Case Fans - Intake/Exhaust, Electrical, Ventilation

sgs · TweakNOOB Joined: 07 Jun 2004 Posts: 19

Planning to add 2 front (intake) and 2 rear (exhaust) 80 mm fans to ATX case.
Case optionally allows these extra fans and standardly includes 1 side fan. PC
will potentially house 1 CD-Rom drive, 1 DVD drive, 3 Sata 150 drives, and
(approximately) 500 watt power supply (at rear of case). Based on comments, am
leaning towards Panaflo L1A case fans.

1. Are intake fans typically distinct from exhaust fans, or do the case fans
typically have a switch for configuring for intake or exhaust?

2. How are case fans typically connected electrically: to the mobo; to the
power supply; to the case (somehow)? When would it be appropriate to
connect a case fan to the mobo? How do you determine if the mobo can
connect to the 4 fans?

3. What extra connections (fan regulators) are needed so that fan(s) speed will
automatically react to interior temperature (i.e. fans not loud if interior
not that hot).

4. Based on the electrical connections, what type of connectors are needed?

5. Should I disable/remove the side fan and just go with the (regulated ?) 2
front and 2 rear fans (+ power supply fans and CPU heat sink fan)? Would
the side fan be accomplishing anything?

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Troy · SirTweaksabit Joined: 27 Feb 2004 Posts: 497

Dont know if I can answer everthing but intake and exhaust fans are the same.
Most of them have an arrow on the side showing the direction of air flow.
You will have to refer to your motherboard manual to see how many extra fan connections it has, these will be 3pin connections.

When you order the fans you can choose either 3pin or 4pin depending on where you are going to plug them in. 4pin will be needed for the power supply. You can also get adapters that will change from 3pin to 4 or the other way around whichever you need.
Some of the newer PSU have the ability to control the fans speed. You may also want to consider a fan control panel.

The side fan helps to remove any dead spots of air on your board so its nice having one of these. Plus they add to the cooling of your video card.

Hope this helps some if not there are plenty of others here that im sure are willing to help answer your questions. :)
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[TN] Nathan · ALMIGHTY PWNER! Joined: 14 Feb 2002 Posts: 7406