Do I need extra fans?

LegacyUser

Radeon 9800 XT overclocked with zalman heatsink and pipe and additional fan.

two 160 gig hard drives.

zalman heatsink and fan for pentium 4 3ghz

zalman 400watt psu

Just wondering do i need extra fans? I have a couple of Papst fans lieing around but I do not want to use them as despite them being "silent", they still bug me and make noise.

Should i connect them up or is it ok if I leave them out?

Adeptus Titanicus

Do you have any fans drawing air into/out of the case? What are your temp readings on the CPU and Mobo? Can't tell if you need more...

LegacyUser

CPU is 35 right now. Dont know what motherboard is at.

I have no fans drawing air into or out of the case apart from my psu. But that does not count does it?

cheers 4 reply

Adeptus Titanicus

35 is pretty good considering you've only got the PSU dragging air out. But the Zalmans are great . I'd be curious about the heatpipe on the 9800 though. Sounds like it's all ok though. If you wanted to be safe you could fit a fan or two. The Pabst are pretty quiet, but you could mod them down to run slower/quieter if you wanted.

Hal1

Hey, try installing motherboard manager 5. It gives you a rundown of all your temps and your fanspeeds. Compare with other overclockers to get an idea of what the average temp should be for your type of system. Hope this helps

LegacyUser

Cheers lads for tips.

Adeptus titanic, its basically the exact same as the VGA Arctic Cooler but it is quieter. Apparently the Artic Cooler cools better but Zalman is total silence.

Hal1, i can not seem to find the program you have specified. But I did find motherboard monitor which I think could be the one you mentioned. Looks great. Cheers for siggestion.

Chees guys.

Col_Loki

You could get some of the Zalman fan controllers or the adapters to make your fans run between 5-7v ?? They should be ultra quiet. www.hitide.ie have em.

Check your temps, Mobo , CPU (load temps - ie when running prime95 would be good) , and doesent the XT have a temp sensor also? Would be nice to see what thats running at. 35 is pretty good for no case cooling......

Apparently the Artic Cooler cools better but Zalman is total silence.

From what ive read the Artic cooler on low is almost the exact same as the Zalman with fan on low. Both are excellent coolers, but the artic wins the price war!!
Found this review pretty good ... GFX Coolers

LegacyUser

Thanks Col Loki. I just flash modded my 9800 there to Xt so does not have the fan controller. All went successfully. I am happy with the Zalman but I found it awkward to install it. I mean the Artic cooler looks easier but I just stuck with Zalman as all my stuff is Zalman basically.

What exactly do fan controllers do besides the obvious? If i have a fan running, and turn it down so its ultra silent, is that not as good as it being off and defeating the purpose of the fan*?

*I am a noob* lol.

Adeptus Titanicus

Originally posted by cheesedude
What exactly do fan controllers do besides the obvious? If i have a fan running, and turn it down so its ultra silent, is that not as good as it being off and defeating the purpose of the fan*?

I know what you mean. I was thinking the same till I got one (while it worked at least!). Having them down low really does quieten things down, but it still gets air moving thru, and that helps a surprising amount. When my fan controller was working (grrr) temps were pretty low, even under load, and it was like a fresh summer breeze. Now (without the controller) it's like an industrial complex. Well, relatively speaking....

LegacyUser

Thanks Adeptus.

I guess I will get one of these fan controllers. Anyone recommend a good one?

Adeptus Titanicus

As a quick sampler, you could look at the following sites:

http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/home.php?cat=412
http://www.hitide.ie/catalog/default.php/cPath/21_23_42
http://www.jes-computer.de/catalog/default.php?cPath=159_64

I have/had a Coolermaster Cooldrive, same as the Aerogate listed on some of these sites, and it was pretty good. Mine had a problem so is on the way back to Komplett. There's a huge variety out there from simple dials to units incorporating LCD readouts with temp probes and the like. Depends what you'd like.

Col_Loki

Im using the Zalman one with 2x5v and 2x12v fan connectors for €3.90 . Depending on how fast your fans run you should choose 7v or 5v. Ultra silent or for fast very fast fans try 5v , otherwise 7v.

I suppose an ideal solution would be one of the drive bay fan controllers as there variable...... depends on your budget!!
Also some fans dont like running at lower voltages, some just stop running, some its not advised for, some are perfect with it. TBH i really dont care if i burn out a fan after a year or so ....... ill just get a new one, small price to pay for silence.

LegacyUser

Ye I have those Col, the pain in the ass is my papst fans dont work on 5v. I guess I will just buy the controller thing.

PS: where d you buy the Zalman fan controllers? Cant see them on any sites...

Col_Loki

The zalman one im using isint a controller , its an adapter. Its on hitide (the one with the 4pin connector with 4x fan sockets comming from it).
I havent seen any Zalman drive bay fan controllers in my searches so im not sure if there available. Your just mad about Zalman arent you !!

Aparently the papst fans run ok on 7v (although it might decrease the life a bit), its advised between 8 and 12v on the website.

Adeptus Titanicus

Well, to satisfy the Zalman fetish here's one on overclock.co.uk. Looks nice too!

Edit:
Actually, looks bloody complicated!

LegacyUser

lol I have a fetish for Zalman. How sad is that? :ninja:

But ye it does look really complicated that one. Im thinking about this one.

http://www.hitide.ie/catalog/product_info.php/cPath/21_23_42/products_id/39?osCsid=1286df07962a7d640aaa5353fcb4a6c8

Looks simple and effective.

What ya reckon?

Cheers guys

neokenzo

I have a fan controller with my case and it works great, at least the ones that I got it connected to anyway

Funny thing was I had a few of the fan at max and it was noisy and I've only realised it today. DUh! So I've lowered it and now its more like humming and the didnt make any different to the temps. Weird.

Lump

I would love to know how it's that cool..... I have a zalman heatsink and fan on my 3Ghz, I have a 400 watt psu, 3 80 MM fans 2 in 1 out, and a 120 mm fan, and my CPU is at 41 degrees, case is at 34. No over clocking or anything.



John

Gerry

The accuracy of temperature monitoring varies between motherboards, there can be up to a 15c difference. Its not very likely that the cpu is at 35c, unless the machine is in an ice cold room.