Enermax, Thermistor, Lian Li Case, & Fan Questions

[sygyzy]

Hi,

I have some questions.

1) My Enermax PSU comes with a 3 pin fan header wire and a thermistor. They are seperate. I plugged the fan header into my CHA(ssis) FAN1 slot on my motherboard. I let the thermistor hang freely in the middle of the case. Question: How do I know the temps of the thermistor? I use MBM and sure I get a series of temps. 4 different ones to be exact. I get CPU (which I can verify with other numbers so I know they are correct). But there are some other numbers and I don't know where they are getting the numbers. For instance right now I have 41, 29, 15, 11, 11 (last one might be redundant of #4). I am guessing 41 is CPU. 29 is what? 29, 15, 11 are confusing. I know most motherboards have two temperture readers built in (CPU and motherboard). Should I assume motherboard = chassis? What about the thermistor from my PSU? Is that reading the case temperature (obviously) but is that 29, 15, 11? Wouldn't it be the same number as the motherboard's temp?

2) My Lian-Li has two front case fans that connect to a little switch. They are both standard case fans that use the 3 pin header wire but they both plug into the switch which then has a 4 pin molex connector. I realized that there is no way I can monitor the RPMS of the fans if I use the molex connector. Is there any reason/benefit to unplugging them from the switch (btw it is a speed selector) and then connecting them straight to my MB?

3) I have a rear case fan on my Lian-Li and it uses the molex connection. Do they make adapters from molex to 3 pin? If you use such an adapter, does the third wire (the one used for monitoring) still work? I assume not since you are going from 2 wires (4 on molex but only two are + / -) to 3 wires (+ / - / monitor).

Thanks,
Sygyzy

 

[Mikewarrior2]

chances are good that you can't read the Enermax' thermistor wtih the mb... its for the power supply to determine how fast it needs to spin its fans based on case temperature.



Mike

 

[gogeeta13]

3) Yes they do. Sometimes they are packaged with swiftech HSFs.

Give me a sec, let me see if I can dig one up..

 

[sygyzy]

<< chances are good that you can't read the Enermax' thermistor wtih the mb... its for the power supply to determine how fast it needs to spin its fans based on case temperature.



Mike >>



Very interesting. I hope you are right so I don't have to keep guessing!

 

[NCstateBen]

heh, i have you exact same setup as you, so here is what i can tell you:

1) no, you cant read the temp from that thermistor, it is only used to determine the speed of the PSU fan. You can however, monitor the speed of that fan through your mobo and determine the temp from that. The conversion table is as follows:

deg C RPM
85 3100
65 2600
45 2100
25 1800

This should be able to give you a rough estimate of the actual temp.

And that 29 temp is most likely your mobo temp.

2) No, you can use the speed switch and monitor the speed at the same time. It sux, i know, be there is nothing you can do.

3) The fan the came with your lian li case should have had a three pin connector on it, so i assume you must have switched it out if you are using a fan with a molex connector. If the fan itself does not have a third wirse comming out of it you cannot monitor the speed. If it does however, you should be able to after connection it to a 4-3 adaptor.

 

[bluesky]

<< The fan the came with your lian li case should have had a three pin connector on it, so i assume you must have switched it out if you are using a fan with a molex connector. >>



Damn it!
Mine(PC 60) has 4 pin connector. I didin't change it out. So the vendor did.
No wonder I thought it's too noisy. They probably swapped it out for cheaper fans.:|

 

[sygyzy]

No, all my case fans (PC 65) are molex. I am almost certain they were not changed out. It was sealed from the factory and even had that yellow cable that wraps around the box. I think that the other poster might have been mistaken.

 

[bluesky]

I had them put an Enermax PSU on it, so it was not factory sealed.
Mine is 60 NO USB, maybe 60USB fans are different?

I put the case up on the desk after using Antec SX830 w/2 rear case fans for a while.
Probably one reason is that the front fans are closer to my ear, but it's pretty loud.
Is it good idea to change the front fans out to make it quieter?
If so, what fans?

