Should I use another fan on this setup?

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Wabbit
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:43 am
Location: Portland, ME

Should I use another fan on this setup?

Post by Wabbit » Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:30 am

Ok, here is my current project:

Antec NSK-3480 case; MSI micro-ATX mobo (K9NBPM2-FID) with onboard video, sound, NIC, etc; AMD 45 watt BE-2350 CPU, 2x 2 GB sticks of A-Data DDR2 800 RAM; WD 80 GB HDD (WD800JD) for the system drive; Asus SATA DVD-ROM, and old PCI WinTV tuner card; and a Scythe Mini-Ninja heatsink.

The only fan is the slow 120mm case fan that came with the Antec case. I have not attached the 80mm Scythe fan that came with the cooler. It is so quiet right now, I have to put my ear within 6 inches to hear anything! I did try out the 80mm fan, but since there isn't much room in the case to put it directly on the heat sink, I removed the duct from case side panel that sits roughly over the CPU and attached the fan to that. I then plugged the fan into the CPU fan slot. This made the noise level rise to where it was noticeable, so I disconnected the fan to see how good the cooling would be without it.

Now I know this doesn't put much strain to create heat on the system, but I left the machine running in BIOS overnight on hardware monitor so I could see what the temps look like at that point. At this point, it shows the CPU temp at 37 C and the system temp at 32 C.

Considering this system will not be used for gaming, but will be used as a media server, web browser and document center, is it likely that the heat level will end up rising to the point that I will need another fan in the case?

I also want to use the box as a network file server, so I have 2x WD Green Power (WD5000AACS) 500GB HDD's that I have rigged to suspend vertically inside the case for use as a network share. I tested out the setup and it works, though it is a little tight. The drives are connected to each other with metal strapping, with about 2 inches between them, then suspended by bungees vertically towards the front of the case, aligned so that they do not block the air vents in the front. They are not in right now during the testing that I described above, though, so I don't know how much more they will raise the system temperature.

So, can anyone offer some insight? Does it sound safe to go with just the single 120mm fan at the rear of the case? If I really must add another case fan, the only good location that I can see is the side panel vent, which is only sized for an 80mm fan. Is there a good, quiet 80mm fan that anyone would suggest?

Thanks for any help!

jaganath
Posts: 5085
Joined: Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:55 am
Location: UK

Post by jaganath » Thu Feb 21, 2008 5:43 am

Now I know this doesn't put much strain to create heat on the system, but I left the machine running in BIOS overnight
actually sitting in BIOS equates to a 70-80% load on the CPU (I don't know why). so I would say you are perfectly safe with a single fan.

Wabbit
Posts: 32
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:43 am
Location: Portland, ME

Post by Wabbit » Thu Feb 21, 2008 8:50 am

jaganath wrote:
Now I know this doesn't put much strain to create heat on the system, but I left the machine running in BIOS overnight
actually sitting in BIOS equates to a 70-80% load on the CPU (I don't know why). so I would say you are perfectly safe with a single fan.
Wow, I had no idea it would do that. That is really weird, since it seems like the pc isn't really doing anything in BIOS... I wonder why the usage stays up?

Thanks for the reply and the information!

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