I need a SMALL case w/ 120mm fan holes

[BalAtWork]

I got 3 120mm panaflos and 1 generic 120mm. I am hoping to run them on 5-7V to have a quiet computer.

BUT, I am tired of large cases...I was hoping my favorite forum would be able to help direct me to a small case with 120mm fan holes. I can mod if I HAVE too, but prefer not too.

Any ideas?

 

[Lars]

Just giving this a bump.



I personally have an Antec 3700 which has two 120mm fan spots (that Antec is a rather large case though) but would also like to know what else is out there.

 

[chizow]

How small is small in your eyes? Mid-tower? Micro-tower? LianLi's are pretty reasonable in size and have many features larger full towers don't have. I got a PC-65 a few weeks ago, but I think they make a PC-10 which is like a micro-atx. Very nice cases.

As for mods, I don't know of any places that sell 120mm modded panels (some do on top), but you can try PCMods. Its where I got my PC-65, and they started as a company that did custom mods for people. They may have discontinued the service, but if you buy a new case from them you may be able to request custom mods for a fee. Look over the site and maybe shoot them an e-mail to see if they can accomodate you.

Chiz

 

[Drewpy]

A 120mm fan on the the rear for an exhaust is going to take up quite a bit of room. Which is contrary to the designs of most small cases. I don't think many manufacturers would see enough demand for such a product to produce it (of course some one will find one just to prove me wrong though!).

I do like the idea of such a case though, small, good airflow, quiet.

Your best bet, and probably cheapest too, will be to find a case style you like and mod it. And you'll get the satisfaction of having done it yourself.

 

[BalAtWork]

ALlright,

Well Newegg has one mid tower (18" tall) with 120mm in front and back.

It is the Antec 3700AMB

I was hoping for a mini mid. I will try the mod site and see if they can supply some suggestions. My final goal is to take 2 of the 120mm for case flow and one to use on a SLK 800 (using a 80-120 adapter from Plycon). Running all those on 5v will have good air movement at almost no noise. Add an antec truepower 430 utilizing only about 200W, the power supply will run quiet too. A little sound proofing (dynamat or similiar) will place me in the silent catagory with a small overclocked case. Perfect for my bedroom.

I prefer no side holes or on top. I really want this case to look like any old case, but hold a beast inside. I would like biege as well, but thats niether here nor there if I can find a smaller case than this one.

I will have to mod the case anyways I figure, to remove the metal grills and replace with rounded grills to further decrease noise.

Anyone else have luck finding a case that is 120mm ready or one that could be made such?

 

[jarsoffart]

Originally posted by: BalAtWork
ALlright,

Well Newegg has one mid tower (18" tall) with 120mm in front and back.

It is the Antec 3700AMB

I was hoping for a mini mid. I will try the mod site and see if they can supply some suggestions. My final goal is to take 2 of the 120mm for case flow and one to use on a SLK 800 (using a 80-120 adapter from Plycon). Running all those on 5v will have good air movement at almost no noise. Add an antec truepower 430 utilizing only about 200W, the power supply will run quiet too. A little sound proofing (dynamat or similiar) will place me in the silent catagory with a small overclocked case. Perfect for my bedroom.

I prefer no side holes or on top. I really want this case to look like any old case, but hold a beast inside. I would like biege as well, but thats niether here nor there if I can find a smaller case than this one.

I will have to mod the case anyways I figure, to remove the metal grills and replace with rounded grills to further decrease noise.

Anyone else have luck finding a case that is 120mm ready or one that could be made such?

I doubt an adapter is going to work on the SLK-800. The Thermalright heatsinks use these fan clips not screws.

 

[mechBgon]

Do you want to be able to fit a full ATX motherboard, or would microATX do the job? If you want a full-ATX board then the SLK3700AMB is probably your best bet if you don't mind the door and the color.

Remember that 12V fans won't necessarily start at 5V from a standstill, and stalled fans can pull abnormal amounts of power (what's that burning-plastic smell...? and why's my PC even more silent that usual?). You didn't say exactly what CPU you had in mind, but if it puts out a relatively low heat level, such as a Tbred 1700+, then maybe you could use an 18dB NMB 80mm fan on the SLK-800. Don't forget your video-card fan and/or motherboard-chipset fan, because those little whiners can ruin your quest for silence.

Here's my version of a "sleeper:" fast but quiet The 18dB NMB 80mm fans are pretty darn quiet. The 15000rpm SCSI drive has fluid bearings, so it's actually very civilized, unlike the old 10000rpm one (which I keep powered down except to do a system backup). Now if I just had a 2700+ for this thing...

 

[RalfHutter]

Originally posted by: BalAtWork
ALlright,

Well Newegg has one mid tower (18" tall) with 120mm in front and back.

It is the Antec 3700AMB

I was hoping for a mini mid. I will try the mod site and see if they can supply some suggestions. My final goal is to take 2 of the 120mm for case flow and one to use on a SLK 800 (using a 80-120 adapter from Plycon). Running all those on 5v will have good air movement at almost no noise. Add an antec truepower 430 utilizing only about 200W, the power supply will run quiet too. A little sound proofing (dynamat or similiar) will place me in the silent catagory with a small overclocked case. Perfect for my bedroom.

I prefer no side holes or on top. I really want this case to look like any old case, but hold a beast inside. I would like biege as well, but thats niether here nor there if I can find a smaller case than this one.

