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Ok Im about to buy a case with support for 8 80mm fans, thing is what fans do I buy? Do I get 3 pin or 4 pin fans- Which type will I be able to connect more of into my computer basically?
Please help as I havnt got a clue about fans!
P.S I have a ECS L7VMM Mobo if that helps.
Either one is fine, but 3-pin connectors are probably the best to use... it's a little easier to find connectors for them. Look here for some examples of the types of power accessories you can buy:
http://www.lastar.net/product_list.asp?cat_id=604
Most fans will come with a converter to run them off the Molex connectors if you don't have enough mobo headers. The headers on the mobo are normally 3-pin (2 power, 1 RPM sensor). You'd probably be safest getting the 3-pin as you can always use the adaptors if necessary (but you won't be able to read the fan speed of any that are connected directly to the PSU like that).
Only other suggestion i'd make is to check the required amperage of the fan. Then check the mobo specs to be sure the onboard connector will support the amps needed by the fan...
Thanks for the replies.
Ive just cracked open the case and found out that I have no 3 pin mobo headers left, so I plan to get the 4 pin fans and some 4 pin Y-splitters, is this a decent option?
Hmmmm things are going to be very busy inside this new case, 8 fans, Y-power splitters and a ATI radeon 9700 pro to wire up as well as the usual DVD, CD-RW, HDD and floppy!!!
Just make sure your power supply is up to snuff with 8 fans. They'll be draining quit a bit of power and if you have a Radeon 9700 it'll be eating up the energy as well. Enermax makes excellent power supplies if you're ever in need.
Will do Webshark. Im pretty sure than my PSU is around the 400watt mark, however im not totally sure. Is there any software that can check the wattage of my PSU (fat chance) ? This isnt a homebuilt PC so I dont know the exact ins and outs of it and without taking the PC apart I cant tell the voltage or the manfacture of the PSU... which to be honest I dont really want to do because ,hey, im lazy!
If I do have any problems once my new setup is assembled i'll know its the PSU. Just to be on the safe side I plan to only install three\four fans at the start and carry on adding.
Yeah I'd check the powersupply for output specs. Generally you can probably get away with the upper tower and lower tower fans. perhaps 3-4 if you're going light and you place is cool. Thing I do is to split the channels i.e. all the drives on one channel all the fans on the other. Only run the cpu, or other mobo immediate fans off the mobo. This takes a lot of load of the mobo amperage wise.
Hey I live in England- Of coarse my place is cool! In fact it's absolutely Bloody Freezing!
Your going to be pulling the cover off anyway. There should be a sticker visible on the power supply with it's specs...
I had a look for the specs while I was looking in the case, but the sticker wasn't visable without me unscrewing and taking the whole PSU unit out....
This is from experience with "Questionable" PSU's. The pre-installed PSU's on a lot of cases that aren't built by PSU suppliers may have a 400w PSU, but they perform about like a 250w from Antec, Enermax or PowerCooling. There are a lot of things the PSU guys can play with to make them cheaper. I have switched over to the Antec PSU and am getting more than I need. I learned the hard way when I bought a 400w case from CompUSA and it wouldn't carry the load as I upgraded things.
Best PSU prices I have found are at www.compuplus.com
Couple of tips for FANS:
- look for ball bearing type vs. sleeve bearing --> longer lasting and quieter
- SUNON and THERMALTAKE brands, both make great fans
- with 8 fans total (or more), look for some with speed control (manual or sensor) --> allows you to reduce noise if less load on the system and thus less cooling is required
- finally, I'd never connect fans to the MOBO anymore, rather go direct of the PS; also I actually cut the Molex's of when combining 2 or 3 fans, that allows for cleaner connection and less clutter inside the case (not to mention airflow improvement)
KGG
:)
A very interesting article about PSU's and their real output as opposed to that claimed is here:
http://www4.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html
Ok so I accept that my PSU is probably rubbish so I've had a look around and have found a nice Enermax 460 watt unit here . If someone knows where I can get it cheaper please tell me (bare in mind that I live in the UK).
Im not on a massive budget so do you think that this PSU is up to the task of running:
- AMD Athlon xp 2100+
- ATI Radeon 9700 pro (overclocked)
-512mb DDR RAM
-80Gb HDD
-ECS L7VMM Mobo
-The usual CD-ROM\DVD\Floppy gubbins.
