Removing Rear Fan in 3700BQE

wgragg · Post by **wgragg** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 2:35 pm

How do I remove the rear fan in the 3700BQE? Do I just wedge the silicone out and if so, can I reuse it for a different fan?

Thanks in advance,

Wendell

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 4:50 am

You can do it without hurting the barbs but you have to be careful. Squeeze the barb together with your fingers or some needle-nose pliers can't carefully pull the corner of the fan away from the case. I got mine out fairly easily but if you're worried you might try using a bit of soapy water as a lubricant.

As long as they don't tear you can reuse them.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 5:10 am

do you advise removing it ralf? i'm thinking about removing the one in mine too, it moves hardly any air and seems to be contributing quite a lot to the noise level. also i'd have to go buy a 4-pin to 3-pin fan power converter cable to use a fanmate on it, not sure if its worth the trouble.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 5:30 am

chylld wrote:do you advise removing it ralf? i'm thinking about removing the one in mine too, it moves hardly any air and seems to be contributing quite a lot to the noise level. also i'd have to go buy a 4-pin to 3-pin fan power converter cable to use a fanmate on it, not sure if its worth the trouble.

Depends.

Is it the noisiest thing in your system?

How are your temps?

It sounds like it's running at 12V. Have you tried undervolting it by moving the wires around on the connector?

Are you going to replace it with a quieter fan or try and run without it?

For my review of the BQE I initially ran with that stock Antec fan set at 5 volts. It was quieter than the Antec PSU and kept my case plenty cool. When I swapped out the PSU for a Seasonic SuperSilencer then the Antec fan, even at 5V became the loudest thing in the box. I swapped it out for an OEM Panaflo L1A running at 5V for a nice reduction in noise and a few degrees cooler case temp. You can probably achieve similar results using one of the recommended quiet 120mm fans like the L1A, Evercool, Enermax etc.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 6:18 am

I can't tell. The ACVS and 7000A-Cu are inaudible over the PSU and Case fan, but I can't tell which one is which. It's a low humming sort of noise though so I'm guessing it's the case fan.

MBM5 is reporting temps of 52 with the 7000A @12V, but my AS5 was only installed yesterday and so hasn't been 'broken in' yet, so the '52' should be taken with a grain of salt. (It's actually dropped to 51 now as i'm typing this) (my 2500 is now oc'd to 2163mhz)

I can run it at 5 volts by simply trimming the corners off the connector so it fits into a 4-pin (from the PSU) the other way right?

I want a good case fan and this antec fan is simply not up to the task, it's moving hardly any air at all and when I remove the side panel the temps drop around 10 degrees. I'll probably replace it with an evercool.

Slightly OT ralf (or anyone): what do you think about moving the provided rear 120mm to the front, putting an evercool aluminium at the back, run both at 5V and mount them using ordinary screws?

wgragg · Post by **wgragg** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 7:01 am

That is actually what I am intending, though I'm not sure about the 5v. I don't have a need to run it that quiet as there are other things in the room that overcome it anyway. Though my case temps aren't that bad, I am really wanting to improve the hd cooling. I can't tell what temp they are running, but I figure a little extra airflow around them would not hurt.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 7:15 am

Followup: Ralf: I just did the quick "clip off the corners" 12v->5v mod and I just realised that I can't even hear the case fan at 12v over (what must be) the PSU!!! This PSU is ridiculously loud!! (in comparison, of course).

And I think I will decouple the fans now that there's so much vibration my side panel vibrates even when it is detached from the case.

That I truly do not understand.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 1:04 pm

chylld wrote:I can run it at 5 volts by simply trimming the corners off the connector so it fits into a 4-pin (from the PSU) the other way right?

I don't think that'll do anything. This page shows how to mod your connector for either 7 or 5 volts.

chylld wrote:Slightly OT ralf (or anyone): what do you think about moving the provided rear 120mm to the front, putting an evercool aluminium at the back, run both at 5V and mount them using ordinary screws?

