Advice needed on a cooler Aria case.

[hudson]

I can't find anything about the "sl2" anywhere, and I've never heard of it. Have a look on Arctic Cooling's website for the dimensions.

It can't be more than 63mm high or it probably won't fit in.

its this 1.
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=2&data=2&disc=

also discovered an annoyance. when i shut down windoze, it hangs at the shutting down screen, i have to manually urn it off :O. Will trawl interweb for answers if not rebuild it.

H

 

[hudson]

I've found a cheaper solution for now.... I'm going to buy a fan mate and just turn down the 80mm fan i'm using just enough to reduce the noise of it. I've checked the temps and at load i'm looking at about 50 degrees (not an issue as its just a download box).

One things i've been thinking baout, is it worth removing the grill from the back of the case to improve air output? Or would i not notice that much of an improvement.

H

 

[p4radox]

I've found a cheaper solution for now.... I'm going to buy a fan mate and just turn down the 80mm fan i'm using just enough to reduce the noise of it. I've checked the temps and at load i'm looking at about 50 degrees (not an issue as its just a download box).

One things i've been thinking baout, is it worth removing the grill from the back of the case to improve air output? Or would i not notice that much of an improvement.

H

I'd try it. You won't notice as much of a difference as drilling more holes on the inside edge of the PSU, but obviously that voides the warranty.

Instead of getting a fanmate you could 7V mod the fan by modifying a molex too - saves a bit of cash.

 

[hogfather]

I made my Aria catch fire the other day...!

Still working too.

Paradox may remember that I replaced the psu fan to an akasa amber, and re-routed the cable out of the psu, to the molex, as the psu fan is 2 pin originally.

Well,the pc wouldn't boot (no fans spin up, or beep codes) so I switched the fan to the mobo header, power on - and SMOKE!!!! from the fan header. So now I just don't use the fan header, and have replaced the fan with the old one.

Couldn't believe it when the pc booted without a problem!

 

[p4radox]

I made my Aria catch fire the other day...!

Still working too.

Paradox may remember that I replaced the psu fan to an akasa amber, and re-routed the cable out of the psu, to the molex, as the psu fan is 2 pin originally.

Well,the pc wouldn't boot (no fans spin up, or beep codes) so I switched the fan to the mobo header, power on - and SMOKE!!!! from the fan header. So now I just don't use the fan header, and have replaced the fan with the old one.

Couldn't believe it when the pc booted without a problem!

Holy ****!

Yeah I remember it well, still haven't got round to doing mine yet - I may need to RMA my PSU yet again, but I'll probably do it again.

Any idea what happened? Is the old fan now plugged in inside the PSU again?

 

[hogfather]

I suspect that since I was running the wire out of the psu, the insulation on the wire got stripped away, leaving metal of wire on psu casing bare, whether that would cause the smoke I don't know, but by golly gosh I crapped myself!

Its ben on suicide watch ever since, just in case it decides to play self combustion.

Having done all that PSU stuff, to be honest mate I wouldn't bother. You know what a hassle it is doing any work at all within an aria, and quite honestly the amber was even a little louder. Did push more air, but no noticeable temp improvements.

The best thing you could do is definately the holes in the side of the psu, as that 120mm fan just doesnt suck as much air as it could, simply due to lack of holes.

Switching to Mac Mini in a month or so in any case. Had fun with the aria though, even if it is a right pain to work on!

 

[PieMaster]

The best mod by far has to be the side-fan one:

I mounted an akasa amber 92mm on each side. Makes less noise than it did before since the CPU fan runs slower, and its about 15 degrees colder on idle.

 

[hudson]

pie master be much appricated if u could knovk a guid eon how to do that little mod and is require. either here or email. if u can be bothered that is

H

 

[PieMaster]

Theres not that much to it really.

Look on the drive cage, theres two areas punchedo uto f each side to allow you to get to the screws for the optical drives. You need to cut the space in the middle out to allow space for the fan. (this doesnt affect studyness at all , I was surprised)
File it down after cutting, make sure there are not sharp bits or aluminium dust floating around.

Now you need to look at your specific motherboard and find what is the best position to mount the fans in. On the left side on my case there's a lot of usb + firewire headders, so it has to be a bit higher than if you have a flat bit of board there.

The fan's are ~2cm up from the 'grill' bit along the bottom of the sides, and ~17.5cm in from the back of the case.
To check it it'll fit before you do any cutting, attach the fans to the side of the case with bluetack and assemble the pc fully. if it fits then you're good to go.

