case side fan advice

StephenLawUK · 24 Jan 2009 at 01:52

Im looking to put a side fan over my graphics card but as my case doesnt have a side fan hole in the perspex i will have to drill a hole myself which i have read can be done with a hole saw. I was wondering what fan would be suitable for the job and should i have exhaust fan or an intake? Im using an akasa infiniti zor case so it has 2 front intake fans and 1 rear exhaust fan. Or am i just going about this the hard way and am able to just buy a suitable side panel or perspex change?

WJA96 · 24 Jan 2009 at 07:08

It will probably just mess up your airflow to be honest, were you thinking blowing in or out? The issue really is that most side-entry or exit fans actually create a dead-spot right above the GPU fan impeller and it actually puts temperatures up. I always look at it this way - the case designers could easily have put a fan there, so why didn't they?

If you want to try, you need a 114mm holesaw to cut the right size hole for a 120mm fan. Drill a centre pilot hole first and then cut with the holesaw. Tape the whole thing up to stop tears in the surrounding paint or anodizing.

As to which fan would be good, you can really take your pick these days as there are very few carp fans on the market nowadays. I like Arctic Cooling 12025PWM as they are cheap and PWM, but anything by Yate Loon, Panaflow, Scythe, Noctua, Acoustifan or Sharkoon also seem to be pretty decent.

Do also bear in mind that the value of a modified case is generally F-all.

ChrisLX200 · 24 Jan 2009 at 09:21

I put a 120 fan in the side last week, I was having problems with the NB getting way too hot (70-75). I'd replaced the stock Intel CPU cooler with an Akasa Nero and the fan for that now blows straight back towards the rear case exhaust fan (instead of downwards towards the motherboard) resulting in the chipset not getting any air at all. Increasing flow from the front of the case, or adding a fan in the top of the case, would not have helped because of the position of the chipset. So the side fan now points directly at the NB heatsink (hidden between the CPU HSF and a GTX280). It's connected to a fan controller. The side fan drops the NB temps to <50deg on full load, the GFX and CPU temps are still good.

I hate cutting perspex myself as it's easy to crack it. If you can buy another panel already done then that's a good option, leaves your case in original condition.

StephenLawUK · 24 Jan 2009 at 18:12

ok well i got the case fairly cheap anyway so i wouldnt mind if it devalued as i can always donate it to my younger brother. Its just when i put my hand over the perspex i felt it was very warm just over where my GTX 295 was as graphics cards have their exhaust going down and sideways. So i was thinking a fan on the side to extract the hot air out would be good as my rear exhaust only really covers the top where its in line with my zalman over the CPU.