Help me make my 120mm fans spin quicker!

Vesper8

Senior member
Apr 29, 2005
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Ok so I bought a pair of Nexus Real Silent 120mm fans that are getting rave reviews all over the web. Yes they are extremely quiet.. but so far they blow a pathetic small ammount of air. Compared to my coolermaster 80mm fans they must blow about 4x less air. And seeing as how I got one on my XP-120 and one right next to it as an in-take fan... they are doing an extremely poor job and my 3700+ (with XP-120c and the Nexus 120mm fan) has idle temps of 40 degrees !!!!! Absurd!

So obviously I must be missing something... maybe they are running at such a low voltage. I have a 500w power supply so it shouldn't be an issue. But I ask you this.. how do I pump more voltage into these fans ?? I don't know how to change that setting... Please someone enlighten me!

I have an A8N-E mobo.

Please someone... I hope it can be done or else I'll have to buy new fans which I might do anyway but first I wanna see why everyone is loving these nexus ones
 

Fardringle

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2000
9,200
765
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If a fan is specifically designed to spin at a low speed, the only way you're going to get it to to spin faster, if you can do it at all, is to give it a lot more than the standard 12 volts provided by your computer's power supply by using an external power source (which will probably burn out the fan very quickly). If you want a faster fan, buy a faster fan.

The Nexus fans are popular for the exact reason you mentioned: they are extremely quiet. You can't have super quiet and super powerful in the same fan. You can get a nice balance of each, or one extreme or the other (strong and loud or weak and quiet) but you can't have both at the same time...


Edit: Found some typos that were screaming to be fixed. :p
 

Vesper8

Senior member
Apr 29, 2005
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i just thought that something might be wrong with my fans... i thougth maybe because i use so many modulator extensions that the power may have been reduced to them? they is just such a huge difference between them and my 80mm fans.. I guess I will have to buy new ones.

As for 40 degrees being fine for an amd64 cpu at idle times... What would be temps if I had kept the stock HSF? I mean I spent a lot on a XP-120C and a fan I thought would be good so I expect top notch cooling from the combo... Others have reported that with excellent cooling I should be getting idle temps of around 28-30 degrees and I'm pretty far from that right now...

Lastly... can anyone recommend the best 120mm fan out there that will cool the most while not sounding like a jet engine. Quietness is not that important. What I want is a fan that will give me the idle temps I'm looking for of around 30 degrees with my XP-120c.

I guess I should buy some better thermal paste too. Can anyone tell me what's the best kind to apply between my CPU and my XP-120C ? IE is it Artic Silver 5.. or is it ceramic paste.. or what then?

Thanks for the replies
 

imported_rod

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2005
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Try a medium speed 120mm Panaflo for the XP-120.

Also, you can get modules (step-up voltage regulators) to give you upto 24V from your (+12V) PSU, but anything above about 15V will probably kill your fans in a matter of months, if not weeks. Buying faster fans is a better (and safer) option. It'll also probably be cheaper than getting a step-up voltage regulator.

RoD
 

furballi

Banned
Apr 6, 2005
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40C idle is the norm if Cool n Quiet is OFF. Expect to see about 33C with Cool n Quiet enabled. A more powerful fan will generate more noise, but probably will not drop the CPU temp below 37C. If you want sub 35C with C n Q OFF, then get a water pump.
 

Geomagick

Golden Member
Dec 3, 1999
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Originally posted by: AMDgood IntelBAD
is it possible the are only getting 5v? could you combine the 5v and 12v and get a 17v output?

no.

but you would almost certainly damage your computer.
 

peleejosh

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2004
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Originally posted by: furballi
40C idle is the norm if Cool n Quiet is OFF. Expect to see about 33C with Cool n Quiet enabled. A more powerful fan will generate more noise, but probably will not drop the CPU temp below 37C. If you want sub 35C with C n Q OFF, then get a water pump.



