Case Fan Placement?

[sjaguar13]

I have 4 fans I need to install in my case. From other cases I looked at, it looks like two go in the front blowing from the outside in and 1 goes in the back near the PSU blowing from the inside out. Where does the 4th fan go? I have seen cases with a hole in the top and some with a hole on the side. I don't want to cut my case. I thought about putting it it on the bottom blowing up, so the air would come in from the front, be blown up, the be sucked out. Where should the 4th fan go?

[Nickoli]

first of all it's a good idea to have as many fans blowing cool air in as there are blowing hot air out. if your case supports it (since you said you didn't want to cut your case up) I'd install one front intake, 2 rear exhaust and a side intake. this setup seems to work great for most people.

[Cricket]

You don't have to install all 4 fans, do you? If you don't have fan ports on the top and side and don't want to cut the case, then just install 1 fan up front as intake and one fan on the back for exhaust. The more fans you add to your computer, the noisier it gets.

Cricket

[sjaguar13]

Originally Posted by Cricket You don't have to install all 4 fans, do you? Cricket

The guy I bought the CPU and motherboard said I needed 4 fans.

[FLG]

Nope dont need it, heck one fan would be fine. Think he was just trying to make a few $$'s.

Also after first having negative pressure and then positive, im now a firm believer on positive pressure. You have to deal with less dust because the air inside the case is blowing through the case rather then finding a way in, and so far temps have been better.

[QuickSilver]

Before you can say for sure how many fans a certain system needs, you have to know what's running inside the box. A dual processor workstation with 6 hard disks, 2 video cards, and a stack of hot memory chips is going to need a lot more cooling than a Dell internet box. Not all systems are equal on cooling needs. Do you really need all 4 fans? I don't think we should answer that until we know what's in your system.

[sjaguar13]

Originally Posted by QuickSilver I don't think we should answer that until we know what's in your system.

AMD Overclocked to run at 2.4Ghz (equivalent to a 3500)
Asus A7N8X-E
HP Dvd burner
1GB PC3200 RAM
ATI Radeon 7500 Dual Output
120GB 7200RPM Hard drive
LS120 Disk drive
Aardvark Q10 Sound Card

[mb26]

what type of AMD processor? an athlon 64? barton? t-bred? XP-M barton? XP-M t-bred? duron? opteron? FX-53? (edit: missed the Athlon 64 mobile!..duh ).. all of which create different amounts of heat at 2.4ghz..

'The more fans you add to your computer, the noisier it gets.'
noo no no, baddd school of thought, thats only the case if u add them un-necessarily.. i know what you're getting at; that theres no point in un-necessarily cooling for the sake of it (if u care about noise)... but more fans means u can have quieter, lower RPM fans, and still push the same amount of air. or you can undervolt the fans if u dont want to buy new quieter ones/ already have quiet ones.

also its hard to say how many fans, as it depends on the amount of airflow they produce (which correlates with the size of the fans). are all the fans the same size? what heatsink do u have?

are u sure he didn't mean the 4th fan to be on the heatsink?

'first of all it's a good idea to have as many fans blowing cool air in as there are blowing hot air out.'
are u sure u didn't mean that the other way?.
anyway, with 2 intakes, one exhaust and a psu, that is the case. a side intake above the CPU is a good idea however i agree.

[QuickSilver]

Well, he is using a socket A board, and If he is OCing it that far it's more than likely an Athlon XP.

I would use a couple of case fans. Make sure you have one on the processor. If you find that its running a little too warm, you can always add fans later. I don't think fan noise is really that much of a concern. Fans are pretty quiet these days, unless you shove 5-7 or so in there.

[sjaguar13]

Four Fans:
Size: 80 x 80 x 25mm
Voltage: 12VDC
Speed: 2500RPM
Current: 0.16 A
Air Flow: 30.24 CFM
Noise: 27.39 dBA
Power: 1.92 W


Heat Sink:
Thermalright "SLK900A" Copper Heatsink for AMD

Model# SLK-900-A
Item # N82E16835109011

Specifications:
All copper design for maximum performance
Soldered fins to base to ensure effective contact
Three pronged type heat sink clip
Stepping fins to hold also 90~92mm fans
Dimensions: L96 x W59 x H44 (mm) - Top without fan, L34 x W59 - Base
Weight: 527g (heat sink only)
A quite 80mm fan is included.

[sjaguar13]

I was looking at my case and I won't be able to get two in the front. What I can do is, have 1 in the front sucking in air, one above my PSU (the PSU isn't at the top of my case) and one below blowing out hot air. There is a fan on the heatsink. I have an 80mm fan left. I don't think I have any room for it without cutting something. Do you think that would be good enough, 1 in, 2 out, and 1 on the heatsink?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by sjaguar13 Do you think that would be good enough, 1 in, 2 out, and 1 on the heatsink?

Yes.

Cricket

[QuickSilver]

Should work fine. You may actually do better with airflow if you run no fan in the front, since you will have a total of 3 in the back (including the PSU). This setup will create negitive pressure, in which case the front fan may actually just get in the way of air flow. But heck, try it both ways and see what works best for you.

[sjaguar13]

I ran into a problem. The guy I bought the mobo and cpu from had it running at 3.5, but I can't get it to work. It says System failed due to CPU overclocking.

[QuickSilver]

He probably had it at 3500+ speeds, not 3.5 Ghz.