Random musings on the important things in life, for example computers and UT football.
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Name: VW
Hometown:
Somewhere in Texas
Occupation:
Systems Analyst
Please sign my Guestbook!
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Tuesday, March 11, 2003
CASE MODS PART 2
Before getting into my case mods any further, first a little background on my particular case. The past four PC's I've built have all used the the Enlight 7237, which for several years was one of the most popular cases (if not THE most popular) for do-it-yourself PC builders. It's pretty much your "standard" mid-tower ATX case with lots of drive bays, two 80 mm fan mounts, removable side panels, screwless face plate, etc. Newer versions like the 7247 use the same basic design but have slight differences like front-mounted USB ports.
My overall goals for my mods were threefold:
1) Better air filtration
Most pre-built PC's have no air filtration whatsoever and basically act as dust traps. I've seen PC's where the dust buildup was so thick, you could practically tear the dust off and make a sweater out of it. That's bad enough for your PC's components since the dust acts as an insulator and traps heat, but it's killer for cooling fans since it can clog up their bearings and stop them from spinning altogether. Once that happens to your power supply fan or CPU fan, you're looking at total system failure and a possible fire hazard.
At the very least, I always recommend putting SOME kind of filter over your PC's intake fan. Used fabric softener sheets work great, and I've heard pantyhose is also good. Then just replace or wash them every few months. Of couse, even with a filtered intake you will still have dust problems due to another flaw in most PC designs: negative internal pressure.
With the typical configuration of the power supply exhaust fan, an 80mm exhaust fan, and a 80mm intake fan, you have more air being blown out than you have being sucked in, since you have two exhuasts vs one intake. And many PC's don't even have an intake fan, so that ratio is two to ZERO. That difference has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is the various cracks in your case, where unfiltered air is constantly getting sucked into your system. I've noticed one big "crack" is the floppy drive slot. In many PC's, if you lift up your floppy cover and look "inside" your floppy drive, you can see all the dust that has accumulated, mainly due to negative internal pressure.
2) More cooling capability
Two low-speed 80mm fans is fine for most systems, but I wanted enough headroom for future upgrades since computer parts, especially CPU's and grahics cards, are getting hotter and hotter all the time. I also wanted to fully utilize the performance capabilities of my current hardware through overclocking.
3) Noise reduction
Achieving a virtually silent system is easy just by using low-speed fans, or removing fans altogether. But the real challenge is to get a well-cooled, well-filtered system while still keeping noise levels to a minimum.
The Mods
My first mod was to enlarge the airholes in the front panel to allow for more unrestricted airflow. As you can see in the pic, they were originally little more than pinpricks. By using a Dremel tool to drill out each hole, I increased the "area" of the holes by about 10X while still maintaining a "factory built" appearance.
(Sorry about the links; since Tripod doesn't allow linking to pics, you'll have to copy and paste the URL's... I'll try to find a different host for the pics so I can link directly to them).
http://vicwang.tripod.com/DSCF0001.JPG
Next I used wire cutters to cut away the front grille covering the intake. Although it's not in the pic, I also removed the grill covering the exhaust. Grills provide a little extra safety if you have kids or pets, but otherwise they just restrict airflow and add noise. Of course they're also important to prevent the filter from getting sucked into the fan, but as you will see I found another way to solve that problem.
http://vicwang.tripod.com/before.jpg
I then used the nibbler tool to remove enough metal to accomodate a 120mm fan, and drilled one screwhole (the upper-left one in the next pic) to attach the fan. By sheer coincidence, the bottom-right hole lined up perfectly, so there was no need for additional holes. I also used rubber washer to help dampen vibration. Note that the fan in the pic is actually a 120mm Enermax that I bought from Fry's, not the Panaflo I would eventually end up using.
http://vicwang.tripod.com/after.jpg
That mod worked great, but a few things about it were a little bothersome. First was the fact that the gold grill was somewhat elevated, and not flush with the hole. This allowed air to seep in around the edges of the filter and made it virtually impossible to make sure all incoming air was filtered. And then there was also the fact that it looked like crap.
To fix both problems, I removed the fan grill, found a nice sized piece of cardstock, and used the grill as a stencil to cut a perfectly sized hole. I then used sewing thread to form a makeshift "grill" to prevent the filter from getting sucked in (the suction would be the only thing actually holding the filter on). Unfortunately there was a little too much slack in the threads, so I used rolled-up bundles of electrical tape to tighten them up.
And finally, here's the results:
Without filter: http://vicwang.tripod.com/DSCF0002.JPG
With filter: http://vicwang.tripod.com/DSCF0003.JPG
Well that's enough for now. I'll add more details later of subsequent mods, which included replacing my heatsink/fan, replacing the power supply and exhaust fan, adding the Paxmate, adding the rheobus, and sealing off the rest of the case with tape. BTW, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me an email at vwang@eprod.com
1:20 PM
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