I've got an iStarUSA BPU-350 (the raid cage that holds 5 hdd's and takes up 3x5.25'' bays.
The problem was the fan inside the unit was thinner than normal and wayyy too loud.
80x80x20mm fan >> http://en.yltc.cn/newEbiz1/EbizPortalFG ... chcategory
For those that hate clicking specs:
DFC802012H - 3500rpm - 37cfm - 34 dba - 80x80x20mm Fan
So not only is it thinner than normal but the connector on the tip is the same as the connector that the scythe fan controllers use... its a small panaflow tail-ish connector.
So I've tried two 80x20 replacements both of which were too loud. If I use my fan controller on the fans the raid cage's fan failure alarm goes off. After contacted customer support and learning that the fan failure function can not be turned off I immediately broke the tiny speaker to turn it off. That problem is solved now... it's silent screams will bother me no more.
So back to the issue of finding the best thin 80mm. I tried an evercool thin 80 and a top motor thin 80. They were ok... but I got the idea of doing some dremeling and drilling and attaching an 80mm>120mm fan adapter and using a 120mm fan on it.
I finished that project and used one of those thin 120mm yate loon medium speed fans. It actually looks very very good. Only problem is temps increased about 4 C (I've only got 1 hard drive in the cage until I get my 2 terabyte drives in a month).
So I thought the 120mm would allow me to increase airflow and decrease noise and everyone would be happy. But I'm guessing the extra distance the 120mm is away from the 'slots' in the circuit board is causing poorer performance.
**point of thread/story** Now that I've modded the back of the cage it allows me to either directly attach a good performance low noise (not quiet) fan to the back easily and I can use standard 80x25 or 80x3X if someone suggests a good one. Since it's blowing through slots 3mm by 50-60mm I'm guessing I would need something with high pressure.
Anyone have any recommendations? I can still put an 80x20mm fan inside the raid cage if that solution would work best. I'm thinking though a standard 80 should be able to blow better and be less noisy.
Here is an 80x20 I was very close to ordered before I got out the dremel:
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/ ... s_id=22754
that hard drive cooler has an 80x20 in it and the specs seem decent. I was hoping to go a bit above that CFM unless someone here has something excellent to say about the fan.
Last question... I can put a fan inside and a fan outside but I think the blades have to spin together to get a performance increase?
thanks for reading my long story.. I can put up pictures of the modded raid cage if people are interested.
Raid Cage Fan Replacement
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Pictures of your efforts would be appreciated.
Assuming that the RAID cage in question is this. then I think they made a mistake when they were designing the backplane PCB (the slots in the circuit board you were talking about).
If you can cut away at least some of the material between the PCB 'slots' then that would help the hdd temperatures by reducing the impedance (back pressure?) of the PCB and allowing proportionately more air to flow past the hdd's.
Be warned, there are two downsides to this action:
1. You may end up cutting a signal/data line causing data corruption or power loss to a hdd.
2. The size and shape of the 'slots' may be carefully calculated as a compromise between PCB stiffness and airflow (doubtful but possible). By cutting the PCB, you may end up making the PCB less stiff and more likely to vibrate.
Since you own the RAID cage, it should be a trivial matter to debunk the 1st downside more easily than me, prior to work.
The 2nd downside can be reduced by careful planning of the cuts you seek to make in the PCB. The planning part is the hardest part as there tend to be little general information on how to maximise stiffness from the minimum amount of PCB.
I know it is possible, but unfortunately I never passed the module that dealt with calculating stiffness of plate structures manually.
Assuming that the RAID cage in question is this. then I think they made a mistake when they were designing the backplane PCB (the slots in the circuit board you were talking about).
If you can cut away at least some of the material between the PCB 'slots' then that would help the hdd temperatures by reducing the impedance (back pressure?) of the PCB and allowing proportionately more air to flow past the hdd's.
Be warned, there are two downsides to this action:
1. You may end up cutting a signal/data line causing data corruption or power loss to a hdd.
2. The size and shape of the 'slots' may be carefully calculated as a compromise between PCB stiffness and airflow (doubtful but possible). By cutting the PCB, you may end up making the PCB less stiff and more likely to vibrate.
Since you own the RAID cage, it should be a trivial matter to debunk the 1st downside more easily than me, prior to work.
The 2nd downside can be reduced by careful planning of the cuts you seek to make in the PCB. The planning part is the hardest part as there tend to be little general information on how to maximise stiffness from the minimum amount of PCB.
I know it is possible, but unfortunately I never passed the module that dealt with calculating stiffness of plate structures manually.
I'm pretty horrible when it comes to anything with electronics... I was even a bit worried when I intentionally broke the little speaker. Cutting the PCB is a great idea I hadn't thought about though. I'm not sure my shaky hands would be up for the task!
Yes, that link to the BPU-350 is the raid cage in question. I can't really review it since I've never had any other device like it. The build quality is good and other than the issues discussed in this thread it is a nice little hard drive thing.
