XPS 8700, adding an 80mm case fan to front

As long as you can feel good airflow from your front fan, I woudn't worry about cutting the chassis.  Plus, you still have the option to speed up the fan if you want.  I had and have good airflow from my front fans.

Between air conditioner, stereo, or TV, I hardly ever notice the little bit of noise from my front fan.

Thanks for the reply! Yeah I am getting used to the extra sound of the fan of and I just added 2 120mm fans to vent the cubby hole my Dell is sitting in so that adds more noise. Airflow has never been better! I should have done this ages ago. The Dell XPS 8700 is perfect for me right now! Woohoo! I am happy with it.

Cheers! 

I have no idea why my photos auto rotated!! I can't fix them. Boooooooo

I didn't get carried away with taking photos of the 120mm fan install but have a few of how they look. I made custom grill mounts out of some plastic so I could cut square fan holes and mount them that way. I should have taken more pics. I am lazy and in the end this desk will be trash when I am done using it...lol. I had to modify it once already to fit my wider office chair under it. My room is tight so I have to do what is needed for it to fit.

Inside view. Fans are attached via external plastic grills.Fans came daisy chained with option to add more via USB. The switch was a pain to route due to odd wiring. It works! Hahaha

Cool.  By any chance did you take a photo of your 120mm fans?  You said they're to vent the cubby hole.  Are they external?

Lots of wires, but it looks like it turned out neat, including where you mounted the switch.  Smart to vent the cubby hole.  I don't know why some photos auto rotate either.

@bradthetechnut yeah lots of wires indeed! They were cheap on Amazon though. When not mounted in the case they are super silent on full speed. My mounting must cause vibrations but still not bad. The fans are AC Infinity MULTIFAN S7-P, Quiet Dual 120mm AC-Powered Fan with Speed Control, UL-Certified for Receiver DVR Playstation Xbox Component Cooling.

@Anonymous Thank you so much for the tip! I will do that and edit my other posts. 

Not bad at all.  As for editing, this forum only gives something like 10-15 min. to edit posts after it's made.

Hi @ZippoMan 

I’ve been reading your posts with interest as I’m thinking of doing the same thing. Is it all still working ok? Also, how did you connect it to the power and is it connected to the motherboard? Thanks.

@Mr Jim thanks for checking in! Yes the fan setup is still working great! Noctua fans are amazing! 

I connected the fan directly to my PSU. My EVGA PSU has cables you can add or remove as it is modular. I added the molex power connector type and the Noctua came with a power adapter plug! I also used one of the filters that came with the Noctua to reduce fane speed from a fairly loud 2000 or so rpm down to 1650. Again I just love Noctua for including all the stuff to play around with connections and speeds. I did buy a couple 3 pin splitter cables to try the motherboard connection but like the PSU direct connection better. 

I hope this helps?! 

@ZippoMan That’s great, thanks. I’m waiting for a replacement motherboard but once I have the PC up and running again I’ll give the front fan a go. Will probably swap out the rear fan with a Noctua as well. Cheers, Jim.

For anyone considering adding an intake fan to the front of the case, I was informed there is an existing standoff mounting location for a 92mm fan to be installed.

One of the mounting points is behind the black material and the other can be seen from the front of the case once the black and silver case cover is removed. There are also two small projections for the other two holes in the fan to give you all4 mounting points.

I had an old fan from a previous tower and wanted to try it out. Still haven't hooked the fan up for power but it definitely mounts.

Nice to know and see that fan mounted up! Too late for me but It's ok. Now others will know. I feel kinda dumb for not figuring that out. 

thanks for the useful information.

I recently purchased a Noctua 92mm fan, thinking I'd be using it to replace the existing rear case fan but now after reading this, I think I'll install it in the front.  tks.