SPCR

Newegg has the Aplus CS-188AF back in stock, this time for $30 (no PSU). See here.

The ones I got had 7-blade sleeve-bearing fans.

you NA peeps are so fortunate, here in the UK can't even get the crappiest case for $30(£15).

This has got to be a give-away price, designed to get the brand name out there. Too bad this is such a flimsy case. You'd no doubt spend time dampening/strengthening the panels to prevent vibrations. You might do better just to buy the bare fan, and a better case. Cut a big hole in the side panel......off you go.

Bluefront wrote:Too bad this is such a flimsy case. You'd no doubt spend time dampening/strengthening the panels to prevent vibrations.

So far I have one of these up and running, less than a foot from my left hand as I type this. I've done nothing whatever to prevent vibrations. The big fan is mounted as it came, no mods. There's no exhaust fan and no PSU fan. I have the two HDDs, and their spot cooler fan, suspended in a rubber box. The CPU cooling fan is now a GW NCB running at 4.7V (5V less a .3V drop across a schottky-barrier diode) on a MaxOrb HS. I don't even have the holes in the front panel sealed - I wanted to see how much noise I'd get thru the front panel. I get none that I can hear.

What vibrations, Bluefront?

FC, this:

I've done nothing whatever to prevent vibrations.

is contradicted by this:

I have the two HDDs, and their spot cooler fan, suspended in a rubber box.

I'm not making any comment at all on the anti-vibrational properties of the case or lack of; suspending HDDs has become second nature to SPCRers, it's very easy to forget it's not a standard thing.

Well FC....I remember a thread about your suspending the big fan to prevent vibrations. In my big fan setup, the fan has been suspended from the start. I wouldn't mount any fan solidly to any case......but if the panels of these steel cases were 1.0mm, instead of a flimsy .6mm, any vibrations would surely be reduced.

Bluefront wrote:Well FC....I remember a thread about your suspending the big fan to prevent vibrations.

Absolutely. Suspension is necessary IMHO for the ball-bearing versions of the fans. But I now have two different brands, and three fans each brand, of sleeve-bearing big-fans. These don't need suspension. I now use sleeve bearings exclusively, although I still have two working side panels with suspended fans that are fine (but not in use).