Cooling the P180: some difficult choices

[JollyTime]

For my new C2D (E6600) rig, I'm getting the Antec P180 case. I want it to be quiet, so there are lots of questions that have to be answered:

A) What case fan should i use? I'm planning on having 2 in front, 2 at the back (all 120 mm) set to low speed. The ones I have to choose from are:
-Nexus Real Silent Case Fan
-Papst 4412FGL
-AcoustiFan 120mm
-AcoustiFan DustPROOF 120mm
-mCubed X12 120mm
-Scythe S-FLEX 120mm 800 rpm version
-CoolerMaster UV Silent Fan 120x120x25 Blue

B)Fan control? Should I let the mobo regulate the fan speed or should I control it manually via a separate fan controller?

The question I have here is if the mobo will set the Voltage low enough when I use 4x 120 mm fans? I do NOT want all 4 fans blowing at 12v (cuz that noise will drive me insane).

My specs so far:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
CPU Cooler: Tunic Tower 120 (w. Papst fan)
Mobo: Asus P5W DH Deluxe
PSU: Seasonic S12 600W
HD: 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB
Sound: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic
VGA: Asus GeForce 7900GTX 512MB, 650/1600MHz
VGA Cooler: Zalman VF900-Cu
DVD: NEC ND-3550
Case: Antec P180

 

[slicessoul]

Get a Watercooling system.

 

[turbo_mcgillicutty]

When I bought my P180, it already came with 3 antec tri-cool 120 fans. I have the two in the upper back of the case and one in the front in the top chamber. The two in the back are set on low and the front is on medium. I then place a thermaltake blue led 120 mm that i had left over in the lower chamber between the psu and the hard drives and it is set as low as it can go. I dont have any temperature problems with my A64 x-2 3800+ and x1800xl. they both have zalman coolers (9500 for cpu and 900 for vid) but the cpu idles at about 32-34 with cool n quiet enabled, and the vid card does not go above the low 50s when under heavy load (oblivion).

as for your questions, i dont think that you need to buy the extra fans. The tricools are quiet enough when on lower speeds and do a good job. You could always try and see how they work and then upgrade to the others if you are not happy.

for the fan controller question, i would not run the fans off of the mobo. I would use a fan contoller if you want to vary the speeds with load conditions. I run my antec directly off the power supply

hope this helps

 

[Chrismand]

I would use the Nexus Real Silent Case Fan.

And I would not use the motherboards build-in fan control system.

If you have not already read it I would suggest you take a look at:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article255-page1.html

I will personally be building a setup simular to yours within the next month - but will just be adding some vibration absortion to the the standard P180 fans.

Christian

 

[quickevoix]

I agree with Turbo. I have this case in one of my setups and the tri cool fans that are included work great. You can already control the speed of each fan without needing a fan controller.

Since I am not doing any major overclocking on this system I am using the mini aquagate r120 which runs quiet and does the job...though obviously not a performance OC solution.

If you decide to water cool in the future you can remove the drive cage in the bottom front of the case to install your pump.

Good case for low noise and keeping your componenets cool with the fans supplied.

 

[phreejak]

One suggestion you can do to greatly help in the silencing of whatever fan you choose is to add rubber grommets between the fan and it's contact point of the case. They are very inexpensive (you can get them at virtually any hardware store) and they act as vibration dampers. Another thing I'd decide on as far as fans are concerned is where they are placed when choosing their material look. If they are going on a window blowhole get something clear, otherwise black is generally used.

I've got two Coolermaster 1200mm LED fans and I run them off the mobo simply because they are so quiet that no matter how fast they run I still can't hear them.

 

[sailer]

I'd definitely go for a separate, manuel fan control. The mobo fan control just doesn't cut it, in my opinion. I keep mine set slow when I'm not stressing the system, then turn them faster during games when I'm so into the game that I don't notice the extra noise.