I will have to mod the case anyways I figure, to remove the metal grills and replace with rounded grills to further decrease noise.

Anyone else have luck finding a case that is 120mm ready or one that could be made such?

Jim at Coolcases.com has found an OEM version of the SLK3700 that's available in beige or black without a PSU. He can pre-mod the fan grills for you too.

The 3700 is a great case. I've built a VERY quiet system around one. Check out the server in my "Ralf's Rigs" page. It's using one 5-volted 120mm Panaflo L1A as a case fan on the back wall and a 5-volted 92mm L1A on the front (as a HDD cooling fan). HSF is an SLK-800 + 7-volted M1A Panaflo. You can just barely hear this box when it's real quiet in the middle of the night. The only sound it makes is a slight "woosh" of air noise. During the daytime, normal background noise overides the computers' noise and you can't hear it at all.

 

[BalAtWork]

Thanks for ideas and links guys. I emailed Jim concerning the case. The grommited fan holes are a great plus as well since it isolates vibration. The rounded grilles will hepl silence as well.

RalfHutter

How did you get your 120mm on the slk 800? Di you use a duct? Make one? mount it turned 45 degrees?

 

[RaymondY]

Hey RalfHutter

Got any pics of the handy work?

I'm also interested in the SLK3700. Thinking I need a quieter case then a Chenbro Genie with 3-120mm, 1-92mm fan running.

 

[J3anyus]

A Chenbro Junior is about the size of a standard mid-tower (about an inch wider), and has a 120mm and 80mm in the front and a 120mm in the back. If you want one, I actually have one for sale...PM me if you're interested.

 

[RalfHutter]

Originally posted by: BalAtWork
RalfHutter

How did you get your 120mm on the slk 800? Di you use a duct? Make one? mount it turned 45 degrees?

It's not a 120mm Panaflo, it's an 80mm Panaflo. That's more than enough fan for my application (PIII-S 1.4Ghz).

 

[RalfHutter]

Originally posted by: RaymondY
Hey RalfHutter

Got any pics of the handy work?

I'm also interested in the SLK3700. Thinking I need a quieter case then a Chenbro Genie with 3-120mm, 1-92mm fan running.

Sho nuff. This is the server that's listed in my "Ralf's Rigs" page:

Pic #1

Pic #2

Pic #3

 

[RaymondY]

Just heard back from Jim at coolcases.com.

Pricing looks excellent he even emailed me pics of a modded D8000 (aka SLK3700). He has a configuration with dual 120mm x 25mm case fans. Bonus is that Jim's cases are either black or beige. Thus no problems matching colors.

 

[BalAtWork]

I asked him the same questions. I actually really like the Chenbro 610. 2" shorter, thinner and has front USB and Firewire inputs. Also in biege.

 

[jeffrey]

Lite-On FS020 fits in my desk and has three 120mm Panaflo L1A's.
Link

 

[RaymondY]

I currently using one of Jim's modded Chenbro Genie to house my primary rig. Excellent workmanship but it is noisy (3-120mm, 1-92mm fan) in currently operation. However my system is extremely cool.

 

[clumsum]

YY - W101 One of the smaller cases to have front and rear 120mm fan mounts.
It's about the size of an Inwin S500 (slightly wider), one of my favorites.

KRIComputer

 

[BalAtWork]

RaymondY,

You need to run those 120mm off the 5v line or 7v. Otherwise 120mm fans can be just as loud as other sizes running at the same RPM. The advantage of 120mm fans is that you can have them run slower by using lower volatge. This gives you the same airflow s a 80 running at full speed but only 1/2-3/4 of the noise.

clumsum,

That case looks decent. Not as many features as the Chenbro though like screwlees drive mounts and card slots. It is also lacking the front usb and firewire ports. BUT if the price is right, then thats what really matters. Thanks for adding another choice to my list!

 

[RaymondY]

I currently run the 2-front 120mm fans off the lead from my Antec TruePower 550watt PS. Doing thus, cut down the airflow and cuts down the noise. It is alot quieter this way then when I use to run them off the molex at 12V.

 

[BalAtWork]

Does that TruePower actually vary the voltage to those fans or is it just an on/off scenerio?

 

[RaymondY]

Quote from www.mikhailtech.com review of the TruePower 550

Additionally, the dedicated "Fan Only" power connectors allow TruePower PSU to control the speed of case fans, turning normal case fans into variable speed fans. So the overall system noise is drastically reduced, since the case fans will only run at full speed when their maximum cooling is needed. The rest of the time the fans will spin more slowly and quieter.

 

[BalAtWork]

Thats good to hear since I am getting a Trupower 430W. I wondered at that. They probably swith between 7v and 12 v depending upon the temperature sensor in the PS. Works well since the temperature in there "should" be just a bit higher than the case temp. I rfeally wish I knew if the fan controlls were stepped or actually adjusted the voltage linearly with temperature. The latter is proabbly to much to ask though.

 

[RaymondY]

Can tell for sure. There is a noticeable difference in noise when I plug into the standard molex vesus the fan only plug.

BTW: Coolcases. sells 120mm x 25mm fans for $16.00 + S&H for all those guys using the SLK3700 case

Still haven't decided if I will change to the SLK3700 or the Coolcases D8000.

 

[EriTech]

are u looking for aluminum?