Pro/Forums - View Single Post

bobkoure · 08-27-2004, 09:34 AM

Etacovda's right.
Beyond that, I'd suggest using only one fan and mounting that with a shroud. (see notes below)
That looks to be a chevette/montego/dangerden heater core so you can use a Coolingworks shroud if you don't feel like building one yourself. I'd suggest just mounting the shroud+fan on the "pull" side and cutting a big square hole in your case, just a little smaller than the finned area of your heater core. You may also have to "ventilate" the front bezel. Try running with the bezel removed first, to see if that makes a difference, before cutting/drilling holes.
You also might try replacing that 120x25mm fan with a thicker one that might generate a bit more pressure. Heater cores are designed to work with car blowers, not axial fans.

Also, yes, you don't have enough exhaust coming out from the case. You could try a blowhole at the top. It looks as though you're depending on air pulled through those tiny holes for HDD cooling as well - which means you'll need to have more capacity exhausting than whatever you're pulling in through the radiator - otherwise you'll starve them for airflow. (You could open up the case in front of the HDDs while you're cutting a hole for the radiator...)

Note on shrouds - setup the way you are you're only using the area of a 120mm fan (117mm open or 107 sq cm) less the area of the motor in the center (probably more than 50mm or 20 sq cm) - so you're using 87 sq cm of the heater core. With a coolingworks shroud you have 140mm x 140mm and, because of the "plenum" also use the center area that had been blocked by the fan motor - so you're now using 154 sq cm - or 77% more (or viewed the other way 'round, you're only using 56% of your heater core now).
Note 2 - the coolingworks shroud does mask down to 140x140, so you could make your own, get right out to the edges, and get up to another 10% - up to you...

08-27-2004, 09:34 AM	#7
bobkoure Cooling Savant Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: USA - Boston area Posts: 798	Etacovda's right. Beyond that, I'd suggest using only one fan and mounting that with a shroud. (see notes below) That looks to be a chevette/montego/dangerden heater core so you can use a Coolingworks shroud if you don't feel like building one yourself. I'd suggest just mounting the shroud+fan on the "pull" side and cutting a big square hole in your case, just a little smaller than the finned area of your heater core. You may also have to "ventilate" the front bezel. Try running with the bezel removed first, to see if that makes a difference, before cutting/drilling holes. You also might try replacing that 120x25mm fan with a thicker one that might generate a bit more pressure. Heater cores are designed to work with car blowers, not axial fans. Also, yes, you don't have enough exhaust coming out from the case. You could try a blowhole at the top. It looks as though you're depending on air pulled through those tiny holes for HDD cooling as well - which means you'll need to have more capacity exhausting than whatever you're pulling in through the radiator - otherwise you'll starve them for airflow. (You could open up the case in front of the HDDs while you're cutting a hole for the radiator...) Note on shrouds - setup the way you are you're only using the area of a 120mm fan (117mm open or 107 sq cm) less the area of the motor in the center (probably more than 50mm or 20 sq cm) - so you're using 87 sq cm of the heater core. With a coolingworks shroud you have 140mm x 140mm and, because of the "plenum" also use the center area that had been blocked by the fan motor - so you're now using 154 sq cm - or 77% more (or viewed the other way 'round, you're only using 56% of your heater core now). Note 2 - the coolingworks shroud does mask down to 140x140, so you could make your own, get right out to the edges, and get up to another 10% - up to you...