Well I'm stumped - Case requirements

G

gmohr

Weaksauce
Joined
Apr 7, 2005
Messages
112
Heyas,

Here's what I'm looking for in a case..

1) Two (or more) front mounted 120 mm fans for intake, and here's the big item, a removable, cleanable air filter in front of these fans. This is key.
2) One (or more) back mounted 120 mm exhause fan.

less critical features..

3) NO top surface fans or "blowholes"
4) Aluminum contstruction.
5) Front panel I/O, sound jacks.
6) NO fans smaller than 120mm, or if they are there I can just pull the plug on them.

My goal here is to find a system that will run quiet and cool, but be mostly dust free internally with a slight positive pressure. I want ALL the air entering the case to be filtered.

My needs for a case are pretty specific, but I certainly don't understand why I'm having such a hard time finding a good fit. Any suggestions would be very appreciated!!
 
If you are looking for 2 120mm front intakes I know of an item that can expand your possibilities a bit. Check this out.

It is available in both black and silver and as long as you pick up a case with 5 or more 5.25 drive bays, you can have 2 optical drives and 2 120mm intakes in a case that was only built with one. It also looks pretty sweet if you sub an led fan for the one that comes with it. If you used just one optical drive, your options open up even more.

Here are some cases you might want to look at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119106

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811180031

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811233008
 
Thanks for the responses folks.

Unless I'm missing something, *none* of these suggested cases have what I'd consider a filter on the intake air. Is this correct? I'm really looking to lower the dust accumulation inside my PC's.
 
Is it just me or do these two cases look EXACTLY alike:

Gigabyte GZ-XX1CA-SNB Black here
CoolerMaster Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black here
 
Hey wait now, I see that the P180 DOES indeed have filters on the intake air. Can someone confirm for me that there are slots for two 120mm fans on the front of this case, and that BOTH of them have this sort of filter ?

http://www.futurelooks.com/v/342-AN...anced-Super-Mid-Tower-Case-Review.html?page=4

THANKS!


Edit: this review answered much of my questions. Yes, this case does indeed have 2 front 120's, both filtered. This is HUGE imo, and 90% of what I was looking for. The only slight letdowns are

1) That top mounted blowhole. It provides a wonderful point of entry for spilled soda (heh), its a real dust collector when the machine is off, and using more exaust fans than you have intake fans makes the case pressure negative, which tends to suck in dust from every little crack that isn't filtered. I'd have to disable that fan.

2) It's steel instead of aluminum, this is hardly an issue but not quite optimal.
 
I have found for the dust nut that most of those cases do not help. Also I would always maintain at least one fan of positive pressure. I have found depending on where you live most of the dust filters just do not cut it. I live in arizona and those filters fill up to fast to be of use here. I plan on building my next case from scratch and using water cooling with two 120 intakes and an 80 outtake in mine.
 
filter or no filter ...your gonna get dust..,pc finatics should always have several cans of compressed air in their arsenal to maintain their rigs...my 2 cents!!
 
My Mozart Tx has 5 120mm fans on the front all filtered. And 5 120mm fans of the back (non filtered exhaust) with no other openings that might suck in dust. Even the PSU is serperated and has its own intake from outside the case.
 
my aerocool masstige has a 120mm exhuast and a 120mm intake but you can get an extra bracket for another front 120mm intake. it comes with no filters but the mesh drive bay covers will act somewhat of a filter. i have to clean mine every week.
 
These filters are'nt hepa filters, they're not going to filter .99% microns of dust and they are only gonna have a negative effect on flow coming out of your fan...stay tuned...next week...." How To Build a Clean Room''..... ; )
 
If you wanted to built it right you could create a completely sealed environment for your pc. First water cool everything then seal up the entire case with caulking with the radiator outside the case. The biggest issue would having to have such a massive water cooling to cool everything inside and maybe a internal fan blowing on the cold air coming from the radiator to get the temps cool on the things that can not be water cooled.
 
FYI, unless they changed it, the P180 does NOT have two 120mm intakes. That lower intake looks perfectly sized for a 120mm... but I think that day the engineers were drunk, or possibly preoccupied with unfaithful spouses or something of the like, because they riveted in this metal "cage" of sorts behind the lower intake, which makes it completely impossible to get a 120mm fan in there. I used zip ties to put a 92mm in mine to blow across the hard drives(theyre what's behind that lower intake) but a 120mm absolutely won't fit, unless you drill out the rivets to remove that little cage/cradle/whateverTF it is.

Where it says in the specs on newegg's site (1 lower chamber 120mm fan (120x38mm thick)) it is referring to a 120x38mm fan that is between the hard drives and power supply (in about the middle of the case). No intake function at all on that lower grill unless you either cut/drill or ghetto rig it up. Why they put a filter on it then nixxed the possibility of even putting a fan in is beyond me...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top