Overthinking case design and airflow/thermals.

[Ficus]

Hi. I recently bought an "El Cheapo" case off a very generous discount that came with 6 fans and what not. A true steal since I was looking to replace my old case that had a myriad of issues I'd rather not delve into.

Problem is, I started looking at the case and the more I looked, the worse it got. I'll post a pic so you can understand my takes.

this is the case. A solarmax SM 5901. Brand unknown to even God, I know.
Fan configurations amounts to a neutral pressure (i thnk) since it has the 3 at the front as intake, and the two top + 1 rear as exhaust.
That'd make sense until you realize there's less than 4mm between the TG front panel and the glass. and the top fans are covered by a... magnetic mesh... even thought they're exhausting air out. All are 120mm molex fans. I don't really care that much about noise concerns because I live right next to a railroad track so there's always something louder than fans going on around.

My question is more centered regarding dust and thermals. Is there any way of improving this thing?
My ideas were putting some washers between the TG front panel and the mounting screws to make it more open and to swap one of the top exhaust (the one closest to the front) to intake in order to have a slight positive pressure inside the case but I'd like to know what other experts think.

Any advice is appreciated.


Sincerely, Ficus!

 

[A Computer Guy]

My question is more centered regarding dust and thermals. Is there any way of improving this thing?

Can you remove the top magnetic mesh? If so I would remove that and keep both top fans as exhaust.
If possible I'd get some 20mm washers to extend the front glass out further so the front fans aren't as suffocated.

 

[#22]

Buying a case should be choosing from ones high airflow (mesh front and top, but rather filtered) or sound-damepened. It's simple choice between you prefering lower temperatures or noise supression. Anything between won't give you any, so simply doesn't make sense. Solarmax is such example, so I would however get rid of it instead of trying hard to make it better.

Additonally buying a case should be buying a good one. Budget ones make your life harder, so I don't find such savings good deal. If you simply are not from third world country or spending last money on pc case. Good ones opposite and also are good to the point you won't feel needing to change them, so they become cheap in the long run.

On the other hand with some lower power build there should be no problem with temperatures, especially thanks to Molex fans running full speed all the time.... Do you have such problem already? If not, you are in fact overthinking

 

[bonehead123]

Although I would never buy a case with a solid front panel, cheapo or otherwise, but IF I did for some reason, I think the best choices would be:

A) Swap the front glass with a panel that has some fine holes or mesh, or make one, to allow some better intake flow

B) Take the existing panel off, get a glass cutting drill bit & a dremel tool, and make your own ventilation holes

C) Return/ditch this case & buy a real one

D) Dig out your largest sledgehammer and go have some fun with it, since it was an elcheapo anyways (j/k)

Note: The Tower series from TT has solid front panels (of which I have owned 2 of the bigger ones), but they were designed to not depend on airflow from the front anyways....

 

[Vya Domus]

Airflow in that case is going to be terrible no matter what, the front is simply too closed off.

If you want to have this "all glass look", look for cases that have a side or bottom vent like the Phanteks NV7 that I use, they are definitely on the expensive side though.

 

[Shrek]

A solarmax SM 5901.

Did you mean Solarmax CM-5901?

 

[Ficus]

Buying a case should be choosing from ones high airflow (mesh front and top, but rather filtered) or sound-damepened. It's simple choice between you prefering lower temperatures or noise supression. Anything between won't give you any, so simply doesn't make sense. Solarmax is such example, so I would however get rid of it instead of trying hard to make it better.

Additonally buying a case should be buying a good one. Budget ones make your life harder, so I don't find such savings good deal. If you simply are not from third world country or spending last money on pc case. Good ones opposite and also are good to the point you won't feel needing to change them, so they become cheap in the long run.

On the other hand with some lower power build there should be no problem with temperatures, especially thanks to Molex fans running full speed all the time.... Do you have such problem already? If not, you are in fact overthinking

I met both of those conditions since I AM from a third world country (Argentina) and was spending my last savings on replacing what my old case and a few shortcircs managed to FRY. Got it for like 10% what I would've paid for a "nice tower".

I have my old ass budget build in there with a A8 7650k and a amd r7 260x. I can keep temps relatively under control but I was wondering if there was something I could do better. Maybe whoever designed the case had such a big brain the laws of thermodynamics and air flow just didn't apply here...

Did you mean Solarmax CM-5901?

Yes. CM-5901. My bad.

