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GregP74

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Jul 25, 2016
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Finishing up a re-build here and I'm getting ready to order fans.

Motherboard is an older ASrock z77 Extreme4, Case is Fractal Design Define S.

What I'm looking at for the moment is 3 of the Phanteks PH-F140XP_BK fans for the case. 2 for input in the front, one exhaust in rear. Pretty sure I'll be plugging all the case fans into my Silverstone CPF04 Pwm hub.

The standard fan on my Hyper 212 EVO is getting a little noisy so I think I'm going to replace that also. Would he same Phanteks I'm looking at for the case, but in 120mm size be suitable? Haven't decided yet if I'll run one or two on the cpu cooler.

Just wondering if this is a good fan selection and setup or if someone has a better idea. I kind of like the white blades in the Phanteks, and they seem to be rated well. I'd like all the fans to match, although might be inclined to go with something with LEDs on the cpu cooler.

Last but not least, that fan hub I've got will control the 4 pin fans just fine obviously but not sure about 3 pin ones. I'd like to maintain the ability of the bios to adjust speeds on the fly. I'm assuming I'll plug the hub into the Chassis_1 4 pin connector on the motherboard and the CPU cooler fan onto the 4 pin CPU_1 header. (If I get a second fan for the CPU cooler I'll be confused as CPU_2 on the motherboard is only 3 pin)

Anyway, just looking for suggestions or other fans to try that you guys have had good luck with. Hoping to order off Amazon today and have them here tomorrow!
 
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The Phanteks fans will be fine as long as you use them vertical.
For the CPU - just compare the specs of your fan. Look if they are fixed the same and if the CPU fan rly is a 120mm with 120mm typical holes. Do some research if they move similar air, if they do you should be fine.

Are you sure the define S (nice case btw) is able to take a 140mm fan at the back?

The Phanteks are really good fans.
As are the Noctua (but they are quite ugly)
I recently tried the new Cougar fans, they are very nice as well. There's a 120mm Cougar in my case as intake since April and I wouldn't miss it.

Concerning PWM: if the speed in this hub is regulated via real PWM then it won't regulate the 3 Pin fans.
However I found different sources on the web claiming that it's real PWM as sources that claim the hub can control 3 pins as well.
But you could go for the PWM variants of the Phanteks fans.

There are several designs with 2 CPU coolers where the exhaust fan or both fans are 3 pin and are regulated by changing Volts.
Only expensive coolers and more expensive main boards actually offer 2x 4Pin CPU headers.
But you can always get a PWM splitter for your CPU_1 header jf necessary
 
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Yeah the Define S can fit a 140mm on the back and 3 on the front (as well as 3 on top I believe)

I noticed too that my motherboard did seem to be able to control the speed of the 2 3 pin fans that came mounted from the factory in the case.
 
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Thinking now I may go with the Phanteks 140mm case fans and use a pair of Thermaltake Riings with the blue LEDs on the CPU cooler. They're only 3 pins but I reckon if I plug them into the CPU 1 and CPU 2 headers on the motherboard I should be ok.
 
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actually no. the CPU_1 header is controled by PWM
a 3 PIN Fan has no pin for PWM
so they will not be controlled and run full speed.
I highly advise against this.

also while looking quite good and being of good quality, the Riings still don't have the best bearing.
 
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And on second thought, those LEDs are kind of a gimmick anyway. I'll see them when I first put this thing together, but after that you can't see anything when the computer is under my desk anyway. I think I'm just going to go with the 4 pin Phanteks with the white blades all around.
 
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I'm not sure how the fan is exactly fixed on the cooler but the fan itself looks pretty standard.
so a 120mm 4Pin Noctua/Phanteks/Cougar should be fine.

as for the case fans: if your hub supports PWM - why not go with PWM fans?
the PH-F140XP_BK you listed are 4Pin so you should be fine.

 
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The cooler fans just have some plastic clips that screw on. Not a big deal to change them out.

I ended up buying 5 Phanteks. 3 are the PH-F140XP_BK and the other two for the cooler are the same thing, but the smaller 120mm version PH-F120XP_BK. All of them are 4 pin PWM models.

The ones for the case I'll all plug into the Silverstone PWM hub, and the 120mm ones I'll probably just plug into the CPU_1 and 2 things. Although I suppose I could plug the hub into the cpu_1 port and just run all the fans off the hub? Hmmm
 
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usually the CPU_headers are connected to the CPU load/temperature, so it adjusts with the cooling needed for the CPU
while the CHA_headers will be controlled by overall case / mainboard temperature
so no, I wouldn't connect the CPU fans to the hub but to the mainboard
if the hub isn't controlled by CPU needs.
if it is, it makes no difference I guess
 
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Right now I'm running my single cpu fan off the motherboard's cpu-1 header, then on the chassis-1 header is the hub for the case fans. I reckon I could run the hub off either one. I guess running the fans off both headers would allow me a little more flexibility keeping the cpu nice and cool while not really having to crank the case fans up til things warm up a little more.
 
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exactly. I would just use the CPU1 header for the CPU-fan.
when looking at benchmarks, a 2-fan-cpu-setup doesn't make much of a difference in most cases.
 
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