P180 Fans

spiffy102 · Post by **spiffy102** » Tue Nov 22, 2005 9:30 pm

If cost is not a concern...

For the P180 case - I assume the best fans are:

120mm Nexus Quiet Case fan (exhaust)
80mm Pabst 8412NGL (PS / Drive bay)

(Both available at endpcnoise.com)

?

scorp · Post by **scorp** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 10:54 am

Where do you plan to place the HDDs ? In the lower bay or in the upper bay ? I personally prefer the lower bay as it is better noise-isolated and if needed you can place a 5v or 7v Nexus to suck the hot air from the HDDs. I am not sure what you really intend to do with the 80mm Papst

spiffy102 · Post by **spiffy102** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 5:02 pm

Oopos.

Lower Chamber yes.

I thought the lower chamber used 80mm fans. I just checked. 120mm

Which is good. I can buy two nexus fans (unless someone recommends a better fan) - and determine later if I install both near the heatsink (Ugh I can't believe they didn't provide provisions for sealing the top vent)... or if I install one down in the PSU / HD chamber.

Since I'll likely have 3-4 HD's (not sure which SATA II drives I will definitely buy) - I fear that additional cooling (other than the PS fan) will likely be needed.

scorp · Post by **scorp** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 4:06 pm

The Antec 120x25 fans are very good on low. And you can undervolt them even further (they start reliably when set to LOW and set to "7v" from a fan controller - no real idea how many V that makes in the end, but they never failed to start). Running the HDDs in the lower chamber is definitely the thing to do. I thing that one Nexus @ 7v will be enough to cool them.

spiffy102 · Post by **spiffy102** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 5:29 pm

Do you think the flow from a seasonic will be enough to cool HD's? (I will likely have 3)

DraGoNsLaYeR · Post by **DraGoNsLaYeR** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 5:55 pm

I believe the lower chamber can only hold 2 HDs.

Big Fat Duck · Post by **Big Fat Duck** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 5:59 pm

the antec on low is quiet, but it barely moves ANY AIR.. a piece of notebook paper in front of it barely moves. Real weak stuff.

spiffy102 · Post by **spiffy102** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 6:09 pm

The P180 lower drive cage supports up to 4 drives...

DraGoNsLaYeR · Post by **DraGoNsLaYeR** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 6:09 pm

If you set the antec and nexus so they produce the same amount of noise using a fan controller, which would be louder?

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:20 am

DraGoNsLaYeR wrote:If you set the antec and nexus so they produce the same amount of noise using a fan controller, which would be louder?

Pretty close, but you might prefer the Nexus. Somehow a touch smoother. But then again, they're real close. If you have a fan controller you can just plug the TriCool fans into, I'd try tweaking w/them first before spending $ on more fans. Soft mounting will also make a pretty big difference w/ the tricool, too, especially if the noise level is already low.

scorp · Post by **scorp** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:31 am

spiffy102 wrote:Do you think the flow from a seasonic will be enough to cool HD's? (I will likely have 3)

I asume that you are referring to a Seasonic S12. I don't think that the HDDs will overheat, but I never actually tried running without an 120mm fan in the lower chamber. I personally think that you will be ahppy with the undervolted TriCools (I know I am

).

andrewscarella · Post by **andrewscarella** » Thu Dec 01, 2005 5:54 pm

To those with the p-180, can I just run one of the back fans? and not the top and back one. I noticed people just using the back one and covering the hole on the top. Is this enough cooling?

Andrew

rootdown · Post by **rootdown** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 10:14 pm

I've only been using the back exhaust of the P180 (Tricool on "low") and I tapped up the top blowhole. Everything is cool and quiet.

About the HDDs in the lower chamber, i've got two Western Digital IDE drives there. I took out the lower chamber Tricool which makes running cables way easier. The airflow necessary to cool the HDDs is produced by the power supply (Enermax 480W). This PS uses the "classic" Enermax two fan setup: 1x 92mm fan on the bottom, 1x 80mm fan at the back. The back fan is set to the lowest RPM setting and the 92mm fan is temperature controlled. I don't think the 92mm fan has ever started so the HDDs are cooled by the 80mm PS fan alone. Putting my hand in front of the lower chamber air intake, I feel lots of air getting sucked in. The HDDs have never been warmer than 38C (normally lower).

More details of my setup at this thread: http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=26671 .