Adding more fans to a dell T7600 (or any other model) workstation?

[zenonithus]

Just wondering if anyone has added extra fans to their dell station? I feel like a couple of small fans at the back would really help blow the warm air out and cool things better. Though having trouble locating some sort of extension 4-pin 1 male to 2 female cables. Just wondering if anyone has found one of those and successfully got it all working?

 

[william p]

Dell uses a positive pressure case design where the intake fans do the cooling. The fans they use are much more powerful than aftermarjet fans. They force air right onto the heatsink and VRM chips. If you look at your existing fan you will see it has .8A-.9A 12V. rating. Most enthusiat fans draw .2A-.3A. if that. Unless you put a really serious fan in there it will just be getting in the way.

 

[zenonithus]

You're right the fans are powerfull, though they are right at the front of the unit blowing air through and due to the compactness of components the air flow is not great. The second CPU gets all the warm air blown onto it from the 1st behind it. Also the RAID card heat sink really heats up and there is no direct fan to cool it down. I think it would have benefited from a few more fans at the back to really draw out the warm air.

 

[william p]

You could get a powerful 92mm fan like the TA350DC Nidec fan. They come in various power up to 1.8A. Not PWM so exhaust only (speeds up from air heat through fan ). Put it on the back of the CPU cooler and duct the hot air out the back separately.

 

[zenonithus]

Thats sounds good William. Then I realised it might be better to put some Noctua heatsinks with dual fans like this rig. I wasn't aware I could use a different heatsink though this guy seems to have done it https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=e3HD1D8Aqr8

 

[william p]

Unlike the older BTX Dells some of the newer ones use a standard mounting that matches the CPU socket. Just be aware that Dell MB fan pinouts are different. The one advantage the setup I proposed is it removes CPU1 heat from the system separately from the air flow to CPU2. But coming up with your own solution is half the fun. In my T3500 I put a TR Macho 120 cooler and moved the original CPU cooler to the chipset. Stuffed a 150X50 mm AFC1512DG 1.8A. fan in. Had to drill holes in the cover for the heatpipes to stick out. This fan replaced both .9A case fans. Keep an eye on airflow past the VRM chips. Dell is very good about this. Aftermarket coolers not so much.
BTW watch out for unusual threads on Dell mounting hardware, you might need different screws.

 

[zenonithus]

hey William, I currently have two FOX-1 PCI slot system exhaust fans at the back venting out some of the warm air. It's made a slight difference though I still feel like I have to open the cover and put my desk fan between the gap to cool thing 😀 Your suggestion is good and what I also had in mind as a temporary alternative to the new heatsinks. So basically put a fan at the back of CPU 2 so it blows the warm air from cpu 1 through quicker and hopefully cooler?

One problem with dells case is the cables can bunch up and restrict the airflow getting to certain areas. I may also add two fans at the top via pci slot just to blow air onto the Heatsinks. Though ideally would need some sort of ventilation at the top. Another thing about the dell case is there are no vent holes. I can understand they want the airflow to travel through the case but temps do start to rise when I close the lid so I don't think their theory works.

 

[william p]

My intention was to put the fan on CPU 1 and duct the air out before it hits CPU2. This way both CPUs start with cold air.But I'm not famillisr with the lasyout of your system. If space is tight you could run the duct to a rear mounted fan. The fan I suggested does need hot air coming in to regulate speed.

 

[zenonithus]

Ah I see what you mean. The space is pretty tight between the two. CPU 2 on left and CPU 1 on right. If you see the layout its almost as if one should have been on top of the other so both get equally cool airflow from the front fans. What I have notices works is if I open the lid and put a desk fan in the direction of CPU 2 so cool air blows through it. I have noticed the temps dropping that way.

 

[william p]

I see the heatsinks laready have fans so that's good. Some people have reverse cooled Dells by turning the intake fan around backwards. You might try having the heatsinks blow away from each other and add an intake vent with a screen to the side cover. But you're right there's not enough room for my first solution. You could make a cardboard side panel to test this before cutting any metal parts. You can probably reverse just the fans or the whole heatsink assenblies to get what you need.

 

[zenonithus]

Yeah I was thinking about that also. Though there would be no airflow between the middle so not sure if that would affect it. For now I've just had to set the fans to medium which is loud but keeps the CPUs at around 40 +.

 

[william p]

I would see if there's room to turn CPU1 heatsink around 180*. This would give room between the coolers, and reverse the flow. Turning the case fan around should be easy. CPU1 out the front, then duct CPU2 out the rear. Air coming out of fans doesn't go straight, centrifugal force throws it out in a wide cone. So ducting will keep it from wandering around inside the case. Also I would recommend a metal grill in the cover to maintain the Faraday cage that's formed by the metal case. There aren't very many peopl;e doing this so some trial and error is required. Bit you probably already have all the fans you need.