Airflow Recommendation - Fans Intake/Exhaust Motherboard Controlled

[lawsonj65]

Funny...I love this site, but my first ever post on here is about chassis fans...go figure...

Anyway, I just got a HAF912 standard with the ASUS P8Z77-V motherboard. The Mobo has 4 4-pin connectors, with 1 already being used for my Cooler Master Hyper N520.

Am I correct in assuming that ASUS's Fan Xpert2 feature requires the 4-pin instead of the usual 3-pin connectors on most fans?

The HAF912 has room for 2 120mm or 1 200mm on top, 2 120mm or 1 200mm in front, 1 120mm or 1 140mm on left side, and 1 120mm fan (which is stock) in the back.

The diagrams indicate the front and left should be used for intake and the top and rear for exhaust.

<> What is the best recommendation for air flow in my case? Should I get 200mm (case: one up to and one in front). 120mm (since there are more 120mm fans on the market) and do a 4 pin Y splitter into into one of the 4-pin mobo connector (case: two up to and two in front)?

Side question: If I had to choose between exhaust or intake fans, which one of them should be controlled by the mobo? Based on my observation, I'm thinking the exhaust should be mobo controlled, while intakes can just be hooked up to the old molex connector?

Thanks!!
Jeff

 

[Z1NONLY]

Fan expert works with 4 or 3 pin connectors.

No need to "choose" what the board controls. You can use fan splitter and pair-up your fans to single fan headers.

Also, Fan Expert is almost awesome. I hate that it starts up in default fan profile and reqires me to reload my custom profile manually at every start up.

I ended up just using BIOS to controll my fans. I hope they fix this bug in the future.

 

[inzone]

To get the best air flow you need the most fans and if you add two 120mm fans and compare it to one 200mm fan then you have 240mm to 200mm so the two 120's would give you more air flow. So two 120's on top for exhaust the 120 rear for exhaust and then two 120's in the front and a 120 in the side for intake.
The best option is a fan controler in the front bay but if you want to try and use the bios or the fan expert then that's a choice for you to make. I like the bios to control the cpu fan and then have a fan controller for the others.

 

[lawsonj65]

Thanks for help guys! I think I'm gonna go with the dual sets of 120mm. I'll do the Y splitter on them. I do like the fan controller idea though. Next splurge maybe

 

[lawsonj65]

Best answer selected by lawsonj65.