-8 fans (9 if you include the CPU fan)
-Fluorescent lights :D
Heh, I like the look of that Q-tec 550watt PSU for £22:p .......
I suppose you might be able to shave a couple of pennies off somewhere else, but it won't be much and I guarantee you'll never deal with a better supplier in the UK (with the possible exception of Crucial). Their service is outstanding .
I question if you need the 460, though, I'm using the 350Watt Enermax (bought from Overclockers!) with a 2.4 P4, 4 hard drives, 3 optical drives, 3 case fans 1Gb PC2100 RAM and a Ti4200 128Mb graphics card with no strain at all on the PSU. My 450Watt output UPS is showing 70-75% output and that's with it supplying 2 CRT monitors as well.
Let's see, the 460W for 65 pounds comes out to about $105 in US. That's not too bad, the 350W for 42.5 pounds comes out to about $69 US doallars. I've got a 350W powering my system detailed below in my signature. It also has an extra case fan and the CPU fan has 3 speeds (and the fastest one zooms, and eats up the power). Even with this my power supply has performed excellent! These aren't bad prices. You may be able to find a better one on Pricewatch.com, but most of the companies that advertise on there are located in the US and so your shipping would probably be quite a bit more (those things are heavy, you know).
Let us know how it works out.
Ok so you rekon a 350 watt Enermax PSU would be perfectly upto the job? That would be pretty sweet as every penny counts.
Have to agree with you on Crucial, thats where I got my Radeon from, next day delievery, no bullcrap and dirt cheap prices for top quality stuff! (Do you think I could get a job at the PR division?)
You should be able to work out the power you need from this:
http://www.aapspower.com/abpowsup.html
Does anyone know of a newer version of this chart? Showing today's P4's and XP's, AGP that run 1.5V line etc. ?Quote:
Yeah, it was a bit out of date, try these:
http://www11.brinkster.com/bayup/doarticles.asp?a=27
http://www.distortionwave.com/power.html
1 suggestion for you...if you want to run that many fans...you might look into a digital doc 5 temp monitor and fan controller...it will control up to 7 fans for you off one power header....myself and bistro both use these and they work great for controlling the fans...
:) Thank you SuperSparks :)Quote:
Originally posted by SuperSparks
Yeah, it was a bit out of date, try these:
http://www11.brinkster.com/bayup/doarticles.asp?a=27
http://www.distortionwave.com/power.html
You are most welcome K G G :)
Hey Sarrkazztic I've never heard of those before, but they sound interesting. I was wondering if you knew of a web site that showed a picture or two of them, and maybe went into a little detail.
Thanks.
Sorry, I just searched for "Digital Doc 5" and found this page along with several others. I guess I have seen those before, I just wasn't thinking that's what you called them. Yeah, if he's worried about heat that would be a great add-on.
Ok heres the deal. I have brought my new case, some new fans and that sweet Enermax 460watt PSU I was talking about. I have fitted all the new and old components together, fine, so I go to switch it on....nothing. After alot of fiddling about I have found out that its my new PSU causing the trouble as when I fit my old one everything comes to life.
So heres my question-
Is my brand new PSU dead?
Or is there some seetings that I could turn off in my BIOS that may make it work again? My BIOS is a phoenix BIOS, are there any known issues between this BIOS and this PSU?
Please help as soon as poss , im at a loss.
P.S. excuse the spelling and grammer of this post as I am craning over a half open PC thats on my floor as I type this!!
There's nothing in the BIOS that could affect a PSU. I'm sure you had the switch on the back of the PSU turned on didn't you? Other than that it's probably a dead'un - I suppose even with Enermax it happens from time to time.
Here's a good article for testing power supplies:
Testing PSU voltages
Dang looks like I got a dead PSU then....hmmm time to test overclockers customer service.....
Oh yeah second question, the fans I bought didn’t come with any screws to connect them to the case, where on earth can I buy these screws separately? I’ve tried several hardware stores and independent computer stores but to no avail, will PCWORLD supply these screws?
May sound silly,,but is the voltage selector switch set properly?
