Corsair 380T.5 aka "Laggy"

[10e]

Hehehe, looks like you've done your homework!

Yeah I like reading and watching vids to see what other people have done, and since you took all that time to test all these different fans, I figured I'd bookmark it and review it, along with Martin's Liquid Labs who has tested a number of fans I have.

So this is what I found briefly this morning:

1) Cougar CFD120-LED fans have easy to replace led bulbs, 5mm each
2) My older Enermax Everest fan has 3mm LEDs that are also very easy to replace, as the fan is completely able to be disassembled

My choice here is clear. The Cougar fan is generally a better all-rounder, and the Everest fans are hard to get, and I only have one, so I would need 3 more. I also have multiple 5mm LEDs in the color I need, not as many 3mm ones. In addition the Cougar LED fans have translucent frames to help light show a bit better behind the filter mesh of the panels of the 380T.

[gdesmo]

Ah lets stop whining about fans and just give me a bunch of metal bladed Nidec's so the case will hover !

[10e]

Back to the Spectre Pros. It seems one thing BitFenix does right with these fans is that they only snap in the 5mm LEDs, unlike (seemingly) everyone else, who seem to glue them.

I had some blue LED Cougars that I could easily remove the Blue LEDs from, so I figured that the red version would be the same. Conveniently enough, the red LED 120mm model has orange fan blades, which is magically the other color I want in this build.

Unfortunately after receiving the Cougar red LED models the LEDs are fricken' super-glued into the frame, and even with acetone/nail polish remover used to try and dissolve the glue, and a small plastic cutting knife, taking the LEDs out without basically destroying the mounting holes in them is a no-go. Disappointing. Even worse is that these fans are stunning orange translucent blades. Sucks.

I then looked at the Fractal Design R2 fans I have which were my second choice, but alas, only the 140mm models have 5mm LED holes in them. Also the Spectre 120mm fans have glued in 3mm LEDs and their orange color is more golden/amber than orange, so no way for those either.

The only other easy-to-get fans I found which have easily removable LEDs are the crappy DeepCool clear LED fans from Canada Computers, which I don't want. I bought one to test it out and it pushes even less air through the Dark Side rad than the Spectre Pros.

Either way, I'm fairly confident temps will be fine as I have 480mm of radiator cooling a 4790K and R9 290X. I have fit the Spectre Pros to rads before at 1000-1200 RPM with fan filters fitted and noted that they were quiet and I felt sufficient air coming through the rads. The thing I've found with these fans at that they are horrible at higher RPMs than 1200-1400. I think the blade reinforcement bumps cause issues with air turbulence, which is exacerbated by high RPM. At low RPM I've found these to be anything but loud.

And anyway I can change them later if they don't do the job, but I'd rather finish this build without stupid, needless delays

Over the weekend I did some surgery soldering on the front light assembly:

1) Removed the main "power" LED that shines a red light on the front of the case and replaced it with orange
2) Changed the fan controller lights from red to amber, orange, red, so the fan controller has different colors based on 5/7/12v. I also changed the "SS" red light between the two USB 3.0 ports to orange
3) Test fitted the Darkside rad on the side to make sure it doesn't hit the Digi+3 daughterboard on the motherboard. Success.

The best part is, because it's now a modular item, I can remove it if I want to change it later. You can't see the fan controller lighting on the fan controller in this photo, but later I'll show it.

Here's a hint of what the front plate lighting looks like now:



Clearance shot, as luck would have it, the ports on the rad are not blocked off by the motherboard's mini Digi+3 mini card.

[bungwirez]

Its nice work 10e. Keep at her.

[Grinder]

Good work, love the blue. Glad to see you are working through your rad config issues.

[10e]

Its nice work 10e. Keep at her.

Thanks BungZ

Ah lets stop whining about fans and just give me a bunch of metal bladed Nidec's so the case will hover !

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3026[/ATTACH]

That was considered. I love those fans but they are almost as scary as the Silverstone AP182 2000 RPM death typhoon fan. Nothing gentle about that one!

Good work, love the blue. Glad to see you are working through your rad config issues.

The rad config was easy, as I knew that this case has limited vertical space, but since I have the Swiftech H220, and it's only 246mm with no fittings overhanging the outside I knew it would fit in the front if I removed the motherboard tray piece that was the hard disk cage anchor and motherboard tray anchor for the front. Alternatively this case is so solidly build with some really thick metal that it's still quite rigid even after removing some pivotal reinforcement points.

The Dark side LP240 rad is perfect for the side and I don't need super-high static pressure fans to use it effectively due to medium FPI, so I'll be happy with temps. I completely ripped apart the H220X and due to design it's obvious that having the "fill port" facing the top is definitely 100% the preferred orientation. Albeit a bit homely it is absolutely the best all-in-one out there by a long shot. The pump isn't a DDC/MCP35x but it looks to be very well-designed.

I'm glad I dis-assembled it as there was some acrylic shavings dirt in the reservoir which has been removed by my cleaning.



The fan config would have been easy too if it wasn't for that meddling Cyclops(hehe j/k), but I spent some time educating myself on fan mods.

I found out the following fans are easy to disassemble by just pulling the fan blade assembly straight from the main plastic centre point of the fan: Corsair SP120/Performance/Quiet/LED editions, AF120/AF120L, Noiseblocker E-loop B12-P, Silverstone FQ121, One Gentle Typhoon AP-15 (I had previously heard the blades assembly is glued on to the hub, but not on this one), Cougar CFD120 red/blue/green versions.

The Noiseblocker, Corsair SP120/AF120 and Silverstone FQ121 were really easy and didn't feel remotely close to breaking, while the Cougars (while they didn't break) felt like they were almost going to snap, but none of them did.

The following are dicey or not recommended: Silverstone AP121 (magnetic hub and PCB assembly just broke off main fan centre on one), Swiftech Helix PWM (main blade assembly pulled off centre axle part)

BTW I'm very impressed with the Silverstone FQ121 fans. They don't have that stupid airflow limiting "cyclone" grill on them like the AP121s, are quiet versus RPM and push air through radiators quite well. They are also a beautiful blue color and have 5mm LED holes built into the frame. They are now my third favorite rad fan to GTs and Noiseblocker ELoops.

Theoretically any non-sleeve bearing fan should work this way, but it varies.

I would have finished everything except the sleeving this weekend but I was side tracked with a fun little project. Emphasis on the "little" and "fun" hehe.

[bungwirez]

good research 10e. this is one of those things that would go great in a video tutorial.