NOOB needs opinions on Fans and Controller for air cooling??

[HRT Stroker]

Hello SPCR!!!

I have come here from OCAU after being referred to your site by Firetech.

I am installing a Thermalright SI-120 and while I've got the case open am intending to revamp the fans. This are the size fans I am after:

1 x 120mm for SI-120, preferably up to 70CFM
1 x 120mm for case exhaust (Antec TX1050B) (currently Antec Tricool)
1 or possibly 2 x 80mm fans for air intake (front lower and hard drive cage front of case.
1 x 120mm fan for the rear of the desk enclosure the case is in. This fan is powered by the PC but not controlled by the fan controller.

A good fan controller suitable for using with both the case and HSF fans, was thinking of the Super Flower Controller or the Aerogate II if its suitable.

Now the PC is a 3.4 gig P4 on an ASUS P5AD2-E Premium MB with 1 gig of Ram etc etc. 2 x 300 gig Seagate Barracuda 10,000rpm drives with the stock Antec Smart Power 500w PS.

I need to be able to ramp up the air flow over summer as the summer temps are around 48 CPU Idle and 34 MB idle. These rise to 60-63 at full noise for CPU and 36 for MB.

Cooler ambients see 43CPU and 31Mb idle with 60CPU and 35 Mb at full noise.

I was considering the new Antec Pro DBB series fans in both the 80 and 120mm variants, with either the Antec Tricool or the Thermaltake Smart FanII for the rear of the desk. Not alot said on here about Thermaltake fans.....not sure thats a good thing!

Obvioulsy I want to be able to cool the thing when its flat out and be able to run it quiet when its not, particularly at night so the whole house can sleep!!!

I'd like to have all fans RPM monitor capable, the SI-120 recommended Panalfo suggests around 68 CFM for the HSF.

Thoughts and suggestions from you fine gentlemen (and ladies) would be greatly appeciated,

Regards



Jarret

Most brands of fan are avaialbe here, although the new Antec Pro series is yet to surface in Oz.........

[Trunks]

I would only want to control my CPU fan with the motherboard bios.
The T-Balancer XL is a full featured fan controller. And it has fun temperature sensors you can monitor your hard drives, or other odd parts with in a centralized way.
My antec smart power is itself loud. Maybe yours is newer and not as loud? you might think about modding or replacing yours to get noise down.

[HRT Stroker]

I also like the look of the Scythe SFF21F fans, but am having trouble getting hold of them in Australia.......

[HRT Stroker]

OK, I have read and read here and this is what I am going to try.

Use a 120mm Scythe SFF21F for the SI-120 HSF, rated at 1600 RPM but should be able to safely drop to 1000 rpm when system loads are minimal, expect to drop from 28dba to around 20-22 at 1000rpm?

Use 2 x Nexus 80mm Real Silent (1500rpm 17.6 dBA) fans to draw air into the case over and under the 2x 350gig hard drives.

Keep the existing 120mm (which was replaced under warranty today) Tricool fan on low (1200rpm 25dba) at the rear of the case to exhaust hot air. If this is too noisy I will try an undervolted Scythe here too.

I am going to use Speedfan to control fan sppeds as my ASUS motherboard seems to allow this.

I'll post how it all goes together!