Superfluous case fans?

[sechs]

My Enermax FS-710 case came with three 80mm case fans, two in rear, one in front. This setup is a bit noisy, but keeps my computer very cool (the processor is pretty much pegged at 44C, under load).

So, this morning, before I turned it on, I pulled the power on the front fan, to see how much noise was produced by one of the fans.

Well, I got distracted and forgot what I had done. So, the computer had been running under full load (with SETI) for about three hours. While I had no expectation of the CPU overheating, I was surprised to see the temperature two degrees cooler than usual.

After some unscientific measurements, there seems to be just as much air going through my case without the front fan as with it. This leads me to believe that I don't need that fan, thus making it a bit quieter.

Is it alright to leave all the work to the two rear fans and the PS exhaust to pull all of the air through the case, or should I reinstate the front fan's job?

Once I figure out how they're wired-up, I'll do some experimenting with the rear fans. However, probably due to its position, the quieting of front fan seems to have made a major difference in noise.

 

[Jhhnn]

Rear fans have done the job for me. and are what AMD recommends. Well placed exhaust fans send the warmest air out of the case while the cooler air fills in behind it. Quieter, too, as you've noticed, since the noise source is further away.....

Having front and rear fans means they work in series. In a free-flowing case, little if any additional airflow occurs over using one or the other.

It's really easy to overfan one of the boxes you have, they practically cool themselves. Might want to try running the rear fans at 7v for even less noise, any temp rise should be slight. Remove the front fan entirely, you'll have a spare.....

 

[JEFF68005]

>>> It's really easy to overfan one of the boxes you have, <<

I must have done so as well. 10 fans not counting the stockCPU fan and power supply. It has been very quiet with off the shelf fans until I added a Volcano 7+ at 6250 RPM. That puppy is noticeable.

P4 2.4b 533 runs at 48 C full bore and drops 11-13 degrees in a few seconds when I put the background software to sleep. It drops a few more degrees at a slower pace down to 29-30 C running the Internet and lesser chores like expensive juke box CD player.

 

[sechs]

Does AMD really recommend exhaust fans only?

I was thinking of simply replacing the front fan with a quieter one, but I may just do away with it altogether. My old computer needs a new case fan anyway.

One more thing -- someone mentioned to me that I would pull in more dust be not having a front case fan. Is this the case?

 

[TalShiar]

I am thinking about getting that 3-window Al kingwin case. The damn thing comes with 2 front, 2 rear, and 1 top fan. Now that is excessive. I doubt I will be running all of them. Add to that cpu fan, 2 PS fans, and a GPU fan I wont be able to stay in the same room.

 

[Jhhnn]

Apparently, some people just like fans, and the noise they make. OK by me, just so long as I don't have to deal with it myself.

And some appear to seek low temps as an end in itself, rather than a means to an end. While lower temps theoretically extend equipment life, there's a practical limit, too. If 10 degrees C lower temps extend the processor life from seven to ten years, who cares? It'll be junk in five, you won't be able to give it away.

With few exceptions, overclocking doesn't have the payoff it once did, either. Getting a 300a to run 450 with a $25 aftermarket cooler made economic sense, spending mucho dinero to get an xp1600 to xp2200 levels really doesn't, not with current pricing structures. There's very little headroom with top end processors from either manufacturer, so having the fastest can get expensive quickly while the performance difference is all but imperceptible.

So I see computer fans as a necessity rather than as a feature, and noise as an undesirable byproduct of that necessity. Keeping temps low enough to maintain stability and reliability over the expected useful lifespan of the equipment is all that's required. Excess noise is a distraction at best.

Just one old guy's POV.....

 

[sechs]

So, I was looking around a bit and found out the the Antec version of my case only comes with two rear fans. I'm going to guess that the people at Antec would have put one in the front if it was necessary.

Also, I reinstated the front fan this morning and found that my motherboard temps were lower. Looking at the internal layout of the case, it looks like, without the front fan, air large bypasses the PCI and AGP slots. The front fan blows air right at them.

So, I'll probably just try to find a quieter fan for the front, perhaps one that pushes less air. Might this be a problem?