Evercase 4252, 120mm fan in front?

[Rizban]

I am about to order an Evercase 4252, and I am wondering what fans I should order with it. Can I fit a 120mm fan in the front? If not, what modding needs to be done to get one to fit? Should I stick with a 120mm in the back and an 80mm fan up front?

Also, I am a little confused as to which fan to buy. Many people here seem to like the panaflo L1A 120mm & 80mm fans. However, I keep reading about how "chinaflos" are inferior. Am I better off getting another brand of fan that is more consistently quiet? I will be using a fanmate to undervolt both fans. What fans do people recommend I order with my EC-4252?

[Dave404]

I've just bought one of the new-chassis 4252s (see sig). A few things that might help you.

I think it would be possible to mount a front 120mm. There's *just* enough room, but you would have to drill your own holes, and the attachments for the front bevel might get in the way slightly. On the plus side, the fan grill is larger than it needs to be for the 80mm fan, so cutting away enough case to let the air though would be easy.

Having said that, I find I get very good temps with an undervolted 80mm there (see sig), but YMMV: my case isn't exactly packed. I have no fan grills or anything on either opening. I'm very happy with my fan choices. Both are mounted on elastomer grommets, both are very quiet.

Another issue I should mention is that having a rear 120 mm fan makes it impossible to use the toolless card retainer - but you can just use screws instead, it's not a big deal, I was just surprised to discover it.

Unless you are going to suspend your drives, I think it's well worth ordering the extra drive cage, so that you can sit up to two drives down at floor level in front of the intake fan. I've done this, and removed the normal cage, and I'm very happy with the result.

My case is by no means silent, but it's quiet enough for my needs, which is what matters!

Any other questions, fire away.

Dave

[Rizban]

Thanks for the advice.
I noticed on your sig that you are using the SilentBoost. How is this as a CPU cooler? I was hoping to use the Zalman 7000A heatsink. Do you think it will fit in the 4252 case using an Athlon64 motherboard?

[Dave404]

The TTSB is quite good for the money, but the fan is still a bit noisy, despite the name. I replaced it with an L1A (the fan supplied is basically an M1A) and got only about 1-2 deg C rise on idle (not sure about the difference at load, I changed the fan too soon). I'm not sure how accurate the K8S8X's temp reporting is, but 44 at load seems pretty OK to me. My PC is not silent, but it's quiet enough for my needs. A fan controller might be a good idea if you need more hush.

I haven't used the Zalman, but it's doubtless better, esp. if you already have one. If you can post the dimensions, I'll do some measuring for you and try to work out whether it will fit.

[DGK]

I bought a 4252 last week from Newegg to replace my Sonata which I liked but that was my first case with a door on it and I didnt like having a door. I did hold a 120 in the front of the case and saw that it would fit if I just drilled some holes but in the end I decided that a rear 120 and the PSU fan were enough for me. I just installed everything last nite and my 3 spinpoints seem to be keeping cool enough.

I also ordered a "card holder' and 2nd hard drive cage from Evercase. The card holder is designed to hold extra long pci cards but I used it to hide the wires running down the case, worked great. So far I am very happy with the 4252, especially with its low cost.