Scythe Kama Stay + Antec Solo = NOT Love

I bought the Scythe Kama Stay to help cool my otherwise passively cooled video card, a Radeon 3870 from PowerColor. The video card would stay in the upper 80° Celsius range while loaded with Folding@Home. And while the card is meant to operate up to 100 degrees, it didn't make me feel that this was a good ideea keeping the card 24/7 close to this temperature. So I got the Kama Stay for about 15 EUR. I thought it was a good deal.



Unfortunately it simply doesn't fit into the Antec Solo. The Kama Stay is a bit too tall and a bit too long. So I took it apart. First I removed the top side. I managed to get the Kama inside the case, but the HDD chasis of the Antec would block it from connecting it properly to the case. Maybe a saw could fix this problem :-), but I had none at my disposal.
Fortunately, the Kama Stay is modular, so I could take just the fan and the fan controller apart. I tied the fan with some wires to the video card, set it to minimum speed and now I have no increase in noise level, but a 30° C drop in temperature under load.


How much did I overpay though?
Considering that the fan is about 10 EUR and a fan controller around 4, I'd say 1 EUR tops :-) .
Still... it would have been nice to be able to use the Kama Stay as a 2.5" HDD rack. In a world where things are becoming smaller and more compact, the Kama Stay required a lot of space. Otherwise, it's a good product idea: a great addition to any silent PC.