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Another Cabinet Cooling Topic
BobA:
If you want to keep the cabinet fans separate from the PC then the easiest ones to use are the 120V AC fans that plug into a regular power outlet as long as you put an AC plug on them. Where fans are sold the AC ones are usually sold without a plug and one needs to be attached.
If you want to use 12V computer type fans then you either have to use a disk drive power connector from a PC or use a separate power supply if you require them to be standalone in the cabinet and not attached to the PC.
Please consider NOISE LEVEL when you install your fans. Some fans are very loud (usually the high cfm ones). Many AC cabinet type fans are in this catagory. If you use computer type fans you can get almost silent ones that have less cfm but do not make a noticable noise. You can also get variable cfm computer fans with manual or automatic operation. Of course the trade off is price. These cost more.
In an arcade fan noise might not be a problem but if you want to use the cabinet in a home enviroment or for MP3 play consider the impact of 4 noise generating fans.
BobA
bsoder52:
Thanks for the added input Boba! Does anyone know any links or good buys on a quiet fan which will plug into a standard powerstrip? It seems if I could find a couple fans which fit both of those criteria I will be all set!
Brad Lee:
I had terrible heating problems when my mobo was mounted in the "front" 1/2 of the cabinet, right behind the coin door, random lockups, all that stuff. I added a few fans- a regualr 80mm case fan blowing IN a little below the board, and a 120mm exhausting out(it exited right below the CP) that helped a bit but I still got some lockups..
Since moving the motherboard to the "back" of the cabinet, remove the back panel, and there it is, below to monitor, I have had no problems with heat, and the only fan running is the one on the CPU. A much larger space made a ton of difference
Of course this is a P3/750mhz.. whenever I get around to upgrading I ma have problems again