Advice on drilling holes?

[dawkz123]

So a few days ago, I bought and installed a H80 from scan to fit into my 300r. Using both fans in a push/pull configuration, the fan is tight up against the block on the cpu, to the point where I wasn't able to screw in the lower left screw, (if you were looking at the case from the back). I'm not sure if this is just because of the case, or the motherboard or whatever.

I was thinking of moving the radiator to the gap in between the optical drive slots, and the hard drive trays, and then having the 140mm fan on the front to draw in cold air from the front of the case, to go through the radiator. The only thing is, I'd have to drill a couple of holes to be able to secure the rad behind the 140.

Would you recommend doing this? I don't know if the rad pushing up against the cpu block is damaging it, or putting strain on my motherboard?

The yellow on the picture is where I would drill the holes, and the red is where I would put screws already, (although probably with a couple of washers.

http://postimg.org/gallery/5r9bqoua/05cf2af0/

Cheers,

John

[eltel]

why not just move the fan that's up against the case externally? as it's at the rear of the case I don't think it will be too obtrusive and would help with your lack of internal space......

[wasabi]

With a bit of plywood you could probably make a thin adapter plate for the fan. Depends how particular you are on appearance.

[dawkz123]

The back of my case has a small dome where the fan would be, and the fan would be orientated in such a way that the middle would be pressing up against the case...

[herulach]

You could cut the grill out. I'd be tempted to mount it at the front though, as you're not going to be getting a lot of airflow to the vrms with it like that.

Whichever you do take it steady and make sure all the swarf is out of the case before rebuilding.

[dawkz123]

Does anyone know if this is bad for my motherboard/cpu? Because if not, I might as well not do it. I'm running at a small oc of 4.2ghz on a 4670k, and am atm getting temps of around 27 degrees...

[peterb]

I wasn't sure if you were talking about drilling extra holes in the mobo, in which case my response was:

Motherboards are multilayer devices - drilling extra holes may damage printed tracks in the intermediate layers.

VERY HIGH RISK OF TRASHING THE BOARD.

However, having looked at the pictures, I see you are talking about the case - and yes, you could drill out some of those holes - carefully, but be very careful not to damage the structural integrity of it. The fan chassis would add it bit more stability, but the danger then is that any distortion of the case could distort the fan chassis causing he blades to foul the fan chassis, or the chassis to fracture. It can be done - but needs to be done with care and planning. If it adds mechanical stress to the mobo (hard to see how from the images) then it is also a bad idea, as flexing could cause damage to the tracks and/or components.

The adapter plate is probably the most elegant solution, Thin steel or aluminium plate would be the most elegant solution (aluminium is easier to work with unless you have access to some metal working equipment) or you could use thin ply or mdf.

[Pob255]

A fan adaptor is easiest http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...pid-18848.html
Keep the 140 fan on the front, attach the adaptor on the inside then the rad with one fan behind it in pull (the front 140 will become the push fan)

The problem will be fitting it, the 300r uses pressed out domes for the screw holes, the holes are threaded and the fan attaches by long bolts through the fan and screw into the metal, normally fans attach the other way, ie the screw goes through the hole and screws into the fan

You'll want some long bolts with nuts and probably washers (M3 size would probably be best)
Attach the adaptor to the rad, then feed the bolts through the adaptor, carefully feed that through the case front, fit the fan onto it and then put on the nuts (so the heads on the bolts are on the inside of the case and the nuts on the outside after the fan.
You might need washers to keep it all together depending on the size of the nut and bolt heads vs the size of the holes in the fan and frame.
You will not be able to get it super tight as it's going to be very hard to get at the bolt heads at the same time as the nuts, but that shouldn't be a problem as you should be able to get it tight enough by hand tightening.

Drilling holes would let you fit the rad straight to the front without an adaptor and fitting the front fan back on would be less hassle.
Do any of the pre drilled holes at the top already fit 120mm fan hole placement? if not that's going to be an issue.

Remember to remove all components from a case before you start drilling and clean it out after, you'll be making fine metal shavings that you don't want on your motherboard or inside your psu.

Here's another simple idea, have you considered putting the radiator in the roof instead?