Can you remove the top magnetic mesh? If so I would remove that and keep both top fans as exhaust.
If possible I'd get some 20mm washers to extend the front glass out further so the front fans aren't as suffocated.

Yes, It's a magnetic cover. Literal fridge magnets glued to a mesh. I'm gonna try that.



Thank you all very much for the tips!

 

[freeagent]

Any case can be an airflow case if you have strong enough fans

 

[InVasMani]

Personally given the front panel terrible as a intake with the glass I'd reverse the rear exhaust fan and use it as intake. I'd also remove the mesh filter on the front. As far as extending the front panel I don't know you'd have to check yourself to get a idea on what's possible. One option is just remove it and put fan grills over the fronts of the fans. That depends how it looks I suppose and perhaps you could get a 3D printed overlay to screw on like wise to fix the heat box front glass panel design.

If the front panel attaches in place via magnets just see if you can extend that outward with something magnetic and put magnets on the end of that for the glass panel to attach to.

 

[Caring1]

Looks like the front panel has thumb screws to hold it in place, just space that panel out at least 10mm to allow more air flow into the front.

 

[harm9963]

Any case can be an airflow case if you have strong enough fans

Amen , I switched over to Artic P14 max fans , for AIO and case.

 

[JWNoctis]

I'd advise at minimum some kind of mesh filter on the intake fans, and when possible maybe a couple of better and/or larger intake fans as well, especially if you don't care much about (A)RGB. Additional standoff between the panel and the fans, as you said, should also help.

I blocked off the top mesh of my case with printer paper, since they don't actually seem to help much except letting more dust in and slow the airflow by dispersing them. A reasonably powerful front panel fan setup should already be pushing anything out back anyway. Just because there are fans does not mean they would be much of an improvement where they are.

That, and at least semi-regular dusting before anything could cake up. From personal experience, it's amazing how much dust and nastier stuff gets in on the scale of days, even with a dust filter and a positive pressure setup, and I don't even smoke, nor do I have a pet.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Hi. I recently bought an "El Cheapo" case off a very generous discount that came with 6 fans and what not. A true steal since I was looking to replace my old case that had a myriad of issues I'd rather not delve into.

Problem is, I started looking at the case and the more I looked, the worse it got. I'll post a pic so you can understand my takes.

View attachment 350571
this is the case. A solarmax SM 5901. Brand unknown to even God, I know.
Fan configurations amounts to a neutral pressure (i thnk) since it has the 3 at the front as intake, and the two top + 1 rear as exhaust.
That'd make sense until you realize there's less than 4mm between the TG front panel and the glass. and the top fans are covered by a... magnetic mesh... even thought they're exhausting air out. All are 120mm molex fans. I don't really care that much about noise concerns because I live right next to a railroad track so there's always something louder than fans going on around.

My question is more centered regarding dust and thermals. Is there any way of improving this thing?
My ideas were putting some washers between the TG front panel and the mounting screws to make it more open and to swap one of the top exhaust (the one closest to the front) to intake in order to have a slight positive pressure inside the case but I'd like to know what other experts think.

Any advice is appreciated.


Sincerely, Ficus!

These cheap white label cases sold here in South America tend to favor form over function and are very aggressively marketed towards our low-income markets, but I've purchased a healthy few in my day, I used to change my computer's case like it was clothing before I got my current frame. The Masterframe 700 is a game changer, pricy, but I'd recommend it to anyone.

If you can find it in the Argentinian market, I recommend the Redragon Wheel Jack, it's cheap, sturdy and it has great thermals. My 2020 build with the Ryzen 3900XT and Radeon VII was built on one. I still have a picture of it tucked away on my imgur account, here's a reupload:

 

[#22]

I met both of those conditions since I AM from a third world country (Argentina) and was spending my last savings on replacing what my old case and a few shortcircs managed to FRY. Got it for like 10% what I would've paid for a "nice tower".

I have my old ass budget build in there with a A8 7650k and a amd r7 260x. I can keep temps relatively under control but I was wondering if there was something I could do better. Maybe whoever designed the case had such a big brain the laws of thermodynamics and air flow just didn't apply here...

So no choice due to finances, but also no problem thanks to temps being under control. If you still feel the need of improving thermals, start with checking if there simply is some room for improvement by removing front and side panel during your realistic load. If it shaves more than typical degree or two, there some, but I doubt it's worth if it's three or four.