fan placement

I just got a new case, a Raidmax X-1, which has an 80mm intake fan on the case window and a 120mm exhaust fan on the back. There is a place for a fan (80, 90, or 120mm) in the front at the bottom, apparently to cool the hard drives. Should I use this fan as an exhaust or an intake? I have it as an intake right now and it significantly decreased my HDD temps but its pretty dang noisy. Ideas?

 

You have it in the right place the idea is to suck cool air in at the bottom and expell warm air out the back,if its too noisy get a different fan or buy a fan control mechanism to turn down the rpm,I dont trust software control programs like speedfan,they all too ofter inexplicably set the fans to 0% which can kill your computer,I also dont really understand why case manufactures put fans on the side of cases as an intake and one at the rear to expell the air as most of the cool air gets sucked straight out missing the cpu entirely

As you can see in your case when the side is in place

 

ok thanks. yea i was thinking about getting a fan controler. do you know of any good ones that arent too expensive? i know next to nothing about those so any input would be appreciated. The fan right now is just connected to the fan monitor in the case door LCD so its constantly running at max RPMs which im guessing is why its so dang noisy. Its not really the fan tho, its the *wooshing* of the air over the front grill....

 

There are lots of good cheap ones out there,most fit into any empty cdrom space

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=385914

I have the coolermaster aerogate which cost me about £10,I had to make adapters though to convert the 3 pin system fan plug that fits into the control panel to a molex which fits into the fans,but these can be bought seperately and some come with adapters included anyhoo

http://www.techbuy.com.au/products/...ster/ACCOALDV01/Aerogate_1_Fan_Controller.asp

there are lots of others,any make that has 4 or so channels and you like the look of would be a good choice,I'd also only want to pay around £10 $17 for a basic speed controller,the more you spend though the more functionality you get,you also shouldnt have any problems incorporating one into your case fan speed display,its just a case linking them in series

 

what about these? I just wish the silver one was black....

Controllers:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813999506
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813999504

Controllable Fans:
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811999125

and then this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811998121
or this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811999127
(leaning towards the above one)

everything is compatible, right?

 

No,the fans you posted have the large molex power connector,the fans you need for the speed controller have the small sys fan header like your cpu fan,you have a couple of options,find fans that have the small system fan header,make some a la cheapo me or find some, they can be pretty tricky to track down though

All those speed controllers look good to me,I couldnt pick between them

 

if you have time could you find one on newegg for me? i dont really get what you're saying, i thought you just needed a fan with 3 wires to control it.

 

The connector I'v marked with a red arrow is the main power for the controller you cant plug a fan in here its a molex,the connectors I'v marked in green are the outputs 'system fan header' that you connect your fans to, as you can see they are much smaller than the molex connector,my controller came with 4 extensions that had that connector,so I chopped them in half and soldered them to a female molex adapter so all my fans could be connected,I'd take a photo of the adapters I'v made but I cant find the charger for my digital camera

you need somehow to connect that molex connector on the fan to those small fan headers I'v marked in yellow,its stupid really why dont they realise most fans have a molex connector when they make these dam fan controllers

I'v had a quick search for the adapters but cant see any,I'll have a look for fans with the small header

 

here this is the type of fan you want with this connector,not a bad fan

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835119035

and another one,theres plenty to chose from,this one also come with an adapter,seems alot of fans now come with the smaller fan header

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowI...12025L 120mm 2 Ball Case Cooling Fan - Retail

 

sorry to sound so needy, but are there any blue LED fans like those that I need? I need 2 120 mm and one 80mm. Dont feel like you need to spend lotsa time on this, just if you find extra time in your day. Thanks

 

Okay Viper there are some good brands that will produce quite fans at reasonable prices:

Thermaltake (damn there is another couple of brand that specialise in "Quite" fans but I can't find them at the moment.

With your side intake I have to agree with Ricky not very effective unless they have a funnel mount to focus it towards CPU like mine (pic). You could make a mod like this easily

 

but doesnt the CPU fan blow AWAY from the heatsink? why would the intake funnel help then....i dunno, maybe im wrong but your setup seems logical. So would any 3 pin fan work with that controller? Ive been reading some reviews on it and how well it works with the Vantec Tornado fans but i cant find them anywhere....Would the thermaltake fans from my previous posts work? (see lower posts)

O yea, i just remembered that when i boot, during the post, it says that the chasis fan isnt working or whatever. This is because i switched cases and my mobo is built to work really well with my old case. The exhaust fan used to plug into the mobo but now its just plugged into a molex dongle (haha i love that word, dongle...) I tried disabling it in the BIOS but every reboot it keeps resetting itself and i have to press f1 to get to windows. Any ideas? Its a bios from a Sony VAIO so it doesnt have many extra options...

BTW, do either of you guys use an instant messanger, we could get a lot more done if we could talk that way

Thanks guys,
Viper

 

Here are some links with pic on airflow to compliment Rikky's, some good quiet brands, concepts on fan cooling, etc.
Pic
http://www.overclock.net/faqs/13939-opinion-how-should-i-set-my.html
Fan overview
http://www.overclock.net/faqs/17722-info-whats-lowdown-case-fans.html
Methods to quiet current fans
http://www.overclock.net/faqs/16866-how-silence-my-fans-without-undervolting.html
Some of the better brands
http://www.overclock.net/faqs/12030-opinion-choosing-good-fan.html

Try replacing the fan (120mm for best results!) before you get a fan controller and you may find that you don't need the later.

 

Until recently that is what I thought but it actually blows onto your CPU to disperse heat rather than drawing heat. At overclock.net they had a discussion on what was the better option (draw or blow) and there was a rather decent scientific explanation as to why blowing was better. Have to go in a sec but will check back when I come home. Gave you tons off stuff to get you started, hope it helps

 

Here are some 120mm with LED (many colors) and only 21dBA and a choice of plugs (3/4 pin):

http://www.thermaltake.com/dcfans/led/thunderblade120.htm

 

ok im goin with 2 of the 120 mm and 1 80mm Thunderblade fans, along with the Antec Nexus fan controller. Thanks for all of the input guys. Ill keep that intake funnel mod in mind, thanks

 

No problem good luck ,BTW I dont use IM to help solve pc probs it defeats the whole point of the forum as no one else will see the solution,plus if your solution is wrong or theres an easier way there will be no one to point it out to you

 

Excellent point and others may have valuable input to compliment suggesstions. Many brains are better than one!