Installing a new case fan (need help ASAP!)

[Cornholio]

Hello,
Ok, here's what I'm trying to do:
My computer is running quite hot, so i decided to clean out the dust with compressed air. I also decided to maybe install a new fan
here's the problem:
All my 4 pin connectors are used (Graphics card ate up TWO connectors(9800GT))
I'm afraid if i connect something else to another connector i'll fry my motherboard
Once I installed a ram stick, it fried my motherboard.
Here are my questions:
1) Is compressed air the best solution to clean a PC?
2) If i install this new fan, where should i connect it to, since all my 4 pins are used up?
3) If i connect the fan and boot up my pc, will the motherboard fry?
Specs:
AMD Athlon 64X2 Live! 4600+ @ 2.41 Ghz
Nvidia GeForce 9800GT Point of View Graphics 512MB
2GB Ram (2x512 MB sticks, 1x 1GB PNY Stick)
2 Hard drives, totalling around 280GB
Vista Home Premium 32Bit
1 Cpu fan and heatsink

The computer is running fine untill now, i just wana cool it more without frying the motherboard or running out of power.
Thanks!

 

[Cornholio]

OH AND ONE MORE THING
I have a few cables sticking out that have a black connector and are 4 pins or so...... All of the white ones are used
on the motherboard, next to the fan grille (on which i plan to install the fan) there is something like a black plug, with 3 pins in it... dunno if this info is useful.

 

[aford10]

If you don't plan on using software to control the fan speed, you don't need to connect the fan to the motherboard at all.

You simply mount the fan on your case, and connect the 4 pin molex power to your PSU. If your PSU doesn't have any more available plugs, you can use an adapter, or daisy chain a couple fans together into a single PSU 4 pin molex.

The 3 pin motherboard connectors are for controlling/reporting the fan using software or the BIOS.

 

[Cornholio]

If you don't plan on using software to control the fan speed, you don't need to connect the fan to the motherboard at all.

You simply mount the fan on your case, and connect the 4 pin molex power to your PSU. If your PSU doesn't have any more available plugs, you can use an adapter, or daisy chain a couple fans together into a single PSU 4 pin molex.

The 3 pin motherboard connectors are for controlling/reporting the fan using software or the BIOS.

I'm a noob at all this lol
What do you mean by daisy chain?
could you post a few pics?
also, do I run risk of frying my motherboard?
what kind of adapter do you mean?
and how would i go about cleaning the dust inside my pc?
Thanks!

Oh and a lil' info:
GPU Idle temp on startup: 60ºc
GPU Idle temp 10 minutes later 77ºc <- That's what concerns me

 

[Cornholio]

looking inside my comp with a flashlight, i see this like black connector thingy that says P4 on the top.... it's like a gamecube memory card sort of... no pins
Then i have another wire that has a connector on the end with 4 holes, but it's smaller than the ones i used to connect my GPU

 

[Paperdoc]

What aford10 is talking about are called "4-pin Molex" connectors. They were originally designed to provide power to devices like IDE hard drives and optical drives, etc. The are on a set of 4 wires coming directly out of the PSU. Connecting fans to them should have almost NO effect on your motherboard.

A 4-Pin Molex connector is about ¾" wide and 1" long, with four metal connectors in a straight line. It is a female connector - the four are tube-like so that a male pin can be inserted into each; the hole diameter of each is about 1/16", maybe 2mm. The wires coming into it are two black ones in the middle (both Ground), a yellow on one end (+ 12 VDC), and a red on the other end (+5 VDC).

In computer parts shops you can buy an adapter that has one male Molex to plug into this output from the PSU, and it feeds TWO female connectors. So it converts one Molex output into two, expanding the number of devices you can power from it. You can easily stack these up and safely power four fans from one original Molex output connector. As aford10 said, this means the fans all will use the full 12 VDC supply and run at full speed at all times. The exception to that is that you can buy a module that plugs in between the Molex and the fan that allows you to set the fan to a fixed lower speed.

 

[aford10]

Here's a 4 pin molex power.

You can use a splitter like this to get another plug.


Here's an adapter to convert molex into SATA.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119262&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Adapters+and+gender+changers-_-Rosewill-_-12119262

Some fans have male and female connectors. You can connect the male of one, into the female of another, and male into the PSU female.

You won't fry the motherboard. It's safe.

 

[Cornholio]

Lol thank you so much guys
I learned like 20 new things in 2 minutes
One last question though: Will my PSU have enough power? And How can I clean the dust from the inside of my PC?
Thank you so much for your prompt answers guys!

 

[aford10]

Use a can of duster (compressed air) to blow out your case. Try to always blow from the inside, out. Once most of the dust is out, tip the case down, and blow up into the case. That will help get rid of the loose dust that has settled at the bottom of the case.

The added fan will require very little power. If it's too much, the system will fail to boot. If that's the case, then you're cutting it close, and it should be replaced anyway.

