Case fans - single or dual?

[newbie~wan]

I was curious as to what everyone's experience is w/ case fans?

I am looking to buy a case to power a 1.2Ghz 266fsb t-bird, hopefully w/ a little OC'ing.

Should I look for a case w/ more than one fan? How difficult, cost/performance effective is it to add a second fan to a case that shipped w/ one?

All input/ideas/experience greatly appreciated.

The Newb

[thehig]

Go for at least two case fans. Have one blow into the case and one on opposite side blowing out. Get as much cool air flowing through there as you can. It will be well worth it.

[KAknight]

Fans are cheap and easy to install. You just have to put in the screws and plug them in. On the edge of the fan will be be an arrow somewhere pointing the direction that air will flow.

[Kirkman]

How much are you looking to spend on a case? That is the real question. If this machine is for personal use, then I feel the case is a very important part of your system. I spend more time choosing a case than I do any other component. If it's just a workstation, then value is the most important factor.

Typically the cooler you get your pc the better. Especially when you are doing any Oc'ing. Also depends what other components your going to be running. Typically in today's machine's you are going to see a lot of components that generate a lot of heat. Most people are satisfied with a good heatsink.

Video cards - Major offender for heat.
Hard Drives - No one talks about this, but they generate a lot of heat.
CPU - everyone knows this. And K7's run hot. Especially K7's over 1ghz.

But I am a cool freak. You can get by with one case fan. I have a total of 3 personal cases right now, with a 4th on the way.

3 of the 4 are modded. I would recommend all but one of them, modded or stock.

Lian Li PC60 - Modded by http://www.amkcomputer

Lian Li PC70 - Modded by Amkcompter again, and it should arrive hopefully tomorrow.

Alask case modded by http://www.computersdivine.com/. Its a **** case but it has 11 fans (all deltas) and a cool paint job.

Antec SX-1030B http://www.directron.com/sx1030b.html
This is one of the best stock cases I have worked with. $98, tons of cool features, and loads of stock fans. The only minus is the motherboard tray is static.


A 250 w mid/mini tower will run you anywhere from $30-$60, depending where you shop. You can get a REALLY nice case for $100 if you shop well. It's not worth it to me to deal with **** cases.

[SPEEDO]

From one cool freak to another!!

Welcome to sysopt

[conjh13]

Yes, definitely go with at least 2 case fans, especially if you're going to overclock. Another fan can never hurt anything in any case. I happen to have 6 fans in my system - 2 case fans, 1 HDD fan, 1 power supply fan, 2 heatsink/fans (I run dual cpu's http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif)

Edit: Wow Kirkman! That Antec SX1030B really is a nice case. I'm almost tempted to buy one, even though I have no immediate plans to build a system. I like the layout of my current case, but I suppose it is a "****" case really - thin metal, cheap front, etc...


[This message has been edited by conjh13 (edited 08-11-2001).]

[VERT]

I have a fan at the bottom front of my PC sucking air in and a fan at the top back of my PC blowing air out, aside from it being slightly noisey, it keeps my T-bird 800 super cool at 27 - 30 degress.

[Kirkman]

Speedo: Thanks! Good to be here!

conjh13: If you really want to treat yourself you will pick one up. It's that good. I am going to use it on all future servers for my company. It is really well designed. Antec uses a really cool mounting system for their internal drive bays. Removing them is a snap, and makes it SO much easier to work on your 5 1/2's and 3 1/4's.

The main side panel is really cool to. It works like a door. I don't keep screws in the side anymore. Anytime I need to open the case up, I just pull the lever and the door swings open. When I'm done, I just close the door, and it is secure enough to transport it. I would recommend screws however, but it can be done.

Touching on the subject of this thread, the placemnets, and number of fans provide very good airflow and keep the system temperature cool. The Swiftech MC462-A Rev.1 ( http://www.coolerguys.com/pictures/MC462.jpg ) keeps the cpu frosty =). The fan mounting system is also really neat. It also looks slick. The case is black, and you open the case up to see multiple fan cages, that are a really nice shade of purple. It matches the case really well.

The ONLY 2 things I dislike about the case are:

1) There is no "motherboard tray". If you are any kind of tinker, or upgrader then I feel a motherboard tray is a must. Nothing worse than mounting your board, slapping in all the cards, connect all the IDE cables to the MB, set it all up, turn on the power, and get nothing. With a tray, a powersupply (I keep an extra for this purpose, but the one from the case works....just more work), a power switch (you can actually get away with using a screw driver), you can test everything BEFORE you put everything in the case. Even install an OS and configure your hardware.
But if you don't work on your computer much, or upgrade seldom, this is not an issue. I use the case for my wife's machine, and it's perfect. I upgrade her machine every 6 months or so, so it fits the bill. Its also perfect for SOHO environments. It's a very good thing if my servers never need to be opened up =)

2) The reset switch - Like so many cases, its impossible to easily reset the computer through the switch....atleast it is with my big fingers. I don't see any reason it shouldn't be as easy to press as the power button. But this is a very minor problem.

OMG I just scrolled up and realized how much I typed. GAH!

I apologize for writing a book, but I am really into cases, and love leading people to this case in particular. Well I won't feel bad for making everyone read this if someone picks up the case and is happy with it =)

[fshanda]

I have 7 doing the job of cooling my case. 2 sucking air in from the front blowing over my hard drives. 1 sucking from the back onto my cpu. 4 exhaust fans in the rear including the power supply. I have room for a few more small ones but that would be overkill http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

Fshanda http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif