Need help with choose pc upgrade

[Biscuit]

I've ordered two 120mm fans. I'm thinking one at the front (blow air in) and one at the top (take air out). What do you think?

Personally I prefer a slight positive air pressure, which means more air coming in than going out. A couple of manufacturers claim this is better for dust and in my experience, they are right.

Good choice, but thought about dust filters?. A fan that blows air out on the top is a good idea with hot air rising, but if you do that make sure you cover the fan when you have finished using your PC or the there will be more dust settling into your PC.

So I'd have to cover the pc every time? That'd be a pain. Is there anything I can do to avoid this?

You also have to remember to take the cover off again when the pc is switched back on or it will overheat!

Honestly I have never heard of this phenomenon of more dust settling back into the pc once it's switched off because of a top mounted fan. Put filters on the intakes to prevent them blowing dust into your PC then just make sure you pull them out and give them a bit of a clean every couple of months and you should be fine. I also tend to give the actual insides of the computer a clean every few months, (or whenever I put something new in ) but you can gauge how often you need to do it by observing how clean or dirty it gets over the first few months of owning it as every case is different.

[kmac]

I've ordered two 120mm fans. I'm thinking one at the front (blow air in) and one at the top (take air out). What do you think?

Top one is probably not needed as the case already has a rear exhaust fan near the top - but if noise is not an issue it can't hurt.

Also i believe those top mounts inthe Alph merc can take 140mm fans that use 120mm mounting holes such as http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/...pid-13402.html

Advantage of larger fans is they generally shift more air at slower speeds and hence less noise

[nasorpc]

thanks kmac, i was about to order this filter from scan.co.uk, but for some reason, they are not giving me any free delivery.

I'm not too fussed about it though as i can always get the filters at a later date when i buy a large hard drive. Talking about hard drives....What do you recommend? I prefer a portable 1-2tb hard drive, but i don't want to lose huge speed as most of the time i want to have it connected constantly to this pc...only on the odd occasion, i may want to disconnect it to transfer data such as photos/movies/games to another pc. Is it worth it, having a hard drive with esata or usb?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

thanks kmac, i was about to order this filter from scan.co.uk, but for some reason, they are not giving me any free delivery.

I'm not too fussed about it though as i can always get the filters at a later date when i buy a large hard drive. Talking about hard drives....What do you recommend? I prefer a portable 1-2tb hard drive, but i don't want to lose huge speed as most of the time i want to have it connected constantly to this pc...only on the odd occasion, i may want to disconnect it to transfer data such as photos/movies/games to another pc. Is it worth it, having a hard drive with esata or usb?

The minimum order is £20 without VAT.

[Biscuit]

thanks kmac, i was about to order this filter from scan.co.uk, but for some reason, they are not giving me any free delivery.

I'm not too fussed about it though as i can always get the filters at a later date when i buy a large hard drive. Talking about hard drives....What do you recommend? I prefer a portable 1-2tb hard drive, but i don't want to lose huge speed as most of the time i want to have it connected constantly to this pc...only on the odd occasion, i may want to disconnect it to transfer data such as photos/movies/games to another pc. Is it worth it, having a hard drive with esata or usb?

Just get whatever hard drive is the best value really. A lot of special offers appear on various websites for 1/2TB drives from time to time so keep an eye out or join up to the HUKD mailing list which quite often has them in the top 5 deals of the day. USB2.0 will give you speeds of around 25-30MBps which isnt exactly bad for what you will be using it for really. If you get a USB3.0 drive then the interface no longer becomes the bottleneck and that limit is lifted so you should see whatever speed the drive is capable of achieving.

I reckon eSATA is quite useful if some of your older PCs have that inferface, but not USB3. Choosing it on a prepackaged portable drive might limit your options though, as not a huge amount of them have it, but if you get an enclosure (i have an older akasa one and its been going strong for 5 years now!) and a drive separately then you can put whatever drive you want in it.

[csgohan4]

http://www.demcifilter.com/filters_f...custom_filters

These are meant to be the dogs doh dahs but I think the one I linked to above would sufice

I use demciflex for my Haf x and their great, hardly any dust after 2 years useage

[csgohan4]

Honestly I have never heard of this phenomenon of more dust settling back into the pc once it's switched off because of a top mounted fan. Put filters on the intakes to prevent them blowing dust into your PC then just make sure you pull them out and give them a bit of a clean every couple of months and you should be fine.

