Multispeed Fans/Modding

[GreatestOne]

I just got a Antec 120mm with the 3 speed switch, kinda nice when u wanna add mass fans to a system, esp in Linux and just wanna leave it on high most of the time and on molex. I have two coolermaster 190mm fans that look great but just are too slow and kinda useless for me right now.

Is there any way I can buy like a tiny switch or whatever, splice them into the power cables, and squueze more juice outta them? ANY modding that costs less than $10 or so would be viable I think, if not, might as well just use these as tertiary fans and buy some more high speed ones.

 

[FnordMan]

Not sure what your asking for here. Do you want them to spin faster than stock? If so then no, that's not really possible.
Slower is definitely possible w/ an inline resistor on the 12v line (it's how Noctua's low/ultra low noise adaptors work)

 

[GreatestOne]

Not sure what your asking for here. Do you want them to spin faster than stock? If so then no, that's not really possible.
Slower is definitely possible w/ an inline resistor on the 12v line (it's how Noctua's low/ultra low noise adaptors work)

Yes faster than stock, its a pretty large fan but it hardly moves any air and I got 2 of them so am trying to make it spin faster... impossible huh?

 

[sazuzaki]

yeah coz they are already running on 12v right? and any more than that it's really not gonna make the fans last long. Might as well just buy new fans that has better air flow than those.

 

[Arcygenical]

The big fans actually do move lots of air. They do it at a much lower pressure, so you likely won't feel a breeze... Giving the impression they don't move much air.

Those large, slow (often around 1000rpm) fans move lots of air and are used for case ventilation. Aka moving lots of slow air with low pressure, and are useless for radiators or heat sinks.

Try the bag test. Get a big garbage bag and duct tape the opening to the fan, and squeeze all the air our. Count how long, in seconds, it takes to fill the bag. Now do it with a high speed (2000rpm) 120mm fan and see which wins

There is a way to get 17v from your 24pin arx connector. As stated, they will spin faster, louder, but with a reduced lifetime.

 

[GreatestOne]

yeah coz they are already running on 12v right? and any more than that it's really not gonna make the fans last long. Might as well just buy new fans that has better air flow than those.

Ya I get what you're saying... I guess I didnt care if the fan didnt last 2-3 years since there are so many cheap ones that come out almost free every few months at least.....

The big fans actually do move lots of air. They do it at a much lower pressure, so you likely won't feel a breeze... Giving the impression they don't move much air.

Those large, slow (often around 1000rpm) fans move lots of air and are used for case ventilation. Aka moving lots of slow air with low pressure, and are useless for radiators or heat sinks.

Try the bag test. Get a big garbage bag and duct tape the opening to the fan, and squeeze all the air our. Count how long, in seconds, it takes to fill the bag. Now do it with a high speed (2000rpm) 120mm fan and see which wins

There is a way to get 17v from your 24pin arx connector. As stated, they will spin faster, louder, but with a reduced lifetime.

Thats a good test, never thought about actually testing since I am using all of them now, but I will when I get my new shelf and redo my rig. But honestly this 180mm fan seems like its moving nothing, and when I used it, the results also seemed to show that, but this is very limited testing.

So how do you get more voltage out? And does that 100% result in higher RPM?

 

[sazuzaki]

Ya I get what you're saying... I guess I didnt care if the fan didnt last 2-3 years since there are so many cheap ones that come out almost free every few months at least.....




Thats a good test, never thought about actually testing since I am using all of them now, but I will when I get my new shelf and redo my rig. But honestly this 180mm fan seems like its moving nothing, and when I used it, the results also seemed to show that, but this is very limited testing.

So how do you get more voltage out? And does that 100% result in higher RPM?

voltage controllers would do those, anyways I wouldn't really bother buying one of those. Might as well spend the money buying the right fan for your taste =P


And as the other guy said, bigger fans don't have pressure on moving air, they move air in a lot slower pace than the traditional 120mm fans.


Let's say a smaller regular 120mm fan moves the same amount of air that your 180mm fan do but the difference is 120mm blows the air in a much concentrated area thus making it seem a lot stronger than the 180mm fan, while the 180mm fan blows the air in a wider area.


You can buy 180-200mm fans that can go up to 2000rpm and they don't really cost much.

 

[GreatestOne]

voltage controllers would do those, anyways I wouldn't really bother buying one of those. Might as well spend the money buying the right fan for your taste =P


And as the other guy said, bigger fans don't have pressure on moving air, they move air in a lot slower pace than the traditional 120mm fans.


Let's say a smaller regular 120mm fan moves the same amount of air that your 180mm fan do but the difference is 120mm blows the air in a much concentrated area thus making it seem a lot stronger than the 180mm fan, while the 180mm fan blows the air in a wider area.


You can buy 180-200mm fans that can go up to 2000rpm and they don't really cost much.

LOL ya I guess for just 2 its not worth buying such a thing, although it seems its a cool thing to have and try, just from a tech point.

No I get flow rates etc.... just that even taking that into consideration it seems my 120mm blows it out the water... maybe I'll see if I can look up the specs again and then also do the bag test, just so I can sleep better at night.

I'll just wait for a sale for one of those... I forgot about cfm and was just enamored with a low priced 170mm, so... my bad.

Ah found them, ok:

COOLER MASTER SickleFlow 120
120mm - Long Life Sleeve
2000 RPM
69.69 CFM
19 dBA

XIGMATEK XLF-F1703
170mm - Fluid Circulative Bearing
800 RPM
65.3 CFM
<18 dBA

Ah so I was right! LOL.... but ya it'd be pretty sweet if that 170 were 2000 rpm... is 2000 pretty much max stock?

I think the last few of these I got on sale at Amazon is what I need more of

Antec Blue LED 3-Speed Fan
120mm
1200 / 1600 / 2000 RPM
39 / 56 / 79 CFM
25 / 28 / 30 dBA

Yes, cant do much about noise but it moves decent air... makes me wonder if its just better blade design than the CM, 10 more CFM.