The Official PC building thread -3rd Edition

Way off topic, just throwin a little water on the fire. If you have multiple drives heres a nice little program. It only uses 600KB
http://www.mtexplorer.com/
Theirs a nice screen shot 2 look at, some of U might know of it already, but 4 those who don't. I'll be glad when there's a tabbed Win Explorer, like firefox

 

mrk44,

Here's some PWM fan choices:

Enermax Cluster 120mm PWM Fan # UC-Cl12

Nexus 120mm PWM Series Real Silent Case Fan D12SL-12 PWM

Scythe 120mm PWM Fan # DFS122512L-PWM

Arctic Cooling 120mm PWM fan #AF12025PWM

here's a little 5 pack with different speeds. Good price too. I don't know about the fans but hey it's cheap. lol.
Scythe "SLIP STREAM" 120mm Case Fan

...gm

 

Sophocles,

Look at the pic below and you will see there's only two wires going to the fan from the 4 pin Molex plugs. The other two wires are just a pass-thru! The yellow wire from the fan connects to a header on the motherboard so it can display the speed. I can't say for 100% certain that it can't be controlled by the MB as PWM with this wire, but I know PWM will work with 3 wires, and I can't find out anymore about them!




Russ

 

Sophocles: The FN121 does not have PWM...read the reviews on newegg, and everyone says the fan speed is not at all adjustable. The four pin plug mentioned in the specs on newegg is the molex power plug... It's still a 3 pin mobo connector...that's what the yellow wire is.

The specs say that FN121 is only 53 cfm and 26.6 dBA, but the FM121 has max of 110 cfm and the fan speed's adjustable so it's the better choice. Just that stupid little fan controller it comes with gets in the way...
And what's the difference between FM121 and FM121-B??

Is there any other speed adjustable fan you guys know of that can move as much air as an FM121?

What do you guys think of this for the top of my case?:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150007
They say you can control the fan speed by changing the voltage with the 3 pin connector it comes with.

 

mrk44,

this is the fan I am using on my TRUE. it would never work for the silent enthusiasts around here tho. it has 9 blades and is capable of a little over 110 cfm @ 37 dBA. I don't know if you can control the speed via mobo/bios since I run it at full speed. I honestly don't hear it due to all the other ambient noise. I suppose if I turned off everything else in the house and I was by myself, I could hear it. one con is that it is sleeve bearing and therefor probably won't last as long as a ball bearing fan. it should last plenty long for me and if it doesn't, no biggie. I'll spend another $10 for a new one.

another very popular fan is this one it has a fluid dynamic bearing and is what I first used on my TRUE. I didn't notice a big difference in temp between the two, maybe a couple of degrees. this is the fan anandtech uses for their reviews on the TRUE and tuniq tower. a lot of ppl use these for case fans as well due to their efficiency and low noise. this is what I am using for my case fans. these are all 3 wire 3 pin and all have 3 pin to 4 pin molex adaptors.

 

mrk44,

The "B" model has a black 3.5" mount while the FM-121 is silver. I wish they would give you the expansion port panel for three fans!

There is a problem with doing that. Normally whatever method you choose affects all the fans, or maybe all but one. Usually the Pwr Fan is straight 12v! Anyway, if you are using a CPU cooler with a PWM fan, you can't control the voltage to the other fans! The FM-121 will eventually give out under PWM control so it's best to plug it into the PSU, adjust it until you find the best temps, set it and forget it!

I think it's funny, but I read over the list of fans Greensman put up. The FM-121 pretty much matches all of those fans performance at the same rpms! Some of the noise figures are a joke. 9dBA is an outright lie as it can't be measured. Not by affordable equipment, anyway! With our Anachoic Chamber we can tune it down to 16.7dBA. That means it doesn't hear anything below 16.7dBA to measure. It's a 22" cube inside and cost $10,000 plus the computer and software! The kind of chamber it takes to read that low, cost's upwards of half a million dollars and is located in the middle of nowhere! Nasa owns it and it can get down to about 7dBA. They can't get any lower than that because of vibration, even though they are miles away from anything! It still comes through the ground and you can't tune it out!

