Connect case fans to the motherboard?

[Dogger1]

I was reading my motherboard manual and it suggested connecting the chassis fans to the motherboard when using multiple video cards, which I am. I can see some benefit in doing this because I can set the chassis fan profile to [standard] which automatically adjusts the fan speeds depending on the chassis temperature.

Is anyone else doing this and what are your results?

[jay51]

i always hook case fans to mobo,the upside, alarm goes if fan fails :)
and yes auto speed adjust,means quiter pc

[AkG]

The only thing you need to be careful about doing this is the amount of juice most mobo's can provide is only enough for a couple 120mm fans (at most!)...add anymore and some will not spin. :)
If noise is a major concern I'd go w/ lower noise fans. E.G. Scythe E's or Ds or Noctua NF-p12s.

[BT!]

Originally Posted by AkG

The only thing you need to be careful about doing this is the amount of juice most mobo's can provide is only enough for a couple 120mm fans (at most!)...add anymore and some will not spin. :)
If noise is a major concern I'd go w/ lower noise fans. E.G. Scythe E's or Ds or Noctua NF-p12s.

i have three 230mm and one 140mm fan hooked up to mine, but i dont have my HSF's hooked up to the mobo, have them directly supplied by the PSU. lol, i know, got it ass backwards..

[Jake_HT]

I'm using all my motherboard fan plug ins with no problems! Easier than plugging them into an adapter to molex for sure.
Use the CPU fans on the mobo, and then case fans that don't matter as much just plug them into PSU, that way you'll get a warning if a CPU fan fails

[jay51]

use this,and hook up plenty of fans safely NCIX.com - Buy Bitspower X-STATION POWER-EXTENSION I - Male Version 4PIN Molex to Power Distribution Board - Green - BP10500 In Canada.

[Dogger1]

My motherboard manual states:

CPU, chassis power fan connectors support fans" - "for a total of 7 A (84 W max.) at + 12V.

So I think that I've got a ton of headroom before reaching those maximums; considering the average 120mm fan draws 2 W and .3 A.

There are a total of 5 fan connectors on my motherboard, 3 of which are chassis fan connectors that automatically adjust the fans speeds, depending on the chassis temperature. I do have my CPU fan hooked up to the motherboard and it's working as advertised.

So I was thinking of hooking up my front 230mm inlet fan, top 230mm exhaust fan and rear 140mm exhaust fan on my HAF to the motherboard. That will leave my 230mm side inlet fan and lower 120mm inlet fan connected to my PSU.

As is, it's not all that noisy but I can see a couple of benefits in using those 3 motherboard chassis fan connectors.

[JD]

I'd be careful with those 230mm fans and auto speed control...

Chances are the motherboard might not give it enough power so they might not even spin up. Test it and see though.

[Dogger1]

I just finished hooking up my front 230mm inlet fan, top 230mm exhaust fan and the rear 140mm exhaust fan to my motherboard, enabled the CPU and chassis fan controls, set their profiles to standard and booted into Vista.

WOW, I now have what I consider a silent PC, so silent in fact that at first I was positive that the fans couldn't be working. Quick glance at the front fan, it's spinning, quickly open up speedfan, all the fans are working but I can't hear them.

Ok but do they function properly? Open up realtemp, cpuz and do a quick run of Prime95. The temps are ~ the same as when I didn't have them hooked up to the motherboard and now I can hear the fans but their almost dead silent, when compared to when I had them hooked up to the PSU.

Stock:



While running Prime95



Needless to say I'll keep a keen eye on this setup but I'm completely flabbergasted at the lack of noise. I'd be really interested in seeing if BT can change his setup and let me know the results.