 

[sygyzy]

My case is super loud as well. I don't think anyone needs this much cooling. The thing that pisses me off is that when it goes into standby mode, all the fans remain on except for the PSU and maybe the CPU. They enter a standby state which is much quieter (they spin slower I guess). The reason the other fans stay on is because they use molex connectors and that is not adjustable. I am thinking about replacing them with the fans that have 3 pin headers.

 

[bluesky]

As you know Antec SX830 is a huge midtower, much taller than PC60.
My case temp was about 3c lower with SX830 w/2 rear fans and CPU temp was 4-5C lower.
I think you need at least same level of case cooling.
By the way, my fan speed is set to medium.
Do you happen to know the cfm and decibel of the fans?

 

[sygyzy]

Honestly, I don't know the decibel and CFM of the fans but boy they are loud. I am sure you're right, that case fans are important, but I am not sure if a few degrees matter to me. I have my front two intakes on level 1 (highest). Since it goes through a filter, I tested it on level 3 and it makes no sound difference at all. So I guess the rear, cpu, via chipset and psu fans are the ones that are super loud.

 

[bluesky]

<< I have a rear case fan on my Lian-Li and it uses the molex connection. Do they make adapters from molex to 3 pin? If you use such an adapter, does the third wire (the one used for monitoring) still work? I assume not since you are going from 2 wires (4 on molex but only two are + / -) to 3 wires (+ / - / monitor). >>



Hey, you may want to see this adatper page.

 

[sygyzy]

Thanks. Yeah I saw those and the downside is, you guessed it, no way to monitor fans.

 

[NCstateBen]

hmmm...mine came with 3 Adda brand fans. They are all 3-pin. The two in front connect to the speed switch which has two 3 pin places to plug them in, and molex hooked to the switch with witch to power it. I have a PC-68 btw, but in all the reviews i read, they also mentioned these same fans in the PC-60.

I got my case in May from newegg. Lian-li might have changed what fans they put in their cases since then.

Also: The fans a realitivley quiet and run at 2250 rpm according to MBM5. 3 of them to add up however, but my system is very quiet when i turn the switch down to low. Enermax PSUs make almost no noise as they have very quiet fans (2 of them). I have found the the best thing to do with the thermistor on the enermax exaust fan is to attach it to the northbridge heatsink (as long as it doesnt have a fan of its own). By doing this, i get the exaust fan to spin at 2250 as well. If you want it faster, you can always just cut the termistor off and attach the two wires together to elimiate all of it's resistance.

 

[sygyzy]

My front 2 are 3 pin but that does not matter since they are both connected to a speed selector which then connects to a 4 pin molex. Rear fan is molex, no 3 pin.

How did you monitor the RPM of the two front fans if they are plugged into the speed selector > molex?

My case is super loud. I have put my ear next to the front two intakes and because of the filter they make almost no noise. My powersupply is a whisper and the fan is spinning at like 2300 RPM's. That's fine too. I think the culprit is either the rear 80 MM exhaust or my Delta fan on my SK6. I know I can easily change the 80 mm to a Panaflo L series. Easy enough. Now any ideas on changing the heatsink Delta? Would any 60 MM fit? Are there specific fans for cases versus HS? Will a 60 mm case fan fit a heatsink? What fan would you recommend for HS that has rpm monitoring? I hate using Molex as dumb as that sounds. I have like 5 fan headers on my system and I'd like to put them to use.

 

[bluesky]

You sure it's so quiet.
Mine is pretty loud.
If you don't overclock much, sanyo denki is a good choice.
I got one on Alpha 6035, and I can't hear hear the fan, since the 2 front case fans are loud.
Do your m/b have any chipset fan on it? Usually those are pretty loud too.
Anyway, the chipset fan on Asus a7v266-e is damn loud, much more than the sanyo denki on HS.
Do you know what kind of fans are in front, I mean the manufacturer and model?