Intake fan on bottom of case

Wintermute · Post by **Wintermute** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 4:39 pm

I am still in the process of building my imaginary silent system. I have been trying to plan out a complete solution before actually buying the parts (I don't get paid for a couple weeks). In any event, I have a few ideas that I would like to tryout but I don't have anything to try them out on yet. I think that I remember someone mentioning something like this before but I was unable to find the exact post in any of my searches. I am planning on getting the Sonata and was thinking about cutting a hole in the bottom of the case either below the HD rack or a little more towards the middle to mount a 120mm intake fan. This would of course require the case to be put up on legs of somesort. The leg mod has been done here a few times:

Douglas Bailey http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=9764
Tom Brown http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=7721

This fan could spin fairly slowly as I am sure it would be fairly efficient at bringing in cool outside air. Dust-bunnies would probably be the only source of problems for something like this. Silly rabbits. Any thoughts or has anyone tried something like this yet?

kie · Post by **kie** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 2:37 am

without more imformation on the rest of your setup (i.e. why you would need the fan there) it's hard to comment.

but at first glance this sounds like a great way to help the dust bunnies breed inside your pc

are you worried about the air flow through the sonata?
i have one and fine the air flow good, even without cutting the grill or increasing the size of the intake on the bottom of the bezal... which would be the steps I would take if I wanted to increase airflow.

but again it depends on the specs of your machine...

Wintermute · Post by **Wintermute** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 6:13 am

I don't have a rig setup yet...still in the planning stages. Reason I was asking though is that I was going to have at least 3 drives in the 3.5 HD Bay in addition to AcoustiPack foam (which I'm assuming is going to impact airflow). I have heard that the Sonata doesn't have the greatest airflow and I am planning on a system which should really crank out the heat.

bomba · Post by **bomba** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 8:28 am

The Sonata doesn't cool hard drives that great. My HD temps are usually around 35C and will rise 10+ C when the drives are run hard. Not sure it is just from lack of a proper front cooling fan, the sideways mounting is great for clean cabling and for removing/installing drives quickly; but it channels intake air around the drives rather than over them. I think I'd go with a 3700AMB if I were you. Check out Ralf Hutter's review and posts.

acompeau · Post by **acompeau** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 9:38 am

You may want to take a look at this rig, if you haven't already. It's effectively a filtered (no dust bunnies) & muffled intake fan arrangement underneath the case. The cookie jar is optional...

I'm considering a modification of that involving a totally enclosed cabinet, with a muffled exhaust port. That's so I can swap the case in the cabinet in the future and still have it work (minimal effort).

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 9:49 am

I remember reading a post linked here to another site where the author sealed the drive cage on the Sonata as best as he could so the effect is similar to the cookie jar mod (although less efficient, of course).

Combine that with the bezel mod and / or opening up another vent at the bottom, with filter but no fan, and I think you have something that breathes pretty well with few dust bunnies.

Raising the drives up on blocks of Sorbothane a.k.a. the Ralf mod will also bring it more directly into the airflow.

kie · Post by **kie** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 10:00 am

Tsubo wrote:I don't have a rig setup yet...still in the planning stages. Reason I was asking though is that I was going to have at least 3 drives in the 3.5 HD Bay in addition to AcoustiPack foam (which I'm assuming is going to impact airflow). I have heard that the Sonata doesn't have the greatest airflow and I am planning on a system which should really crank out the heat.

I have 3 hard drives in the sonata 3.5" HD bays and to keep them cool I have a fan (minimal RPM) attatched to the drive cage. This keeps the drives at case temp and is quiet.

bomba · Post by **bomba** » Fri Mar 05, 2004 6:05 pm

kie wrote:I have 3 hard drives in the sonata 3.5" HD bays and to keep them cool I have a fan (minimal RPM) attatched to the drive cage. This keeps the drives at case temp and is quiet.

That's great, I pulled my too load stock Antec 120 fan & replaced with a Papst 4412FGL, big noise reduction. Several weeks later, I installed the stock Antec fan as a pull fan on the HD cage. As I recall it did greatly drop HD temps, but the noise level of the Antec fan even burried in the case and run @ 6v from the fan only connector, was much too loud. Perhaps I'll try it again at even lower voltage or break down and buy another pricey 4412.

rseiler · Post by **rseiler** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 10:40 am

Everybody keeps saying how "loud" the stock 120 fan is, but according to Antec, with the fan-only connector, it's rated at 20.4dB. How much quieter could the Pabst possibly be?! Isn't 20dB already out of earshot unless you have your ear next to the case? At full voltage, the stock Antec is rated at 29.8dB, while the Pabst is 26dB, so I think it stands to reason that the Pabst would be somewhere under 20dB with the fan-only, but again, quiet should be quiet, right?

I want to add an intake fan for my Sonata, and from comments here on this site, it appears that it will somehow help HD temps, which is what I need, but not ambient for some reason, which is fine since my HD is the problem. I hope it doesn't also help dust intake, but I don't see how it won't.

Actually, one of my drives sticks within a few degrees of case ambient. The other, which naturally runs hotter due to its internal makeup, runs at least 10C over ambient -- and it doesn't matter which position they're in, it's consistent.

I'm not sure an intake fan would help in this situation (any thoughts?), but I'm willing to try it. I suppose I'll get the Pabst and use it as the intake (fan-only connector), but even if I were to get another stock fan (where these are sold I don't know), according to this set of articles, a second identical fan is only supposed to add 3dB to the overall sound. So 23dB, still quiet, I think.

http://www.informationweek.com/story/sh ... 732&pgno=1

rbel · Post by **rbel** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 1:27 pm

Wintermute, suggest that you try opening up the air intake route first - it does make a significant improvement. The advantages are that you are using the existing large air filter, improving the airflow across the HDDs and reducing dust ingress around/into optical drives, all without using any additional fans.

rseiler · Post by **rseiler** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 1:53 pm

rbel, I guess there's some variability in that, since the first thing I did was carve out a larger hole in the bezel and remove the two slats, and I didn't see any difference in ambient or HD temps -- and the optical drives seem no more resistant to dust. This is with the side panel holes taped over both before and after, if that matters.