Hey guys,

I'm revamping my old rig slowly but surely, and I have a question regarding fans and airflow. I just picked up an Antec 300 case and an Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro 7 for my old 64-bit P4 processor. I'm wonder which fans I should get for the front of the 300 case, if I should get a fan for the side vent to bring cool air in, and if I should replace the stock rear and top exhaust fans.

I've also got an ATI X800XL (soon to be HD4870) and a HT Omega sound card, along with tv tuner card. I'm also planning on getting a new power supply (CoolMax CUG-700B 700W modular power supply). Eventually will be upgrading the mobo to support a Q9450.

I'm not opposed to spending a little extra money to get good fans (quiet and good air flow), but I don't need fancy LED lights. Variable fan speed is somewhat desired, but I don't know how to set it up (though I'm sure I could find it).

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

You might want to have a read here:

http://forum.X*C*P*U*S.com/ask-gur [...] cases.html

For some reason I had to asterisk that out as the name of the forums, as it is in the exclude filter.

Just remove the asterisks and you will have some good information.

The thread has a lot of information that is directly applicable to your issue it is just on a diff site. It discusses the benefits of both Positive and negative air cooling.

Hope that helps.

To the mods we should be able to link to helpful information on other sites. The Link given will help this member with his/her question.

The Antec fans that come with the case are more than adequate. Both in quality and cooling capability. Add a couple more 120mm fans and use 4 x 120mm plus the 140mm and you have great case cooling.

Actually Badge.. Adding additional fans will only help if done right...

In fact it could end up being detrimental to the build if the RIGHT air is NOT flowing to the RIGHT places..

Also do not want to create DEAD SPOTS in the wrong area of your case.

Try the basic case first. The Antec 3 speed fans are quite good.
You will find that noise is most directly related to the rpm's of the fan.
There other factors of a more esoteric nature.
If you want to add some, I would start with some front intake fans.
I am not a fan(pun?) of side fans, since I think they disrupt a nice front to back and bottom to top airflow.

An easy way to control fan speeds is with a Zalman fanmate, about $7.
I think fan noise is less obtrusive if it is constant as opposed to ramping up under load.

Hi Ches111. I have three of the cases. 4 x 120mm plus 140mm work better than expected. The strong point of the case is it's ability to keep the system cool. I have one system using AMD 64 4000+ and a Radeon 1800XT. The system has never ran cooler than it does in the Antec 300 with a full load of case fans. I have no reason to remove or change any of the fans I have currently. I read the x...S article. I built this system before that article was written. I was surprised at the cooling ability the case provides. As good as my Antec 900, or any case I own for that matter. I own twenty five cases.

Edit: A few of the cases laying around are old DELLs or similar. Stuff people have left me with after I built them a system. The Antec 300's really do a great job cooling. I have two brand new in the box waiting to build for the next guy whose HP smothers itself in dust. LOL.

I agree with badge. I just built one with a 300 and it cools well. I would throw one in the front, and possibly one in the side to give a little extra air to the VGA if you want. The Antec Tricool Double Ball Bearing fans aren't the best or the flashiest but they are all you need, and they are relatively cheap. You can adjust the speeds for noise and flow. I set them on medium, it's a nice trade off.

Keep the rear and top fans. I don't know if they are sleeve bearing or not, but it doesn't matter they work fine. They might not last quite as long, but who cares.

If you think the fans are too loud then you can go for the super quiet ones. I think you will find a balance though.

Right, the side is to give the VC a direct source of fresh air to draw from. I use a couple of cases currently (one a Lian Li) that have no VGA side fan mount available. I had to velcro an 80mm to the floor blowing up under the VC to get some direct air for the card's fan to pull. I go through this with every build it seems. Cooling the system I mean. Antec Three Hundred=very nice cooling solution to start with. Especially if you are on a budget the case is a very nice solution. I paid $39 for my third one.

If you are looking for some good quality fans Yate loon have some very powerful fans that push through a lot of air per minute but may prove to be a little noisy opposed to something like silenX who have fans that are both quiet and powerful.

That's a killer deal.

Check out some of the modding I did recently. I didn't start out to do this, but it's what I ended up with. I have two brand new Antec Three hundreds in the box to practice with now. I'm thinking what to do. My dad almost gave in and bought me a '57 Chevy

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1811/img0142xr8.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/7995/img0149az3.jpg

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/4813/img0155um9.jpg

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/7887/img0148nt7.jpg

Looks nice.

Well, it was my first attempt at painting a case. I sanded it down about four times after painting it! You know, used an eraser I never got it like I wanted it, but for now it has a trial home server in there. Looks fast.

I have zero artistic ability.

If you -remove- the exit fans grill(s)/gaurd(s) then you remove what is called the Air Dam Effect and gain about 80% more airflow.

Side fans "swirl" the air inside the case and disrupt correct airflow patterns and tend to slow down the removel of warm air....a non fan vent allows cool air to enter over a warm area such as GFX cards or CPU (some case have a free air velocity stack above the CPU cooler area).
I avoid side fans on the vents.

The vents will work as intended as long as the exit air flow pressure is greater than front intake pressure.

Best bet:
Remove the exit grills/gaurds.

The old 7 unit game LAN setup listed in my forum profile ran 4-6C over room air while they had a 50% overclock.