CPU fans

July 8, 2008 9:18:04 AM

I am not sure why it is, but OEM fans shipped with retail verions of CPUs operate very quietly and also have an extra pin for control (4 pins in total) so the motherboard can dynamically adjust their speed as needed. 3rd party fans have only 3 pins and usually come with a potentiometer so you may adjust them manually, and at their full speed make a lot of noise.

I have also found that some CPUs heat up considerably, overclocked or not, and the CPU fan would be making a lot of noise trying to keep the temperature down

The solution to this problem came with the purchase of a case that has a 25 cm fan on its side blowing air on the whole motherboard, CPU, chipset and VGA card included. These huge fans spin quite slowly and make no noise at all, and achieve more than 3 noisy 8-12 cm fans put together. All my cases now have these huge fans on the side and even though overclocked, I do not need anything more than the OEM fan on the CPU and no other fans in the case and the whole thing is cool and whisper quiet.

The only thing to watch out for is internal space, my 9500 Zalman CPU fan (bought in error thinking I'd need it and now runs in the lowest setting) rises above the level of expansion cards and leaves no room inside for the 25 cm fan.

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CPUs Expert

Motherboard Authority

July 8, 2008 11:00:47 AM

Quote:

I do not need anything more than the OEM fan on the CPU and no other fans in the case and the whole thing is cool and whisper quiet.

I'm assuming your system does not run five or six high speed hard drives, an overclocked quad CPU and an overclocked 4870 Crossfire setup on a passivly cooled X38. Aftermarket coolers are researched and tested extensively. New product reviews are all over the web. It's a lucrative, competive business. Many companies like Zalman, Thermalright, Sythe, etc. have developed cooling solutions that far exceed the capability of the basic cooling solution Intel ships in a retail boxed CPU. In some instances stock cooling works very well in conjunction with adequate case fans like you mentioned. There is certainly a place for aftermarket cooling solutions. Some of the designs and solutions are excellent and some of the companies producing the products are big players. Plenty of room for aftermarket cooling and anything along related product lines.

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jsc

CPUs Master

Motherboard Master

Overclocking Master

July 8, 2008 12:39:07 PM

akistzortzis said:

I am not sure why it is, but OEM fans shipped with retail verions of CPUs operate very quietly and also have an extra pin for control (4 pins in total) so the motherboard can dynamically adjust their speed as needed. 3rd party fans have only 3 pins and usually come with a potentiometer so you may adjust them manually, and at their full speed make a lot of noise.

First, OEM HSF's have gotten better over the years.

Second, the S-Flex fan on my TRUE has three pins. It's plugged into the motherboard. The MB is controlling and monitoring it. The problem with using a resistor type fan controller is that the motherboard cannot monitor fan operation.

Third, that large fan is undoubtedly forcing cool air into the case, but where is that air going? I suspect that your airflow through the case is not optimal.

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