40C is not the norm. Mine runs at 35C with a xp-90, and thats with 1.6 volts. 40C is a little on the high side for an idle temp. Especially since you paid a lot for that xp-120. Get a higher flow fan on it.
 

theMan

Diamond Member
Mar 17, 2005
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what are you room temps?

if you want a fan that moves a lot of air, get a 120mm Vantec Super Tornado. :)
 

Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
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Most 12V fans will tolerate 13-14V OK if you really want to try to speed up your Nexus. Someone recommended a Panaflo 120mm fan - remember, those are 1.5" (38mm) thick so you have to check your clearances. Some good brands of fan are - Panasonic (Panaflo), Sanyo-Denki, Nidec, NMB, Delta, Sunon and YS-Tech - Yate Loon is good too but you can hardly find any here in the States. Here are some good fan resellers: http://www.thermalfx.com, http://www.sidewindercomputers.com, http://www.svc.com, http://www.jab-tech.com, http://www.frozencpu.com, http://www.nexfan.com and http://www.bgmicro.com (these guys are odd-lot parts sellers so many of the fans have either no connector or a non-standard connector. Thus you may have to rig your own connector or just splice them in).
. Be aware that some Sanyo-Denki have a limited working range of voltages if you intend to use a fan controller on your fan.

.bh.
 

Vesper8

Senior member
Apr 29, 2005
253
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I am using a vantec nexus 4 fan controller. Not on the CPU one though that one's plugged in directly. But my in-take fan is on the controller and all the dials are turned all the way to the max. I have to admit turning it down only seems to affect some of my fans, my nexus fan doesn't seem to react at all if i turn it up or down.. or maybe I'm just not noticing the difference since it's so quiet to begin with.

I've noticed that if I go in the hardware monitor section of my bios (flashed to latest 1005) the RPM for my cpu fan keeps jumping from 0 to 2100-2500 and back and forth constantly. Also my bios wasn't letting me boot up unless I removed the warning message, saying my fan wasn't spinning fast enough.

How would I check what voltage is currently going to that particular fan? I don't have physical tester devices though.

Would the ammount of modulator splitters/extensions be playing a role in the fans going lower speed? Like I said I have a 500w seasonic PSU so it should have plenty of juice for everything.

Also on a side note.. what kind of thermal paste should I use between the 3700+ and the xp-120c for optimal temps?

Thanks for helping me out

Edit : About my room temps, this past week it's been pretty hot in here but yesterday it was fairly cool.. I'd assume around 20 degrees.. and that's when I noticed the idle temps were at 40 degrees. That's also when I got real close to my nexus fans and noticed how little air they were blowing..
 

furballi

Banned
Apr 6, 2005
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Nominal room temperature is 25C. Add 4C for the temp gradient at the CPU core. Add 2C for the 1.6V overclock. Add 2C for the rise in heat sink temp. 33C is as low as you can go with air and 25C room. With C n Q enabled, the CPU temp may approach 28C.

If the room temp is at 30C, then you should expect to see at least 38C at the CPU core. Depending on the software, the displayed value can be off by up to 7C.

The easiest way to check for proper calibration of the reported temp is to obtain the room temp in the morning. The CPU and heat sink should be at room temp if the PC is OFF. Now turn on the computer and IMMEDIATELY check for the CPU temp. It should not exceed the room temp by more than 6C.

As an example, my room temp is at 24C. With C n Q OFF, Zalman 7000Cu fan at 1740 rpm, and AMD 64 3000 overclocked to 3600 speed, the idle CPU temp is 36C.

In the morning, with C n Q enabled, the temp drops to about 29C.

The point is that at such a low thermal load, any good cooler should be able to keep keep the CPU cool, even at VERY low fan speed. The problems are usually caused by a bad temperature sensor or poorly assembled heat sink.

Make sure the mating surfaces are clean and dry. You should be able to see a shadow of your reflection if the heat sink has a decent finish. A shiny mirror finish is BEST! If not, then you may want to "lap" the heat sink to maximize heat transfer. Apply AS 5 thermal compound to the center of the CPU (1.5x the size of a grain of rice). Put the CPU cooler directly on top of the CPU. Avoid excessive movement when you secure the heatsink clamps.