The FM-121 in my computer stays below 25dBA at 1300 rpm and that's right at 68 cfm. It's not that you don't hear it, but what you hear is a smooth, and not the least annoying sound, mostly air moving with almost no real mechanical sound at all! No whines or clicks and mine's been going steady for more than a year now, 15 to 17 hours a day! It's about 2dBA quieter than when I tested it last year, so that would put it around 21.7dBA now. Not silent but very quiet! I'll probably will sell 100 of the FM-121 this year alone! Never had a dud either, and never had one fail! I wish they made an LED model, I could sell even more!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I corrected my statement to this a few posts back.

I will accept the fact that it doesn't have PWM. I just couldn't understand what the four pin plug was for.


Below are the specs.

He has a 3-pin RPM sensor.

 

Rumors are being reported that Nvidia is backing out of the chipset market. After the last few chipset updates one can understand why, but doesn't this also mean an end to SLI?

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/chipse...et_Business_Multi_GPU_SLI_Tech_in_Danger.html

 

mrk44 this fan (CM Y720DCD-25T1-GP) has control abilities, but you have to install the fan controller that comes with it. I have this fan and it's NOT that loud below 80%. It does however get pretty loud at 100%, which most fans do if they push that kind of air.

Why are you wanting such air flow anyway. The fans that I posted earlier (PWM fans) push quite a bit of air and would do just fine on a cpu cooler.

....gm

 

i wouldnt say so. the X58s can support SLI via the nforce 200 chip, which if a mobo manufacturer decides to implenent, can do so for the x58s.

and i am sure the hihgest end mobos will do so, but i doutb the lower ends will.

 

That does sound like good news for AMD/ATI but Nvidia cards won't work under Xfire. Without a Nvidia chipset the days of SLI may well be behind us unless Intel or AMD chooses to support it.

 

sorry, i meant SLI. woops. LOL

 

Nvidia is having some serious problems that is going to hurt them quite a bit. Here are couple of links detailing some of their issues. I suspect that cards with multiple GPU's are going to be the norm for those wanting the extra speed that SLI can bring.


http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/31/nvidia-790i-board-pulled-makers

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/02/nvidia-opens-whoop-ass-itself

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/07/04/rumours-abound-real-reasons

 

i wont belive much from the inquirer, they have to be the biggest anti nvidia newsite around. they and fudzilla (who have been quite acurate leading up to these new gen card relaeses) are normally pretty rumourous.

 

Fair enough, I suppose we will have to wait to see how things unfold. I don't think that this puts Nvidia out of the game one way or another. It just changes the rules a bit. Nvidia has been down before and the came back fighting just as AMD/ATI has.

 

gm,

I had one of those fans too. I gave it to my buddy the other day. I didn't like the fact that you have to use the controller with it. otherwise it does move some air.

 

That fan has basically the same exact specs as the FM121. It's the same thing with a blue LED, and it's cheaper! And both the fans require you to use the fan controllers they come with! Thanks for that link, might get that one, but I'm still leaning towards the FM121, just because everybody says it can move so much air at low speeds.

And greensman: The reason I need want so much airflow is because my last CPU ran very hot, and I don't want to take any chances this time, even though I'm still not sure if it was a CPU problem or a fan problem.

Just a few questions:
1. If I set it with the fan controller to a speed I like, and then disconnect the controller while the fan is plugged in to the molex plug, will it stay at the speed I adjusted it to with the controlller, or will it go back to full speed?

2. Why is the FM121-B 2 dollars cheaper?

3. Which one should I get???

 

Is this going on an Ultra-120? I'm not sure of its purpose. A 120mm fan even at 600rpm is enough to keep my CPU plenty cool with that cooler. While additional airflow helps, it's not of vast concern. A fan like the SFF21F will be perfectly adequate, pushes plenty of air but without raising the roof, and is adjustable using any fan controller or the motherboard.

 

mrk44,

If you set it and then disconnect the fan controller it speeds up.

#2! Black is more popular? LOL!!

#3! I still recommend the FM-121! Why? For me they have been bullet proof! I've sold a ton of them without a single problem or RMA. If you want the LEDs, get the CM. Both appear to be the same fan although the CM has a MB header plug (3 pin) and the FM-121 doesn't!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I would strongly advise against using a 120mm fan above 2000rpm with a 3-pin motherboard header plug, you could damage the motherboard.
The FM121s are solid enough if you use them solely with the controller they came with, or straight into 12V. Try to control them any other way, however, and they won't last very long at all.