Replacing 5.25" bay blanking plates

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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doveman
Posts: 870
Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:30 am
Location: London

Replacing 5.25" bay blanking plates

Post by doveman » Sun Aug 04, 2013 4:11 am

I've got an Aerocool VS-4 case https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aerocool-VS-4- ... B004OXXQ82 and had originally planned to put more optical drives in but had to change my plans. Now I've got two of the blanking plates removed that I want to put back but it seems they don't go back and were snap-off only. They do have tabs on the side and I've actually managed to get the bottom one to fit so that it doesn't move but the top one just won't and sits loose whatever I do.

It's a shame as they're mesh covers, so would allow some extra airflow whilst blocking dust. It would be better if they had long side tabs so that they could be screwed in, as I don't want to run the risk of the popping inside the case if someone accidentally pushes on them. Even the replacements that I've seen, like these http://www.frozencpu.com/products/16011 ... d=jUyrQosv only seem to have tabs though.

I was wondering though if I shouldn't actually be letting any airflow through this way and it would be better to have the front fan at the bottom of the case as the only intake?

If so, I could use some solid blanking plates, which might be cheaper as well but again I'd really want something that can screw in, so would these be suitable http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1327/ ... d=jUyrQosv ? I'm in the UK though so really need to try and find some easily available here (and cheap!)

boost
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Re: Replacing 5.25" bay blanking plates

Post by boost » Tue Aug 06, 2013 5:01 pm

I don't know if it's cheap enough, but Lian Li has mesh bay covers with air filters. And a 3 bay cover with (pretty loud 1500RPM) fan. At 7V these fans are ok, at 5V they're slow but inaudible (for me).
Scythe had a three bay cover with a better fan, the Scythe Kama Bay Plus, but I it's discontinued. Maybe you can still find it in a shop.

doveman
Posts: 870
Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 10:30 am
Location: London

Re: Replacing 5.25" bay blanking plates

Post by doveman » Tue Aug 06, 2013 11:50 pm

boost wrote:I don't know if it's cheap enough, but Lian Li has mesh bay covers with air filters. And a 3 bay cover with (pretty loud 1500RPM) fan. At 7V these fans are ok, at 5V they're slow but inaudible (for me).
Scythe had a three bay cover with a better fan, the Scythe Kama Bay Plus, but I it's discontinued. Maybe you can still find it in a shop.
Thanks. £11.99 for four is pretty good actually, as I just paid £4.99 for one solid bezel on e-bay (there wasn't really anything else suitable on there, so I thought I'd better buy it whilst I had the chance. I was the only bidder so paid £0.99 + £4 postage).

What I'm not sure about is whether it's best to have the airflow only going in the intake fan at the lower front of the case or if it's better to also have a passive intake where the 5.25" bays are. I don't actually have 3-bays free (in fact I expect there will only be one left free, as my brother will probably add another ODD), so couldn't use one of those fans but I still wonder if that would be better than a passive or no intake there.

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