Ran into an issue

[Klasta]

While building a PC for a friend of mine, I ran into a small issue. I hadn't bothered double checking the dimension of all the parts as Corsair mentions that the 400C I would be using has room for a 240mm radiator up top and I was using a Corsair 240mm radiator so I assumed it would fit. Well it didn't fit in the top due to ram clearance issues and when placed in the front, the GPU (an MSI 1080ti Trio X) wouldn't fit. Since my buddy was pretty keen on having it up and running that same evening, I got a bit creative and screwed the fans to the front, through the fan filter. When the front fascia is mounted though, it completely suffocates the fans so I need a way to let them breath through the fascia.

From some modding vids I Iearned that the front fascia consists of 3 layers, a plastic interior, a foam stuffing and a metal steel frontpanel. How would you guys go about doing this?

• Drilling holes in the panel itself might ruin the sleek esthetic, especially if the inner diameter lights up due to it being shiny bare metal, it might also be susceptible to corrosion in the long run. It also might be insufficient depending on how well the holes keep their shape in the foam.
• Cutting out part of the plastic and removing the foam to give the fans some more breathing space from the inside might damage the structural integrity of the mounting-system. It also probably wouldn't provide enough breathing space anyway.
• Making a custom cutout to mount a fanfilter will once again ruin the esthetic
• Cutting out 120mm holes and having the fans flush with the surface would probably be the coolest solution but I have no idea how go about doing that as there is about 4mm between the metal front and the plastic back

So yeah, I'm a bit dumbstruck here trying to fix it. Anyone here who's more creative who can come up with a better solution? I would consider leaving it as is if it weren't for the mounting holes and the fan cables.

video-1516319101 (1).mp4

[Voxels-Box]

One solution could be using slim fans, like these Scythe ones. If you used those, you might be able to fit them in the usual position.

 

Another option, albiet not a fun one. would be removing the heatsinks from the ram, if that would solve the clearance issue.

[NoxiousOdor]

I had a similar issue with my NZXT S340. Do you have pictures of the front piece? 

 

the front of the s340 mounts on the left and right side and has plastic between the two sides. the whole big plastic piece is mounted to the metal front panel which is the viable part. To make room for my fans I cut out all the plastic that was in the middle.

 

I am terrible at explaining things but when I get home I can take a picture

[Klasta]

11 minutes ago, Voxels-Box said:

One solution could be using slim fans, like these Scythe ones. If you used those, you might be able to fit them in the usual position.

 

Another option, albiet not a fun one. would be removing the heatsinks from the ram, if that would solve the clearance issue.

Slim fans might actually be a great idea, I hadn't really considered it since the last time I used them, they were god aweful being either obnoxiously loud or completely worthless. I see however that Noctua has made some since then so if I can't find a way to fix the case, I might end up replacing the fans.

Removing the heatsinks from the ram is a no-go though, I'm not ruining those Vengeance RGB heatsinks.

[Klasta]

22 minutes ago, WhisperingKnickers said:

I had a similar issue with my NZXT S340. Do you have pictures of the front piece? 

 

the front of the s340 mounts on the left and right side and has plastic between the two sides. the whole big plastic piece is mounted to the metal front panel which is the viable part. To make room for my fans I cut out all the plastic that was in the middle.

 

I am terrible at explaining things but when I get home I can take a picture

I don't have a picture but this video shows it pretty well: 

Spoiler

 

I think I understand what you're saying, your not as bad at explaing things as you might think!

[Voxels-Box]

1 minute ago, Klasta said:

Slim fans might actually be a great idea, I hadn't really considered it since the last time I used them, they were god aweful being either obnoxiously loud or completely worthless. I see however that Noctua has made some since then so if I can't find a way to fix the case, I might end up replacing the fans.

Removing the heatsinks from the ram is a no-go though, I'm not ruining those Vengeance RGB heatsinks.

I agree, I wouldnt want to ruin those either. (I have the same ones)  Though since im not sure how much room you need, the top pieces of those modules are designed to come off, so that could get you a couple mm. Just pull the grate like section off, its held on with friction.

[NoxiousOdor]

2 minutes ago, Klasta said:

I don't have a picture but this video shows it pretty well: 

I think I understand what you're saying, your not as bad at explaing things as you might think!

 

 

What I did was remove the area marked in red, then I mounted the left and right skinny rails individually to the front decorative piece 

 

Spoiler

 

[Klasta]

3 minutes ago, Voxels-Box said:

I agree, I wouldnt want to ruin those either. (I have the same ones)  Though since im not sure how much room you need, the top pieces of those modules are designed to come off, so that could get you a couple mm. Just pull the grate like section off, its held on with friction.

I didn't measure it but eyeballing it, I'd say I require about extra centimeter (which really makes the claim that it fits a 240mm rad up top complete bollocks in my opinion). Maybe with low-profile RAM it would fit but even then I wouldn't be surprised if the motherboard heatsink with block it (MSI Z170 SLI plus)