Ok...a learner's question. I've tried to surf the site to find answers to the following questions, but failed. I am at a loss when it comes to fans and cooling a system. I know I want to keep the new computer I want to build cool, so....
1. How do you know what fans are going to work with your case or system?
2. How do you know how many and what size of fans to get?
3. How do you know where to install them inside the case?
4. I have read that most have 2 or more cooling fans running inside the case. How much room do you need inside for 2 or more fans?
5. How do you measure for hardware like Fans, MB and PS inside a case?
Maybe there is a site (possibly with illustrations) that can give me information on installing cooling fans and/or other hardware?
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
Actually, I don't have the new case yet and that is why I was wondering what I should look for and know about the measurements.
What is the difference between full and mid-size towers? And how do you determine if the tower you already have will fit newer hardware, like a motherboard? This is where I am lost, with the measurements inside a case.
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
I'm pretty sure I heard Train say: "Illustrations! Of course we have illustrations!" lol
I believe that the biggest difference between Mid and full towers is the number of bays. A mid tower might have 2 3-1/2 inch bays and 4 5-1/4inch bays, whereas a full tower would have a few more of each. Also, a full tower would probably have more bays for case fans. Full towers are more for servers, I believe. Most home users should be fine with a mid-tower. And I believe that your motherboard should be fine in both types of towers.
I'll post some links to topics here at VDR. Read over these and take what applies to your system/system-to-be and see what works best. Some of these topics might have more than enough information for you, but they all deal with cooling. And some of it may be repetitive, but it can't hurt to read over it all.
I have an old, cheap, plain case and the vent holes they put on these are excellent at restricting airflow, so I cut out the hole in the back where my case fan blows out. So instead of having a dozen little holes I have one BIG one . I can literally feel the difference when I put my hand back there. My case fan's RPMs are lower, and my temperatures are somewhat lower, but that is also because it is winter here. And when I take off the plastic front cover of my case, the aluminum case is open in alot of spots, other than the spot designated for a case fan. So I covered up everything on the front except for a space for an 80mm case fan. Did that to keep the air coming in to be as low to the ground as possible to keep it as cool as possible. I think it worked because now at idle I'm running 47/48ºC where before I was running 50/51ºC.
I have a Gateway computer that is 4 years old and I like the case, but someone I know who dabbles in computers told me that the newer motherboards are now larger and may not fit in it. Now to me, it looks like any mid-size case out there, but just in case he is right, I wanted to know how to measure the inside.
The outside dimensions are:
16"H x 7-3/4"W x 11-1/2"L It has 2 larger bays and a floppy bay.
So, I guess that is small.
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
Your case is relatively small. Getting a new larger case and larger PSU is well worth the money if you are going to build your own PC. The larger case will allow for better air flow and cooling, plus be easier to work within when installing or removing components.
You would have to measure the motherboard itself and take note as to the location of the standoffs (those screws or plastic pieces with which the mobo is attached--raising the mobo off the surface of the case). You had better also check out the power supply cable (that is plugged into the mobo) that was supplied with that system--it may be a propietary design and may not fit into off-the-shelf mobos.
1. PC case fans are all pretty standard as far as the connectors and voltages. What the main issue is the size, which leads us to....
2. You have to look at the case to determine what sizes and how many fans to get (if they aren't already supplied with the case); you can use as many fans as indicated by the available grillworks. At a minimum, there should be one intake at the front and one to two exhausts in the back. The power supply should have an exhaust, but better yet, have an intake that is drawing air out of the interior--assists in cooling the case interior down a little bit...although those types of power supply units (psu's) tend to add a little more noise.
3. Location of the fans is quite obvious--you will see the grillwork and the holes where the mounting screws go into--that will indicate the size of the fan that needs to go there. most PC case fans are 80 (or dual 80), 90 or 120mm for the front intake and a single or dual 80's in the rear for exhaust. Most PC fans have a small arrow indicator on them that helps you orient them for the proper air flow direction.
4. I think the question of how many fans was answered. You install them over the grillwork.
5. Measure for fans: Determined by the size of the available grillwork and positioning of the mounting holes--however, this can be modified if you are not scared to do a little cutting and drilling ("modding"--slang for modifying).
Measure for motherboard: As stated above--length/width and position of the standoff holes. You have to be able to mount the mobo so it does not bend and can support all the components.
Measure for psu: Most cases can accomodate off-the-shelf psu's--they have been standardized; or sometimes the case manufacturer will supply an adapter interface plate that accomodates odd-size psu's (not a common occurence). The problem usually lies with machines like Dell that use their own uniquely designed psu's and motherboards. Not compatible with other cases, psu's etc.. Propietarianism at its worst. You are literally forced to do almost all major upgrades through them. Reminds me of the old Packard Bell days...and they finally went out of business in the States.
Last edited by bistro; December 18th, 2003 at 03:02 PM.
Desktop: Intel i7 960 CPU @ 4.0GHz, EVGA Classified 4-Way SLI mobo, 12GB Corsair Dominator-GT 2000 DDR3 RAM, Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB Solid State Drive, Two WD 2TB SATA drives, 2x EVGA GTX 570 Superclocked graphics cards in SLI, Coolermaster HAF X full tower case, OCZ ZX 1250w PSU, Corsair H100 CPU Cooler Laptop: MSI GT60-004US, 2x Seagate Momentus XT 750GB SSD Hybrid drives in RAID 0, 16GB DDR3 1600 RAM, GeForce 670M 3GB graphics card, Networks 'Killer' N-1103 WLAN card
I've tried to surf the site to find answers to the following questions, but failed. I am at a loss when it comes to fans and cooling a system. I know I want to keep the new computer I want to build cool, so....
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lol
. I can literally feel the difference when I put my hand back there. My case fan's RPMs are lower, and my temperatures are somewhat lower, but that is also because it is winter here. And when I take off the plastic front cover of my case, the aluminum case is open in alot of spots, other than the spot designated for a case fan. So I covered up everything on the front except for a space for an 80mm case fan. Did that to keep the air coming in to be as low to the ground as possible to keep it as cool as possible. I think it worked because now at idle I'm running 47/48ºC where before I was running 50/51ºC.
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