard time hearing it over the fans in my (yet un-quietened) system.

I'll post to the gallery once I sort everything out.. but it may be some time (work gets in the way).

HammerSandwich · Post by **HammerSandwich** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 1:10 am

GJ. I've been tempted to try that but never bothered.

Question for Lian Li & some "other" case owner

Question for Lian Li & some "other" case owner

Re: Question for Lian Li & some "other" case o