Silverstone CW02 mods + best filter medium + DIY filtration box

[jalyst]

As for few other filtering material airflow resistance, probably already mentioned thread from stickies may help (BTW, am i the only one that don't see images in it anymore?).

You mean this one?
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=209801

Yeah i didn't find it to be terribly insightful, no offense to the OP.
The methodology employed wasn't as methodical as martin's fan testing etc.
I'm hoping there's better comparisons around...

I'm amazed skinnee labs hasn't done anything yet!? I'll check now.
I just want to know the medium that catches the finest particles.
It will also have amongst the highest resistance, if not "the highest".

Because air filters will delay dust accumulation on your rads, fans and inside the case but they will certainly not prevent it.

Even lab grade filters mediums won't stop all particulates, given enough time.

So basically with filters you will have to clean up less often, maybe once instead of twice a year without filters. However you'll get less performance from your radiators or you'll need to rev up your fans to compensate for the loss of airflow every day of the year.

As explained, my rad's external & I won't be bothering with any kind of filtration, at least for now.

2. How easy can you remove them?

The custom built solution I have in mind should make it very easy to remove/add the medium

3. That being said, i still love open cell foam, the kind u find on AC filters.
They catch small and big dust, and the ones which have them are fully removable and easily upgradable.

AC filters are on my short-list of mediums, link to example you're referring to?

So what would i do??
U know those magnetic mesh filters which are popular now?
I was going to go out to a hardware store, get some AC filter... and then cut that up, then put the magnetic mesh type filter OVER the open cell foam.
I think that would be the best solution which i see as a filter.

If you're suggesting putting it up against the main intakes, you'd get massive flow restriction, mesh filters alone are bad enough.
If you're going to use a highly restrictive medium, you need to increase surface area much more.
Having said that, I may still try those demciflex filters for use on my rad.
I will test how much impact it has on my 4x AP-15 in P+P w/shrouds etc.

[Alexandr0s]

If you're suggesting putting it up against the main intakes, you'd get massive flow restriction, mesh filters alone are bad enough.
If you're going to use a highly restrictive medium, you need to increase surface area much more.

Lol, knowing NaeKuh, I seriously doubt his 'fans' will notice anything from those filters. They're monsters I tell you !

Anyway, I don't have my pc on the ground, which already saves me a lot of dust accumulation, and the fans are sucking in air from above, which also help prevent dust being sucked in. Even after half a year, there's only a little dust in my rad. So no need for a filter here .

[NaeKuh]

Lol, knowing NaeKuh, I seriously doubt his 'fans' will notice anything from those filters. They're monsters I tell you !
.

WHAT i cant hear you..

im still facinated at the whines of my fans in unison that it reminds me of Beethoven's 5th Symphony while i turn my system on..

Whinee whinee VAROOOOOM~ Varoom varoom whine~

[Hannibal Lecter]

@jalyst: first of all about positive pressure:

Yes it does, that's that's the whole point of +ve pressure.
Higher air presser needs somewhere to escape, it escapes to where there's areas of lower air pressure.
Which is external to the case, "so long" as the air flow out of the case, isn't greater than the air flow in.
This constant need to escape prevents any airflow "into" the case*, bringing particulates with it etc.

*except for the intakes of course, derr...

90%+ of the dust that gets inside a case comes from the fans. Positive pressure will bring in less dust than negative pressure and a little less than neutral pressure. But saying that positive pressure prevents dust from coming inside a case is plain wrong.

You are trying to build a filter box, which is pretty common and is usually made with large fans. What I don't understand is why you'd want that filter box under your computer? This is very inefficient. These filter boxes are usually positioned near the air inlet in the room, where it is the most effective.

The problem with these is that they are ugly and you usually only see them in a work environment: you wouldn't want to have a large filter box in your bedroom or living room. And if you're trying to make it the dasa's way, it will become even uglier as it gets clogged up by dust. That's why the filter is usually located inside a box.

I misread your first post and thought this was about air filters for cases. Of course the discussion about filters for computer cases is irrelevant here, since the air is filtered before it gets to the computer. It doesn't matter if the airflow inside the filter box is low or high as long as it filters the air in the room. And since a filter box is about catching as much dust as possible, you want to create a negative pressure inside the box. I'd also recommend using foam type filters as they are very effective and catch different size particles very well. And you'll also need large fans if you care about noise.

[jalyst]

90%+ of the dust that gets inside a case comes from the fans.

Of course, the intake fans to be specific.

But saying that positive pressure prevents dust from coming inside a case is plain wrong.

Sorry but I'd still have to respectfully disagree there, the laws of physics must prevail
But you're entitled to your opinion, I'm not interested in debating this point further, too OT.

I misread your first post...

You probably didn't with your 1st posts, but it looks like you have this time.
Since your 2nd last post I've substantially amended my OP, so that my goals are more clearly defined.
This thread is (in part) about a filtration box for my HTPC case.

I'm also looking at getting a HEPA room filter.
But that's for separate reasons, & not something I'll get anytime soon.
Try re-reading & adding your thoughts, if you have time.

Thank-you.

