I put together my P182 with a DSL3 and a Corsair 520HX last night and I wasn't entirely sure the best way to connect my 5 fans... There were numerous places on the MOBO to connect the fans... but I decided to go with connecting them all on one power cable from the PSU.

Is the the best way to do it?

Also, I have some of the fans "chained" together (plugged one to another) is this okay? I considered every other little detail of my build, but never gave fans much thought.

Thanks in advance.

You should use the ports on the MOBO because they can be controlled if they are on the power then they are on full blast the entire time. Using the MOBO can reduce power comsumption even tho this is not alot, also over all noise levels. i would put the back exhaust fan on the power and the front intake fan as well, then use the remainder on the motherboard...

Hope this helps
greetz

South Africa

I find using the 3pin connector makes them a bit quieter then using the molex, just a bit though.

Unfortunately mobo makers don't include the maximum wattage of the fan headers (in which case I'd say it's their problem if you blow the board) after a lot of searching I found 3w to be the maximum recommended per fan if all the headers are used, or 5w per fan for up to 2 (not a concrete recommendation though). Any standard fan should be fine (most 80mm and the slower 120mm ones). I chose not to put my two 140CFM Deltas on the fan headers though as they pull nearly 10w each.

I'm using the Antec Tri-Cool 120mm, which I believe is 5W on high. I guess its best just to go with ol' Molex then.

Personally the sound doesn't bother me much, and in the P182 they are actually pretty quiet. I was mainly worried about chaining 2 or 3 together. No problem there... right?