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Case Fans

H

HansBbans

Member
Hi,

Im a newbie building his first system with some questions about case fans. I'm going to be overclockinga 1.6 to hopefully around 2.4 levels. I plan on using artic silver with the reatil heat sink and fan.

But for case fans:
1. how many do you need? is somewhere from 2-4 enough?
2. what differentiates between an intake and exhaust fan? Is there actual difference when you buy the fan? or when/how you mount it?
3. 3pin and 4 pin fans? Are the pins just about you connect to the power supply? if so, is one preferred?

Thanks for all of your help guys.
 
1. Get as many fans as your case can hold.
2. The only difference between an intake and an exhaust fan is in the way you mount it
3. 3 pin fans are designed to connect to the motherboard, and 4 pin fans connect directly to the power supply's molex connectors. 4 pin connectors are generally preferred if you're buying very powerful fans. The number of 3 pin motherboard connections varies, and I think it's mostly personal preference. There are also 4 to 3 pin adaptors available.
 
if you're planning on overclocking, 10 case fans won't help if you're using a stock heatsink. You're better off investing in a better heatsink. By your clock speeds, I assume you're going Intel, in which case you'll want a high-end heatsink I recommend the thermalright ax-7.
 
Overclocking an Intel 1.6a to 2.4 can be done with the stock heatsink and fan; one of my rigs does so. But, a better heatsink and fan is always a help. The chip actually runs fairly cool, even at 2.4 GHz, so case temps are not nearly as much of a problem as with older CPUs (Intel or AMD).
If I were you I would buy "quiet" fans, ie low power, for you case cooling for an Intel Northwood chip (Panaflo L1As). Keeping it quiet is a real blessing that should not be overlooked. Buy a quiet power supply as well (Antec, Enermax). The size fan is determined by your case openings, usually 80 mm. The stock fans that come with a case are often fast and loud, designed to be "safe" for any system that is installed.
If, on the other hand you are overclocking an AMD chip of any speed or an older Intel chip (p3), then CPU temps are critical as are case temps. After a while you will get tired of having 10 fans in your case, I promise. I have only 3 in my Intel P4 rig and 5 in my AMD dual rig and that is just about as much noise as anyone can stand.
Good luck.
 
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