Case Fan Help

[chunkylover53]

Case fan question. Here are my system specs:

Antec Sonata III / CORSAIR 520W / ASUS P5K-C / Intel Quad Q6600 / ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT / 2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 / WD Caviar 320GB SATA / EVGA GeForce 8600GT 512MB

The case came with a 3-speed 120mm rear fan, and there's room for an intake fan. Between the Zalman fan (which has the added benefit of pulling some air through the case) and the rear fan, I didn't think I needed an intake fan. Now that I'm adding another hard drive (750GB SATA) and a floppy drive, I'm starting to wonder about adding an intake fan.

So questions are:
1) Looking at the components above, should I add another case fan?
2) If so, I'm going to replace what I have and add two new ones. Any recos for 120mm fans? Dead silent would be nice. Thanks!

[Lerxt]

I had the exact same question when I saw the Sonata III review - it was recommended that you spend the $15 and buy the additional fan (Antec Tricool) to handle the intake. Basically this case has ventilation only in the front and back and so two 120 mm fans working the front and back respectively should add a lot of ventilation.

How's the case working for you in general?

I am planning to build from scratch and I'd love to get a case like my Dell XPS's, which has similar drive bays that allow you to slide your drives into position using the supplied rails.

[chunkylover53]

I like the case because of the front door, not to mention it's a little more understated than the 900. Plenty of room for the big Zalman heatsink too. The downside is just what you see on newegg... it's a fingerprint magnet.

On the fan front, I'm not sure if paying a little more is worth it. If you (or anyone) has either of these, or has any insight as to a $24 fan being a waste of money, please let me know.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835226023

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835129033

[Cirndle]

Hello,

I have done a few test using fan configurations.

First off,
Have you ever used speefan before? It not the link is below.
Try what you currently have and look at the temperatures for what you have, this may be limited depending on how many thermal probes you have on your mobo.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan436.exe

Try to run this at idle for 20 minutes, and then run something like the following:
"Use CPUBurnIn at your own risk as well as Prime 95"

(If you need 64bit version please use google, or search around.)
*Note* Make sure to run enough instances of programs to use all cores. I think the new Prime95 will stress all cores at once.
Both programs will create heat in your case, even hard drives will heat up. Monitor with speedfan or similar program.

CPUBurnIn link to windows download version:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/CPUburn/downloads/CPU_burn-in.zip

Prime95 link to windows 32bit version.
http://www.eocfiles.com/bdc86eb1ed2989c30dcd1902e84939ae/motherboard/utilties/p95v256.zip


Now, I have tried 2 exhaust, 1 intake, and 1 exhaust and 2 intake.
What I would do in your situation is two things.

First and foremost, Cable management, use the holes in the mobo, and if you don't have any a dremel is not too hard to use, just be steady and smooth, or buy shrink wrap, and get those cables cleaned up.

Second, look at speedfan currently, and check which area needs more cooling, your cpu, gpu, psu, pci cards causing alot of heat, or are your hard drives making all the heat, and heating up bridges on the board?

After you know what part is hotter, then you know where you need fans more.

More intakes will cool the drives down, but cpu, gpu, psu and backside temps will stay the same, or in my case changing to intake more from exhaust they raise about 2-4c.

I think that exhaust matters more then intake, but most people say always match intake and exhaust flow, but exhaust I think is better, because it pulls out the ambient heat, just make sure you have at least a front vent.

Here is a link for quiet 120mm fans, it is a roundup for testing.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article695-page1.html

Here is a link to fans I think are good, but I have not tried:
Top ranked in review
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608004

And here is another I have seen on some sites:
Scythe Kaze:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185054

hope this helps.