How clean can a case fan even get? Also, Need PWM fan for Mobo to adjust RPM?

[blahcomp222]

Time to clean the inside of my computer again. PC is about 3.5 years old.
Last time, I meticulously cleaned the case fans and stock intel CPU fan, but I think I remember there was still dust on the actual copper motor and/or bearing which I couldn't get to it unless I basically broke the fans (snapped together I guess). My case came with a spare 4th 120mm fan I'm looking at, and it looks like if I peel the sticker, it might reveal a screw though that maybe I can take the fan apart and fully fully clean and re-lube.

I was thinking to maybe just order 3 new 120mm case fans and a CPU fan. But if they need to be a specific PWM kind or something and are like $8 each, know that I got this case new, delivered with 4 120mm fans for only like $35 or something (Rosewill Line mid tower). And the plastic power button cracked so I was considering buying a new one (I have a jumper wire on/off button just dangling out the case to turn it on).

I didn't take the PC apart yet in order to confirm this dust on the bearing/copper, but what has your experience been? If the fans are more quiet after the blades are cleaned and everything, should I just keep them? I read about oiling them too (with 3-in-1 oil, not WD40 or something). But oiling a dusty copper motor/bearing might make it worse.


If I do buy new fans, do they have to be PWM kinds? I plan to use the 3 prong to plug them into my motherboard is GIGABYTE Z97-HD3 LGA 1150 rev 2.0
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128715&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-VigLink2-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=12087162&PID=8167372&SID=jd8i8lovhe000a1705278&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=afc-VigLink2

If I use the 4-pron PSU power, they'll run full RPM always which I don't really want. I'm not getting a dedicated fan RPM adjuster. I don't really care, I just figure it'd be better to have the motherboard control the fans if it even can. If I plug into the mobo (3 prong) will the mobo auto change RPM as it needs to (but need PWM fans?)?



Thank you.

 

[Aeacus]

You can go for 4-pin PWM fans if you like since your MoBo can control them on the same way as regular 3-pin DC fans.
Also, only the SYS_FAN3 header on your MoBo is 3-pin, the rest (CPU_FAN, SYS_FAN1 and SYS_FAN2) are 4-pin headers and you can use either 3-pin fans in DC mode or 4-pin fans in PWM mode.

Small description between PWM mode and DC mode:
PWM mode sends constant +12V to fan while the PWM signal from MoBo is used to control the speed of the fan. This mode works only for 4-pin fans.
DC mode controls the voltage sent into the fan. The less voltage fan receives - the slower it spins. This mode can control 2-pin, 3-pin and 4-pin fans.

As far as dust goes, i clean only the fan blades and fan frame from the fine dust that manages to get through from my Demciflex filters. Cleaning the fine dust from my fans doesn't make them operate quieter but it makes them look a lot better.
Also, i use fluid-dynamic bearing fans (NZXT AER RGB series) and mag-lev bearing fans (Corsair ML Pro series) that doesn't need any kind of lubrication for their operation. Fluid-dynamic bearing fans are self lubricating since the lubrication constantly circles around inside the fan bearing. While the mag-lev bearing doesn't have any lubrication whatsoever inside the bearing since magnetic levitation is used to keep the fan shaft away from the fan bearing casing.
Further reading about fan bearings: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/779-computer-case-fan-bearing-differences

Since most fans are cheap enough, there's no point in taking them apart to get the dust out from the fan motor. While premium priced fans already have some kind of dust protections in place to prevent dust entering the fan motor. Taking the PC fan apart usually results breaking it all together since PC fans aren't designed to be taken apart for maintenance.

