How many fans is the right number? Where to put them?

[ZackLK]

Hi All,

I'm building a new Tbird 1000 and wondering how many fans I should have in my new system. I have the Tai Sol CPU Fan, and I also have three case fans. However, I'm not entirely sure where to put the case fans. I've heard that my video card should come with its own fan, so that shouldn't be a problem (nvidia geforce2 pro 64mb)

You cooling experts out there think that should be enough?

Whats the best locations to have the fans in?

For a case I'll be using the:
Enlight Mid Tower (EN 7237) w/ 300 Watt PS

Last question - Do I need to put a fan blowing on my power supply or what?

Thanks!!

 

[Confused]

the psu has its own fan, taking air from inside the case and expelling it out of the back of the case, so don't worry about that. as for your others, place one down at the bottom at the front, drawing air INTO the case from outside, and place another one near the top at the back pushing air OUT of the case. this arrangement should fit your case, but as i don't have that case, i can only guess. as for your third, where else could it go?

you really want the same number pulling air in (which, ideally, should be near the bottom, cos hot air rises ) as pushing it out (near the top of your case)

hope this helps

 

[ZackLK]

Hey, you said the PS has its own fan...do you mean inside of it? The reason I ask is because on the specifications for the Enlight Case, it said it had 2 fans installed, +1 optional. (I got the optional +1 for a total of 3)...I was just wondering if ONE of those 3 would be installed for (or in) the PS, or if the PS automatically had its own... (I'm just alittle confused...)

So, you said, one of the fans goes in the front on the bottom to draw air in. Do I need to reverse the blowing direction of the fan, or do I just physically turn it around? (This fan might be one of the fans already installed, I don't know...)

So, assuming that the PS has its own fan, and I have one fan in the bottom front and one in the top back, the question is where should I put that last fan...? I know you had the same question... hehe

Do you think it would be better to add it as a fan just blowing air around in the case, maybe HELPING the hot air blow towards the back fan (it being the one that blows the air out)

Thanks for your help!

 

[dcdomain]

Well if you must place that last fan in their, use it as an exhaust fan. Better to get the hot air outta the case than having an intake fan moving that hot air around.

The powersupply should already have it's own fan inside. Fans usually blow in the direction of the label. So where ever it's labeled, that's the direction it'll blow in. So for the intake fans, the label faces inside the case, for the exhaust fans, they face towards the exterior of the case...

 

[KouklatheCat]

check out my web page (listed on my profile) and see what I did to my 7237. I was able to drop my temp 8 degrees for a few dollars and couple hours worth of work...

 

[ZackLK]

Hey, that looks pretty damn impressive..

Did you physically cut the hole in the top of your case to mount the fan in? So, basically, you have two exhaust, and one intake (holes in the case...)

How'd you do it?

 

[KouklatheCat]

I used a bi-metal hole saw I bought at Home Depot. If I remember right it was a 3 1/2 inch hole saw. You need a drill with a 1/2 inch chuck. I used a dremel tool to make the hole in the front for the 80mms. I have the two 92s (one in the top and one below the P/S) exhausing out, and two 80mms in front as intake. The 80mms are 42.5 cfm each and the 92mms are 44 cfm each. It only took me a couple hours with a drill and a dremel.

 

[johneetrash]

are you gonna be overclocking? if not you wont need all the fans koukla has... the case you're getting can hold up to 3 fans (stock, w/o modifications) 1 being the powersupply fan. the other 2 are at the bottom front of the case (where you should pull air into the case), and the other one is to the right of the I/O cards and under the power supply. they're all 80mm, and if you're not overclocking, those 3 fans should be enough for you.

 

[ZackLK]

Most likely I will be overclocking.. I'll probably pump my 1000 to 1500, maybe higher. I'm not gonna go for any extremes however.

I probably won't drill into my case, although that is a sweet setup. I just don't have the tools, the time or the skill to create that nice of a case.

I just want to make sure that I have adequate cooling, not because I want to overclock to the extremes but I want a nicely cooled computer. Also, its going to be stuck in a pretty tight space, so it'll probably be hotter than usual computers. (I think its recommended to have quite a few inches around the case free...I'll probably have half an inch or so...)

Thanks for the help!

 

[ZackLK]

Whoops!!! I just realized I made a mistake... I am aiming for 1150, NOT 1500 MHZ!!! You probably thought I don't know how to overclock since I was aiming for 1500!

No, 1150-1200 is my aim... My bad.

 

[KouklatheCat]

It was actually easy to do, the most difficult was making the oval hole for the two 80mms. I do plan to OC soon, just debating to use the pencil or the loctite method.

Put two of the Sunon High Output 80mm s in your case, one infront and one in back (intake/exhaust). They are 42.5 cfm, start with that and see how it goes.

 

[ZackLK]

Put the 2 in, front and back, and then see how my temp is?

Would it be good to jury-rig (tape on or whatever) my 3rd fan so it is blowing on the cards? (video, sound, etc.)

I'm still waiting for the parts to come in, so I'm sure once I get it, I'll give a couple of options a try, to see how it affects the temp. Also, Its alittle harder to imagine where to put the fans right now, since I don't have the case opened in front of me...

dcdomain suggested I put the 3rd fan in back to get rid of more of the hot air.. put are 2 fans really going to output that much more hot air than one? I would think putting a fan so that it blows the hottest air up towards my output fan would be better. Or maybe the 3rd fan could go in the front on top to blow that hot air out...

So many ideas, no hardware to try it on yet!

 

[KouklatheCat]

I would start with one 80mm in the front (intake) and one in the back below the PS (exhaust) see how temp goes at stock speeds....

 

[tkim]

anyone have a link or a pic f a mosified case?

 

[KouklatheCat]

check my web page, its in my profile. It is "a work in progress", I am going to put a neon light in it and a Digital Doc III. I might do some other things.

 

[Galadala]

Ideally, I believe for the Oc'ers Case, One 120mm in front sucking IN (If possible), if not then whatever can hold.

80mm in left side of case blowing IN on CPU.

80mm on top blowing Out.

Remember, the PSU sucks air out too so that has to be a factor in the amount of air coming in/out as well.

 

[006agent]

first ask yourself..is it easier to suck out a match...or blow out a match.

i would consider a 2 to 1 ratio...2 suck one blow...(no pun guys)

 

[oreoafk]

yeah 2 fans should be enough

 

[KouklatheCat]

I tried to keep the intake and exhaust figures pretty close. I have 85 cfm coming in and 88 cfm going out.

 

[jaylek55]

Koukla - How did you remove the plastic fan holder from the front of the 7237?

 

[KouklatheCat]

If you mean the stupid cage that holds the fan and the case speaker mine just popped out. I used a dremel tool to get rid of the metal "grating" over where the stock fan goes.

 

[kingz]

I have the Enlight 7273. Nice cheap case, but Im buying some slot overs ($2 for 10) because the ones that come with the case are hard to work with. Here is what I plan on doing to my case:

Intake:
- 80mm 34CFM intake in the front-bottom
- 80mm 34CFM glued onto the case cover, right where the holes start

Exhaust:
- 80mm Panaflow 47CFM below PS
- 80mm 34CFM PS Fan
- 42CFM (15CFM Real) Slot Exhaust by Video Card

Misc:
- 120mm 108CFM glued onto right side of case directing air in the CPU/PS area

I have a Duron 650 and will be shooting for 1000-1050MHz. Alpha PAL6035 Heatsink w/Sanyo Denki 60mm Fan. I also have a 250W PS, is that enough for this? What do you all think of this setup??? Any help/comment will be greatly appreciated