Cases with oddball fan configurations.

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar

Post Reply
Deiz
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:29 am
Location: Canada

Cases with oddball fan configurations.

Post by Deiz » Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:07 pm

I'm looking for a case with unique airflow possibilities for my next build. (Hah! I'm still working on my current build.)

Namely, cases dual top exhausts, dual rear exhausts, or side panel fans*.

*Similar to the Cooler Master Stacker series - Modularity is a good thing, because I'd be able to throw in good, quiet fans as opposed to being stuck with a vendor's mediocre proprietary fan. (Ref: Any case with a ludicrous 200mm~ fan grafted to its side.

I'm also interested in very wide cases - Something that could have a top exhaust of two 120mm fans widthwise in relation to the case.

Examples:
Lian Li PC-A71B - Two intake fans, two exhausts, two rather-strangely-placed mid-case fans right behind the intakes. Some odd design decisions, like the three 3.5" cages at the rear-top of the case.
Thermaltake SwordM - Two exhaust fans, one side fan, one intake. Has a good few fans, but as someone so eloquently put it, "I wouldn't put a Thermaltake rubber band in my case." It also looks totally moronic when you've opened it up. The insane $600 price tag doesn't help a bit.
Cooler Master Stacker RC-832 - One intake, one exhaust, four side fans. Not exactly designed with quiet in mind, and I figure that having six fans at equal speeds, if you have the front and rear fans working push-pull the side fans will either yield strong positive or negative pressure, either way overwhelming the rear fan.
Antec P190 - 120mm intake, 120mm bottom chamber intake, two 140mm exhausts, 200mm side fan. Shame about the 1200W dual-PSU configuration, but it should cool even better than the P182, as it's a bit bigger, has two top fans, plus the side fan. Unfortunately, there are few 140mm fans, and, dare I say, no [sensible] third-party 200mm fans. There are 140mm Yate Loons, though, and hey, I found a 200x200x70mm fan from Sofasco! Too bad it puts out 576 CFM @ 65 dBA and consumes 96 watts.
Silverstone's various TJ-* cases are somewhat of interest, too, except for the prices.

Anyhow, anyone who knows of a case with multiple top, rear or side fans, I'd appreciate having my list of cases expanded.

WEKS
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2007 11:44 pm
Location: Finland
Contact:

Post by WEKS » Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:49 am

Perhaps not really what you're looking for, but you might want to check this article out: http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/03/09/ ... _compared/

Bluefront
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 5316
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2003 2:19 pm
Location: St Louis (county) Missouri USA

Post by Bluefront » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:42 am

The obvious answer is DIY. Find a large case that's close to what you want, and get out the snippers. Finding a case that's exactly what you want out of the box.....next to impossible.

These things are just squarish boxes, all of which can be modified. The overall dimensions are important for a mod project....usually bigger is better. Both side panels should be removable, and if the top is removable, so much the better. I'd start with a relatively simple-looking design, and go from there.

You can spend weeks looking for exactly what you want....and never find it. But you can come close. Finish it off with a DIY mod or two. :D

teejay
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 749
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 2:23 am
Location: The Netherlands

Post by teejay » Wed Mar 05, 2008 2:12 am

How about a Lian Li PC-343 cube case? If you're looking for very wide, it fits the bill... besides, it has plenty of room for upgrades: it fits 30 hdds and it has 18 5.25" external bays :shock:

Post Reply