WhatTheTech Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 Some really good food for thought, and much appreciated! I would take those two 60mm fans out, and I would test them again on the bench. Absolutely, that's the first thing I will be doing. As I said, I have a feeling that the male molex connector I used just wasn't pushed in all the way. Your first option is what I would do regardless. I would block off the smaller 60mm fan inlets of course, for focused airflow, and I would not install a rheobus to solve this. You should rely on either volt modding or PWM for your fans, it will be a cleaner install than adding a rheobus (or any other) fan controller to the mix, and much more reliable (one less thing to go wrong). Scythe Slip Stream 800rpm would be perfect for this, lowered down to 7v with a Noctua (or homemade LNA) would be absolutely silent, while still providing adequate airflow for your PSU. Furball Zen from the XoxideForums said he would cut a hole in the top for me to add a larger, quieter fan. I'm seriously considering doing this, as there are many more low-noise choices in the 80mm/120mm range of things. I actually own two of the SlipStreams that I use(d) in my Lian-Li case, so that would make things easier for sure. I'm about 1000 miles away from you, a whole state over, but if you were closer, I'd totally be game for hopping over for a while when I have downtime. That's ok, I own a private jet...errr...yeah.... Since you're going modular, I would make a couple modular cables that suite your needs to cover as many devices as possible. When you think about it, powering the ODD and HDDs with one cable really isn't a big deal, and wont cause any higher power draw than separating them all, but it will minimize your cables. You could make a single large plate to cover all the empty space to the left of the motherboard, which attaches with a single wing-nut in the center and rubber standoffs to keep it level and prevent issues when removing, and that could cover all the cables, including front panel power button, USB/FW etc, as well as covering PSU cables that go all the way up to the top of the case. You could cut channels into it for the ATX power cable to come out, and once you work out the extra cable, it could give you a very unique and minimalistic look. You could use an angled piece of metal to hide the cables exiting the PSU going under this plate as well (or angle the bottom edge of the plate to do this all as one piece). I already made two, one for the hard-drives and one for the optical drive. I kept them separate merely for the convenience of it. I do like your ideas about hiding things away, and I might just use the dual G5-processor cover that came with my case. It's pretty huge, and would do a good job of hiding most things. The hard-drives might be going in the top left (under the optical drive) but there is a lot of space underneath still. The front panel cable will be run up towards the optical drive, and then the individual headers will come down from above. On the MSI board, everything is along the top (well bottom in a normal case) whereas on my Intel board it's all spread out which is why it's so messy right now. Eventually I want the two power cables and front panel cable running in a parallel line upwards. The first power cable would stop behind the HDD cage, the second would run behind that up to the ODD, and then the front panel cable would run behind the are where the stock cage is, with the small headers just poking their heads down enough to be plugged in. If all goes well, it should look pretty neat, but your ideas on hiding them (possibly with the processor cover) definitely will help! As I mentioned in my little update above, I'm looking in to a totally different way of storing the drives. I don't want to spill all just yet since I haven't seen anyone do it yet and selfishly want to be the first, but I should know by tomorrow or the next day Here are two options (obviously the cover would be attached underneath, it's just resting like that for now). Both locations do a good job of hiding wires, but with it on the bottom I retain easy access to my drives when they're attached up top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonestonne Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 You may have to trim that cover to where that center line goes on the CPU cover, I think that would fit next to the motherboard, you could add a couple standoffs for a thumbscrews to hold it down, and that would work out really well. Once thing I would do right off the bat is to rotate that rear exhaust fan to put it's cable closer to the motherboard, so you aren't stretching it across all that space. After thinking about it, I think I know what you're doing with the hard drives. I would try to attach the G5 CPU cover directly to the case on the inside right over the wires, so it has a more open look to it when you take the side cover off. I'd probably go to attach it with a polished thumbscrew to match the overall color scheme as well, and maybe cut off the curved edging, so it will fit for naturally. I guess I'll keep my mouth shut so I don't spoil your surprise haha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhatTheTech Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 Once thing I would do right off the bat is to rotate that rear exhaust fan to put it's cable closer to the motherboard, so you aren't stretching it across all that space. After thinking about it, I think I know what you're doing with the hard drives. I would try to attach the G5 CPU cover directly to the case on the inside right over the wires, so it has a more open look to it when you take the side cover off. I'd probably go to attach it with a polished thumbscrew to match the overall color scheme as well, and maybe cut off the curved edging, so it will fit for naturally. I guess I'll keep my mouth shut so I don't spoil your surprise haha! I'll definitely be rotating the fan once I have my other hardware up and running. I'm contemplating whether to sleeve it or not - as is it's pretty thin and can easily be run around the frame. Thanks for all your input - definitely some good ideas being thrown around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickjf20 Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 You sir must be a magician - another great update ... makes me want to sleeve everything! As for the CPU cover, personally I don't like it placed anywhere but in it's stock position with the PCI divider covering it. I know it's not really very practical, but could you mount some HDDs inside the PSU enclosure? That would be very neat for a boot drive and then you could just use the original top caddy for hot swapping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhatTheTech Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 You sir must be a magician - another great update ... makes me want to sleeve everything! As for the CPU cover, personally I don't like it placed anywhere but in it's stock position with the PCI divider covering it. I know it's not really very practical, but could you mount some HDDs inside the PSU enclosure? That would be very neat for a boot drive and then you could just use the original top caddy for hot swapping. Thanks for your comments! Definitely not a sleeving magician since I'm only starting out - I think single sleeving with no heatshrink has it's own special magic I'm also undecided about the CPU cover....hmmmm.... The PSU enclosure is pretty cramped right now since I have my custom cables plugged in to full length power cables that are bundled in there. It's a neat idea and would totally work with the way Apple laid out their PSU - I always thought there was TOO much space in there, and if the Mac Pro is our measure of judgement, so did Apple! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhatTheTech Posted February 6, 2013 Author Share Posted February 6, 2013 Update: Well, I was right. The second PSU fan had unplugged itself from the 3pin-molex adapter, and is working nicely again. Following the suggestion of someone on the Xoxideforums that the high-pitched noise I was hearing might be vibration-related, I decided to add some rubber washers to all eight fan screws. While this didn't reduce the decibel level, it did remove the annoying pitch of the noise which is really great news! I didn't mind the noise level as much as I was annoyed by the high pitch of it, rather than the usual sound of air flowing. I'm still undecided on whether I should switch to a 120mm top fan, but for now I am much happier! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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