Sticking a fan on the bottom of the HAF X...

[DeltrusDisc]

So here's something I've been wondering about, and want to do... but I need some help from people who have built more computers and/or worked more heavily with the HAF X... and more-so fans on the bottom of cases. So I'd like to get a 120mm or 140mm fan, whatever size would be needed, to put on the inside part of my HAF X on the bottom, as another intake fan. I'm wondering, with so many cables right around there, how do you keep the cables from falling into the fan blades? Is there some kind of guard I could get to put on top? Thanks for any help!

[Deafyx]

So here's something I've been wondering about, and want to do... but I need some help from people who have built more computers and/or worked more heavily with the HAF X... and more-so fans on the bottom of cases. So I'd like to get a 120mm or 140mm fan, whatever size would be needed, to put on the inside part of my HAF X on the bottom, as another intake fan. I'm wondering, with so many cables right around there, how do you keep the cables from falling into the fan blades? Is there some kind of guard I could get to put on top? Thanks for any help!

I did not put one there. I do not see how, but I would be interested in hearing what others have done. I personally used the plastic wire cover that comes with the case. Makes it that much cleaner.



EDIT: Probably could do it with a modular PSU?

[Samyaaza]

Rofl that's some tidied PC case

[Cantii]

I need you to do my cables, Vanthem.

On topic, putting a fan on the bottom wouldn't hurt. If anything, it'd blow directly onto the GPU and give it extra cooling. I did the same with my Storm Sniper, working out nicely so far. Also, I'm not that familiar with the HAF X, does it have two fans on top? If it does, you should consider switching the top-front to an intake fan, it'll do wonders for your temps and airflow Also, try inverting your power supply so it acts as an exhaust on the bottom.

As for keeping cables away, I have an HX750, so it's mostly modular... any cables I just crammed between the fan and the PSU =V

[Deafyx]

I need you to do my cables, Vanthem.

On topic, putting a fan on the bottom wouldn't hurt. If anything, it'd blow directly onto the GPU and give it extra cooling. I did the same with my Storm Sniper, working out nicely so far. Also, I'm not that familiar with the HAF X, does it have two fans on top? If it does, you should consider switching the top-front to an intake fan, it'll do wonders for your temps and airflow Also, try inverting your power supply so it acts as an exhaust on the bottom.

As for keeping cables away, I have an HX750, so it's mostly modular... any cables I just crammed between the fan and the PSU =V

Send it over Cantii! But really, that is the HAF X at work for you.

The HAF X does come with 1 Fan on top, while they leave the other side optional (Meaning buying another fan to put up there.) But mine are Exhaust as I have a side fan and the front fan doing intake for me. If by inverting the power supply, you mean turning it over so that fan is inside and exhausting outside...I would think that it would take the cool air coming from my side and front fan away from my GPU. But if I put a fan on the floor, then maybe that could work.

[DeltrusDisc]

Apparently I can't invert my PSU and keep it properly screwed in. I just tried that because I've always wanted to get the fan on the inside of the case, if you get what I mean. >_> I also unplugged my side fan for now, because I think even though my exhaust fans are all at 40%.... there's still too much exhaust. My case was absolutely filled with dust, spider webs, and cobwebs when I opened it up. Like, I'm not fucking around, I found live spiders living in my computer. >_> Weird. So I gave it a good cleaning, and since atm I only have one intake fan (my front one, side fan is a Xigmatek that I bought and found it can only be screwed on in one way, a way that makes it intake) so intake is 100%, three exhaust (2x200mm on top, 1x140mm on rear) are all 40%. I also got my computer off the floor and put it up on a coffee table....

I REALLY NEED A DAMNED DESK. I think I'm just going to tell my parents I'm going to get a desk and they can't stop me. I need one, seriously.

[Cellery]

I did what Vanthem did and have no issues with the stock fans providing enough cooling. I get a little bit of dust/hair in my case... but with cats that'll happen. If you want to put the fans on the bottom, just route the wires as much as possible behind the motherboard? It's meant to be used that way so might as well, no? :P And for what it's worth, my case sits on the floor beside my desk. The wheels provide enough lift for everything to be happy :P Maybe you should kill some spiders!

[Deafyx]

I did what Vanthem did and have no issues with the stock fans providing enough cooling. I get a little bit of dust/hair in my case... but with cats that'll happen. If you want to put the fans on the bottom, just route the wires as much as possible behind the motherboard? It's meant to be used that way so might as well, no? :P And for what it's worth, my case sits on the floor beside my desk. The wheels provide enough lift for everything to be happy :P Maybe you should kill some spiders!

I sit mine on top of a lid that went to one of our storage boxes. Perfect fit. That way I don't have to worry about the carpet turning my PSU to crap.

[Cellery]

That's a good idea. My main airflow problem is that my cat seems to enjoy the top fan blowing on his belly.... not so good for keeping a case nice and cool >>

[Deafyx]

That's a good idea. My main airflow problem is that my cat seems to enjoy the top fan blowing on his belly.... not so good for keeping a case nice and cool >>

LOL. Thank god my cats dont. They are pretty sensitive noise though, so I can not see em sitting on top of it, nor would I let em!

