How many fans are enough?

Only way to find out how many is enough is to experiment, and with 11 fans that could take a while :)
 
Should I mode a fan large enough to cover the entire side of my case(around 20 inch diameter) take the other side of the case off and remove all of my other fans(11) or leave them in there too?

I'm an x rock muscian:cool: and am be deef so da noise don't make no never mind :eek:
 
The number of fans and their placement would depend on what you're doing with your computer. 11 fans seems to be a little over the top, IMO, for regular use. If you're going for crazy OC, then why not go for water cooling? It's a lot more efficient, and approximately 90% more L33T.:cool:
 
i have 2 in front 2 in back 3 on top and 2 on side so 10 total

my case only came for spots for 6 but the guy who invented the DREMEl is a god.:D
 
No not at all, I just want an answer to the age old question "does size really matter?"
 
Ok, I'll give you an honest response.

In MY experience, all I have needed is a heat sink fan, and the fan that is positioned right next to it blowing over the MOSFET's.

Other people swear by having several case fans, others are simple like me.

If your temps are fine now and don't cause instability issues, why worry?

Just my opinion.
 
Yes I am a newbie which is why i ask the following question.

What does a MOSFET do and why is it important to keep it cool?
 
11 is way too many if you ask me.

I'm currently running 4 fans TOTAL. That's 1 CPU, 1 CASE, 1 Power Supply and 1 Northbridge (stock).

The box is close to inaudible. One 1500RPM 120mm case fan, one 2100rpm 80mm CPU fan, one low-rpm (not sure) 60mm NB fan and one 80mm silent (~1500 rpm) PSU fan.

Idle: 32deg with 19 degree room temps. Load: 41deg (same room temps).

PSU exhaust air is pretty warm, but rails are steady and it's all stock, so I'm not worried.
 
OK so then 1 large fan would be better then 11, for basic heat transfer, no?
 
Originally posted by OPUS1
OK so then 1 large fan would be better then 11, for basic heat transfer, no?
Click to expand...

it really depends on your case size, layout and how well you set them up.
 
Originally posted by Polyphemus
Yes I am a newbie which is why i ask the following question.

What does a MOSFET do and why is it important to keep it cool?
Click to expand...

MOSFET's have to do with supplying and transferring electricity. I really don't know much about them.

The reason I have my MOSFET's being blasted with a fan is because

1. They get hot, when they get hot, electrical stability drops
2. It's a major heat source right next to my CPU

The fact that I cool them down, could be the reason that maybe I have such good results with a "crappy generic" power supply.
 
Originally posted by Polyphemus
Yes I am a newbie which is why i ask the following question.

What does a MOSFET do and why is it important to keep it cool?
Click to expand...

regulates voltage on the mobo
 
I suppose the name of the game may well be air flow, and not number of fans. Granted, more fans will result in more airflow, but this airflow must be properly directed in the case.

It won't do to have blasts of air going every which way. There's no telling what the results might be. Even with 11+ fans, you may set up dead zones amidst all the circulating air.

IMO, best results would be to set the computer up as more of a wind tunnel. Let us say...oh...5 fans in the lower front (some blowing on the HDDs), one relatively large fan over the PCI zone (if you are running a video card that doesn't have a cooling solution like the VGA Silencer), and 5 fans in the upper rear, in the area around the CPU and PSU. This is a pretty standard, if augmented, version of what most computers use. Granted, it does not address the optical drives.

Marine Corps Logic (if 1 is good, 2 is twice as good) applies only up to a certain extent... I wouldn't go beyond 5 case fans (Panaflo H1As), total.

But who says you have to be logical? Mod a small desktop fan to fit into the front of your case. I'm sure they'd move more CFM than most case fans.

And give us pics of the finished result, whatever you decide to do!
 
Thank you MrFace and Kronchev for the info, now all i have to do is find where the mosfet is on my MoBo loll

Thx
 
haha i replaced my exahust fan near my cpu with a vantec tornado.....my case temps lowered 10C! :) But now I'm about to go deaf.....:mad:
 
Originally posted by Polyphemus


What does a MOSFET do and why is it important to keep it cool?
Click to expand...

metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) field effect transistor (FET)

As temps go up, resistance goes up, and current (voltage) goes down.
and thats bad,(for many reasons) so its best to keep everything COOL
 
11 fans is almost definately too many. The problem you run into when you have that many fans is that you'll have air flowing at so many different rates in so many different directions, that you'll just have a swirly mess of air inside of your case, rather than well-tuned airflow. Unless your 11 fans consists of 6 40mm fans, 3 of each of those mounted on the front of a HD cooler, 2 fans in your PSU, a cpu fan, a video card fan, and an exhaust fan at the back of your computer :p

In an example I saw here listing 10 fans, I'll say what I *think* would be the problem with a setup like that. 2 fans in front, 2 fans in back, 3 on top, and 2 on the side.

Now, I would assume the fans are set up as follows: fans in front and side blowing in, fans in back and top blowing out. So, you have the fans on the top trying to pull air up out of the case, and the fans in the back trying to pull air through the case out the back. The fans on the side are blowing air directly onto the motherboard, and since I'm assuming these are all axial fans and not turbine fans, the motherboard/other components deflects it in a rather non-intuitive way(IE, we'd need to feed in coloured smoke and actually see what happens to know for sure). I would imagine the airflow inside of a case like that is very, very turbulent. Turbulent airflow accross a heatsink specifically, or a radiator, is good. Turbulent airflow when you're trying to simply move air is bad.

What I would suggest is to do the following: Run your system with just the fans that you *have* to. IE, PSU fans, cpu fan, vidoe card fan. See what your system temps are like. Then, install an exhaust fan at the back. See what that does to system temps. Then, move that fan to the front, and see what that does. Then try with both, etc etc. The only way to know 100% for sure is to experiment. In my experience, having my one 80mm fan at the front of my case supplying the upper part of my case with cool air(my radiator is mounted at the top of my case) *does* help my temperatures. Unfortunately, the back of my computer case has no pre-cut spot for an exhaust fan. One problem I'm currently having is that if I let my system idle, it can sit for days at a time at around 24-26'C case temp, and 32-33'C cpu temp. However, if I run the system at full load for 5 or 6 hours, running say prime95, the cpu temp will rise up to 39/40'C, and the case temp to 29-32'C or so. The cpu temp will eventually go down to around 37'C, but the case temp rarely changes much, unless I power my system down and leave it off for a while. I suspect drilling/cutting a spot for an exhaust fan at the back of my case(to exhaust the hot air surrounding my video card and my northbridge) would help, but I won't know until I try.
 
Hi its the newb again loll

I was just wondering if you guys could tell me exactly what the MOSFET looks like so I could find it on my P4S800 MoBo.

Thx guys
 
AFAIK, there will be several. They're slightly rectangular in shape, and they sit a bit above the motherboard, and have fairly large connectors attaching them to the motherboard. You'll find them near the cpu socket. Watch out if you touch 'em though, if they don't have heatsinks on 'em they can get pretty hot :p
 
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