Cooler Master Elite 360 & ASUS QFAN - Fan proposal

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Fri May 14, 2010 10:37 pm

Hi,

This is the first computer I am assembling myself and I am still wondering the way to go for the fan.

I have:
- Cooler Master Elite 360 case used on desktop postition with

Bottom: 80 x 20 mm fan x 1 (optional) (do not plan to use that)
Rear: 80 x 20 mm fan x 2 (optional)
Side: 120 / 90 / 80 mm fan x 1 (optional)
Top: 120 mm fan x 1 or 90 / 80 mm fan x 1 (optional)

- Asus motherboard M4A785TD-V EVO with Q-FAN and

4-pin CPU_FAN
3-pin PWR_FAN
3-pi CHA_FAN

- Processor would be Phenom x4

- I am going to use the computer for:

Photo editing
Video editing (CPU demanding)
HTPC
Video streaming

- OS would be linux

I am planning to use 2x80mm & 2x120mm fans.Now comes the big question, how many fan and where to connect them to get silent pc?

Option 1: All fan in PWM plug on CPU_FAN
Option 2: Rear fan in PWM (2x80mm) plug on CPU_FAN, 1x120 (not PWM) on CHA_FAN,1x120 (not PWM) on PWR_FAN.
Option X: ???

What would you recommend?

BlackWhizz · Post by **BlackWhizz** » Fri May 14, 2010 11:49 pm

May i suggest selling this case and get a case wich room for 120's back?

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Sat May 15, 2010 12:27 am

Sure,

any suggestion for case on desktop position for more or less 50â‚¬?

BlackWhizz · Post by **BlackWhizz** » Sat May 15, 2010 1:34 am

Did you purchase your motherboard already? Because you can go for a Antec Fusion but then you'll need a Micro ATX motherboard. You have chosen an ATX board.

lodestar · Post by **lodestar** » Sat May 15, 2010 2:48 am

I don't see much wrong with your case choice. It is an economically priced mini-tower than will take a full-size motherboard, and I assume that is why you have chosen it. As I understand it will also take a normal height graphics card, with some limitations on length.

But getting back to what you are asking, the essential question if what sort of fan control you prefer. If you want automatic fan control based on the CPU temperature, don't mind fans that will rise and fall in speed at the CPU heats up and cools down, and just want a 'setup and forget' system then I would say go for Option 1. All you need to do is to set Smart Q-Fan to Enabled in the BIOS and then fit the right hardware.

What you fit is a question of how much money you want to spend. Assuming you are going to get a cooler with a PWM fan already fitted, you then only need to buy a splitter cable and two more PWM fans to fit the 120mm case fan positions. 80mm fans in quiet mode do not move much air, so I would say leave the 80mm fan positions unfilled. A PWM splitter cable such as this one http://www.jimmspc-store.fi/tuote/AK-CB002?t=false costs around 3â‚¬. You could fit two PWM fans such as these http://www.jimmspc-store.fi/tuote/AK-FN053?t=false at around 9â‚¬ each. So this option including all hardware would cost a total of around 21â‚¬.

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Sat May 15, 2010 2:52 am

no I have not .... I was looking first for flexibility in expanding.

Maybe you are right 4 pci is enought!

But .... isn't it over 100e?

BlackWhizz · Post by **BlackWhizz** » Sat May 15, 2010 3:47 am

kamelie1706 wrote:no I have not .... I was looking first for flexibility in expanding.

Maybe you are right 4 pci is enought!

But .... isn't it over 100e?

It includes a power supply.

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Sat May 15, 2010 4:03 am

so alternative is
- Antec fusion including 350W for 150e - only M-ATX
- Cooler Master Elite 360 + Nexus nx-5000 (530W best choice) for 110e - ATX possible

antec is really cool looking but will it be much slience?

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Sat May 15, 2010 5:49 am

lodestar wrote:I don't see much wrong with your case choice. It is an economically priced mini-tower than will take a full-size motherboard, and I assume that is why you have chosen it. As I understand it will also take a normal height graphics card, with some limitations on length.

This is correct (seems also the case of the antec fusion). This is also why I want to invest in the nexus psu which is 1,5 cm shorter than typical atx psu (12,5cm instead of 14,cm).

lodestar wrote: What you fit is a question of how much money you want to spend. Assuming you are going to get a cooler with a PWM fan already fitted, you then only need to buy a splitter cable and two more PWM fans to fit the 120mm case fan positions. 80mm fans in quiet mode do not move much air, so I would say leave the 80mm fan positions unfilled. A PWM splitter cable such as this one http://www.jimmspc-store.fi/tuote/AK-CB002?t=false costs around 3â‚¬. You could fit two PWM fans such as these http://www.jimmspc-store.fi/tuote/AK-FN053?t=false at around 9â‚¬ each. So this option including all hardware would cost a total of around 21â‚¬.

Interesting, I did not consider leaving the rear spaces empty, wouldn't this cause airflow challenges as it will go from side to top (or the other way around?) only?

lodestar · Post by **lodestar** » Sat May 15, 2010 6:07 am

Whichever configuation you use, one 120mm is positioned an an intake to cool the CPU and surrounding area, and that will be one of the the major sources of heat. The other 120mm is used as an exhaust to remove air from that hot spot, and create some air flow for the rest of the case. The various grills including the unfilled 80mm spaces should let a bit more air into the case or maybe let a bit more out. Your choice of graphics card might make a difference. But I would still say use as few fans as possible because fewer fans always means less noise.

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Sat May 15, 2010 6:18 am

Thanks.

I guess the splitter can work with any pwm fan?

If i use the artic fan F12 series it seems I do not even need the splitter
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/i ... _F_PWM.pdf

The risk is the cpu fan would be at the end of the chain?

lodestar · Post by **lodestar** » Sat May 15, 2010 7:46 am

Yes, I have used the Arctic Cooling F12 PWMs in a chain before. What Arctic Cooling have done is to provide each of their fans with a separate yellow cable with its own plug. This yellow cable carries the fan speed sensing. The reason it is separate is to allow you to choose which fan provides the speed sensing data to the PWM header. The plug and socket for each F12 has all four wires, so the plug and socket chain can carry the data for speed sensing.

If you were using one or more F12s with an existing CPU cooler PWM fan, you would plug the F12s into the motherboard header first, and not use the separate yellow wires at all. The CPU fan is plugged in last, and as it is the only one providing the speed sensing then that's what the PWM will work on. The CPU fan in this situation has to be the last in the chain to allow the system to work correctly.

The only time the separate yellow wire is used is where you are using an F12 as the CPU cooler fan. In this case the yellow wire from the CPU fan is plugged into the last socket in the chain, and as before it is the only one providing the speed sensing. This is the type of chain I have used.

The splitter cables work by having one socket wired with all four wires for the CPU fan and the others with only three wires - not the speed sensing wire. It is another way of achieving the same thing, that only one fan provides the speed sensing information.

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Fri May 28, 2010 7:16 pm

I have just received finally my case. If I use 1 fan on the top of the cpu and 1 on the side of the cpu (in additon of the cpu cooler fan). which one should be used as the intake? top or side? does it matter?

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Sun May 30, 2010 11:31 am

hi,

finally I have tested all fans:
- fan on the top in (artic 12pwm)
- fan on the side out (artic 12pwm)
- stock amd cooler & fan (pwm)
- case on horizontal position
- all fans chained to the cpu fan connecter

At idle:
- artic fans are at 800 rpm
- amd stock fan at 1500 rpm
- cpu between 30 to 35 deg celcius

Very pleased with all the artic fans but not with the cpu one. size seems to be 70mm, any cheap solution to go more silence?

lodestar · Post by **lodestar** » Sun May 30, 2010 9:28 pm

You might have to consider a low profile CPU cooler which would be quieter than the stock AMD one, such as http://www.jimmspc-store.fi/tuote/SCBSK-1000. If there is room you could also replace the Scythe 120mm 12mm high fan with an Arctic Cooling 120mm 25mm high fan which would be quieter still, and would fit in with your existing PWM fan chain.

JamieG · Post by **JamieG** » Sun May 30, 2010 10:12 pm

kamelie1706 wrote:Very pleased with all the artic fans but not with the cpu one. size seems to be 70mm, any cheap solution to go more silence?

For a cheap idea, how about buying a 70mm to 80mm fan adapter and adding an Arctic Cooling F8 PWM 80mm fan.

Cut out the stock AMD fan from the fan holder on top of the CPU cooler (a 70mm fan from memory) and use the 70mm to 80mm adapter and the F8 PWM fan to secure the 80mm fan to the top of the stock AMD heatsink.

Add the F8 PWM to your existing PWM fan chain and you're good to go. Hook it up like lodestar suggested with one yellow rpm sensing wire connected and

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Mon May 31, 2010 10:02 am

Hi,

room should not be a problem as my case accept normal size graphic card.

I have plug the yellow plug from each fan to PWR_FAN & CHA_FAN just to get the real RPM. I have disable the Q-FAN for CHA_FAN & PWR_FAN. Do you think it impact the PWM from CPU_FAN chain?

Adapter is a nice idea especially because I have one 120mm extra fan!
I have seen adapter from 70mm to 120mm but they seem big & I could not find them below 7â‚¬ shipping cost included.

For 16â‚¬ I can get the artic solution:
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64 Pro PWM
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/p ... 43&mID=255

Do you think it will be enought for a bit of overclocking & 4 cores (originally 2 cores)?

Would amd cooler + adapter + 120mm artic pwm better?

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Tue Jun 08, 2010 8:47 am

Here the follow-up:
I have 10cm for the cooler (13cm - the fan on the top).

- 2 options:

Scythe Big Schuriken (thanks lodestar)
adapter + silent fan (8 or 12 cm)
directly silent fan without adapter (fix by one screw)

I tried the last option unfortunaltly I could not chain properly my artic 12 cm fan as the yellow cable is spilt from the three others. Does it impact the pwm if the rmp information of the cpu fan is not reported?

Bonus question: where to find the optional firewire connector for the front of the case? A simple cable glued?

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 12:48 pm

kamelie1706 wrote:hi,

At idle:
- artic fans are at 800 rpm
- amd stock fan at 1500 rpm
- cpu between 30 to 35 deg celcius

If I unplug the cpu fan from the chain the case fan are still running at the same speed and the temp is the same

How is it possible?
Is Q-fan not so good?
In bios I can not set the mimum temp in pwm? In manual mode only the max temp/100 % can be setup.

kamelie1706 · Post by **kamelie1706** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:26 am

hi,

Getting crazy with the phenom x2 stock cooler

When using ffmpeg on 2 cores the temperature is already at almost 60C ... the motherboard is below 40C.

On 3 cores the temperature becomes too high and the computer shutdowns after 5 min ....

is the big shuriken more efficient? could it handle 4 cores?

needs to know before spending another 35â‚¬ in it!

Thanks