Do you have to drill your case to use Coolermaster fans?

[superfly27]

I read some review on newegg saying he had to drill because the screws were larger than normal.

 

[robphelan]

i haven't had that problem, but, i do have a hard time getting them screwed into the fans wth a normal screwdriver - i usually opt for my cordless screwdriver for those.

 

[JBDan]

Fan screws are suppose to be larger than the fan hole they fill. This is for better holding strength. The more often you screw a fan in and unscrew it you'll notice it gets easier. The larger screws eat away plastic at the diameter of the hole. Clear fans are especially hard to screw in and there plastic is much more brittle making cracking sounds as you screw one in. I would use a hand screw driver for fan installation, just my opinion.

 

[superfly27]

Well, how about using the screws that already hold the Compuman fans in my Enermax case? I figured if the screws are not large enough for the Coolermaster fans, I would put in silly putty inside the holes for the screws.

Maybe that would dampen vibration too. But, I kind of hope I can use them with the fan control. Does it cause damage if you turn up the RPM on the fans if they're not made for higher RPMs?

 

[Zepper]

. Unless you have a strange fan controller than can provide more than 12V, then you CAN'T crank your fans higher than their design speed (unless you mistakenly get your hands on a 5V fan). The kind of fans you DON'T want to use with a fan controller are ones that already have dropping resistors in them (Nexus, Silen-X, etc.) as they will already be running at near the bottom of their working voltage range. You don't mention exactly which fans you are using and which case you have.

. I just bought a CM (CoolerMaster) 4-in-3 drive cage (a CM Stacker accessory that can also be used in most other brand cases) and the fan it comes with is a CM 120x25mm (A12025-12CB-4KN-L1) fan. This fan is either very wimpy for a 120mm, or it already has a dropping resistor. The Amp rating is only 60 mA! And it doesn't put out much breeze - just enough for drive cooling, but nothing extra to contribute to the cooling of the whole system. OTOH it IS very quiet! I'm tempted to pull off the label to see if there is a dropping resistor in there... The mounting holes in this CM fan are standard size and work fine with the standard self-tapping fan screws. I replaced this fan with an NMB fan that can crank up to 120 CFM which better suits my application.

. But the CM cage metal itself has fairly small holes as it is designed to use lock pins for fan mounting rather than standard screws. And the lock pin is a bit smaller than the diameter of the mounting holes in the fan - if the hole in the metal was large enough for the standard fan screw, the lock pins might not be able to get a grip.

. The metal framed fans are a different animal entirely - you will probably want to use standard #6 or #8 screws with nuts for those.

. Most computer cases should have fan mounting holes that are designed for the standard self-tapping mounting screws so you should encounter no problems. If anything, your case may be designed to use the plastic lock-pins. In that situation, you may have to drill out the mounting holes in the case just a bit - you don't want to have to screw the screws into the case metal as the screws are made very cheaply.

. I generally have no problem driving the self-tapping screws into the plastic-framed fans - but mine have mostly had the standard black plastic frames. The clear plastic fans may be a bit more brittle, so take it slow and gentle while driving the screws to prevent cracking.

.bh.

 

[superfly27]

My case is the Enermax CS-3088TA and the two case fans I have now are Compuman S01138812M-3M.

 

[Zepper]

These are standard fan screws. If that's what is holding your fans in now, then you're all set for CM fans. Actually CM fans will work with any standard fittings: lock pins, plastic cages, etc...

.bh.