Computer Geek question: Low profile PCI Fan?

Hi,
I’m hunting around for a low profile PCI slot fan add-on for my brother’s PC.

That means that: 1) is an additional fan that occupies the place where a normal PCI card would go. 2) is only 3" tall unlike normal PCI cards that are 5" tall.

I’ve been looking over all kinds of stuff online for a while now and I’ve gotten nowhere. Just to rant a little, I would think that the low-profile machines would have the biggest assortment of add-on cooling since they will build-up the most heat the quickest due to their unforgiving dimensions for air exchange.

Anybody have any leads?

Have you given Pricewatch a look?

http://www.pricewatch.com/public/

now? yes I’ve looked there too.

Do you want the fan to exhaust hot air, or simply move air?

FWIW a lot of the low-profile cases cool very nicely when stood on end. Simply have the PSU at the top so it can vent all that hot air.

I’m not sure what good a PCI fan is going to be. What are you trying to do exactly? I ask because there’s almost certainly a better way of optimizing air flow in the case.

Well, I suppose exhausting the hot air would be most beneficial, but moving air would indirectly achieve the same effect.

Currently, my bro can’t stand this machine on it’s end, I’m getting him a stand for Christmas (shhh) haha. But from what it appears, I’m gonna have to find me a regular slot cooler style for a 5" pci slot and modify it so it can fit in the low profile case (which I hate). If it was all about chopping the bracket down 2" I’d be all over that, but by the pictures most of these fans look to be about 4" and then there’s an additional inch of height on the bracket. So if no one knows of a pci cooler that is made for a low profile case, then my next best wish is to find a pci cooler fan that only measures 3" in height (then I’ll take care of the rest :wink:

What is the time vs cost equation work out to with what you’re suggesting?

Does the case have a spare drive bay? If so, there are fas that will fit there.

Like I said, I don’t know what you are trying to do. What does the case look like? What are you trying to cool? What is the current airflow of the case look like? Optimally you’d want to pull in fresh air in the lower front and exhaust it on the upper rear. If you can get that flow going (ideally with slight positive pressure) then you’re good.

Is the PC suffering from overheating? Could larger fans to replace the exiting ones be a better (quieter) solution?

Let me clear everything up for everyone. This is a micro-ATX Dell Optiplex 170L I am not trying to cool anything in particular, I’m just familiar with these computers and I know how much they suffer from heat issues. A computer will never complain about how cold it is, only in regards to heat.

If you see the almost worthless vertical low profile slot on the picture showing the back of the system, I am trying to exploit a “negative” of this machine and make a positive out of it. Sure there are holes in the back of the system, but there is really only one fan in the whole set-up that actually pushes the hot air out of the back and that fan is busy taking care of the CPU.

So … ideas?