Need advice on removing my case's mesh grill

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ICERx911
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Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:12 pm

Need advice on removing my case's mesh grill

Post by ICERx911 » Mon Apr 25, 2005 12:09 pm

I got the Lian Li V-1200 case for a couple of months now and it's awesome. I was reading some mods of this case and most of the people cut out the mesh grill for the rear 120mm fan.

I recently switched my rear fan from an exhaust to an intake fan and i also removed the external air duct for the fan. My idle temp for the cpu was at 37C and not it's at 32C. The only problem is that i can hear my rear fan now even though it's an Nexus fan.

If i remove the mesh grill around the fan, will it still produce a lot of noise? Should i keep the air duct on the rear fan and live with the 37C cpu temp or should i cut out the mesh grill?

teejay
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Post by teejay » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:08 pm

That rear grill is horribly restrictive... I cut it out as soon as I unpacked the case (right after gathering enough courage to cut into that pretty case). Even with a Nexus 120mm at 600rpm the grill is very audible: I tried it a few months later, by taping the part I removed in front of the fan (what can I say: morbid curiosity :twisted:). Dramatic difference in noise signature, from inaudible to a very audible air whoosh.

I'd watch your harddisk and vga temperatures if you reverse the rear fan though: your case has been turned into a positive pressure setup which can work nicely but takes some special attention, especially since hot air now has to leave the case "on its own" through the mesh-style parts of the case. What way is your hdd fan facing? Have you closed the hole between the hdd/psu/mobo sections?

Finally, I have found that rear air duct to increase both temperatures and noise so I'd ditch it right away.

ICERx911
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Post by ICERx911 » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:27 pm

Thanks for the reply. I noticed that my hard drive jumped from 25C to 31C. My northbridge temp is at 33C. Everything is pretty much stable...no random lockups or reboots.

I have both the front and rear as intake fans. I pretty much left my whole case stock expect for the fans and my modified heatsink. I'm not sure what "holes" you are taking about but i don't think i closed it. I use it to run my wires to the motherboard.

The weird thing is that when i put the air duct my computer is pretty much silent. It's probably because there is no air flow now. If i do remove the grill, will it still be able to hear the rear fan?

I'm not really sure how to cut open the mesh grill though because i don't have any metal cutting tools. I just have pilers and basic stuff like that. Also, how did u cut out the grill?

Lastly, is there any other things i can do to improve the airflow in my case? I do notice taht all the hot air seems to be rising from the mesh parts of the cases. I don't know if that is enough though.

Straker
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Post by Straker » Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:58 pm

A pair of Wiss M1-Rs will only set you back like $15.

teejay
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Post by teejay » Tue Apr 26, 2005 10:07 am

ICERx911 wrote:I'm not sure what "holes" you are taking about but i don't think i closed it.
I meant the main opening between the hdd, psu and mobo sections. I closed off those holes with some dense foam (leaving space for the cables obviously) and noticed a slight improvement in hdd temperature... close to the error margin though. With the rear fan as an intake, the difference might be bigger.
ICERx911 wrote:The weird thing is that when i put the air duct my computer is pretty much silent. It's probably because there is no air flow now. If i do remove the grill, will it still be able to hear the rear fan?
I suppose the duct might cause less or even no additional noise when the rear fan is used as an intake, because there is no air "hitting" it. My cpu temps went up with the thing in place so I ditched it. Same with reversing the rear fan, so I put that one back in stock orientation.

Regardless of the airflow direction, removing that grill will probably be an audible improvement (no guarantees though :)). I used to promote a Dremel for this sort of job but lately I've been using the aforementioned Wiss snips (well, I used Stanley tin snips but you get the idea) with good results. Less of a mess, easy to do. As someone else around here mentioned, you can use a CD to get the approximate outline for the hole you need to cut.

ICERx911
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Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2005 5:12 pm

Post by ICERx911 » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:01 pm

I'm not sure which snip to get. Which ones would u recommend to cut thru the mesh grill?
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=p ... Y&pad=true

thanks

sthayashi
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Post by sthayashi » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:21 pm

We have a sticky for this.

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