When SSD's become more reliable/price friendly all this discussion of trying to cool the hard drives inside will be obsolete. After the 120mm fan was added and the high speed top motor 80x20(not stock, lowered to about 1500RPMs) were swapped temperatures went from 33/34C to 37C. Not a huge increase but since this attachment actually presses against the motherboards SATA ports I'm going to need to find another solution.
Here is a bunch of photos on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31478501@N06/
...even though it didn't work out as an advantage performance wise it was still fun and has paved the way to allow for me to use thicker 80mm fans attached to the back. I'll just need to figure out which fan to get and hook it to my scythe fan controller.
Also I'm glad for this test I used that thin 120 as that attachment presses very slightly against the motherboard's SATA ports... not a good thing and as you can see I've got a wire mess inside the machine as it is still a work in progress. I'll do some cable management once its more complete. Putting in a 80x38mm fan wouldn't get in the way of anything though.
I'm going to control the 80mmx38mm fan externally with a scythe kaze master controller so at full speed the fan can be 'loud' maybe push around 40 CFMs. The most important thing to me is that the noise that comes from the fan is 'pleasant' and not whining or sound like bee's buzzing... you know just a nice sound that can be a little loud since it will need to be.
Yes, that link to the BPU-350 is the raid cage in question. I can't really review it since I've never had any other device like it. The build quality is good and other than the issues discussed in this thread it is a nice little hard drive thing.
When SSD's become more reliable/price friendly all this discussion of trying to cool the hard drives inside will be obsolete. After the 120mm fan was added and the high speed top motor 80x20(not stock, lowered to about 1500RPMs) were swapped temperatures went from 33/34C to 37C. Not a huge increase but since this attachment actually presses against the motherboards SATA ports I'm going to need to find another solution.
Here is a bunch of photos on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31478501@N06/
...even though it didn't work out as an advantage performance wise it was still fun and has paved the way to allow for me to use thicker 80mm fans attached to the back. I'll just need to figure out which fan to get and hook it to my scythe fan controller.
Also I'm glad for this test I used that thin 120 as that attachment presses very slightly against the motherboard's SATA ports... not a good thing and as you can see I've got a wire mess inside the machine as it is still a work in progress. I'll do some cable management once its more complete. Putting in a 80x38mm fan wouldn't get in the way of anything though.
I'm going to control the 80mmx38mm fan externally with a scythe kaze master controller so at full speed the fan can be 'loud' maybe push around 40 CFMs. The most important thing to me is that the noise that comes from the fan is 'pleasant' and not whining or sound like bee's buzzing... you know just a nice sound that can be a little loud since it will need to be.
I wanted to ask about this fan in a response rather than above since it would get buried in all the other things talked about.
I've got a Noctua NF-P12 and I'm reasonably happy with it. It didn't lower temperatures over the PWM controlled Enermax Cluster fan but it didn't increase them either.
Is the performance really there in the Noctua 80mm fan? I have a feeling it would be better to try out 2-3 normal cost 80mm fans and see which one sounds the best to me than buy the Noctua... unless the Noctua really will work well?
**edit** I've heard silenx fans aren't very good... the specs seem rediculous on this one. Anyone have good experiences with them?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4280/ ... g36c15s518
what about enermax magma?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7902/ ... s514#blank
or how about this sanyo?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7752/ ... 5s58#blank
I like scythe products most of the time... this kama flex 80 looks alright?
http://jab-tech.com/Scythe-KAMA-FLEX-80 ... -4111.html
I guess I'm trying to hit 34-40cfm and have the fan good quality with good sound. It can have a low hum to it I don't mind I'll be turning down the speed most of the time anyway.
I've got a Noctua NF-P12 and I'm reasonably happy with it. It didn't lower temperatures over the PWM controlled Enermax Cluster fan but it didn't increase them either.
Is the performance really there in the Noctua 80mm fan? I have a feeling it would be better to try out 2-3 normal cost 80mm fans and see which one sounds the best to me than buy the Noctua... unless the Noctua really will work well?
**edit** I've heard silenx fans aren't very good... the specs seem rediculous on this one. Anyone have good experiences with them?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/4280/ ... g36c15s518
what about enermax magma?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7902/ ... s514#blank
or how about this sanyo?
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7752/ ... 5s58#blank
I like scythe products most of the time... this kama flex 80 looks alright?
http://jab-tech.com/Scythe-KAMA-FLEX-80 ... -4111.html
I guess I'm trying to hit 34-40cfm and have the fan good quality with good sound. It can have a low hum to it I don't mind I'll be turning down the speed most of the time anyway.
Just a simple 80mm 33cfm/26dba fan attached to the newly drilled holes and set to pull air out of the raid cage into the case has lowered temps from 37C to 30C.
I'm pretty proud as I've made the computer run the perfect low hum and decreased operating temperatures by a pretty large amount.
If anyone has any experience with the vantec tornado let me know. I would be using it with a fan controller so it shouldn't be too bad I'm just wondering if its even worth the hassle.
I'm pretty proud as I've made the computer run the perfect low hum and decreased operating temperatures by a pretty large amount.
If anyone has any experience with the vantec tornado let me know. I would be using it with a fan controller so it shouldn't be too bad I'm just wondering if its even worth the hassle.