Question Can't change case fan speed

[Damped]

Hello! I just recently built my first pc and I wanted to increase the case fan speed since there is barely any air being pulled into the case and even less being pushed out by the exhaust fan. I have the Thermaltake v200 rgb and as far as I can tell have everything plugged in, but it only shows the cpu fan rpm in bios. From what I can see they aren't plugged into the power supply

 

[Damped]

I now have it set to voltage, only thing I don't really know what it does is temperature interval. Anyway I believe the settings are fine and it seems like right under 1200 rpm is the cap speed and I can't really feel the air past 2 inches away. Is this normal or is it just not that great of a fan? I'm just kinda afraid that the fans just aren't that good since I saw my friends case and I could feel the air from his fans over 6 inches away and air wise is way better than my case

 

[Darkbreeze]

Generally speaking, most fans that come preinstalled are pretty crappy anyhow in most cases.

Remember, I said that a while back.

 

[Damped]

Now I'm remembering, I also didn't see the links for the fans you posted until now. I don't mind spending the money as long as I can setup new fans that will work great. I wouldn't mind getting the 3 pack of 140 mm to replace the front fans and put and extra one up top. No idea how to take the front of the case off, but it shouldn't be that hard and a lot of reviews say those fans push quite a bit of air. So I can plan to get that soon. And maybe get another one to replace the current exhaust. But do you know if all 3 of those fans need their own sys fan spot on the motherboard or do they connect to the added controller, then use only 1 spot on the board?

 

[Darkbreeze]

The important question you have to ask yourself, when it comes to the proposition of replacing fans, is how important the RGB aspect is to you on the fans?

The bottom line is, there are really NO good RGB fans when you compare them to non-RGB models. Even the Corsair Maglev ML 140 fans are only about half as good in terms of static pressure and airflow when you compare the RGB model to the non-RGB model of the same fan. And those are probably about the best RGB fans out there.

I'm not a fan of RGB fans, in case you didn't notice. Cooling performance is more important IMO. RGB can be obtained in other areas such as LED strips and such. But there are a few options out there that are ok.

 

[Damped]

I mean I guess I don't need them, but I do think having a flashy case looks cool. It would be cool to have the front ones still light up, but I don't really care if the exhaust fans do. I'm also not sure how well the air gets in from the side slots for the front fans. If I still wanted to keep the front lights and do those thermaltake rgb fans you linked in the front and do both exhaust as a non rgb fan do you think that would be good enough air flow?

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'll bring in somebody a bit more, versed, with the details regarding the RGB fans and the necessary supporting hardware. It's just not an area I care to become well versed in because I tend to focus primarily on performance and that's hard to do with RGB fans since the performance specs are simply lacking across the board.

 

[Damped]

Ahhh, ok. As long as I can get something much better than my current fans, which just seem to be doing terrible

 

[Damped]

Also thanks for all the help

 

[Darkbreeze]

For sure man. NP.

 

[Karadjgne]

Hi. Wow. Darkbreeze asked me to jump in here, and I've read the whole post, twice, and it seems to be going around in circles.

The TT controller as far as I can see is rgb only as far as fan speed control goes. There's no fan speed input or output anywhere there.

The 2pin on top goes to the proprietary switch in the case, and has 2 modes. Case mode and software mode.

For case mode, you hook the Sata connector directly to a spare connector from the psu. It's strictly a 12v power source that'll handle the amperage a fan/rgb header won't. Fans plug in where the fans go. You change the RGB by pushing to button to get the desired affect.

For software mode, you'd also connect the wire at the bottom, the 12v,g,r,b wire, that has 2 connectors. One of those will fit the Gigabyte x470 12v rgb header. Push and hold the case button for 3-4 seconds. That disables the built in affects and enables the Fusion sync to work. Now your rgb will be changed according to the software.

But the fans are still at 12v constant. Bios isn't going to have any affect because the fans are not connected in any way to a motherboard fan header. They run at max speed always.

There isn't a way around this without major surgery on the fan wiring. Sorry.

Your only option if you want actual rgb control And fan speed control is forget the whole Thermaltake controller and case switch, and use a standalone or Fusion compatible system with 4pin PWM rgb fans. The fans would be used via powered splitter to a fan header, and the RGB will be used via splitter to the Fusion +GRB header.

But that's the gimmick. Rgb/argb fans are a joke. The motor housing in the fan is only so big. For a regular fan, it's all motor. For an rgb/argb fan, the motor is cut down in size to make room for the rgb/argb wiring and pcb. So considerably less performance ability.

