Fkyx

Hey everyone. I decided since I was replacing the fan in my Tuniq Tower 120, that I might as well take photos and do some sort of write-up about it. It's pretty easy and straight forward, so think of this as a sort of confidence builder for the ultra noob (includes me). So here we go.

For my Tower I purchased a Silverstone FN121. Here it is on the egg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9346&Tpk=fn121



The Tower holds a 120mm x 120mm x 25mm fan inside the fins themselves. The last dimension, the depth (25mm) is really important. There's really only about 1.5mm breathing room in the mounting device, which I'll get to later, so make sure the fan you choose is 25mm deep and nothing bigger. Most people say the only fan worth putting inside the Tower is the FN121 anyway. It's up to you.

Onto the replacement. Obviously, our first goal is to remove the existing Tuniq fan from the Tower. To do this, you're first going to slide it out of the top of the tower. There's a black mounting apparatus which you can sink your finger nails under, or you could hold the Tower upside down and gently shake it to start the sliding motion. *Do not hold it by the heatpipes or block* Always hold it by the fins. It may be made to handle its own weight, but you don't want to risk damage by being careless. Here's a photo of the existing fan part-way out:


Here it is all the way out:


Take note of the placement of the power cables. They're opposite of the top plate of the mounting device. This allows you to run them underneath the fins, as it's a very tight squeeze at the top of the Tower.

Now that the mounting device is removed, we can remove the fan. Holding the fan in are four screws, one at each corner of the fan, just like when it's mounted to a case. You'll need to unscrew these and remove them. I would suggest doing opposite corners in succession first to make it easier for you to unscrew them. To visualize, try numbering them in a clockwise fashion. You'll want to unscrew 1, then 3, and 2 then 4 respectively.


Don't make fun of my pocket knife. I was too lazy to go out and find a real screw driver. Anyway, onward we go.

Once you've undone all four of the screws, the fan should slide out very easily, and you'll be left with four screws, the mounting apparatus, and a fan.



You're ready to "prepare" the replacement fan. By preparation I mean you need to remove it from its packaging. Here's a side-by-side of the two fans:


To put your replacement fan into the mounting device, you simply reverse the steps that you just performed to get the original fan out.

Slide it in with power cables opposite of the top plate:


Replace the screws in the same fashion that you took them out; opposite corners at a time. 1, 3, 2, 4. With the FN121, you may notice a fair amount of resistance as you're putting the screws in. This is because the mounting holes in the FN121 aren't already tapped. This prevents risk of vibration due to tolerances and whatnot. Also, drive those screws in as hard as you possibly can without stripping them. The tighter they are, the less chance there is of vibration, again, due to tolerances. Here's the mounted FN121:


A perfect fit, right? Well, almost. I mentioned earlier that there's about a 1.5mm tolerance with the mounting device. I don't know why Tuniq engineered it this way, but I suppose it does make sliding the fans in and out very easy. In the end, it's not a problem at all. The frame is sturdy enough not to flop around and hit against the fan, so vibration isn't an issue. Here's a shot of the tolerance using paper to create a contrast:


With the fan mounted, we can now slide the mounting device back into the Tower. Make sure you match the pattern of the top plate with the top profile of the Tower, and insert the cables first, as they are to come out the bottom. The mounting device should slide easily into the tower, with the exception of possible screeches and the not due to the thin sheets of metal rubbing. Once the mounting device is all the way in, you can keep it in place with screws provided with the Tower. I chose to leave mine off... for now, at least.

Here's the finished product juxtaposed with my GeiL memory sticks for a good relative size comparison:



Thanks for reading. If you're a noob who was unsure about the difficulty of this operation like I was, rest assured it's not actually that bad. For the pros who have done this on every one of their ten quad core rigs, don't hate. Appreciate that someone is willing to do stuff even for the little guys.

If you're wondering, the photos were taken with a Nikon Coolpix L3 (crappy eh?) on a little Targus tripod I picked up at BigLots.

Take care, and peace.

this n00b again

nice work. good pictures.

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ChielScape

pocket knife FTW.
nice pics.
deserves rep.

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Dezixn

Lol. Good guide and pictures.

Not sure it needed a guide though lol.

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gonX

Really nice guide, and very throughout

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Fkyx

It probably didn't. But I figured "why the hell not?". Hehe. Thanks for the input guys.

dr4gon

Nice sharp pictures, nikon coolpix eh? hehe EXIF info

t4ct1c47

The manual actually explains how to remove the fan, so this thread wouldn't really help anyone who knows what they're doing.

However, seeing as most nubs don't even think of checking obvious places like manuals you win a Rep +1

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funkycasey

This is a nice thread for beginners for the Tuniq. Shows you have very good potential...and you are very good with the camera! Rep for you for a good one!

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Fkyx

I don't believe mine came with a manual with that stuff. It only came with instructions to mount the Tower. I might have dropped it somewhere, but I doubt it. Manuals were the first thing I looked for.