Cooling a Dell E521 - What fan to use?

ckang008 · Post by **ckang008** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 8:40 pm

Hi, I have a Dell E521 and I believe it has a Nidec 120 mm fan. Although it's pretty quiet, I want to find some fan even quieter. Will the Nexus 120mm orange fan be more quieter and worth the trouble to change?

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:47 am

Probably quieter, and who knows whether it's worth the bother? Only you can answer the second question, really, in the absence of any other info... like internal photos of description of the Dell E521, components, etc.

waltereo · Post by **waltereo** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:49 pm

ckang008 wrote:Hi, I have a Dell E521 and I believe it has a Nidec 120 mm fan. Although it's pretty quiet, I want to find some fan even quieter. Will the Nexus 120mm orange fan be more quieter and worth the trouble to change?

Hi,

I am looking to change the fan too. I just remove the fan to sse the exact model. It is Nidec Beta V, TA450DC, model B35502-35

On Nidec website the spec of the fan is :

http://www.nidec.com/ta450dc7/ta450dc7.htm

Compared to te Nexus
http://www.nexustek.nl/120mm_real_silent_case_fan.htm

I will give a try to the Nexus fan.

Could you please come back here with your result after your change ?

Thanks

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Mar 27, 2007 9:46 pm

Do consider that the Nidec original fan is rated for nearly 3 times the airflow of the Nexus. It may not be a smart fan swap.

waltereo · Post by **waltereo** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:06 pm

MikeC wrote:Do consider that the Nidec original fan is rated for nearly 3 times the airflow of the Nexus. It may not be a smart fan swap.

The CFM of the Nidec is 110, as far as I understand, this is when it is full speed ??
Since I got my E521, the fan never rotate at full speed. Even when playing BF2, Advanced Warfighter or R6 Vegas, the fan is never a full RPM.

So I guess swapping to Nexus should be pretty safe ? ? unless I miss something .

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 3:34 pm

Yes, it may never run at full speed, so maybe it gets 4.5V much of the time. At that voltage, the Nexus won't even spin up.

The fan in the Dell has to be thermally controlled, and you don't know what the minimum voltage feed to the fan is. If you want to use the Nexus, it would be best if the min. voltage was 5V or higher. The Nexus will not start below 5V. Measuring across the fan leads with a voltmeter would tell you easily.

Try the Nexus swap "blind" if you like, but watch/listen carefully. If the Nexus never starts up or if the air exhaust is very hot when it is spinning, you want want to replace the Nexus with a higher speed fan. Maybe something rated for 70 cfm -- but still quiet. Like a med-speed sleeve bearing Yate Loon.

waltereo · Post by **waltereo** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 7:52 pm

Hi Mike,

Finally I cannot replace the fan since the Dell fan is a 4 wires but a 5 pin plug connector as shown here. And Nexus fan as well as most fan are 3 or 4 pin.
As you can see on the picture only 4 pins are used .
Is there a way to identifed each wire in order to undervolt it by cutting and reconnecting in order to have a 7V or 5V ???

Thanks

MikeC wrote:Yes, it may never run at full speed, so maybe it gets 4.5V much of the time. At that voltage, the Nexus won't even spin up.

The fan in the Dell has to be thermally controlled, and you don't know what the minimum voltage feed to the fan is. If you want to use the Nexus, it would be best if the min. voltage was 5V or higher. The Nexus will not start below 5V. Measuring across the fan leads with a voltmeter would tell you easily.

Try the Nexus swap "blind" if you like, but watch/listen carefully. If the Nexus never starts up or if the air exhaust is very hot when it is spinning, you want want to replace the Nexus with a higher speed fan. Maybe something rated for 70 cfm -- but still quiet. Like a med-speed sleeve bearing Yate Loon.

Post by **MikeC** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:38 pm

That's a 4-wire Pulse Width Modulation termally controlled fan. It's just has a non-standard plug. You can identify which 2 wires need the drive voltage by trying just different combinations with maybe a 6-v battery any other 6~12V DC source. You can't damage the fan with reverse DC polarity. Most likely it's the red(+) and black(-) but could also be white(-).

If you connect a standard 2- or 3-wire fan to the fan header on the Dell board, the fan will just spin at full 12V. You'd have to use some kind of external fan controller to adjust the speed. A fanmate between the header and the fan connector ould work, but only if the fanmate plug fits on the header.

gozwildbill · Post by **gozwildbill** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:09 am

I know this thread is old,but i have just replaced a fan(nidec ta450dc) in my wifes pc.I replaced the fan with the same model,but it only has 3 wires,(red,black,and blue),the old fan had(red,black,blue and white),I'm not sure what the white wire is for,I'm getting a msg,on start up,(cpu fan failure),the new fan runs and speeds up on cpu useage,I'm not sure if this is a problem or not,any advise is appreciated,thanks

Cooling a Dell E521 - What fan to use?

Cooling a Dell E521 - What fan to use?

Re: Cooling a Dell E521 - What fan to use?