Adding extra case fan to pc

[kurotoshiro]

Hi all

I require a bit of techy PC advice!  Aside from occasionally opening up the case to remove dust, I have no experience in tinkering with the insides of PCs. But I have an extra fan which I'd like to hook up inside. Looking at the manual, I think I can see how to hook it up, using steps 1 to 3 as described here.

However, the bit that concerns me is where it says "the maximum current for all fans is 0.7A. Please check with the motherboard manufacturer in case it exceeds this limit." I have no idea how to check this (but I do know that my motherboard is a Gigabyte G31M-ES2L). Can anyone advise me?

Cheers!  

[izan]

You might be able to simply plug the fan in to the MB.
See photo below.




I

[kurotoshiro]

Jul 13, 2013 15:09:56 GMT izan said:

You might be able to simply plug the fan in to the MB.
See photo below.




I

That slot is already used by a fan taking air in at the front of the PC.

[ant]

kurotoshiro Do you need to connect it to the motherboard? why not connect it to the power supply unit?

[promark]

Jul 13, 2013 15:23:37 GMT ant said:

kurotoshiro Do you need to connect it to the motherboard? why not connect it to the power supply unit?

Exactly what I would say you are more than likely to have spare leads on you power supply just make sure you buy the fan with the right connection

[izan]

The artic PWM fans provide feedback to the MB. Artic calls it PWM, GA calls it smart fan. ( enabled in bios)
If you have a box full of Artic PWM fans, they will work as a system to provide the most efficient cooling. Increasing or decreasing fan speed based on CPU temperature.
Unless this is the 5th or 6th fan in the daisy chain, I wouldn't worry much about the .07 limit.

Good luck

I

[kurotoshiro]

Thanks all, for your help.

Yes, it is an arctic PWM fan, which is why I figured that connecting direct to the m-board was best.

I've now connected it, along with the main CPU cooler, to the 4-pin PWM slot on the m-board. It's running, but I'm just not sure whether I need to do anything extra in BIOS to make it run efficiently, or whether the system will simply recognise it?

[pegasus]

Be careful about air flow or you could make things worse ... as a tech I use to get loads of overheating pc's in to the shop the most common mistake was to put a fan directly over the CPU sucking out the hot air, but this starves the CPU fan that is trying to pull air down through the heat sync, so think about air flow through the case

[izan]

It will just integrate if the smart fan control is enabled in bios,
To test:
Put a finger in the CPU fan. If the other fans are SMART/ PWM controlled they should spin up to close to max RPM to compensate.

I

[maccafan]

Looks like your mobo supports CPU fan speed control and not system fan control.

If you create a shunt from your cpu fan header, the new fan will also be controlled if you enable CPU fan control in the BIOS. If you shunt it in with the sys fan header both your old and new sys fan will run at constant speed.

If planning to shunt from the sys fan header, you might as well get the suitable adapters and run it straight off the PSU. If planning to shunt from the CPU fan header to have speed control, look at the rating of your CPU fan and add the current rating to your arctic fan. But also be mindful that as the fans age, they will draw more current.

[kurotoshiro]

Jul 13, 2013 15:57:58 GMT pegasus said:

Be careful about air flow or you could make things worse ... as a tech I use to get loads of overheating pc's in to the shop the most common mistake was to put a fan directly over the CPU sucking out the hot air, but this starves the CPU fan that is trying to pull air down through the heat sync, so think about air flow through the case

I wasn't sure about this, so I've put it on the side of the case, drawing air in, roughly aimed at the GPU. Does that sound OK?

[pegasus]

Jul 13, 2013 16:50:32 GMT kurotoshiro said:

Jul 13, 2013 15:57:58 GMT pegasus said:

Be careful about air flow or you could make things worse ... as a tech I use to get loads of overheating pc's in to the shop the most common mistake was to put a fan directly over the CPU sucking out the hot air, but this starves the CPU fan that is trying to pull air down through the heat sync, so think about air flow through the case

I wasn't sure about this, so I've put it on the side of the case, drawing air in, roughly aimed at the GPU. Does that sound OK?

Yes if it pulling in assisting the CPU and not restricting it 

[jcol]

As a general rule, front and side fans should intake air.
Top and rear fans should exhale air.
The idea is to create an air flow through the case