Enermax Chakra

luggage · Post by **luggage** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 6:09 am

http://www.bigbruin.com/2006/chakra_1

25cm fan (650rpm, 17dBA, 90cfm)

marketing ploy or of any real use compared to a 120mm?

Post by **MikeC** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:26 am

It certainly could be useful -- replaces both side vents for Intel's "Thermally advantaged chassis" idea. If the fan really blows 90cfm at 650rpm and makes just 17 dBA/1m... well you could blow me over with a feather.

But what does it do for case airflow patterns? With that much air blowing straight onto the mb, where does the air go? Not necessarily just out the back, but probably in any direction that's reasonably unimpeded -- ie, vent holes anywhere in the case. That's assuming you have no other fans, which seems to be the case here. It just might work... but I bet it would take a LOT of work to get rid of the low frequency noise (and case vibrations) from that big fan.

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 2:11 pm

Interestingly, the inner chassis is the same as in a Coolermaster Centurion 5. It's got exactly the same back and front (with a different bezel, of course) and identical motherboard area. The toolless PCI clips are the same except for the colour. The only thing that's different is the amount of toolless sliders for optical drives and the additional rotated hard drive bay.

I wonder if they sell the side panel and fan separately...

CoolZone · Post by **CoolZone** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 6:55 am

has anyone actually bought this case?is it silent?how are the temperatures inside?

ShUgGz · Post by **ShUgGz** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:02 am

in reguards to the air blowing directly at the mobo im shure someone would duct the fan and have the duct aimed towards the back of the case

jvrobert · Post by **jvrobert** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:11 pm

I wonder if the 25cm fan gets in the way of some of the taller HSFs?

Looks like it may be useful though, you chould install e.g. a Ninja with airflow towards the back of the case. Then put a front intake 120mm and a rear exhaust 120mm fan, and then you'd have the 250mm monster to blow air down onto the chipset/mosfets/memory.

Seems like it could be the basis for a very well cooled and still quiet machine. I'm tempted to try this over the Solo.

natethegreat · Post by **natethegreat** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 6:31 pm

Would it be feasable to use the 250mm fan as an exhaust? Set up on the side panel like that it would pull cool air from the front and rear, and at the same time remove the hot air generated by the cpu/gpu.

BasementWayne · Post by **BasementWayne** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 7:18 am

I've had the Enermax Chakra for about two weeks now. I've just moved, so I haven't done lots of testing (it isn't even hooked to the internet yet).

This is my first experience with building a quiet PC, so I can't compare it to other cases and/or fans that are popular here. But I'll give my own impressions.

Active Cooling:
Two AeroCool TURBINE 1000
ARCTIC COOLING ALPINE 7 CPU
SeaSonic 380W PS
250mm Enermax side case fan
Video and MB have passive heatsinks

I configured both AeroCools to blow out, one in front, one in back. I have the 250mm blowing in, directly on the CPU and GPU areas. The 250mm has a three position switch located on the outside of the case, just above the fan. It can be set to Off, Intake, or Reverse.

By far, the noisiest part of this build is the 250mm fan. But it is still quieter than a typical Dell system. By positioning the computer on my left, the fan side points away from me. This reduced the noise a lot. I'm not hearing motor noise, just turbulance noise.

Temps (according to the Gigabyte utility) at idle are:
33C - system
40C - CPU

Running Prime95:
34C - system
48C - CPU

Switching the 250mm fan off - idle:
38C - system
40C - CPU

Switching the 250mm fan off - Prime95:
38C - system
48C - CPU

In summary, the 250mm fan cools the case, not the cpu.

I switched the fan to reverse, without changing the other case fans. This increased the turbulence noise, as expected. With the 250mm fan off, the rest of the system is quiet. I get a little HD chatter during disk access. The HD is mounted with the included drive rails.

I'm very happy with the system as it is now. I used to run a Shuttle noisemaker. This is a big improvement. I may try undervolting the fan, but I have some higher priorities right now.

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Mon Sep 11, 2006 11:01 am

MikeC wrote:But what does it do for case airflow patterns? With that much air blowing straight onto the mb, where does the air go? Not necessarily just out the back, but probably in any direction that's reasonably unimpeded -- ie, vent holes anywhere in the case. That's assuming you have no other fans, which seems to be the case here. It just might work... but I bet it would take a LOT of work to get rid of the low frequency noise (and case vibrations) from that big fan.

Mike, sorry about the month delay, but I just read (re-read?) your post. I recently mounted that fan on a uATX case and posted pics in the Fans & Controllers forum. What the fan does is pressurize the case; the air then finds its way out the vents, mostly through a ducted Ninja.

I'm happy to report that all it took was rubber fan mounts to eliminate any vibration, and there just isn't much fan noise at the low RPMs needed for pressurization. I'd encourage you to take a closer look at these big fans; I for one am very favorably impressed!