Question: Best way to use fans

[lootfree]

Hi guys, I have a question. I get arctic one Arctic F12 TC and 2x Arctic F14 PWM .

 

So F12 is automatic. The main question is for these F14. On what temperature I need to put them to start working.

I don't want them to rolling in 2D because it waste of energy. If I put them to start at 60C /30% it is ok? and at 65C/40% ?

 

In the video you can see the position of fans, is this the best way to move air?

 

my cpu : i7 4770 with CM Evo 212

vga: MSI 970

[boey]

Have one exhaust(at the back of the case) and two intake(at the front of the case).

 

That'll provide positive air pressure which should lower the amount of dust in the PC. I'd put one intake fan at the same/similar height of the CPU cooler and one intake fan at the same/similar height of the GPU so the air doesn't need to lose too much pressure/velocity before cooling the important parts.

 

Of course something ideal would be to fill up all slots with fans but it may not be necessary

[TheGreatSora]

that depends on you and what you feel comfortable with tbh. (what tempretures you dont want exceed etc.) try doing some stress tests and see what tempretures reaches before they have a chance to cool it. if its too high for you you can start them earlier and if its good you can keep them etc. 

as for positions you need to look out for dead spots (areas where fans work against each other) best way to find them is to get incense sticks they are cheap and easy to come buy. they will produce smoke and put one againts the intake fan and see how the air moves.   

[lootfree]

@_d0nut I watched one of video's Linustechtips. The guy in video was used 3 fans, but 3th fans only better for ~3-4C I don't think is good to put 6fans in box, is just a waste at leas in room is 40C as default.

 

Maybe I will replace that fan on up spot and put it next on front panel. Because hot air always go up.

 

@TheGreatSora This is good idea with incense sticks. I will try it. 

 

Btw I make before few minutes a test. So maybe 55C is right time to start on. Most annoying is if they stop and start after few seconds and over again. Or maybe I will make them to rolling at 10% and when is reach 55C start to run at 40%.

 

[Sychic]

You might not be able to set your fans to 10%. Are they PWM?

[lootfree]

minimum is 200rpm, I will check in bios what is minimum.

 

edit: I check it and try it. My bios let me choice from 1% to 100%. But I think maybe 10% is not good because electricity will not be constant.

[LogicalDrm]

Energy saving part you can forget. Fans are least of your worries, considering that these fans will use 1.44W constantly (because PWM). Just your drives will use more power.

 

7 hours ago, lootfree said:

minimum is 200rpm, I will check in bios what is minimum.

 

edit: I check it and try it. My bios let me choice from 1% to 100%. But I think maybe 10% is not good because electricity will not be constant.

Uh, are living in area where power delivery can be problem? As otherwise that makes no sense when talking about PWM fans. They will be receiving 12V all the time. The rpm/controls are done by giving fans signal to pulse/rotation. More pulses, higher rpm.

 

This really is about what is highest temps you want to see and what is highest noise level you are willing to take. Thats where you setup your max rpm. Then you look for temps at which point you want to speed up fans. Thats your min rpm. Then you set curve between them. I use Speedfan (might not work on modern mobos) and I have set max rpm to 80% for most of my fans (~1400rpm across all 5). Min is 0rpm (CPU1&2, and yes, they are at 0rpm). Curve is set to start at 45C, with 50% being at 63C. Max rpm would be achieved at 70C. So while gaming/rendering fans are at 50-60%, and while stress testing they go full 80% speed. DC fans are trickier, lowest being 500-600rpm. All are getting to full speed when CPU goes to 70C.

[lootfree]

I meaning if you put fan on 10% efficient and keep this rpm, electricity will not be constant and chance to broke fan's motor is higher. This was my idea. But I'm not sure how exactly work one fan. So never mind.

 

btw you can't save energy even when they are at turn off - 0% ?

[LogicalDrm]

7 hours ago, lootfree said:

I meaning if you put fan on 10% efficient and keep this rpm, electricity will not be constant and chance to broke fan's motor is higher. This was my idea. But I'm not sure how exactly work one fan. So never mind.

 

btw you can't save energy even when they are at turn off - 0% ?

Ok, so reading up to this, 0rpm is offline. So that would save energy. Starting voltage of your fans is 3.9V, and amps are 0.12A at 12V. This next will be assumptions only. So 0.01A/1V would mean 0.04A when starting up = 0.16W. But when its running, it will use all 1.44W.

 

None of this will have anything to do with how much motor can take. DC fans are different as you can clearly hear when motor is receiving too little voltage to start spinning. And thats not good. But as PWMs will always receive full 12V while running, it really doesn't matter how fast they spin. Fans lifetime (6k-20k hours) is rated when fan is running at full speed. Yes, they will probably run longer if you don't run them at full speed. But when you have 10 year warranty from Arctic, you can expect them running full speed, 24/7 for at least that 10 years.