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Lian-Li PC-65 Mods . . . Please help!

J

jnick

2[H]4U
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Messages
2,888
Hey guys.

Right now I have stock fans on my Lian-Li PC-65.

I'm planning on getting new fans to replace the stock, but I want to acheive the base Air Flow I can get using 80mm and 120mm fans, to get nice cooling.

Now I know it's "easy" to get a 120mm fan on top, but what about the front. The front 2 fans are the only intakes I have. Here's a few questions I have:

1.) Am I better with a 120mm, or two 80mm with 34+CFM?

2.) Also, for the best air balance, should I have more intakes than exhausts? More exhausts? Or an even number of intakes and exhausts?

3.) What fans (80/120) would you recommend (non LED)?

4.) I also want to get my HDD out of the way of the intakes. I have 2 HDD. I was thinking about putting them up in the 5.25" . . . But will that case them to get hot, as their not near a fan? Do they really block the airflow that much sitting where they were meant to be? Right not I have them in a vertical position, in front of the fans.

Any help is greatly appreciated. You can see system specs in my sig, if needed.

Take care.
 
These are my opinions on the matter as I own a Lian Li PC65B as well as my experiences with this wonderful case.

1.) Am I better with a 120mm, or two 80mm with 34+CFM?

I really don't see the need for putting 1 120 in place of two 80's in the front unless you are going to run them at low voltage for noise reasons. Most any fans at full speed whether 80 or 120 are going to make noise, but measures can be taken to smooth out the turbulance of the air they are pushing/pulling. One way would be to cut out the stock fan guards/holes and replace them with less restrictive wire fan grills. They don't look better but will improve airflow a little and smooth out the air quite a bit.

2.) Also, for the best air balance, should I have more intakes than exhausts? More exhausts? Or an even number of intakes and exhausts?

Different people have different theories. Mine are more on the practical side I think. I prefer one more intake than exaust. I do this because you can filter the incoming air (either by buying filters or using pantyhose or another method) to keep the dust out. With those boxy fiber style filters I only have to dust the inside of my case about once every six months, and even that is easy. I just use my air compressor at about 90 PSI with a blow tip and within a minute or two it is dust free. I have recently switched to wire mesh filters, and I will compare them in a couple of months. I think the wire ones might allow more airflow, but that means more dust. We will see.

3.) What fans (80/120) would you recommend (non LED)?

Personal choice. Do you want quiet or high flow? Just realize the higher CFM and depending on what voltage you run them at will dictate how loud/how much airflow of your system. Usually the quiet versions (ie vantec stealth, etc.) will be a good comprimise between descent airflow and low sound.

4.) I also want to get my HDD out of the way of the intakes. I have 2 HDD. I was thinking about putting them up in the 5.25" . . . But will that case them to get hot, as their not near a fan? Do they really block the airflow that much sitting where they were meant to be? Right not I have them in a vertical position, in front of the fans.

One of the reasons that our cases are considered by many to be some of the best designed is because there are two fans (or one if you decide to go that route) blowing directly on the hard drives. It makes no sense to move them and will probably shorten the lifespan of your harddrives since their temps will almost surely go up. How much of an effect that will have and how much life it will take off I have no idea. I don't think two harddrives would really a problem as far as limiting airflow where they are currently at though. I would definately keep them there unless you decided to watercool and wanted a front radiator, but even then, up top (at the blowhole) would be a more ideal place for a rad. anyway.

I have 4 80mm fans as that is the configuration that my case came with stock. Two front intakes, a 80mm blowhole and one 80mm exhaust. I also added an additional 120mm side intake over the AGP slot to help keep vid cards and the whole MB cool. This is one of the best placements as it helps supply fresh air to your processor, RAM, Northbridge and such. I would recommend looking into that.

Also, another overlooked thing, is that your power supply will be drawing air from the inside of your case and expelling it out the rear, so you can basically count that as another 80mm exhaust.

My case with a P4 3.0c, 1 Gig PC 3200 RAM, 120 Gig Seagate HD, ATi X800XT-PE, Audigy 2ZS Platinum and many other things as well as 4 CCFLs and it does not even get a few degrees above room temp, even after 2-3 hours of gaming. The airflow in these cases is phenominal stock so I would suggest maybe adding the 120 intake on the side and if you don't have one, a 80mm blowhole (I cant remember if the reg. PC65 came with one).

Best of luck, and I hope I gave you some things to think about.
 
Wow man. That helped alot. Thanks for that!

Do you happen to use the stock fans that came with the case? Or did you buy aftermarket ones?

I will look into the 120mm blowhole on the arcylic window . . . but if I use a 120mm holesaw . .. will is crack the plexiglass?

Thanks again man!

Jnick
 
This is again just my experience, but holesaws can have a tendancy to walk if you are not using them with a drill press, especially on thinner materials such as case aluminum and plexi. There is a chance you can crack it. On the other hand, if you are very careful, and take your time, it can definately can be done with a regular drill.

*edit* I use vantec led fans in mine. They are the UV blue/green ones which can be found anywhere. I also bought those fan silencers which are soft plastic surrounds that seperate the fan from the case to isolate vibration. I also use a vantec nexus 201 3.5" fan contoller, it works well, but not as good as its 5.25" big brother that I used to have. It doesn't have as much adjustability, but enough to pass. I needed the 5.25 bay for something else though, so thats why I switched to the smaller 201. Both products are good though for controlling fan speed. I have the larger one for sale, origional packaging and all.
 
How do those fan dampening guards work? Do they muffle the sound much? I'm assuming you have the Vantec ones . . .

Also, those filters you're talking about. Are they the mesh ones? I would think as the dust clings to them, it'd kille the airflow. Or are you talking about ones that closer resemble the front Lian-Li one?

Thanks again.

Jnick
 
I currently use these:

Mesh grills

and


Mesh grills

I used to use these:

Synthetic Box style mesh

and

Synthetic Box style mesh

And the fan isolators are these:

Fan dampner


I don't even use one (fan dampner) for my 120mm on the side panel. I don't really know if they make a tremendous difference or not since I have had them since I built this computer, but I think they make a small difference.

I don't think that mesh filters whether wire or synthetic mesh kill airflow much. I would say about 5-10 percent for the wire ones, maybe 10-15 percent for the synthetic mesh ones. If you keep them clean, of course they will flow better. The whole point is keeping the dust trapped in the filter before entering the case. Just clean them out once a month or so and its all fine.
 
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