PWM Fan

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brulei

Active member
Hi guys,

I have just sent my PC back but for when it comes back I want to customise some of the fans on it. I have a HAF-X case.

I am replacing the side fan with a 200 mm Megaflow Coolermaster Red fan.

On the rear I am thinking of putting an Akasa 140 mm Viper however it uses PWM (4 pin connector) and I wanted to plug it into my fan controller (NZXT Sentry 2) which takes Molex connectors or 3 Pin connectors.

Can anybody recommend a suggestion for this?

Also I would like to fit two 200 mm Megaflow fans at the top of the case, however at the moment I have the Coolit Dual Eco 240 so I am just wondering if you would recommend such a thing.

And one more question, the front fan case is a 230mm fan. Is it possible to fit 4 120mm's? Would you recommend it?

Thanks,

Bruno
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
ok, so lets try and answer these,

-front fan would be best kept as the 230mm fan, you could though attach 120/140mm fans onto the side of the hot swap bays though.
-You wont be able to put two megaflow fans at the top of the case due to the cooler. - What you could do though, is a create a 4 fan push pull setup! a push pull setup involves having a fan infront of the rad and one behind it too. But they have to be the same fans, E.g four akasa vipers, and you would need special cables. and screws, If you want more info let me know :)
-If you put a 140mm pwm fan at the back you will need a 3pin to 4pin extension lead.
-you said you want to put 200mm megaflow fan on the side, the haf - x comes with one on the side anyway.
 
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brulei

Active member
Hi Tom,

Thanks for your reply. Rep added for your help btw.

Anyway, just to confirm how would I go about removing the fans? Are they hard to be put in? I like the suggestion of a push pull config with 4 Akasa fans, 2 on each side. Two of them intaking and the other two exhausting.

On the rear to input another Akasa Fan how can I go about putting the PWM fan to molex extension to be controlled by the fan controller. Could you link the cable? I have been searching for a few and I couldn't find any. And also would the fan be running according to the voltage that the fan controller would be outputting through to the fan?

About putting an extra fan on the hard drive bays, there were two screw holes but they would be bang in the middle of the fan. Do you know how I would do that?

Thanks,

Bruno
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Ok for a push pull setup you will need a few things first,

- four 120mm pwm fans, ones with high static pressure, 120mm akasa apache's or vipers are a good choice.
-you will need a special cable the flexa fp5 What this cable does is allow 5 pwm (4pin fans) to be connected to one mobo cpu_fan header, it also connects to the power supply. So the power supply powers the fans, but the cpu just tells them how fast to spin, depending on cpu temps. The best way to do it, then all the fans always spin at the same speeds.
-You will also need 8 more screws, to attach the new fans to the cooler. If i remember correctly maplin sell them, they must be a certain thread size (6-32unc, some silly US measurement system) Ill try and find the link on maplin, or you may have to take one of the screws with you to maplin and get the exact same thread and length size. If they are too big or the thread size is different you may slightly damage the rad. Ya lucky I found them, link But still check to see if the screws already fitted on the cooler are 8mm in length, (I think they are, but check) I used thumb screws easily to screw on if you can get a little screw driver in there.
-Get all these before taking anything off the cooler.

-the rad with be screwed to the fans, using the same size screws i linked to you, (not thumbscrews though). So rad screwed to fans, and the fans screwed to the case. you must be very gentle ofcourse, dont put strain onto the tubing.
-so unscrew the two coolit fans from the case, then unscrew the fans off the cooler, slot on new fans, screw them to cooler, then screw fans to case. All using original screws.
-Make sure the airflow is still being exhausted out of the case. (the front of the fans will be facing down)
-then screw ya other two fans to the cooler, using the new screws, if the thumbscrews are a little fat, you may need to file down a bit of the fan frames, so they sit nicely.
-connect up all cables, job done. :)

-Tom's top cable management tip - when you install your fans, have them positioned so the fan cables come down the back of the mobo tray, then do connect all ya cables behind there. remember the cable will be plugged into the cpu_fan header on the mobo. example on the image, can you see how the two fan cables are going behind the mobo? and the green and blue cable is going into the cpu fan header? have it like that, so the cables aint in the way. :)
SDC10876.JPG

Will post again about the fan extension cable, hope this helps,

If you have any questions please ask.
 
