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In the Forums... |
Posted: August 5, 2000 Written By: Darren "Nafterclifen" Leonard Price: Color Only - $200 Cooling Only - $200 Color and Cooling - $300 Performance Here's where the name "Alaska" comes into play. With a total of 10 fans (8 80mm and 2 40mm), this case is sure to cool just about any system around. Here's a breakdown of all the fans: 2 exhaust fans at the top of both sides 2 intake fans on the bottom front and rear 4 intake fans on the side (blowholes) 2 intake fans in the hard drive cooler  Side view of blowholes The fans were designed in hope to constantly recycle cool air over the motherboard, cards, and CPU to ensure maximum ventilation and cooling... and let me tell you, it does just that. It has one little flaw though; the bottom rear intake fan. Most systems today have so many devices connected via cables that air flow is often cut off going to the top of the case. Although the quality isn't great, you'll see below how many wires I have getting in the way of that "air path." I made round IDE and floppy cables, hoping that would help but there are just too many other cables in the way. Needless to say, the bottom rear fan should of been set to exhaust rather than intaking. It's not much of a problem though since all fans are reversible by simply removing the screws which hold them in place. Also, if you look closely, you can see that I wired some of the fan wires in plastic tubing to get them out of the way and improve air flow. With so many fans, there was alot of wire. I was worried about the fans sucking up the wires with the side on so I needed to get them out of the way. Needless to say, the tubing worked great! The system temperature, on a good day with low humidity in the summer without air condition, stays around 80° F. Too bad it wasn't winter, I bet the temperature wouldn't go above 70° F!  Inside view with everything installed and wired Now to my next point: So many fans but not enough power? Take, for example, my system: DVD, CDRW, two hard drives, and a floppy. Of course a 300W power supply could run all of that but would it have enough power left to run 11 fans (13 in my case) and still be stable? In my experience so far, I've not had a single problem. For someone who has 6 or more devices, be aware of how much power everything is taking up, especially if you have a 250W power supply. Also, you can't see it in the picture above, but I removed the plastic fan mesh to reduce noise. It was so close that when the fans were on, it made an annoying whining sound. Chrome grills would of been a much better choice, both in looks and performance. |
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