Quick Antec Sonata Question

regeneration

Am a hardware newb so be gentle.
I recently had to replace the PSU in my Sonata when it blew & replaced it with an Antec NeoHE PSU. Unfortunately it doesn't have any control over the 120mm case fan and that fan's going at full speed now - needless to say the noise is ludicruous. The amount of cold air coming out of the back of the case would make for a great beer cooler.

Rather than fork out more money buying another, compatible fan (although I'm not ruling it out), I am wondering if it's safe to simply disconnect that case fan and let the fan on the CPU do the cooling (while trusting the natural airflow to work).

The CPU is an Athlon XP3200+ Barton 2.2G, sitting on an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe. the CPU fan is a Thermaltake (not sure what type). With that in mind, would it be advisable to shut off the case fan?

TonyM.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=303855&view=links

You can get one of these if you want a hardware solution, if it triggers an alarm turn it off in the BIOS .
There are other software solutions if they are supported on your mobo
Asus probe and q-fan ect.

Is your fan plugged into the psu or the mobo the psu should have a dedicated 3v connection to run the fan.

regeneration

The only connection that the case-fan on the Sonata has is a 4 pin peripheral connector, so I don't think I can hook it up to the motherboard...

TonyM.

http://www.hitide.ie/catalog/default.php/cPath/21_23_42

You just need an adaptor to reduce the power going to the fan

Adaptor cable 12 volts 4-pin to 3-pin molex €3.95

regeneration

if the 4pin on the adapter hooks into the case fan, then were does the 3pin molex go? The motherboard? I'm not sure there's a spare slot (actually, there appears to be two slots?)

TonyM.

4 pin connect goes to the psu 3 pin to the fan drops the power from 12v to 3v ,
There are other options you can go to the mobo and use software to reduce the power using the small connector on the side but the first option is easier.

Sorry i may not be explaining this clearly one side of the 4 pin molex connection only has 3 pins to reduce the power.
4 pin to 3 pin molex adaptor will do the job.

regeneration

Yeah I think I understand; basically the adapter is a standard 4 pin plug with only 3 actual pins => less V going through.

Mind you, the Thermaltake fan on the CPU is making it's fair share of noise ( can't identify it - it's black & sitting on silver heatsinks). I disconnected the case fan and naturally got a decrease in noise (though with a slowly increasing CPU temp), but the CPU fan kept roaring away.

The case fan is this one:
http://www.antec.com/uk/productDetails.php?ProdID=77038#

Strikes me that 30dba is a bit much.

TonyM.

30 dba is a joke suggest you buy some Akasa amber case fans i get mine from a chap on e-bay he only charges €2.00 for delivery
http://stores.ebay.ie/Vebox-Direct-Computing

you might replace your hsf with an Arctic freezer pro €25 from HiTide
and line the case with some padding.

regeneration

Yeah, seems like a new case-fan & cpu fan is in order. Will definitely pick up the akasa - it seems a good combination of airflow + silence.

Not sure about the Freezer Pro though - my A7N8X-E is a Socket A Motherboard, Arctic only seem to do one fan for that type - the Copper Silent 3
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=2&disc=

Thanks for the advice btw

gline

if the fans are 3 pin and attached to the mobo, use a program called speedfan... you can decrease the speed on all fans attached to the motherboard, works a treat, i use it on my dual xeon rig as it sounds like jet engine with all fans up full

heres the link to speedfan

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

DemonOfTheFall

Lol, what is going on in this thread ???!?

Using a 4pin to 3pin adapter does not do ANYTHING to the voltage. Nothing. Zip.

You want an adapter that has a resistor in series to lower the voltage that the fan is getting.

regeneration

Hmmm okies - further confused lol

well like I said earlier, a better case/CPU fan is the way to go; and with the case-fan bought, I just need to source out a decent, quiet Socket A cooler

TonyM.

The adaptor will allow him to connect to the mainboard where he can reduce the power to the fan .You can also get connectors to connect fans to the psu.



The Zalman multi-connector allows to connect 4 fans to one 4-pin power supply connector

It supplys two +5V and two +12V power to any fan with a 3-pin molex connector.

It can be used to reduce the noise of case fans, when running with 5V.

Connect it to the power supply's 4-pin output connector and simply attach the fans to the 3-pin connectors at the other end

hopeful

If the 120mm fan has a standard molex connector you can rewire them to give various voltages and hence slow down the fan...costs nothing to do either. Merely by wiring the molex differently you can get 5,7 or 12 volts.

Link to a guide on it HERE.

I have used this myself and it works just fine.

regeneration

Hmmm well thanks for the advice - I'm getting a new case fan in the first place - so that's the first, most obvious answer (at 13euro it's hardly going to break the bank!).

The other question is the CPU fan - Someone recomended the Arctic Copper Silent.
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=2&disc=

What about Zalman? And this one in particular:
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=302755

As this computer is about 2 years old, I don't feel like overspending on a component on an already middle-of-the-road machine.

Attached is the fan I have on the CPU at the moment;

regeneration

anyone?