[Cantii]

I'm serious, flip your top front exhaust and make it intake, it'll do wonders for your CPU and airflow. Plug your side fan back in so that it creates the pressure needed.

I also had issues flipping my power supply and could only get two screws in, but since it's mounted on the bottom, as long as it stays in place, it'll be fine. When I changed it, added a fan to the bottom and changed my top 200mm fan to intake on my Storm Sniper, it lowered my CPU temp by 3c and overall case temp by about 3c as well. Since you have two top fans, your yields will be better by changing the top front.

Also, grab some light machine oil, like sewing machine oil or clipper oil and oil your fans a bit. It'll make them a little quieter and more efficient.

[DeltrusDisc]

I'm serious, flip your top front exhaust and make it intake, it'll do wonders for your CPU and airflow. Plug your side fan back in so that it creates the pressure needed.

I also had issues flipping my power supply and could only get two screws in, but since it's mounted on the bottom, as long as it stays in place, it'll be fine. When I changed it, added a fan to the bottom and changed my top 200mm fan to intake on my Storm Sniper, it lowered my CPU temp by 3c and overall case temp by about 3c as well. Since you have two top fans, your yields will be better by changing the top front.

Also, grab some light machine oil, like sewing machine oil or clipper oil and oil your fans a bit. It'll make them a little quieter and more efficient.

I believe ya dude, but honestly, that's more work cut out for a very minimal reward. My temps are all fantastic, so it's really not an issue with any of that.

[Evildeffy]

@ DeltruDisc:

Scythe Fan Guard 120MM
I use the same thing in my HAF932 setup, and WOULD'VE used it in my HAF X build for a mate, only the PSU was a longer form factor so it no longer fit.

I wanted to use the fan duct on 2 * GigaByte SOC GTX580s, but i can't fit it, the fan duct covers the 8-Pin PCIE power, too bad on that since SLI-ing those things with the type of cooler GigaByte stuck on them isn't very efficient, as those cards can remain relatively cool, but not the top one in SLI setup with that cooler.

---------- Post added 2011-10-01 at 04:04 PM ----------

Oh if we're showing off Cable Management btw, i'll pop in my screenie!
Sorry for the somewhat lousier quality, the picture was taken at like 3 AM with next to no light nearby using my Motorola Milestone as a camera.

Also this screen doesn't show the edit, at first i couldn't fit the H100 in with 4 fans, but after a bit a wrestling, i now have 4 fans of the H100 along with the 20CM fan ontop of that, the airflow coming out is strong enough to hover a slim CD case with a CD in it, so what you see there, you simply add 2 more fans on top of the radiator you see uptop.

And since the damn thing won't crop my picture, or i basically dunno how to, i'll just make it a hyper link.

Build Screenie

[Deafyx]

I'm serious, flip your top front exhaust and make it intake, it'll do wonders for your CPU and airflow. Plug your side fan back in so that it creates the pressure needed.

I also had issues flipping my power supply and could only get two screws in, but since it's mounted on the bottom, as long as it stays in place, it'll be fine. When I changed it, added a fan to the bottom and changed my top 200mm fan to intake on my Storm Sniper, it lowered my CPU temp by 3c and overall case temp by about 3c as well. Since you have two top fans, your yields will be better by changing the top front.

Also, grab some light machine oil, like sewing machine oil or clipper oil and oil your fans a bit. It'll make them a little quieter and more efficient.

If I tried that, then the only exhaust fan I would have is my H50's P/P Fans.

---------- Post added 2011-10-01 at 12:22 PM ----------

@ DeltruDisc:

Scythe Fan Guard 120MM
I use the same thing in my HAF932 setup, and WOULD'VE used it in my HAF X build for a mate, only the PSU was a longer form factor so it no longer fit.

I wanted to use the fan duct on 2 * GigaByte SOC GTX580s, but i can't fit it, the fan duct covers the 8-Pin PCIE power, too bad on that since SLI-ing those things with the type of cooler GigaByte stuck on them isn't very efficient, as those cards can remain relatively cool, but not the top one in SLI setup with that cooler.

---------- Post added 2011-10-01 at 04:04 PM ----------

Oh if we're showing off Cable Management btw, i'll pop in my screenie!
Sorry for the somewhat lousier quality, the picture was taken at like 3 AM with next to no light nearby using my Motorola Milestone as a camera.

Also this screen doesn't show the edit, at first i couldn't fit the H100 in with 4 fans, but after a bit a wrestling, i now have 4 fans of the H100 along with the 20CM fan ontop of that, the airflow coming out is strong enough to hover a slim CD case with a CD in it, so what you see there, you simply add 2 more fans on top of the radiator you see uptop.

And since the damn thing won't crop my picture, or i basically dunno how to, i'll just make it a hyper link.

