Question Rubber fan pads for CM TX3, can I just use a regular piece of rubber?

[billkwando]

I got a Cooler Master TX3 off of eBay recently, and I wanted to add a second 92mm fan. The original fan came with the rubber corner vibration dampeners, but the $6 Arctic fan I'm eyeballing on Amazon doesn't, of course. Can I just cut out some triangles from any piece of tough rubber and glue stick them on there? The tension from the fan clips will hold them in place once they're on there, but I worry about them melting, being pressed up against the heat sink.

I know you can buy corner pads, but they cost as much as the fan.! 😀

 

[Eximo]

Sure, most rubbers and plastics won't melt at the temperatures found in a PC.

Or you can just take two corners off the first fan and use them on the new fan. Generally not advised to mix fans on a cooler, better off buying two new fans and re-purposing the CPU fan for somewhere else.

 

[jarodatkinson]

The melting point of rubber is 180c ..... Most cpu's auto shutdown just over 100c, so if your heatsink gets anywhere near that temp, the computer will probably be on actual fire, so rubber fan pads won't really be your worry at that point....

 

[billkwando]

Generally not advised to mix fans on a cooler, better off buying two new fans and re-purposing the CPU fan for somewhere else.

Really? Is this like matched ram? You'd think they would sell it with 2 fans, rather than a fan and an extra set of clips. What's the reasoning behind it?

The melting point of rubber is 180c ..... Most cpu's auto shutdown just over 100c, so if your heatsink gets anywhere near that temp, the computer will probably be on actual fire, so rubber fan pads won't really be your worry at that point....

I was hoping this was the case. I had a feeling it would be fine. Not like I'm grilling hot dogs on my CPU.

 

[jarodatkinson]

Really? Is this like matched ram? You'd think they would sell it with 2 fans, rather than a fan and an extra set of clips. What's the reasoning behind it?



I was hoping this was the case. I had a feeling it would be fine. Not like I'm grilling hot dogs on my CPU.

What Eximo is saying with the "matched fans" is that two matching fans will move the exact same amount of air guaranteed, while two fans from different manufacturers will not.... meaning you could end up with worse cooling performance. i.e. a fan blowing air at say 10mph, while the fan pulling only moves air at 8mph, actually impeding airflow through the cooler. From what I understand, you don't generally get any real benefit from running push/pull through a cooler anyway, unless it was designed for two fans. It does look cool but with two led fans....

 

[Eximo]

Push pull actually does have a minor benefit, effectively doubles the power of the fans so that each fan ends up doing less work to move the air. This increases air speed and should slightly reduce noise for the same temps. Counterbalanced by there now being two motor sounds. It is a small gain to be sure.

Completely unlike RAM, yes. You want the fans to match so they don't fight each other. If the fan is playing catch up, it is spinning with almost no purpose, it is really being pushed along by the other fan. Regardless of position.