Top blowhole cover for the P182

[Dutchmm]

Hmm AntecRep has got me thinking. I got the impression that my rear exhaust fan was making too much noise because the P182 was too close to the wall. You know, noise bouncing off a hard surface, or something. So I moved it further from the wall, and a tad towards me, and it does sound a bit quieter. Maybe if there is room in the case (I think so), I could rotate the TRUE heat sink and fan so they blow upwards through the top fan aperture - and then I can disconnect or remove the tri-cools.

In this axis, the CPU cooling fan (S-Flex 1200) would also suck air through the heat sink of the passive 8600 GTS.

Would the natural rising tendency of warm air, plus the fan - which is running at less than 800 rpm under load in an max ambient of 22C - be able to keep the components cool?

But perhaps someone has already tried this? FWIW, the CPU is an E6750, running at 3.2Ghz - right now, linux sensors say the CPU temps are in the (load) range 32 (I like the window open) to 37 (my wife doesn't).

[Shaman]

Ambient noise??? It's an office... hellooo!!

Being right on top of the computer made a delta of only 3dB over minimum ambient. Your post reminded me to put the meter where I can take it home for the weekend. I'll see if I can turn off everything in the house and create a "night or quieter" environment.

Ok an office is not the right environment to do dB measurements. But I have to say I don't know what you're trying to accomplish with these dB measurements. Are you trying to convince us that the Tricools on Low are quiet? As you can imagine, many of us here, and certainly everyone in this thread, has experienced the Tricools on Low frist hand. That experience was shortly followed by a fan swap procedure for quieter fans.

I was wondering if you had any feedback from the Antec development/design team about this mod that you forwarded to them, if they were receptive, gave serious consideration etc. Thanks!

[philje123]

In my set-up i actually fine the top hole quite useful!

The CPU fan (tri-cool at the mo) draws air directly from outside the case through the top hole (also got a cheapo dust filter installed here too) and then blows down onto the GFX cooler and out the back of the case also.

[BLG]

MountainMods sell an acrylic 120mm blowhole cover that seems to be perfect for blocking the top blowhole of the P180/2 from the inside without looking ghetto.
Link Here

If anyone in the US wants to try it, go ahead and tell us your opinion. I would try it myself if the shipping costs to europe weren't $25.50 for something that costs $2.99

It would be interesting to know if the acrylic is thick enough to fit snuggly in the metal clips without ratling around, and if it can take regular fan screws without cracking, although nuts and bolts would do too.

I'm thinking of ordering the acrylic cover, so has anyone tried the acrylic cover, does it cut the sound down and fit well? I tried it with some cardboard and it didn't really change temp. it upped it if anything... probably because it was cardboard...

[zorrt]

If I were going to plug up one of the fan openings on the P180/P182 cases, it would be the rear one. Simply put, "heat rises." I have modded many cases over the years to add fans in the top of the case pointed upwards.

Sorry for bring up an old topic.

We all know heat rises but everyone has different situations and setup. In my setup I would prefer the top vent to be closed off so I hope they never decide to close off the rear.

What I have is an 8800GT with the HR03GT, so the hot air gets blown upwards. I also have an Ultima 90 for the CPU.

If I were to face the CPU HSF to blow upwards with a fan on the top exhaust and the rear sealed, what happens is that it draws all the hot air being expelled from the GPU HSF through the CPU HSF and thus increases the temp of the CPU by 2 degrees (as opposed to a horizontal CPU HSF setup with a fan on the rear of the case and top covered). This also seemed to affect temps of GPU which were also about 1 - 2 degrees higher with the top exhaust opposed to rear exhaust config.

CPU fan and exhaust is set up in push pull config in both setups.

When stress testing just the CPU both setup produces pretty much the same results. Its only when I game then the situation is noticeble. I tested first by heating up the system using Orthos and rthdribl for 10mins, then run Crysis benchmark and let it loop 3 times straight after. Both test were done within 10minutes of each other so I don't think my room temp changed to cause the difference in results.


Everything I said can be ignored if you have a dual slot cooler for your videocard that exhausts the hot air outside the case.


Btw philje123, the airflow in your setup seems messed up but hey, if it works then it works I guess. Have you tried have the top as an exhaust rather than an intake and see if it affects your GPU temps? The way I see it, because theres a filter on the top intake, airflow is weak compared to the rear exhaust. So the airflow would be too weak to be of much benefit to the videocard even if its facing towards it. The rear fan would exhaust most of the air before it can get to the videocard.

[roadie]

Hmm AntecRep has got me thinking. I got the impression that my rear exhaust fan was making too much noise because the P182 was too close to the wall. You know, noise bouncing off a hard surface, or something. So I moved it further from the wall, and a tad towards me, and it does sound a bit quieter.

This is definitely true. My Solo is ~6 inches from a hard wall next to my desk. When the rear Yate Loon 120mm exhaust spins up to 1400rpm when the system is under load, its sound is amplified by its proximity to the wall. It is by far the loudest thing in my system. I wish I could orientate my case differently, but I can't with the way my room is laid out.

[Lensman]

I'd like to chime in that the home (without kids) is much quieter than any office other than when I worked in a private SCIF office (and even then the noise from the A/C probably made it louder than the home.

[AntecRep]

Memorize... Don't Compromise.

Loose lips sink ships.

and is it just me or do the STU-III crypto keys look like they came out of a toy labelled "Ages 3-7"?

but quiet? I have only been in one 'quiet' room in my MI career and you couldn't be in it alone.

[Shaman]

Does anyone remember this? I'm still very much interested in a cover for the top fan, anyone else? Seeing as the P182 is still very popular I wonder if we'll ever be seeing something like this. The post by AntecRep about forwarding this information to Antec was very encouraging, a follow-up would be nice.

[pixel]

Hello,

I could read this topic only now (after the bump), and it got me thinking about the top fan of the P182. I plan to get a P183 for a Nehalem system once it's released, and now it got me wondering if I should get the top fan to intake air, to exhaust air, or if I should just block it.

Anyway.. I hope this "top fan cover" idea gets realised, I've heard complaints about the top fan spoiler from people in a Turkish forum as well. A simple cover would look tidy and clean.

[josephclemente]

I made my own cover with a self-stick vinyl tile. I chose a tile which had a flat grain which looked similar to the case plastic. Most of the tile choices at the store had a stone-like surface which didn't look right. I printed a template, cut the pattern with a hobby knife, then snapped the vinyl tile where I made my cuts. The edges were then filed a little for smoothness. I then checked the fit, painted it black with Dupli-Color Vinyl spray paint and stuck it on.





Here is a link to my template. It is a ZIP file containing a BMP. Just print it at 600 DPI and the size will be perfect. I just dragged the picture onto a blank Microsoft Word page and it printed correctly.
p18xTopCoverTemplate600dpi.zip

[bozar]

I made my own cover with a self-stick vinyl tile. I chose a tile which had a flat grain which looked similar to the case plastic. Most of the tile choices at the store had a stone-like surface which didn't look right. I printed a template, cut the pattern with a hobby knife, then snapped the vinyl tile where I made my cuts. The edges were then filed a little for smoothness. I then checked the fit, painted it black with Dupli-Color Vinyl spray paint and stuck it on.





Here is a link to my template. It is a ZIP file containing a BMP. Just print it at 600 DPI and the size will be perfect. I just dragged the picture onto a blank Microsoft Word page and it printed correctly.
p18xTopCoverTemplate600dpi.zip

Very nice, thanks a lot.

[Ihmemies]

I keep my case under a desk so I can't see the top of the case. I simply used some cardboard and tape to block the top hole...