Case Fans Help

Garrison Marsh · February 12, 2017

I have had my PC for about a year now. My case came with one fan and that's all I've used but I am getting an RX 480 soon and I want my cooling to be good. I don't know hardly anything about case fans so I have some questions. My motherboard only has 2 case fan plugs and one is being used by my current case fan.I would like to get 2 more fans so is there a splitter or something I need to get so I can use 2? Also what fans should I get? I don't want to spend more than probably 50 bucks on these but I'd like them to be quiet and work well. And lastly, I don't know how to control my fans. I've tried using Speedfan and I can change the speed of my GPU fan on it but it doesn't seem to change the case fan's speed. Help would be much appreciated.

LogicalDrm · February 13, 2017

Telling which mobo will help. Speedfan requires bit setting up. Jayz2Cents video is among the better guides on setting it up:

Each mobo header can power 2-3 fans. Note that using splitter will have both fans running at same speed. Both 3-way and Y-splitters (2-way) are common and cheap. Like these from Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Phanteks-3-Pin-Y-Splitter-Cable-PH-CB-Y3P/dp/B00M0R9BV0/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1486979856&sr=8-5&keywords=fan+y+splitter

https://www.amazon.com/Phobya-3-Way-Splitter-Single-Connection/dp/B004CLFOK4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486979905&sr=8-1&keywords=fan+3-way+splitter

(last is PWM, but you can use it for 3pins too).

If you want more than 3 fans from single header, it best to get powered hub. Both Silverstone and Swiftech ones are highly rated:

https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-System-Cables-Black-CPF04/dp/B00VNW556I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486979975&sr=8-1&keywords=silverstone+fan+hub

https://www.amazon.com/Swiftech-8W-PWM-SPL-ST-Way-PWM-Splitter-Sata/dp/B00IF6R4C8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486980002&sr=8-1&keywords=swiftech+fan+hub

As for fans, I'm not the best to answer that. Of cheaper side maybe Fractals Silent series (I have 2 as front intakes) or some Corsair fans (not a fan personally).