TJ10 & TJ09 -- HDD cooling -- how good?

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MikeSp

Weaksauce
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Jan 31, 2008
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Am considering a new build using either the TJ10 or TJ09 case and none are sold locally for me to get a close-up view and I therefore have concerns about the quality of HDD cooling with a fan stuck horizontally between the two HDD bays. How good is the HDD cooling when the optional fan is installed between the drive bays -- I would hate to rely on ambient air without a fan for cooling several HDD's and have concerns about adequate HDD cooling even with the optional fan since I do not see how it could introduce a steady flow of room air past the HDD's in the two bays.

Thoughts/opinions?? Thanks

MikeSp
 
I just got the TJ09BW last week and have to say that while I'm not crazy about the design area the HDD area, the cooling is no better or worse than most of the other cases I've used.

It's certainly no worse than the Antec P182 or P190 that I was experimenting with. The Stacker 830 I just got rid of is probably a bit better in this department - but then again, it's probably the best air cooling case I've had.

Another popular case right now is the Cosmos and I've read that the HDD cooling on that case out of the box is horrible. They've since come up with a work around to help the cooling a bit after so many complained.

Bottom line is - I don't think that the HDD cooling is so much better or worse than most cases out there that this one point should deter you from purchasing it. It's a very good case all the way around. Like everything else, there are some points that could be improved upon but it certainly has more pros than cons.

Here are a couple of pics of my recent build (with a close-up of the HDD area as well):

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1023811&page=13


Oh, one edit: I'd say that this case is limited to a max of 4 hard drives in the cages if you want optimal HDD cooling and/or cable routing. If you filled up both cages with 3 drives each, I'd imagine they'd run much hotter and you'd have no place to cleanly route the SATA/power cables. (You can, of course, put more drives in the upper 5.25" bays with the appropriate adapters.)
 
the bays have vents on the top and bottom, so the fan is pulling air through really well. it might not be great if you have all 6 drive slots used but for me when i had 3 drives it worked great.
 
yenniedn -- thanks for your comments and for the link to some high quality pictures -- nice rig!!!!

I am still wondering about the HDD cooling from the horizontal fan that is located between the drive bays -- where does the air come from and where is it expelled by this fan? (and I was looking at the P182 case!!)

Does the HDD fan blow up or down?

Is there any way to add a mesh air filter over the fan that cools the video card?

Mike
 
Like yeahthatsme said, the area of the case below the HDDs is mesh, the air is blown out of the case. Personally I find this setup ideal as the heat of the HDDs never enters the case. Again, the cooling is average, but the fact it sits outside of the case keeps both the inside of the case, and your hard drives, cooler.

The fan is supposed to blow the air down, and if you place your hand anywhere near the horizontal fan, you can feel the flow of air.
 
If you're really worried about the TJ09's ability to cool the hard drives in the lower compartment, you could buy either the Silverstone or Lian Li 4 in 3 or 3 in 3 HD modules that will allow upt to four hard drives in the 5.25" slots. I only mention Lian Li because I think their module is better quality.
 
Paragon54 said:
If you're really worried about the TJ09's ability to cool the hard drives in the lower compartment, you could buy either the Silverstone or Lian Li 4 in 3 or 3 in 3 HD modules that will allow upt to four hard drives in the 5.25" slots. I only mention Lian Li because I think their module is better quality.
Click to expand...

So would those 4in3's work in any case?
 
My last case was a TJ09 and I had no problems with the HDD cooling. IMO it's better than most.
 
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