5.25 mesh bay cover on a Solo : go for Lian-Li !

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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frenchie
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5.25 mesh bay cover on a Solo : go for Lian-Li !

Post by frenchie » Wed Oct 01, 2008 12:05 am

Hi all,
I had a hot spot between the back of my PSU and the front covers on my Solo. The warm air came from :
- The PSU (bottom intake Nexus PSU that has a couple of exhaust slots in the back... Go figure...)
- The DVD burner (this Pionner burner gets VERY warm when burning)
- The warm air from the components

It bugged me that some air was stuck in my case...

So i added a very slow moving fan (not to disrupt the general airflow) to push the air out of the front of the case. Problem was, I had to leave one of the front bay covers off... And the bright yellow sticker on top of the DVD burner was a disgrace to the cool looking Solo.

I thought about making a custom cover but... I got lazy... :lol: and my previous attempts were major failures (wrong material + wrong tools = lots of waisted time and frustration).

So I ended up buying a Lian-Li mesh front bay cover like this one : http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6202/ ... d=L4FGzDWk

It fits PERFECTLY on the Solo. You just have to very slightly bend the sides of the cover to make sure they clear the sides of the case when you close the front door. The shiny black color is perfect and it looks like it was made for the Solo.

I can post pics of the final setup if anyone is interested.


PS : amazing consequence : MB temps reported by speedfan for the mobo dropped !!!! I guess the sensor was close to that hot spot !!

trashmouse
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Post by trashmouse » Wed Oct 01, 2008 3:58 am

Cool - I'd like a few pics!!
I'm off to buy a Solo myself in the nearest future - is it only around the 5.25 drives there's a heat problem?

frenchie
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Post by frenchie » Wed Oct 01, 2008 4:04 am

is it only around the 5.25 drives there's a heat problem?
Yes. Not that it's a problem really... I'm just a bit of a maniac :lol: It's mostly usefull for those who add a duct for the PSU and who are looking for an easy way to customise the front bezel to turn it in an intake.
But the solo is a very good case even if you don't do anything to it (airflow, noise, cable management, build quality).

I'll post pics sometimes this week.

frenchie
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Post by frenchie » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:35 am

I finally charged my camera so here are some pics of the Lian-Li bay cover on the solo :

ImageImage


And here is a pics of the slow fan (92mm Noctua at 700 rpm) and the SUPERB cardboard fan holder (I'm not kidding, it's home made) :

ImageImage


From the other side :

ImageImage


Finally, the little slots in the PSU which heats this part of the case :

ImageImage

DaveD
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Very nice!

Post by DaveD » Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:10 pm

Even if one didn't want the mesh grills for air flow, this really dresses up the SOLO very nicely. I think I will order a couple of these for mine. Also, great job on your fan project.

Dave

Aris
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Post by Aris » Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:29 pm

best thing you can do is what MikeC did when he was doing the custom built antec solo systems. He put in a duct from the PSU to the top 3x 5.25" bays, and completely isolated the airflow in the top PSU region from the bottom component region. Air naturally flows from the front intake through the PSU fan and out the back.

So flip your PSU so the fan is facing up, put 1 or 2 more of those 5.25" grill covers in, and get some cardboard to block all airflow from the top area to the bottom area of the case.

DaveD
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Post by DaveD » Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:52 pm

Aris wrote:best thing you can do is what MikeC did when he was doing the custom built antec solo systems. He put in a duct from the PSU to the top 3x 5.25" bays, and completely isolated the airflow in the top PSU region from the bottom component region. Air naturally flows from the front intake through the PSU fan and out the back.

So flip your PSU so the fan is facing up, put 1 or 2 more of those 5.25" grill covers in, and get some cardboard to block all airflow from the top area to the bottom area of the case.
This sounds a lot like the Antec NSK3480 design, but in the mid size case which already has very good air flow. It never hurts to improve where you can. I didn't even know that MikeC. had performed this mod. Is there a link to this project? I am curious to see the work, as I have a Solo case, I just haven't built this one yet. For now I plan to just move everything from this case ( Antec BQE) into it.

Dave

frenchie
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Post by frenchie » Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:58 pm

MikeC did a solo project ?????????, :shock: :shock: :shock:

me want big time !!!!!!!!
anyone got some links ? please please please please please!!!!... please ?

I thought about flipping the PSU in my case but there is only very little clearance between the top of the PSU and the top of the case... So I am not sure how well that would go airflow wise

What the heck, I might just try it this week end if I can find MikeC's project description somewhere.

mentawl
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Post by mentawl » Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:14 am


oldabelincoln
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Post by oldabelincoln » Wed Dec 03, 2008 2:37 am

And here I thought I had done something original, but it looks like frenchie, the OP, had the same idea.

I've got the same Lian-Li bay covers sitting around waiting for my next two Solo builds. I'll be using Antec NeoHE 500 and 550 straight-through PSUs with a single bay duct at top, with two DVD burners below.

In spite of the initial problems with the NeoHE, I've had no problems with them, and Fry's often has them on sale. They are overkill, but they came cheap enough that I'm willing to ignore the operational inefficiency.

I finally found the time to start the first build, based on the Gigabyte EP45-UD3P motherboard, which I'm currently running on a tabletop, using an Intel Q9300 under a Thermalright HR01 Plus.

And I'm looking forward to using those lovely bay covers...

Wibla
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Post by Wibla » Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:44 am

I have considered a Kama Bay for these myself. my band-aid solution for my solo was simply to remove the metal EMI-protection behind the stock 5.25" covers, which gives less air resistance and gives another intake. Mind you, my rig is negative-pressure, not positive.

frenchie
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Post by frenchie » Wed Dec 03, 2008 8:22 am

thanks for the link mentawl :)
But...
....
I have a bottom intake PSU... :(
Darn... I wish I'd found SPCR before building my system...

I'm sure what's making my PSU fan noisier now is the heat from the Accelero... My PSU has to work a lot more than before and therefore produces more heat (9800GTX+ is power hungry). So in theory it would need cooler air to stay more quiet... When in fact it gets warmer air... Grrrrrrrr..... *Me is going nuts*

Oh well, I have a major ducting project on the way that hopefully should help with getting rid of - some - of the GPU heat.

Aris
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Post by Aris » Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:33 pm

frenchie wrote:thanks for the link mentawl :)
But...
....
I have a bottom intake PSU... :(
You can still do it, just flip the PSU so the fan faces up. Long as theres a little room between the top of the PSU and the top of the case, it will pull air through the duct/front of the case.

Ch0z3n
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Post by Ch0z3n » Wed Dec 03, 2008 1:37 pm

Do the mesh bay covers work well with the p182 also? I assume the Solo uses the same mounting system?

xev
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Post by xev » Wed Dec 03, 2008 6:45 pm

..
Last edited by xev on Wed Dec 03, 2008 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

xev
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Post by xev » Wed Dec 03, 2008 6:46 pm

disregard

frenchie
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Post by frenchie » Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:39 am

You can still do it, just flip the PSU so the fan faces up. Long as theres a little room between the top of the PSU and the top of the case, it will pull air through the duct/front of the case.
There is less than 1cm of clearance... :?

I might still give it a try when I get a chance. Just because it would be nice if it worked.

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