This is a long title for the post, but the two sets of pictures go together since I did the sleeving because I was replacing the fans so I had to open up the case anyway. I must say, things turned out quite well!
The Vantec Nexus 205-B came with lots of wires, so I wanted to tidy things up a bit...
I had two wires going to the same part of the case (the rear 120mm and 92mm fans), so I sleeved them together. After sleeving, but before the heat shrink tubing:
I don't mind the frayed ends; they help expand the mesh sleeving so I can fit it around the Molex connectors.
With the heat shrink tubing, the frayed ends of the sleeving are covered and things are nice and clean:
The other two fan controller wires were wrapped singly, and since the wires themselves are rather thin they have to be folded over on the ends to make the shrink wrap sit tightly (see the "After" picture).
When the smoke cleared, the results spoke for themselves...
Before:
After:
The Vantec Nexus itself will be installed by itself in the 5.25" bay to 3.25" bay converter that comes with the Thermaltake Armor:
I apologize for the blurry picture. It is hard to see if it was focused or not on the little LCD screen on the camera...
Although the Silenx fans I have were great (except for that clicking noise they make when the wires aren't taught), I wanted a bit more "oomph" in my cooling, so I went with AeroCool XtremeTurbine fans. The metallic-finished fins reflect the light throughout the case and onto the walls of any room the computer is in so it creates a nice effect while looking elegant.
After removal from their packaging, you can see that AeroCool did a nice job on their design.
Each of the fans comes with a cone to go over the front for a turbine-like look, but I opted to leave them off since I wanted the case to be consistent in its design and the fans didn't fit with the cones on in the front bay.
Though they look great when not turned on, and look even better when in use:
They have a nice, silvery, blurred motion effect. The three AeroCool fans are installed in each of my 120mm slots: One on the iCage, one on the Silverstone CFP51-B HDD cage, and one on the rear of the case. I am using the Silenx silicon grommets to mount these fans since they work so well; I will order some more from Silenx to go with those fans for any future silent PC endeavor I may have.
I also bought a Thermaltake Thunderblade fan but the green wiring was very unattractive and too thick to fit in the place I wanted to put it so it is in storage for now, and I am very happy with the performance of the AeroCool fans so I think it will remain there for a while.
Stay tuned for my piece on the Ultra X3 1000W PSU and the AeroCool SilverLightning 92mm fan!