Changing a heatsink fan

thunderflash · 12 Mar 2011 at 09:45

I have a Xigmatech dark knight heat sink and an nzxt phantom case. I was wondering if I took one of the nzxt 120mm fans of my case and swapped it for the Xigmatech fan I might get better cooling. Only problem is my nzxt fans are only 3 pin an not pmw like the Xigmatech. Will I still be able to control the fan speed if I swap them over? At the moment I have the CPU fan to spin at 37.5% until it reaches 50 degrees then it adjusts accordingly. Not sure if swapping them will make much difference to cooling performance but at least it will be quieter.

thunderflash · 12 Mar 2011 at 11:53

Never mind, swapped fans over and no I don't have control over speed anymore, just sits on max. And it's not as cold either so now at least I know I either need a better fan or a better heatsink. My idle temps are 32c and on prime95 after 1 hour are 71c max so not bad but could do with being lower?

ran_out · 12 Mar 2011 at 12:06

If you've swapped from a pwm fan to a 3 pin you may need to change the setting in the bios from PWM to DC fan control.

thunderflash · 12 Mar 2011 at 12:28

ran_out said:
If you've swapped from a pwm fan to a 3 pin you may need to change the setting in the bios from PWM to DC fan control.

Just checked, don't have that option. Changed it to run at 100% rather than user controlled. It runs at max speed of 1200rpm as opposed to the Xigmatech which was 2200rpm which would explain the difference in temperature I guess. Would I be better getting a new heatsink or just a good fan like a noctua or something?

ran_out · 12 Mar 2011 at 12:48

Depends really,

You could see if it's possible to install 2 fans in a push/pull setup, that should improve temps some without needing a whole new heatsink, not sure if a single slightly better fan will make that much difference to justify it. I don't know much about high performance fans though as I just go for the quieter option and use Apaches

thunderflash · 12 Mar 2011 at 13:21

ran_out said:
Depends really,

You could see if it's possible to install 2 fans in a push/pull setup, that should improve temps some without needing a whole new heatsink, not sure if a single slightly better fan will make that much difference to justify it. I don't know much about high performance fans though as I just go for the quieter option and use Apaches

Thanks have ordered an Apache and an additional 200mm side fan, so hopefully 3 x 120mm, 1 x 140mm and 3 x 200mm fans should save me from changing the heat sink (not that my temps are that high really

), just laziness on my behalf but everything is running sweet and I don't want to upset things, that and I can't physically lift the tower so would have to wait for husband to come back from offshore in 2 weeks time.

thunderflash · 14 Mar 2011 at 22:23

Fitted the Akasa Apache fan to the Xigmatek Dark Knight heat sink, it gives me just the same temperatures but is a lot quieter in doing so. Then fitted a xigmatek 200mm fan to the side panel and that has dropped my idle temps to 8c Delta (21c ambient) at idle and 36c Delta at max on prime 95 and intelburntest so the side fan seems to make the most difference.

Not sure I have them set up correctly though, I have a 140mm intake at the front, 2 x 120mm intake on lower side near drives, 1 x 120mm exhaust on the rear, 1 x 200mm intake on the side, and 2 x 200mm on the top, 1 intake and 1 exhaust, should I make the top 2 both exhaust maybe? or change any others? Need a smoke grenade to see where the airflows lol