Case fans, positioning and powering???

[st_eff]

Hi everybody!

I will need to add two more fans to my case. However, I am wondering about the best way to power these. In fact, my choice of fans will be decided by this factor. I have a 300W power supply and one available 4 pin IDE power connector.

At the moment I just have one fan mounted next to the powersupply at the rear of the case. This fan is taking its power from my ASUS P4B533-E Motherboard. Most fans require 2-pin or 3-pin connections. However, I don't think there are more such connections on the motherboard. I guess I could split the remaining IDE power connection with a y-cable and attach fans with 4-pin power connections. However, such fans tend to be inferior to 3 pin fans since they generally don't come with temperature sensors and seem to be noisier. What do I do? I have thought of getting a fan controller such as cooler master II to add some extra 3 pin connections, but I really can't afford such expensive and potentially unnecessary gadgetry.

I figured that I need to position my new fans at the bottom of the case. My Aopen H600 case comes with twp spots on the right hand side near the front of the case, and one on the front. I have understood that fans mounted at such a place should take air in to the case while fans located higher up should move air out of the case. So...if I notice that the fan at the rear take air in instead of out of the case, how can I "turn" it?

Thanks!

 

[scooby]

well just do that, turn it round. most fans have directional arrows on them telling you which way they rotate too. it is generally known that heat rises so (this is just what i do. correct me if im wrong)i have 2 akasa 80mm fans at the rear which are situated nearer the top of the case. these are exhaust.and 2 at the front of the case at the bottom drawing air in. i only have 2 3pin connection points on my mobo for fans the others i used adapters so i could run them from one of the psu leads. these came with the akasa fans so they came in usefull.

 

[st_eff]

Thanks scooby.

 

[pikco]

well, on the subject of case fans, i too have a question...
using the speedfan program the other day, a temperature of 67 degrees celcius was measured - i don't think that's normal, so i think its time to add in a case fan.

is it a bad idea to use the stock fan that came with my amd athlon xp 1900+, will this make any difference? i only ask, because it perfectly fits the back of my case, and fits into the motherboard fine.

thanks for any ideas...

 

[Stephen79]

I just order some sunbeam LED fans (3 of them) from ebuyer.

I have tested one now and they seem great. Very quiet and give off the perfect amount of light.

They have 2 molex for u to pick which one u wish to use.

They were only about £2 too.

 

[bkaa]

So its a good idea to have fans at the bottom blowing in air, and fans at the top blowing air out? Im planning on doing that but i dont know if its gonna work well so thats why im asking, my case has space for 4 fans for the bottom front of my computer, im gonna use 2 out of those 4 spaces to blow air in, and my other 4 fans near the top to blow air out, is it a good idea?

 

[StormBringer]

yes bkaa, heat naturally rises, therefore the best setup is to position fans in the front near the bottom to pull cooler air into the case, and in the back near the top to exhaust the hot air out.

We could get into more complex setups, but any case with good airflow is based on simply moving cool air in near the bottom, and blowing the hot air out near the top. Any additions to this should simply make this work better and help avoid hotspots and turbulence in the flow of air.

 

[bkaa]

Ok, im gonna do that then!

 

[Stephen79]

my case temp has dropped around 20oC with the 2 new fans.

was running at 48-55 and now runs 35 rising to 41 MAX

 

[lowman]

This subject is my latest as far as projects go...thanks for the info people...once again, this site RAWKS!!!