Adding 2 new Kingwin 120mm fans

[ashank12]

Hi,

I have the NZXT phatom 530 case with Gigagbye GAH87N with wifi mobo. I am planning to buy 2 Kingswin 120mm fans to be installed as exhaust on the top of the case, and had couple of questions.

1. Does my motherboard allow me to connect these 2 additional fans- won't it go through system fan port? How many ports do I have? - Is there any other port apart from system fan port whereby I can install?

2. How do you know which way is exhaust and which way is intake fan? I plan to use these 2 on the top as exhaust

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am not that tech savvy. Matter of fact, I had my friend build my pc for me, so these 2 fans would be the first thing I would be doing all by myself. If you could also provide any instructional videos specific to the case to better understand it, that would be great

 

[geofelt]

2. A fan will often have an arrow molded into the surround indicating the direction of airflow.
The first thing I do with a new fan is to use a marker to make that arrow more legible.
Or, a fan will spin counterclockwise. See what direction that will send the airflow.
Mounted in a case and operating, dangle a tissue in front of the fan and note if it sucks air or expels air.

1. Your fans will come with both a 4 pin molex connector that can be attached to the psu, or a 3 pin connector that can attach to a motherboard or fan controller.
It is unlikely that on a small motherboard you will have a place for two fans.

Actually, my recommendation is to do nothing.
Your case has good airflow from the included 200mm fan.
Adding two exhaust fans will only add to noise and expense.

What might you have installed that needs extra airflow?

 

[ashank12]

hmm, my CPU stock fan was making noise when it runs it runs at heavy load. I was advised to add extra fans on the top as exhaust to allow for better air flow and minimize the heat near the CPU; hence, I decided to get extra fans. Its a mini ITX with the following configuration-

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4601#sp

So, not sure if I have enough slots to add 2 extra fans. I am basically getting the fans for free- so If i can install it, I rather would.

i can maybe try and connect the fans to the fan controller as well- I read it allows for 10 fans to be controlled, but not sure if the wiring be long enough, or where exactly it is located in my case.

 

[Karadjgne]

Under heavy load, stock CPU fans always sound like freight trains. Reason is if your CPU is rated at 125w TDP (a hairdryer is @ 1500w TDP) then the stock fan is usually rated for 130w TDP. So under heavy load, your fan is running @100% or anywhere upto @6000 rpm. Best answer is to get a good aftermarket CPU cooler which will not only work better at keeping the CPU cooler, but the fans spin a lot slower, so less noise. By comparison, the CoolerMaster Hyper212 plus or EVO is good upto 185w TDP, so at most on stock CPU speeds you are looking at a heavy load of only @ 65% of the rated cooler capacity, so the 1200 rpm fan will only be spinning @900 rpm, that's a huge difference in sound.

As for adding additional fans, the controller hooks up behind the motherboard rear side panel. If the wires are not long enough, you can always get extensions, from 3" to over 1 ft, on eBay etc for $2-$4, very cheap, enough to make the visible inside nice and clean. The only other plug you'll need is power from the psu to run the fans honestly though, a 200mm should be more than adequate.