cooling a Q500 case

[Drazi]

Short of cutting holes in my case or leaving the side panels off, I'm trying to figure out the best configuration/placement of the internal fans. I bought an 80mm Sunon fan which blows A LOT of air (34-42 CFM..something like that), but when its placed on the bottom front mount, the airflow is cut down to a tiny breeze. Just for fun, I mounted it at an angle to the bottom of the case using duct tape, aiming it upwards at the cards and cpu and so far, its doing a nice job and its much quieter...now to figure out to to secure it better so there is less vibration.

Are there any power supplies that have a high powered fan or are there any other setups that I could try?

As a side note, for the past 8+ months I have had one side panel off and a small desk fan blowing air onto the mobo & cpu and its kept it down to a reasonable temp.

 

[kly1222]

Got a Q500 also....huge sucker...heheh
Well, I have two 80mm fans in the bottom front for intake, and two 80mm fans in the rear for exhaust. To keep the noise level down, I found that placing rubber spacers between the fans and the case helped. You can also have a couple bay coolers...I doubt you'll need all five 5 1/2" bays. I have 4 40mm fans up in there to keep my ide raid array cool. Also have another 80mm fan under my 3 1/2" bays for my other hard drives. You can also attach a nice blower that you can get at radio shack to help circulate air around.
Check out this link to see:
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/aznblakguy/myhomepage/images/computerstuff/side-angle_bottom.jpg
If you have extra slots left, try putting in a couple slot coolers for those hot video cards. I had to take mine out cuz I ran out of room.

 

[mechBgon]

Is your Q500 the version with two 80mm fans above the power supply, or one above and one below?

If you are careful not to get electrocuted, you can put a high-output fan into the power supply, that would help some. One good way go increase the airflow would be to cut the bottom edge of the bezel off completely. I did that to my Q500, you can't even tell it's gone but it gives the fan the breathing room it wants. Cutting away the metal where the fan is sucking air through the little holes will help too.

First thing I would try is putting 80mm fans in all the spots, and see how it goes. If you have the version with an 80mm exhaust right behind the CPU, I bet that would help a lot.

 

[Drazi]

Kly1222, thanks for including a picture...its given me a couple ideas about cleaning up my cable clutter. The blower you have is similar to what my 80mm fan is doing, but I don't have the two case mounted fans pulling air in, that's where mechbgon's suggestion of cutting the front grill off would help. Like I mentioned, when my front fan was mounted, it had too little access to unrestricted airflow (like trying to breathe through a straw). If I get the guts and right tools, I might go ahead and cut it open.

Kly1222, I noticed your PS didn't have a bottom mounted fan over the cpu...did you block it off or isn't there one?

Thanks guys!

 

[mechBgon]

Regarding cutting the bezel, I mean the bottom edge that you can't see, the part with two tangs that go into the case's metal front panel. I removed it all, even the tangs (they're not really necesary). To cut it off, simply get a diagonal cutter (regular wire cutter) and make a cut at each end of the area you want to remove, then use a utility knife to "score" from one end to the other. Then grab the resulting tab of plastic and flex it on the score mark, it will break off nice and cleanly. I can get a pic of that if I am not making sense...

 

[kly1222]

You're right....no place for a 80mm fan by the cpu
I wish I did though. It would have really helped cool down my cpu, which gets pretty hot (50+ C), especially during this time in sunny southern california.

I find that twisty ties can work miracles with your cables. My case doesn't look as neat anymore though. Added some scsi devices and ata66 drives w/ 80 wire cables....never had the time to make them round. It's a mess....