If the outtake fan blowing air out of the top, when the pc is off, there is nothing stopping your regular dust going into your PC as the outtake fan are never filtered for good reasons. That's why in my Haf X case, every fan is an intake fan and only have one outtake from the CPU stream out of the back. As you mentioned positive pressure is a must i.e more fans blowing in than out. Obviosuly whatever you do it's not 100% dust proof, but it helps keeping out dust balls out of your system for longer.

[kmac]

thanks kmac, i was about to order this filter from scan.co.uk, but for some reason, they are not giving me any free delivery.

I'm not too fussed about it though as i can always get the filters at a later date when i buy a large hard drive. Talking about hard drives....What do you recommend? I prefer a portable 1-2tb hard drive, but i don't want to lose huge speed as most of the time i want to have it connected constantly to this pc...only on the odd occasion, i may want to disconnect it to transfer data such as photos/movies/games to another pc. Is it worth it, having a hard drive with esata or usb?

As already advised, any HDD would be fine - probably get USB3 if external and you mobo supports it.

[nasorpc]

@ cat - thanks for the clarification

@ biscuit and kmac - so if i got a usb 3.0 portable hard drive, will i still be able to use it on a pc that only support usb 2.0, even if it is slower?

@ csgohan4 - the problem with the Alpha Merc case that i ordered is that it has a mesh at the top and as you can imagine, dust will settle through that and onto the pc parts, which can be problematic. What do you recommend i do, considering i have ordered two extra 120mm fans for it?

[csgohan4]

@ cat - thanks for the clarification

@ biscuit and kmac - so if i got a usb 3.0 portable hard drive, will i still be able to use it on a pc that only support usb 2.0, even if it is slower?

@ csgohan4 - the problem with the Alpha Merc case that i ordered is that it has a mesh at the top and as you can imagine, dust will settle through that and onto the pc parts, which can be problematic. What do you recommend i do, considering i have ordered two extra 120mm fans for it?

USB 3 HDD are backwards compatible to USB 2, but expect lower speeds as a result. you could try a USB 3 PCI card if you want faster speeds.

You could use the top fans to blow into you case and put two filters in. But different people have different opinions. People say it is better blow air out of the top as hot air rises, but settling dust does negate this if you dont block the fans when not in use.

[nasorpc]

Thanks csgohan4 mate.

So instead of fitting a fan at the front, shall i fit both fans at the top of the case with dust filters?

[kmac]

@ biscuit and kmac - so if i got a usb 3.0 portable hard drive, will i still be able to use it on a pc that only support usb 2.0, even if it is slower?

@ csgohan4 - the problem with the Alpha Merc case that i ordered is that it has a mesh at the top and as you can imagine, dust will settle through that and onto the pc parts, which can be problematic. What do you recommend i do, considering i have ordered two extra 120mm fans for it?

Yes as csgohan says it will work with USB 2 but at the slower transfer speed

I don't think you should be agonising about dust settling through form the top fan vents. Its really not such a big deal.

I wouldn't bother covering it and top fans should be exhaust.

I would put one fan at front as intake with a filter, keep the one at rear as exhaust and use the third as top exhaust.

[csgohan4]

Thanks csgohan4 mate.

So instead of fitting a fan at the front, shall i fit both fans at the top of the case with dust filters?

Never put filters on your outtake fans, this will limit flow out of the case and hence heat build up.

As Kmac says, everyone has an opinion to what you should do. Do what you think is right for you. I've had my set up for 2 years and I have not needed to Air blow my case yet as there is very minimal dust. Expect more dust if you leave open vents at the top and negative pressure.

Dust people may say is not worth thinking about, well it is when you can't get it off your heatsink as there is so much of it, especially with the complex heatsink, the small nook and crannies they go into. It's an absolute nightmare to get rid of and causes extra and avoidable heat

[nasorpc]

thanks kmac...i will do exactly that mate.

EDIT: Sorry csgohan4, i think u posted at the same time as myself. I won't do that. Thanks again

[nasorpc]

I am going to order two 120mm aluminium dust filters and i will attach 1 at the front fan (intake) and one at the top - there is a mesh to allow you to put two fans, but the top exhaust will NOT have any filters.

[kmac]

I am going to order two 120mm aluminium dust filters and i will attach 1 at the front fan (intake) and one at the top - there is a mesh to allow you to put two fans, but the top exhaust will NOT have any filters.

Sounds good