[Hannibal Lecter]

Of course, the intake fans to be specific.


Sorry but I'd still have to respectfully disagree there, the laws of physics must prevail
But you're entitled to your opinion, I'm not interested in debating this point further, too OT.



You probably didn't with your 1st posts, but it looks like you have this time.
Since your 2nd last post I've substantially amended my OP, so that my goals are more clearly defined.
This thread is (in part) about a filtration box for my HTPC case.

I'm also looking at getting a HEPA room filter.
But that's for separate reasons, & not something I'll get anytime soon.
Try re-reading & adding your thoughts, if you have time.

Thank-you.

The law of physics prevail indeed! We may be saying the same thing here. Dust will come in from your fans whether you use positive pressure or not. Of course it won't get in from other openings in the case.

For the rest, you have lost me. I need to re-read your OP when I have some time

[R37ribution]

I know you guys aren't fans of mesh filters but I've had some good xp with this Lian Li 120mm Filter Mount.

This coupled with Serpentarious' comment about silicon lub should work wonders... and if that isn't enough you could always stick on some DustX on top of this mount which would be easy to replace and collect the finer dust that the mesh filter doesn't.

i found out that, any mesh filter with a dash of the silicon lubricant spray is good for trapping dust.

maybe you guys should give it a try. don't use oil however, it's messy

It sounds like my setup is similar to NaeKuh (as far as loudness goes) - I'm using 120mm a Delta 210 CFM fan. Apparently the fan calls for 30 watts and it let some smoke out of my R2G when I hooked it up to the mobo PWM connector. The board still ran and OC'ed to 4.2Ghz but the VTT was no longer stable (fluctuated +/- .05v). I ended up buying an Akasa PWM Splitter so I could pull power from the PSU and still use the PWM on my new R3G. Sourcing the power direct from the psu made my vcore and vtt more stable than with my previous fans

[eXa]

Im happy with my tripple rad mounted in the front of an Stacker STC-01. I just vacume the stock filters in front, i do not even remove them from the case. Works fine

[jalyst]

This is the case in question... & I'm in Brisbane/Australia.
I don't have any of the hardware to do it myself, basically I want:

-1x 120mm fan vent cut into case's lid...
-2x intakes on the case's bottom increased to 120mm (from 92mm)
-1x mount/frame for my rad+fans that's bolted to the lid
-MAYBE 2x extra backplate slots (horizontal?) for Essence ST daughter-board & mPCIe WiFi-N card
-And maybe this filterbox made, based on some sketches I have.

Although for the last item I think I'd like to "have a crack" myself 1st.
As I think it could be tricky/pricey for someone to do for me!?
I'll try once I've knocked-over a bunch of others things, & once i have the tools/material.

Perhaps there's communities like this where people have already designed something?
Although admittedly I'd prefer my own take on it, so that it looks like a part of the case.

Can anyone recommend some excellent/free CAD software w/a very low learning curve?
I don't need an uber sophisticated/$ suite, as it's a relatively simple project.
I'd prefer it to be available for OSX, but if there's nothing decent then Win7's fine.

Finally can anyone recommend some other excellent forums where I can post this?
Aussie-based would be best, but I'll take OS suggestions too! I've posted at WP/OCAU.

Thanks borg!

[Church]

Buy dremel & C-profile rubber edging to slap on cuts. Probably will cost 1/5th-half of what some modding shop will charge +you keep tools for future mods. Cuts with dremel really are not that hard.
Hmm, but one probably will need to drill new holes for fan screws on new larger holes too? Well, you probably can skip buying drill, as it being common, you probably can easily borrow it from some friend.
If there is some very noticeable error while making cuts, buy some spraycan of paint to hide it

[Scubar]

Buy a couple of holesaws for the fan holes. that way you get a perfect professional looking hole which only takes 20secs to drill.

[vengance_01]

Mod shops for computer cases don't exists unless you want to ship your case for someone to do it for you.

[Church]

jalyst: (3) don't know about very low learning curve, but google's sketchup is free (compare that to megaprices of commercial CAD software suites), and you can easily find lots of tutorial videos, that might ease learning.

[Bobsama]

If you take apart the chassis (which needs a drill to pop the rivets), any metal shop should be happy to professionally cut holes in steel or aluminum. You'd have to mark-up what and were, though.

[jalyst]

Wonder of there's a local CNC-milling/laser-cutting service that'd fabricate these
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...01d6537032652c
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...ea6f6a33c6c2b5
There's probably already ready-made brackets like these that I can buy!
I will investigate more closely tomorrow...

Also I'm wondering once I've built the wooden frames/box...
What sort of mechanism I'm gong to use, to easily remove the filter material used on the rear & sides.

I'm thinking some sort of frame, that easily pops out of each of the sides.
And easily clamps on to whatever filter material I may choose, thick or thin.
And has an extra "mesh" layer in front of the actual filter material, to improve aesthetics etc.

I may be able to use something from demciflex, they do custom sizes I think..
Maybe they'll customize further by adding a clamping mechanism for the denser filter behind the mesh.
Or that route may not be suitable at all......