 

[Cornholio]

Oh crap... Well if that's the case then I don't care about the fan, but it's worth a try...
I hope that if that happens the computer boots after i take the fan out!
Any recommendations for a low energy fan?
Is there any way to tell if my PSU will be able to run it?
I think it's a 400 Watt...
I've seen antecs and innobo's at my local store....

 

[Onus]

If it is a cheap PSU that came with your case, it may really only be capable of 250W-300W. Replacing it would probably be a good idea, since you may be stressing it. A 380W Antec Earthwatts would do very well for you. It also has a PCIE power connector, so you wouldn't need to use an adapter to power your graphics card.
I've never heard of "innobo," and unless it is 80+ certified and has full range active PFC (no little voltage switch) would not trust it.

 

[aford10]

Look on your case for vents that you can mount a fan on. It should look similar to this. If you have one, measure the size, or look at the case specs to see what size fans it'll fit.
http://dialecticallibre.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/dscf1343.jpg

Browse around in here. There are different fan sizes, and also PCI slot coolers.
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=573&name=Case-Fans

Adding a fan shouldn't be too much for the PSU. If by the slim chance it is, just unplug the fan, and it should be fine. Then you'll want to look at an upgrade. Antecs are generally very good PSUs.

 

[Cornholio]

Thanks guys,
Yes, the psu came with my computer... so it must be crap...
how good are the antec fans?
Afor 4, in that photo of yours, what PC is it? the back is very similar to that of my pc...
I measured it, it's about 8 cm or 80 mm... (rounding)
What are the advantages of a PCI slot cooler? Will it take much power?
Ive seen the earthwatts with 380 watts at the store, but will it fit inside my pc? lol

 

[aford10]

What kind of case and PSU do you have? They aren't always junk, but most are.

Look at the noise level of the fans. You don't want to add loud fans. Other than that, I'm not sure there's too much difference.

 

[Cornholio]

It's a smaller computer, a Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo P

 

[aford10]

Yep, most likely a garbage PSU. I see the 1st and 2nd generation say they support up to 350w.

 

[Cornholio]

So will the Earthwatts fit? Are the PCI slot fans better? Will there be enough power for the fans, considering everything i have installed?
Afor4, I remember you talking about daisy chaining with the other fan? well I only have 1 other fan that connects to the PSU, and it is the one on top of the CPU heatsink. Will I be able to put the adaptor on the molex the CPU fan is using?
Thank you once again!

 

[aford10]

If you have well positioned vents on your case, I would go with a normal fan. If not, rather than trying to mod your case, you could just go with the PCI fan. It's an easy alternative.

Most CPU fan connectors look like this.
http://biorobots.cwru.edu/server/howto/buildcomp/mountcpu/cpufanpower.jpg
What kind of connector does your CPU fan have, that connects to the PSU?

 

[Cornholio]

My computer's CPU fan connects to the motherboard, so I don't really know what 4 pin molex i can use to hook up the new fan
The connector is similar to that of the picture, but this one has 4 holes...

 

[aford10]

You would use a cable like this to turn 1 PSU 4 pin molex into 2.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189062

 

[Cornholio]

Yes, but which psu molex do i use? The two graphics cards ones say that you should not duplicate them in the manual... I'm afraid to do it on the hard drive.... I do have one sata cable............ is using the adapter to convert it to molex ok?

 

[aford10]

I'm assuming you are using an adapter from the PSU to your video card. The video card uses a 6pin PCIe power connector. You probably have something like this.
http://www.erodovcdn.com/erodov/reviews/guide/pci-e-connector/pci-e-power-connector-3.jpg

You can use the molex splitter on your hard drive or optical drives with no problem. Or, you can use an adapter to convert the SATA to molex.

Some hard drives and optical drives can use either SATA or molex power. You may want to check that. You may just need to switch power connectors.

 

[Cornholio]

I'm assuming you are using an adapter from the PSU to your video card. The video card uses a 6pin PCIe power connector. You probably have something like this.
http://www.erodovcdn.com/erodov/reviews/guide/pci-e-connector/pci-e-power-connector-3.jpg

You can use the molex splitter on your hard drive or optical drives with no problem. Or, you can use an adapter to convert the SATA to molex.

Some hard drives and optical drives can use either SATA or molex power. You may want to check that. You may just need to switch power connectors.

Right again, aford
Well, you just solved my problem lol
In total i'm planning on buying this:
Anti-static wrist strap
80mm fan
compressed air
sata to molex adapter
I'll wait till i get a new pc for the power supply.
Any suggestions on improving airflow?
I hate to see my gfx card idling at 78ºc

 

[aford10]

Adding an extra case fan, and blowing out the dust should alleviate any airflow issues. Just make sure you have the fan pointed in the right direction.

 

[Cornholio]

What i had in mind was for the fan to move the hot air out of the case
I had also planned on putting one in the front to pull in cold air, but the einsteins over there at fujitsu put 3 lights making the installation more complicated.
DO you think using that configuration will be ok?
Before all this i had an external fan (not inside the case) moving cold air into the back of the computer, where the gpu was located. The gpu fan was blowing towards the bottom of the case, and the external fan was pushing the air out.