[Cousin Eddie]

The "blowhole" top fan is a design flaw. It's just a gimmic. It's not the right way to cool the case. That's why most case makers don't use blowholes.

Look at the "Questions and Answers" at the bottom of this page:

http://3dcool.com/?module=product&sku=tornado3000

 

[ai0tron]

How can it hurt? Any improvement in air flow can only be positive even if it is minimal.

It's a very nice case at any rate and probably cools very well.
Check out this link crescendopower for a store selling the atc 200. There are several of them on yahoo shopping. The cheapest price I saw was 245.

yahoo shopping link

 

[DanG]

A fan in the top of the case is not an improvement in airflow, it actually does disrupt the stream of air.

 

[ai0tron]

Hmmm. I will look into this.

 

[ai0tron]

I have read several reviews of all manner of cases and still have not had a single less than excellent review of the coolermaster case. One reviewer sums it up on his page:

"measured ambient temperature of each component and at various points in the case. Readings were as low as 22.4 degrees Celsius and did not exceed 30.2 degrees Celsius, even under full load. These temperatures are simply superior to any case I've previously used, amongst Antec/Chieftec, Lian-Li, A-Open, Chenbro, and SuperMicro. The CoolerMaster brand name has been earned. " - twitch @ www.arstechnica.com

This case moves around 350cfm of air. Thats good ventilation no matter how you look at it.

 

[DanG]

I said that it may disrupt the flow of the air a bit. I didn't say that it actually hurt the cooling too much.

I don't think it would, but it doesn't seem logical to put a fan at the top.

Anyway, now I have a case question. My Athlon 1.33 GHz machine is far too loud. It's so loud that listening to my open headphones while my computer is on is simply irritatingly difficult. When I got a new heatsink for my chip, I ordered one which makes 26 dB (as opposed to 32 in the old one, I think). I don't notice any difference in sound level. I suspect that it's the power supply's fan that's making the noise -- is it possible to change it? If not, is it possible to change the power supply to one that is quieter? Or is this just part of the case?

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Aiotron, let's say that you have two fans blowing directly at each other. That would be an example of how using only one fan would be better. It doesn't matter what the total cfm is if the fans are just working against each other.

A blowhole at the top and the case is pulling air from both the back and front of the case. This is not good. You want to corner the fan so that it can cause a current to develop. When hot air rises and hits the top of the case, some of the heat is dissipated through the top of the case. You don't get this free source of cooling where there's a hole on top. With the fan in back, the air is slowed down as it hits the top and so the fan has more control over the direction of the current.

Cases with blowholes are sold to people for cosmetic purposes. They are targeted toward gamers who think that they look cool. There's a reason why blowholes are not part of the PC Committee's recommended case designs. For that matter, have you ever seen any electronic device that used a blowhole?

DanG, I put my computer in the computer compartment in my desk. This really blocks out a lot of noise, particularly the high frequencies that are most irritating. It doesn't raise the temperature as long as the back side is open. In fact, my computer runs slightly cooler in this compartment because it's closer to the cooler air near the floor.

 

[ai0tron]

Yes it is possible to change it. You will have to operate on it to change the fan out. I did it once. I don't think it's a good idea.

Better to just change the whole thing out if it is really bothering you.

CousinEddie: That still doesn't change the real world performance of the case.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

I used to have a case with only one fan, but the entire inside of that case had gotten so hot that some of the internal computer components housed within failed. The last time I checked the entire interior of that case exceeded 75 degrees Celsius/167 degrees Fahrenheit!

And that was at a time when I had a 2MB PCI video card, a P133MHz (not even a PII!) processor with only 32MB of EDO memory (not even SDRAM!), a 540MB 3600RPM HD, a 2X CD-ROM drive (no DVD or CD-R/RW drive), and *coughMicrosoftcough* Windows 3.1!

Which comes to show you that some of the one-fan cases are poorly designed.

Anywhoo, my *current* case is a side-open and tool-less case that originally shipped with no fan whatsoever other than the *noisy* one within its 250W PSU - and there is a gaping hole in the rear of the case to accomodate an 80mm fan. I have added an 80mm fan (installed in that gaping hole in the rear of the case, and oriented to blow air outward instead of inward) - and with my current system being a PIII-700 with 256MB of SDRAM on a 440BX-chipset-based motherboard, a Radeon 64MB DDR AGP card, a 40GB 7200RPM HD, both an 8X/40X DVD/CD-ROM drive and a 24X/10X/40X CD-RW drive, and now a 300W PSU with a much quieter fan (my PIII-700 processor is a "retail-boxed" processor with its own fan and heatsink), my system (at motherboard level) barely exceeds 27 degrees Celsius/80 degrees Fahrenheit. And these days, my OS of choice is either Windows 98SE or Windows ME.

 

[acidtripwow]

Anybody check out Dell PCs lately? It seems like they're giving PCs away now. My latest flyer from them had a 1.4 Ghz PC priced at $699. Yesterday I received an email from them and they were selling a 1.8 Ghz PC with a 15" LCD screen for $999. These prices are so low I'm thinking of upgrading my really awesome 133 with 32MB RAM.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally posted by acidtripwow Anybody check out Dell PCs lately? It seems like they're giving PCs away now. My latest flyer from them had a 1.4 Ghz PC priced at $699. Yesterday I received an email from them and they were selling a 1.8 Ghz PC with a 15" LCD screen for $999. These prices are so low I'm thinking of upgrading my really awesome 133 with 32MB RAM.

Don't believe those flyers. At those prices you will indeed get a 1.4 or 1.8 GHz Pentium 4 system, but the processors on those budget-priced systems run on a motherboard that uses the Intel 845 chipset, which only supports PC133 SDRAM memory - and that combination in itself virtually guarantees sluggish performance. Second, the components on those buget-priced Pentium 4-based systems are noticeably behind today's "mainstream" curve, with NVidia Vanta/TNT2 M64/GeFroce2 MX200 or ATI Rage 128 Pro-based graphics boards that have 16 or 32MB of SDR memory, only 128MB (or sometimes 256MB) of PC133 SDRAM, and a relatively small capacity (20 or 30GB) hard drive that spins at only 4500 or 5400 RPM. All those drawbacks result in a crappy P4 system, indeed!

Bottom line: You get what you pay for.

 

[aeberbach]

You can find an ATC-200 at www.pricewatch.com, use the search term "atc-200" - they start at $200. Or, my old one is for sale at $100. It does not include a power supply. It has had the stamped fan grilles removed (they are noisy; I will include steel fan grilles). PM me if interested. Be aware there will be a shipping cost ($20?) and if you're not in the USA or Canada it will not be worthwhile.

 

[ai0tron]

Why are you selling you atc 200 aeberbach?

 

[acidtripwow]

Eagle_Driver, I'm sure they did something like that to get the price down but what kind of power do most of us really need. I think a PC like that will still run most apps very well. The only thing you need a high end PC for is if you're doing something heavy duty like CAD/CAM. Most of the people I know who have high end PCs just use them to surf the web and check their AOL email account.

 

[Eagle_Driver]

You're not getting the performance those P4s really deserve... In fact, they perform slower than my home-built 700MHz Pentium III with *only* a 100MHz FSB and higher-end components even in business apps!