Build Screenie

OMG, is that the H100 in a HAF X?! I have been looking for a side photo with the H100 in P/P inside the HAF X so that I could see how low the fans come down. No luck, until just now! As for cables, that yellow bunch near the heatsink is an eye sore, other than that /thumbs up.

[Evildeffy]

OMG, is that the H100 in a HAF X?! I have been looking for a side photo with the H100 in P/P inside the HAF X so that I could see how low the fans come down. No luck, until just now! As for cables, that yellow bunch near the heatsink is an eye sore, other than that /thumbs up.

If i can be arsed, i'll make an up-to-date picture and show you how it looks with 4 fans.
I agree on the yellow cables though, they are sitting there because that's what colour the Scythe Typhoon equips them with, i can't escape that unfortunately.
Now to improve looks, i was considering possibly just cutting them off because they serve no purpose other then RPM readout, but that build is for a friend, so i wouldn't like that since it's not my case.

The other cable i'm not happy about at all is the placement of the USB3 header on the Maximus IV Extreme-Z, i would much rather have it be at the ATX Power Connector on the mobo side, other then that i like this build.

Specs:

Intel Core i7 2600K
ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
ASUS 24xDVD-RW Drive SATA
Corsair Hydro H100 CPU Cooler
4 * Scythe Gentle Typhoon 3000RPM (proper fans for Radiator cooling due to static pressure)
Cooler Master HAF X Big Tower Case
16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz CL9 1,5V
Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium Pro Fatal1ty Edition
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache SATA6Gbps
2 * OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS 120GB SATA6Gbps in RAID0
2 * Gigabyte GTX580 Super Overclock Edition 1,5GB in SLI
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX1200W

Now i OCed this thing aswell, and i set a limit for myself as to how far i want to take the CPU max to, i decided on 1.4V.
However i don't think i have gotten a mediocre chip, i can only pump 4,7GHz out of it, 4,8GHz is literrally just out of reach, but the temps are amazing, at 100% Prime95 64Bit Small-FFT for ~30 hours straight, the max temp i got out of it was 71 degrees C (out of 1 core!) the rest were all maxing at 66 degrees C, the average however was ~61.

As i said though, i'm a bit bummed i can't use the VGA duct

Edit: Screenies Added

Finished Build Screenie 01
Finished Build Screenie 02
Finished Build Screenie 03

[Deafyx]

If i can be arsed, i'll make an up-to-date picture and show you how it looks with 4 fans.
I agree on the yellow cables though, they are sitting there because that's what colour the Scythe Typhoon equips them with, i can't escape that unfortunately.
Now to improve looks, i was considering possibly just cutting them off because they serve no purpose other then RPM readout, but that build is for a friend, so i wouldn't like that since it's not my case.

The other cable i'm not happy about at all is the placement of the USB3 header on the Maximus IV Extreme-Z, i would much rather have it be at the ATX Power Connector on the mobo side, other then that i like this build.

Specs:

Intel Core i7 2600K
ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z
ASUS 24xDVD-RW Drive SATA
Corsair Hydro H100 CPU Cooler
4 * Scythe Gentle Typhoon 3000RPM (proper fans for Radiator cooling due to static pressure)
Cooler Master HAF X Big Tower Case
16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz CL9 1,5V
Creative Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium Pro Fatal1ty Edition
Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 7200RPM 64MB Cache SATA6Gbps
2 * OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS 120GB SATA6Gbps in RAID0
2 * Gigabyte GTX580 Super Overclock Edition 1,5GB in SLI
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX1200W

Now i OCed this thing aswell, and i set a limit for myself as to how far i want to take the CPU max to, i decided on 1.4V.
However i don't think i have gotten a mediocre chip, i can only pump 4,7GHz out of it, 4,8GHz is literrally just out of reach, but the temps are amazing, at 100% Prime95 64Bit Small-FFT for ~30 hours straight, the max temp i got out of it was 71 degrees C (out of 1 core!) the rest were all maxing at 66 degrees C, the average however was ~61.

As i said though, i'm a bit bummed i can't use the VGA duct

Edit: Screenies Added

Finished Build Screenie 01
Finished Build Screenie 02
Finished Build Screenie 03

Sweet. Now I am confident in getting the H100 in P/P! Thanks!

[Evildeffy]

Sweet. Now I am confident in getting the H100 in P/P! Thanks!

To be completely honest, if i knew that the VGA duct wouldn't fit and that the GigaByte cards were so inefficient with cooling when placed in SLI like that, i very likely would've gone for a HAF 932 model case, the side cooling of the 932 is superior because it actually covers the graphics cards better due to no shroud, higher placement and bigger fan (230MM instead of 200MM).

But in any case, the H100 will fit without any issue in P/P mode, but be aware if you get Scythe Typhoons, you WILL need Headphones, the sound is loud, it's not irritating or w/e but it's deffo loud.

And if i were you aswell, i'd mod the case a bit, place a 120MM fan between the Hotswap bay and the top 5,25" drive, just to augment cooling a bit more.