Mark the centre point of the fan, and the positions of all the holes.

For drilling, i'd strongly reccomend doing it on a pilar drill, you dont want the holesaw to go flying across the surface of the case. I used a 83mm hole as it was the next size down from 90mm that was avaliable. I'd advise making a hole this size instead of the full size to make it eaisiaer to cover up.

To attach the fan and the grills, you need some M4 machine screws and locknuts. All DIY stores should have them, the locknuts are usually sold speratly and you only get normal ones or wing nuts with the screws.
Then its just a case of screwing it all together, attaching the power to the fans and putting the case back together.

 

[hudson]

Nice one. Gonna have a chat with a friend of mine think he may have a pilar drill failing that i think i got a bench clamp i can use. I was thinking, should i mount an 80mm fan next to the cpu and one the other side.

You mentioned back up that u drilled extra holes in ** psu case.... I'm not too worried about the warrenty more concerned with keeping the box cool and quiet. Did you dismantle the plates first what size drill bitdid you use AND how many should i do?

H

 

[PieMaster]

I'd go for 92mm's since theyre the biggest you can physically fit in; should be a bit quieter than the equivalent 80mm's. The Akasa Ambers are recommended too.

I put the fans near the front of the case since all of my PCI slots are full, and my Zalman 7000B cooler takes up all the room at the back of the case.

My PSU is completly un-modded. With these 2 at the front I can't really see much need to.

 

[p4radox]

Nice one. Gonna have a chat with a friend of mine think he may have a pilar drill failing that i think i got a bench clamp i can use. I was thinking, should i mount an 80mm fan next to the cpu and one the other side.

You mentioned back up that u drilled extra holes in ** psu case.... I'm not too worried about the warrenty more concerned with keeping the box cool and quiet. Did you dismantle the plates first what size drill bitdid you use AND how many should i do?

H

You have to take the PSU apart: ie take the panels off. I'd drill some large (about 12mm or something) holes on the lower edge of the PSU like this:

I'll echo the fact that a side blowhole gives the best effect on temps. My Opty idles at 35 even in this hot weather and goes to 50 max after an hour of Prime. I only put an 80mm fan in too, an it's 7V modded:

 

[hudson]

What if i did something liek this??

 

[hogfather]

That would be a good mod to do. The PSU fan is spinning anyway, amy as well make it actually pull some air out while its at it.

I don't have any drills, so I haven't really altered anything except the psu - my temps are ok, its only an xp2000 anyway.

 

[p4radox]

What if i did something liek this??

http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/115/psu9ek7px.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

Yeah nothing wrong with that. I once had a link to a mod some guy did where he totally replaced the sides of the PSU with mesh, it might have been somewhere in this thread:

[url]http://forums.pcapex.com/review_article_feedback/18056-review_antec_aria_micro_atx_cube.html[/url]

 

[hudson]

Ok psu will be sorted in a few days. Gonna borrow me mates dremel and cut an oval in the back plate tidy it up a touch as well.

Noe for the side fan/fans. a 120mm fan would be ideal on just the one side pushing cool air from the cold side of the case to the cpu side.

I'm guessing i'm going to need a core cutter of some sorts, anyone recommend a brand and what size - or an alternative method.

H

 

[p4radox]

Ok psu will be sorted in a few days. Gonna borrow me mates dremel and cut an oval in the back plate tidy it up a touch as well.

Noe for the side fan/fans. a 120mm fan would be ideal on just the one side pushing cool air from the cold side of the case to the cpu side.

I'm guessing i'm going to need a core cutter of some sorts, anyone recommend a brand and what size - or an alternative method.

H

Use a holesaw for the the blowhole - that way you get a guaranteed circular hole.

I don't think a 120mm fan wil be practical - many motherboards have headers on the edge of the board which would be obstructed by a 120mm fan. Go for a 92mm fan instead

 

[hogfather]

Yeah, 120 is too big. It'd probably be obstructed partially by the gfx card anyway, a fan that size.

I would even choose an 80mm, but I guess a 7v'd 92 will push more air than a 7v'd 80.

 

[PieMaster]

My Akasa Amber 92mm's arent even 7v modded, they're no louder than the zalman 7000B on my processor.

 

[hudson]

how do i 7volt mod a fan???

H

You know sometimes i insult my own intelligence. A quick google and i get the idea. push 5 volts back onto the 12v 12- 5 = 7 volts... duh.. lol