PC FAn for cooling cabinet

[mytymaus007]

Can anyone recommend a big PC fan for cooling PC in my cab. I bought this cab and it has a big cut out about 5 in by 3 inch i was thinking of cutting a circle and placing a cooling fan to blow out. Any sugggestions Also has anyone mounted one in there cab

[nick3092]

I mounted a 120x120mm fan on the angled top part of my cab. It connects to a wall wort with variable voltage settings. It came with a plastic cut out and metal fan grate as it was packaged and sold as a cabinet fan. I don't recall where I got it off hand, but it wasn't much more expensive than the fan alone. Seems to work well. I can feel slightly warm air coming out of it. Not sure if the heat is from the pc or the 21" trinitron.

[mytymaus007]

If anyone is interested i found this website with a huge selection of custom fans


http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=327&sort=20a&page=2&zenid=3f52360ce7d65b88c413428fee33d04f

[lilshawn]

you will want a fan with ball bearings the cheaper sleeve bearings tend to seize up.

[mytymaus007]

you will want a fan with ball bearings the cheaper sleeve bearings tend to seize up.

Do you recommend any that are200mm or bigger

[lilshawn]

to me, the are all the same....i can recommend running a 12 volt fan at 5 volts... it will be far quieter and still move air. especially if you can find one with an aggressive blade angle or many blades.


or the squirrel cage type fans...quiet...and move a ton of air...not pretty or lit up though.

[Mrephunk]

where can you get the squirrel cage blower that isn't like $200

[lilshawn]

The photo of the one I ripped from was $10

[Mrephunk]

The photo of the one I ripped from was $10

where from?

[SavannahLion]

or the squirrel cage type fans...quiet...and move a ton of air...not pretty or lit up though.

Errr... hold on there. That's not necessarily true. Pay special attention to the CFM rating and make sure it's worth using it in lieu of standard fan. Those "blower" type fans are decent for directing air and creating a nice cooling circuit inside the box. Unfortunately, I've tried them as part of a overall case cooling solution and they're usually rather anemic when applied as such. Case in point, years ago I came across some 12v 300+CFM fans apprx 170mm in size. First time I plugged one into a PSU, I thought my eyelids were going to peel off. A comparable sized blower or rodent cage that I found later is rated to move only about 1/5 of air but it's focused in a very narrow stream making it seem like the fan is really moving as much as my "regular" fan.

Slightly O.T. Most of those "fancy" fans suck ass. They're not even worth the time it takes to install or the space they take up inside anything they're installed in. The whole designer fan craze has gotten really bad. Went to Fry's a few months ago and was severely disappointed in their fan selection. Of the fans that actually had a CFM rating (most did not) none made it past the teens. I would much rather take an ugly black muffin fan with a 45CFM rating and cut the voltage down to 5v or 7v than to take piece of ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- clear blue fan with pretty LEDs running at 12v rated with an embarrassingly low CFM. If your goal is eye candy, then knock yourself out. If your goal is to have a functional fan, stay away from the eye candy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.

[lilshawn]

squirrel cage fans work fine in most applications,  i'd have to say as long as you don't have to pull a vacuum in the case... IE: you don't have all fans blowing out, then they are great. if they have to fight other fans, they don't move anything. they move air, they aren't powerful.

If your goal is eye candy, then knock yourself out. If your goal is to have a functional fan, stay away from the eye candy ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---.

  couldn't have said it better

[boardjunkie]

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/departments.asp?dept=1043

Take yer pick....they're all cheap.

[lilshawn]

generally anything will work, you just need to have a hole right?

you just have to decide if cooling or quiet is the focus.

edit: for bad splellings

[SavannahLion]

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/departments.asp?dept=1043

Take yer pick....they're all cheap.

Perfect example to do the research on their rated CFM. Most of those are missing that bit of info.

Still.... an interesting site.

[Donkbaca]

Get the biggest one you can find. A larger fan doesnt need to spin as fast to move the same amount if air as a smaller fan. The slower it spins the less noisy it will be.

[boardjunkie]

Then you'll need a speed control to slow it down. Onna these:
http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-6616-1XW-Single-Pole-Trimatron-Control/dp/B00332F4A8

[Donkbaca]

No you don't. You just need a big fan

[boardjunkie]

Any fan can be noisy....'specially a big one. I have an 8" Comair that sounds like a damn jet engine at full speed. Slowed down its not bad. I'm talking about 120vac fans now....not DC fans.

4" fans should be fine for the average cab. The CFM spec can be an indicator of how loud it will be, but not always. The full mfgr datasheet for the fan should have a dB spec for noise.

[SavannahLion]

CFM is a poor indicator of noise levels if that's the only bit of information you have on the fan.  Donbaca's point is a fan of X size will move Y amount of air at Z decibel. A fan of X times 2 size can also move Y air but at <Z decibel.

Of course your point still stands. If dB is an issue, look at the specs. To me, dB is usually secondary. If I want a quieter fan, I usually increase the size and cut the RPMs.

Side note: I find that manufacturers who baffle their fans tend to he quieter than comparable non-baffled fans without cutting too deeply into CFM ratings.

[Donkbaca]

I personally hate fans, I hate the noise.  The larger a fan slower it has to move, the slower it moves the quieter it is.  Unless you have some crappy fan that is loud because its built poorly.  If you take 2 fans from the same maker, the larger one will spin slower and be quieter. 

Long story short.  If you are going to add a fan, get the biggest one you can find.  It will work just as well or better than a smaller fan, and be more quiet

[Cynicaster]

I put one of these on the angled top/back of my machine.  I extended the wires and spliced them right into the PC power supply.  This thing is very quiet; if it weren't for the blue halo lighting effect it provides on the wall/ceiling behind it, I wouldn't even know it was there.  As for flow, it flows plenty.  You can actually feel the flow going over your hand when using the mouse in the keyboard drawer.

Apparently there are those who think products like this stink but count me as a satisfied customer.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835705057&cm_re=cooling_fan-_-35-705-057-_-Product

[Woodshop Flunky]

Can you live without a fan?  If you have vents near the top of your cab and vents at the bottom, can you safely just let the warmed air rise and vent the cabinet that way?

[SavannahLion]

Can you live without a fan?  If you have vents near the top of your cab and vents at the bottom, can you safely just let the warmed air rise and vent the cabinet that way?

Depends on the design of the cab and what's inside.

Hang-On uses a fan but there's heat damage to the acrylic sheet over the monitor. I believe the damage is directly caused by the bezel trapping all of the heat from the monitor.

Of all the commercial cabs I have/had only one was installed with a fan. All had slots at top, some had slots at bottom.