If you're worried about dust entering around the fan motor then you can buy the Noctua industrial 2000 RPM fans which have industry certified solid particle and liquid ingress protection built in, e.g
NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 (Ingress Protection: IP52 = dust protected and protection for dripping water when tilted at 15°),
specs: https://noctua.at/en/products/product-line-industrial/nf-f12-industrialppc-2000/specification
NF-F12 industrialPPC-2000 IP67 PWM (Ingress Protection: IP67 = dust tight and water immersion, up to 1 m depth),
specs: https://noctua.at/en/products/product-line-industrial/nf-f12-industrialppc-2000-ip67-pwm/specification

 

[blahcomp222]

good post, thank you. I do have screens on the fans but not like those amazing DEMCiflex ones. And for some reason there's two 120mm grills on TOP of this case as if someone would want to put 5 fans in it and make a not-good air flow.
I have two inputting at the front bezel and one output at the back to keep a stream of air over everything. If I added fans at the top I think would just interrupt the flow, or be a worse flow if I removed the two at the front and put them on the top which is towards the back of the case also. The two grills at the top don't have screens. The cheap screens still let some stuff through, so I was gonna put a solid cover on it but can't find that for too cheap (might as well get a new case), so I might actually cut and glue on a cut piece from a plastic binder to seal it off lol. Oh and there's two more 120mm grills on the side of the case behind the motherboard! I dunno why they did that but if not screened or covered can let dust in too.

I vape e cig in front of computer but so far so good.
I was just reading what dust actually is, and it's not mostly skin but is a lot of like carpet lint and stuff from the air etc. Luckily I'm not abnormally dusty even though I love windows open and fresh air, but computers just get dusty. The set up you have seems nice, maybe I'll upgrade to that eventually, because when I clean it, I really clean it well for like an hour or so, and those screens might allow omitting 1 of every two cleanings.

 

[Aeacus]

Since hot air rises, case's airflow rule of thumb is: front & bottom - intake; top & rear - exhaust.
Having top mounted fans doesn't make the airflow inside the PC worse. It actually helps to maintain the airflow direction from front bottom to top rear.

In my Skylake and Haswell builds, i actually have 7 case fans in total:
2x 140mm front intake fans (Corsair ML Pro)
1x 120mm bottom intake fan (Corsair ML Pro)
3x 140mm top exhaust fans (NZXT AER RGB)
1x 140mm rear exhaust fan (Corsair ML Pro)

Full specifications with pictures in my signature.

The more fans you have inside the case, the less each fan has to work to maintain the airflow and the less noise fans produce. And that is also a main reason why i have 7 case fans in my Skylake and Haswell builds. Since i have that many case fans, i can keep all of my case fans spinning between 800 - 1100 RPM and thanks to this, my PCs are very quiet while still having proper airflow inside my full-tower ATX cases.

Depending on which case you have, you can buy the full set of custom made Demciflex filters for your PC case (which i've done with my Skylake and Haswell builds),
link: https://www.demcifilter.com/Filters-For-Your-Computer

Or if your case isn't listed there, you can buy the standard filters or order custom ones from them,
standard filters: https://www.demcifilter.com/products
custom filters: https://www.demcifilter.com/Custom-Filters

When i first got my filters then i was surprised that it took only a few weeks before my filters got really dusty. I still haven't figured out if i live in a very dusty place or are the Demciflex filters really that good. 😀 Positive side about Demciflex filters is that i don't have to clean my PC case internals so often anymore. I clean my Demciflex filters every two weeks or so and PC internals once a year.
Though, the best part about Demciflex filters is the ease of cleaning them. I take the dusty filter off my case, rinse it under slow flowing cold water and tap it dry with towel. When done, filter looks good as new and i put it back on my case. In total, it takes me about 10 mins to clean all the filters on my PC case. Also, cleaning filters are far easier thing to do than cleaning dust inside the PC, especially when trying to get the dust out between the CPU/GPU heatsink fins.
Demciflex also has a filter cleaning guide on their site,
link: https://www.demcifilter.com/cleaning-2

Under the spoiler is an image out of my 2 Demciflex filters where you can see how Demciflex filter looks like when it gets dusty.
(click on spoiler to view)

Spoiler

Upper filter: for bottom 120mm intake fan
Lower filter: for PSU (semi-passive fan inside PSU)

I also vape an e-cig in front of my Skylake build and while i don't blow the cloud onto my PC, so far, my vaping hasn't affected the normal operations of my PC.