building new computer - question about case fans!

[elguineo]

Hi there, first of all, i'd like you to tell me what you think about the new computer I am building:

EPOX 8k7a+ mobo (DDR, RAID)
Athlon 1.333ghz T-Bird
512MB Crucial DDR CAS2.5
2 x 40GB WD Caviar drives
PNY Verto GeForce 3
Vantec HSF
Antec SX840 case
Rounded cables (ATA100)
DVD, CDR
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 Platinum

The question is, the Antec brings 2 80mm case fans.
I want to buy a third, should I buy 3-pin, or 4-pin?
What's the difference and does the motherboard need
to have those connectors? Do I need to buy any more
cabling?

And second, is the RAID setup easy? I bought two
rounded cables, since I read that it is best to connect
both IDE drives to their own slot, so they can both
be masters... is this correct, or should I just connect
both of them with one cable?

Anything else I need to know?

Thanks..

 

[paulzebo]

Three pin since that's what most motherboards have extra pins for. Reality seems to be that a single 4" blow hole will cool as good as the three fans you're contemplating, with less noise.

I'm running Raid0 and it wasn't hard to set up. Took about an hour including format time. Just remember that all your data will be destroyed so back up on cd what you really need.

My case is a Supermicro SC750. Way to many fans.

 

[yiwonder]

Fans:
3-pin fans plug into your motherboard. You will have 3 or 4 fan headers (for the 3-pin connectors) on your motherboard. These fans draw their power through the motherboard which could create a problem if you have many large and power hungry fans (you would be fine). Also, if the fan has an RPM monitor on it and you use the 3-pin connector, you could read the RPMs in your BIOS or a program like Motherboard Monitor. I think the 3 pins are power, ground, RPM meter.

4-pin fans plug directly into a power supply connector. These fans will be less likely to run out of power coming in. The downside of the 4-pin connectors is that the RPM monitor on the fan (if equipped) can't be used because the 4-pin connector plugs into the power supply and the RPM info has no where to go. Some people have tried to run the RPM monitor wire from the fan to the correct pin on the motherboard's 3-pin fan header. I'm not sure if it works.

RAID:
RAID setup is easy. You should put the hard drives on seperate channels as masters so that you don't max out the bandwidth in the IDE cables.

Any other questions?