I certainly wouldn't put the stock Antec fan in the front of the case, even if it was running at 5V, for a few reasons:

1) You most likely won't gain any case cooling at all if you do this. I've experimented with these 3700's for over a year now and have always found the best cooling is acheived with just the case fan in back. Most of the time i do use a fan in the front but's it's usually a 92mm L1A running at 5V that's only there to cool the HDD.

2) Putting this relatively noisy fan right behind the front grill (the closest place to your ear and right next to the open air intakes) isn't the best thing to do if you're trying to reduce the niose eminating from your computer.

And I wouldn't mount them using ordinary screws either. This will transmit all the fan vibrations right into the case, a definite no-no.

Toth · Post by **Toth** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 3:15 pm

How do you go about mounting other fans on to the BQE? I have the BQE here with a 120mm aluminum Evercool fan and a 92mm Panaflo L1A for the front. However, there are no screw holes for mounting a 92mm fan in the front and the holes in the back are too large for the screws that came with the BQE. Advice? My only thought is to use nuts :/

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 3:23 pm

Ralf: thanks for the opinions. When I turned the fan's 4-pin connector the other way around though, the fan speed did decrease. I could tell this because it wasn't moving much air at all

And it started up considerably slower as well.

The PSU is becoming a really big problem wrt noise in my computer. It is the noise in my computer.

2 more questions Ralf:

1) How do I decouple an evercool aluminium fan at the back of the case? I remember reading that it wasn't as simple since the holes continue right through or something.

2) Do you think it's a good idea to replace the BQE's PSU fan with an 80L?

Toth: You can use those E.A.R. fan mounting isolators.

Toth · Post by **Toth** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 3:26 pm

chylld: can they be bought at a local hardware shop or radio shack or something?

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Sat Dec 13, 2003 4:09 pm

hmm i don't think so. unless you're very lucky

quite a few computer retailers who know something about silent computing would sell them though.

Toth · Post by **Toth** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 1:39 am

Ended up just taking a trip to Home Depot and picking up some nuts, bolts, and rubber washers. Used those to mount the fans and they are very secure. For the time being I have all of my fans at 12V just to see how it performs temperature wise. Tomorrow I'll turn down the fans and see how it holds up. Things are looking good right now though. When idle the CPU is at 27C and ambient at 30C. After 20 minutes of CPUBurn and Prime95, it's holding steady at 44C/32C. Going to let it sit like this overnight and check things out in the morning.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sun Dec 14, 2003 4:06 am

chylld wrote: 1) How do I decouple an evercool aluminium fan at the back of the case? I remember reading that it wasn't as simple since the holes continue right through or something.

You can use these Verax sticks. Apparently they work good, some of the guys here use them and like them better than the EAR isolators.

chylld wrote:2) Do you think it's a good idea to replace the BQE's PSU fan with an 80L?

I dunno. I've never played with doing that. I've always been nervous about changing the way a PSU's been engineered. A lot of people do it though, with apparently fine results (our fearless leader is one) so I quess you could give it a try. Worst case, the PSU runs too hot and frys itself so you go out and buy a quiet PSU! Search SPCR for "BQE AND PSU" and see if someone's ever modded this particular PSU.

PeterDLai · Post by **PeterDLai** » Mon Dec 15, 2003 9:14 pm

Can you confirm that these Directron Anti-Vibration Rubber Sticks do indeed work with the EverCool aluminum case fan?

I'm looking at the design of the fan and it seems like these sticks are designed for normal fans without the solid sides.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 5:31 am

PeterDLai wrote:Can you confirm that these Directron Anti-Vibration Rubber Sticks do indeed work with the EverCool aluminum case fan?

I'm looking at the design of the fan and it seems like these sticks are designed for normal fans without the solid sides.

People use them to mount the Enermax fans with the full length mounting holes so they should work for the Evercools too.

the_bfg · Post by **the_bfg** » Tue Dec 16, 2003 8:34 am

Just wanted to let you know that Ive had no problems whatsoever popping out the rubber case fan mounts and refitting them to different fans (tried the stock fan, then an old no-name (yech!) and now they're on my Papst 4212 L). With a bit of care as Ralf mentioned there should be no problems reusing them on your replacement fan.