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brulei

Active member
Hi Tom,

Thanks for all your info and support on this.

So I have made a "shopping" list so far. My case is the HAF-X so this is what I had in mind.

For the push/pull config I was going to use 4 Excalibur's

http://www.coolermaster.co.uk/product.php?category_id=3599&product_id=6707

These have a bit more CFM than the Akasa ones which I was very tempted by but the yellow did put me off them unfortunately because I will be doing some modding. More on that below.

For the front of the case I am going to put a 120mm Sickleflow with Red Leds with the swap bays with a minor mod.

For the side fan I am going to swap my current one and input a Red Led 200mm Megaflow one.

I am also going to be using a HyperX blue ram cooler and using red cathodes around the bottom of the case and the top for the "glamourz".

My only big problem at the moment is which fan for the rear. I am looking for one with high CFM's to output all the heat.

Also how easy/hard is it to damage the radiator and even to remove it? Did you find it difficult when you setup your Push/Pull config?

Thanks again,

Rep once again added for all your support

Cheers,

Bruno
 
Corfate

Corfate

Author Level
They do black Vipers by the way :) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Akasa-APACH...4XEY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327709510&sr=8-1 The ones you've linked look pretty ace though :)

Are you sure you'll actually need the RAM cooler? I can't see how it'd benefit you by having cooler RAM, unless you majorly overclock everything :p

Could think about a red Cooler Master Sickelflow? They have good CFM, i have a couple blue ones in my case :)

Not sure about how hard it is to damage the Rad, just make sure to not put pressure on the delicate middle of it, hold it by the frame if you get me :)
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
Those Excalibur's do look pretty good, got very high static pressure, so go for them.

As corfate says, dont touch the rad's fins or the tubing, or pull the tubing. that will be fine, You may need another pair of hands to hold the cooler whilst you attach the fans,
 
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brulei

Active member
Thanks to both of you for your response. I am going to be checking some online guides on how to mod the radiator for a push pull config.

Rep added for both.

Thanks,

Bruno

PS: I will be dropping the ram cooler since it is pointless unless I am OC'ing it which I am not.

PS2: Any input for the rear fan? I wanted a 140mm fan.

Thanks again
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
what about akasa apache blacks They look pretty good, shift a good amount of air. I remember you saying you need a 4pin to 3pin extension cable, i will have another look. :)

About the cable, the only cable i can find that will work is this one, PWM fan extension cable That should connect to ya fan controller, and work fine.
 
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Corfate

Corfate

Author Level
The fan looks good, but it'll be loud if it's running from the PSU. If its going into the mobo or a fan controller it'll be great :) a viper would be better though, they have more airflow, but aren't red unfortunately :/

I don't think you'll need the GPU exhaust. I can't see temps being high enough to warrant that exhaust ;) if you're unhappy with temps, go for it, but I think it's a waste of a fiver :p

Ta for the rep :)
 
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brulei

Active member
The problem I have with the viper, even though it does have a nice CFM, and even if it is Bright Yellow, it is still great fan, but I can't hook it into my fan controller.

My fan controller is the NZXT Sentry 2.

Also the fan that I have there is a red led which is an added bonus, but it wouldn't be the main thing that I would be looking at to be honest.
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
dont get the fan exhaust, I bought one, you can read my review on amazon lol, waste of money.

also you can connect a viper or apache fan to ya fan controller using the cable I linked earlier.

tom_gr7 said:
what about akasa apache blacks They look pretty good, shift a good amount of air. I remember you saying you need a 4pin to 3pin extension cable, i will have another look. :)

About the cable, the only cable i can find that will work is this one, PWM fan extension cable That should connect to ya fan controller, and work fine.
Click to expand...

edit i know ya need a 3 pin plug, but a 4 pin will still connect, just the 4th pin will not be used. as it wouldnt anyway unless the fan was plugged into the mobo cpu_fan header.
 
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