Good and inexpensive source for this type of stuff:
www.cyberguys.com
There's nothing special about the screws, No 8 x 3/8" self-tappers will do. I'm sure B & Q or Homebase will sell small packets of them for an outrageous price :D
Or you can get them here for sure, but you only get free delivery on orders over £45:
www.screwfix.com
Little note on the screws. You may check with your local computer repair shop and see if they'll give or sell you some at a very low cost. Usually they've got like a huge bucket of them they can't get rid of. I know I got like a pound of various screws, motherboard stand-offs, etc. by just going into a local shop (when I was in California) and offering a buck or two for them and the guy just shoveled them into a bag and gave them to me.
As far as the power supply not working, that sounds unusual for Enermax. What kind of processor do you have again? Do you have to connect two main power cables to the motherboard like with Pentium4 motherboards? The name and type of power connections escapes me at the moment and I'm too lazy to look them up, but most newer motherboards need the power connection with like 15 or so in two rows all together and another one with like just 4 wires. Make sure you have all of that hooked up correctly. Also, make sure you didn't accidently unhook your power switch from your motherboard when you were installing your power supply. I know one time I accidently did that and sat there for like an hour trying to figure out why the computer didn't turn on when I pressed the power button (oh, whoops the connection to the motherboard got pulled out, duh).
Anyway, if worse comes to worst I'm sure there is a full warranty for that with Dead On Arrival. Send the sucker back and get another if you're sure it's dead.
Good Luck
The Mobo that I have is a Socket A ECS LV7MM (something like that) mobo with one main power connector needed from the PSU to get things running. Ive tried connecting my new Enermax PSU to the Mobo like I did with the old PSU and I get nothing. I dont think that anythings come lose as when I connect my old PSU up in exactly the same way it starts up no problem.
What do you mean by setting the voltage selector? Because that I havn't tried.
I'm quite worried about sending it back as they do charge you if they dont find anything wrong with the return.
Dang I'm probably screwing up really simply here. This is the biggest job Ive ever done to a PC as I'm a bit of a newbie to the world of computing. All I know that when I connect my new PSU up it aint working while my old one does!
The voltage selector is on the back of the PS, it allows you to switch between 110V and 220V, depending on your household current.Quote:
Originally posted by BlIsTeRpAcK
What do you mean by setting the voltage selector? Because that I havn't tried.
Nope my PS doesnt have one of those. Household current isnt an issue here-probably an American thing.
Hmmm....maybe it has an automatic selector inside. 220V is the standard voltage in most European countries, and 110V is stateside. YOU just have to deal with different plugs in Europe ;)Quote:
Originally posted by BlIsTeRpAcK
Nope my PS doesnt have one of those. Household current isnt an issue here-probably an American thing.
Sounds like a dead PS. Time to test their service.
Did you have a look at that link I posted above? It shows you how to start up the PSU without it being installed in the PC - if you can't get it to start in the way that they show, then you can be sure it's dead.
Yeah, that link that SuperSparks listed was very good at explaining how to test your power supply to see if it's dead or not. Here it is again if you didn't see it before How to Test PSU Voltages.
Ok I tested my PSU and nothing, I'm now pretty sure its dead. So I've rung up Overclockers and talked to one of their technical supervisors, told him the problem, what I've done and he had no suggestions. So I have sent back my PSU and Overclockers will ship a new one straight out once they recieve the old one.
Ill tell you what happens when I get my new PSU (I'm expecting around thursday-friday), hope that this problem isnt just me screwing up otherwise.....
P.s. I manage to get a big bag of computer screws from PC repair shop for a pretty decent price.
Ok, thought I'd give an update on what’s going on for those of you who'd like to know.
I finally got the replacement PS yesterday and it works, I was right about the other PS being dead as the companies testers found the same thing-just my luck that an Enermax PS blows on me.....
Anyway the new PS is great, the new case is great (ohhh the pretty lights) and the fans aren’t as noisy as I thought. Ive only got six fans in there at the moment and the temperature of the CPU has fallen from an average of 51c to 36c and my board temp from 38c to 26c so im pretty happy, plus I can now overclock my Radeon without it frying.
Only problems so far are that I cant get the power and HDD lights to come on plus I cant get the headphone jacks to work with the onboard soundcard, both are probably problems with loose wiring that I will sort out later (I cant be bothered yet....heh).
So thanks to all of you that offered your interest and help. I have now managed to take my PC apart and rebuild it thanks the people on this site; Nice one :)