Just far more flexibility (almost all those fans have 2 connectors, one for rgb, one for fan speeds) than the proprietary system TT has in that case.

 

[Damped]

So I already ordered 2 fans and am looking to replace the 3 in the front with 2 140mm fans. Are rgb fans that much worse that you would be better off buying none rgb fans and putting light strips in as Darkbreeze was saying? Also I haven't really looked into doing a light strip in a pc case, it shouldn't be that hard right?

 

[Darkbreeze]

The LED strip lighting is easy actually. Karadjgne probably has more recommendations on that than I do, and is more familiar with some of the systems out there. I personally like the NZXT Hue+, which isn't available anymore but is the one I have, or the Hue2, which is much more advanced than my own Hue+ unit. There isn't much you can't do with a Hue2, up to and including lighting up your entire room if you want, or just a couple of LED strips that are included with the unit.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9nxsqww2Jo

 

[Karadjgne]

Given the choice, I'd go with the Hue2 or Corsair lighting Node Pro as a standalone. It has more rgb capability than a standard case can handle. But they aren't exactly budget conscious. $50+. They do come with strips and software though, you'd use that instead of the motherboards native Fusion.

The advantage there is you aren't tied to trying to split up multiple strips through limited headers, you get a controller that sits out of sight and plug in the strips + extentions. You'll get far more available lighting. If you don't want/need all 4 strips, just use 2 or 3, your choice, you aren't stuck with rgb on a fan.

My daughter got creative and ordered a 5meter strip and cheapo controller (was $13 on Amazon) and it's currently stretched from bottom left corner around the top to bottom right corner behind her headboard. Lights up the entire room.

Having lighting is nice. Having total control is nicer, you won't get that with cheap strips/fans.

 

[Damped]

Man, that thing looks crazy! Honestly I'd buy the hue2 even with the price difference since it appears to be an easy setup especially compared to some of the other options. So I'll order 2 more noctua fans the 140mm ones for the front of the case, then I'll 4 coming in then I'll figure out to set them up, then probably order the hue2 in like a week

 

[Darkbreeze]

You'll be MUCH happier that way than with the lower quality RGB fans.

Thanks for the input K.

 

[Damped]

Also some people are concerned when using the magnetic backed light strips, the magnets aren't actually strong enough to mess anything up right? Cause if not I'd probably use those since you can remove them

 

[Darkbreeze]

No, they are not. If they were, then the thousands of people using them might have had something to say about it by now, including me.

 

[Karadjgne]

Magnets aren't an issue. Many cases nowadays even come with magnetic dust covers. The magnetism is strong enough to hold, but really not even close to the strength needed to even affect an hdd, which in itself is magnetic. Even the pc fan motors use magnets.

You'd have to wrap an hdd in a strip to even have an inkling of a worry.

You know the flexible fridge magnets? The ones where if you put more than 1 coupon under them they fall off the fridge? About the same deal.

 

[Damped]

That's what I thought, my grandfather used to work for the state years ago fixing computers and has a magnet that he was saying could ruin a pc lol. But anyways thanks both of you for the help/advice. I have now ordered 4 noctua fans and they will be in by Tuesday, hopefully those be too much of a pain to swap out. Then Wednesday my check comes in then I can look into getting the hue 2 and setting it up.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well, when you get it all the way you want, take some pictures and pop into our members gallery and post your build.

I'll link you to the latest page, but note that there are 179 previous pages worth of member contributions to look through if you have some time to waste.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/toms-hardware-member-system-gallery.1285475/page-180

 

[Damped]

Just as an update I installed the new fans and the highest temps I saw after running highest settings on one of my games for about 2 hours was 52 C for gpu and 56 C for cpu. That is way better than it was before. After turning cpu and gpu fans to 100% when I still had the crappy fans my gpu still hit 80 C after running the same game for less than 30 minutes.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nice man. See, that's what I'm talking about.

 

[ShiftySifter]

Just checking since I seem to be trying to solve the same problem.
Thermaltake case Commander c31
MSI x570 gaming plus

The power for the fan controller seems to be sata to the PSU. There is no way to go from 4 pin PWM to SATA to connect to this fan controller? Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Motherboard-Adapter-Computer-Extension-Converter/dp/B07L82F4LT

It looks like the cable that goes to the sata power is 4 lines on the cable and 4 pins connected directly to the board.

 

[Darkbreeze]

This is an old thread. Please start your own thread and reference this one if necessary. Thanks.