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Fan Control: Chassis or Motherboard?

AmpMC
By AmpMC
in Cooling
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Little background: I have a Media Server that I built and it has spots for five fans (It's a Fractal Design Node 605, so three 120mm and two 80mm). I have two 4-pin headers on my Z87M-Plus Mobo (not including CPU header), or I can control up to three 3-pin fans with the Chassis (switch on the side for low/med/high). Right now it just has the two OE fans the case came with for Intake, and two Noctua NF-A8 fans for Exhaust.

 

It currently has an SSD and two 4TB HDDs installed but it's soon to be three since I quickly ran out of space. So, for a fan across the SSD/HDDs I was thinking Noctua NF-F12, but it's 4-pin only. What's the best COA to achieve good airflow across the drives? Leave it static rpm switch based? Let the Mobo control all fans? Just the exhaust and drive fans? The 3-pin Industrial NF-F12? 

 

Any and all input would be appreciated.

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First of all, if you are going for quiet, DO NOT GET Industrial fans. They are for extreme performance independent of conditions, not for silence. Case and point in Linus' HTPC video:

 

Now to controlling (I don't know much about which fan is better than another. @WoodenMarker is better in that part). You can control all fans from mobo headers by using splitters. And with Asus mobo, you have really good controlling software. So options you have are:

  1. Getting Y-/3-way splitters.
  2. Getting powered PWM hub.
  3. Getting external controller or low-noise adapters.

I would personally recommend using mobo controls. Even if you decide to go for static speeds. Since you have 2 headers, you can have 2 different speeds from mobo. Intake vs exhaust for example. If you need more variations, you need external controller.

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As mentioned already, iPPC fans aren't good if you want quiet. Also, NF-F12's only come in 4pin if I'm not mistaken.

Normal NF-F12's are good.

The Node 605 isn't that restrictive and you shouldn't have much trouble keeping temps low. Setting the rpm as low as possible and testing load on other components to see hdd temps should be enough. SW3's are a great alternative: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jWtWGX/be-quiet-bl070-733-cfm-120mm-fan-bl070

If you ever need help with a build, read the following before posting: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/3061-build-plan-thread-recommendations-please-read-before-posting/
Also, make sure to quote a post or tag a member when replying or else they won't get a notification that you replied to them.

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