Optimal Positive Pressure Setup for an Antec 302 case?

[SlayerMatt]

Decided I'm fed up with the dust in my case currently, requiring a good clean every 6 months at a minimum. The case currently has a top fan and rear fan both of which were included, not entirely sure what the configuration is for it at the moment due to fiddling with some things not long ago. I'm also investing in a Hyper Evo 212 cpu cooler which I'm also considering the airflow direction.

The image I quickly "doodled" on saving use of a better word, shows what I plan on having the airflow as roughly. The front two fans I'll need to purchase if they're needed. I plan on filtering the intakes with some magnetic filters so they're a bit easier to clean.

Two questions really,
Can I mount the Evo 212 so the fan exhausts upwards without losing much of the efficiency?
If not, would two good fans as intakes, out balance the three fans (the two pants ones that come with it and the cooler) for maintaining positive pressure.

Any help would be great, not too keyed up on this sort of thing sadly.

Edit: As a side not I have two hard drives in the cage at the front and an ssd, although I can always mount the SSD behind the motherboard (I think) if need be. My graphics card is a two fan Windforce one as well, if that effects the pressure much.

[shaithis]

Buy a new case!

I'm not a fan of positive pressure and certainly not when setting it up in the winter.....you may find summer rolls around and suddenly you have problems out of no-where.

Buy a case which has cleanable meshes on all the inlet/outlets and have the best temps and a clean case.

[SlayerMatt]

Buy a new case!

I'm not a fan of positive pressure and certainly not when setting it up in the winter.....you may find summer rolls around and suddenly you have problems out of no-where.

Buy a case which has cleanable meshes on all the inlet/outlets and have the best temps and a clean case.

To be honest a new case would be something I'd consider, just whether I can justify the cost of it at the moment. The 302 does actually have a front filter, although its a complete PITA to remove and clean.

[jigger]

Buy an air purifier for the room?

[SlayerMatt]

Buy an air purifier for the room?

To be fair that's probably the best long term solution to the problem, but buying the fans is probably a quarter of the price

[peterb]

You will still get an airflow, and you will still be introducing new air into the case, so you won't eliminate the problem of dust. The only way is to either filter the incoming air, or have a closed loop air system with a heat exchanger outside the case and air ducts -which will be large and loud, and you will still need to clean the heat exchanger.

One way round this is to use another fluid to cool critical components. Water in a closed tube is said to work well...

[SlayerMatt]

You will still get an airflow, and you will still be introducing new air into the case, so you won't eliminate the problem of dust. The only way is to either filter the incoming air, or have a closed loop air system with a heat exchanger outside the case and air ducts -which will be large and loud, and you will still need to clean the heat exchanger.

One way round this is to use another fluid to cool critical components. Water in a closed tube is said to work well...

Filtering of the intakes was my plan. I'm tempted by an AIO solution, although I'm not sure the overall cost association is worth it I understand that dust is never going to be truly eliminated, but a reduction would be useful. At the moment I actually don't have any intakes other than my PSU. Which given the state the filter that was over it was in (which I didn't realise just slid out ) must have been very minimal. I cleaned it out briefly over christmas as I had to move my desk about and its already coated for reference.

[peterb]

I'm not sure if you would get any useful reduction. The volume of air in is going to equal the volume of air out once you have established an equilibrium, and that volume of air will carry so much dust. The outlet air velocity is likely to be faster, taking more dust with it, but the air inlet velocity will be lower, so larger dust particles are likely to fall out inside the case.

So unless you duct the air inside, you'll see no real benefit, and if you are ducting the air you need bother about the relative pressure.

You could make a Venturi at the output port so that you suck the air out, effectively negative pressure, but you are still going to have air entering the case - with dust in it.