120 or 92mm (IYO)

Dos_Junkie · Post by **Dos_Junkie** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 12:01 pm

120mm or 92mm advice.

I'm getting a Kingwin aluminum case that comes with 3 80mm fans (2 in front and one in back). I looked at alot of picutres and figured there would be enough room to drill a 92mm hole or a slightly square 120mm hole where the 80mm is.

My question is this:
If I want silence without sacrificing CFM, would a 120 or 92mm fan be better? I heard some people prefer 92mm over 120....dunno though

(I'm getting a fortron PSU with 120mm bottom-mounted fan so I don't need too much suction power)

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 12:08 pm

If you can cram a 120mm fan in the back, go for it!

After reading fan reviews, I'd go with NeXus for anything 92mm or higher. What are your plans?

Dos_Junkie · Post by **Dos_Junkie** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 12:15 pm

just cut the f*** out of the back and fit in the quietest fan with the best cfm...

kinda foggy now, but there is a path

POLIST8 · Post by **POLIST8** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 12:29 pm

Why not.

If a company doesn't make what you want, make it yourself.

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 12:57 pm

Measure carefully before cutting out the 120mm hole in the back though; I've just made the same cut in a no-brand case (well, it's a Q-tec and I consider that no-brand

). It's an extremely tight fit, to the point where the fan stayed in place even without screws.

Because of the tight fit the fan frame actually got compressed a bit sideways, which made the fan blades hit the frame, resulting in... additional noise! Rigged a metal strut to keep the pressure of the fan frame but that's far from the prettiest mod I've ever made. I don't think this has anything to do with fan quality (it's a Papst), simply the fact that it's a plastic frame.

Oh, and do yourself a favor: soft-mount the fan if it's a removable mobo tray in an alu case otherwise it will vibrate to no end. On second thought, forget the if's. Soft-mount the fan. Period.

Dos_Junkie · Post by **Dos_Junkie** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 1:39 pm

teejay wrote:Measure carefully before cutting out the 120mm hole in the back

I'm actually thinking of using a hole-cutting drillbit.

But I'm definately going to measure crefully on the screw holes.

I'm pretty sure thiswould work better than a dremel or router.

Definately going to soft mount them

VultureJ · Post by **VultureJ** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 4:21 pm

Dos_Junkie,

If you're going to use the "circle cutters" as I call them (as illustrated in the picture), make sure you have a drill that is powerful enough to drive them.

When I was first getting into case modding, I wanted to do a cutout as well, and figured that one of those cutters would work (it was for an 80mm fan). Turns out that my drill (which is kind of an el-cheapo at $40) couldn't kick enough juice to do the cutting in steel.

Turned out that a pair of Wiss tun snips (recommended in the forums) did a much better job, and reasonably quickly too. The resulting cutout will be as good as the operator.

-- Joe

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 12:43 pm

Never used circle cutters like that on anything but wood, so no experience there. Tin snips seem to work fine for most people... I tend to use my dremel a lot and the snips for the big cuts, but that's just a personal thing. Those hole cutters have been discussed here someplace too, perhaps in the general tin snip thread (as I recall, not to many enthusiasts, but not so sure).

Also, it doesn't have to be a circle: an octogon with 4 larger and 4 smaller sides (the sides where the fan screws/mounts go) works fine as well. Much easier to cut with a dremel w/ cutting disc.

gbass01 · Post by **gbass01** » Mon Aug 09, 2004 2:30 pm

The exhaust opening of axial fans is octagonal. Anything smaller will result in edge noise and obstruction noise both. I use a dremel with reinforced wheels. Don't forget eye and ear protection. I can't seem to get snips to cut right, but others have had good results.

I prefer to grommet the entire length of the opening. Used to use CaseEtc. rubber edge grommet but 33 cent foam sheets from WalMart make a better vibration dampener. I've tried the commercially available silicone rubber grommets but find them too thin to be effective.