Is a case fan necessary here?

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mdk77

I'm running:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego - retail (stock fan & cooler)
MB: BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX
I have 2-SATA drives, WD 120gb and a 400gb.

I have this micro ATX board in a large case (I used an old server case)
so there's a huge amount of room to keep lots of space between the HD's
and the CDRW, for heat to dissipate without a fan. My CPU is running
~40 C. I'm not overclocking. Mostly just doing internet & email with
this system. No fancy graphics board, but just the integrated
graphics.

Am I ok going without a case fan (other than the PS fan)?
 
mdk77 said:
I'm running:
Click to expand...
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego - retail (stock fan & cooler)
MB: BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX
I have 2-SATA drives, WD 120gb and a 400gb.
Click to expand...
I have this micro ATX board in a large case (I used an old server
case) so there's a huge amount of room to keep lots of space
between the HD's and the CDRW, for heat to dissipate without a fan.
Click to expand...

The size of the case isnt relevant to that question,
what matters is how much air moves thru the case.
My CPU is running ~40 C. I'm not overclocking. Mostly
just doing internet & email with this system. No fancy
graphics board, but just the integrated graphics.
Click to expand...
Am I ok going without a case fan (other than the PS fan)?
Click to expand...

Likely. Check the hard drive temp using Speedfan to be sure.
I dont like to see hard drives running over 40C for long myself.

Presumably you're in winter currently, you need to check it
again on the hottest room temps in summer next summer.
The room temp makes a surprising difference.
 
I downloaded speedfan and the temps are:

Core: 27 degrees C
HD0: 38-C
HD1: 39-C
Temp1: 32-C
Temp3: 30-C

But then it also lists Temp1: 127-C
and Temp2: 127-C ............what in the heck is happening here? With
everything else running so cool, this has to be a bogus reading from
the software program. What else could it be? I ran the Biostar MB
software and it also gave the CPU temps as consistently low (from
38-40C)
 
I'm running:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego - retail (stock fan & cooler)
MB: BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX
I have 2-SATA drives, WD 120gb and a 400gb.

I have this micro ATX board in a large case (I used an old server case)
so there's a huge amount of room to keep lots of space between the HD's
and the CDRW, for heat to dissipate without a fan. My CPU is running
~40 C. I'm not overclocking. Mostly just doing internet & email with
this system. No fancy graphics board, but just the integrated
graphics.

Am I ok going without a case fan (other than the PS fan)?
Click to expand...


It could be quieter with a case fan. I've tried the experiment both
ways on my system, and without a case fan the cpu fan runs faster and
makes more noise. I'd install one just in case summer is warmer.
 
Chris said:
It could be quieter with a case fan. I've tried the experiment both
ways on my system, and without a case fan the cpu fan runs faster and
makes more noise. I'd install one just in case summer is warmer.
Click to expand...

Yeah. As of this morning I've made up my mind to go with a case fan.
The case already has a 120mm Panaflo fan that sounds REALLY loud.
That's why I started this thread, thinking I'd just unplug the fan and
go without a case fan. But now I'm thinking I should just get a
quieter 120mm fan. All of my cases have 120mm Panaflo's so I'm going
to replace all of them with something quieter.

Any suggestions for the quietest 120mm case fan?
 
mdk77 said:
Rod Speed wrote
Click to expand...
I downloaded speedfan and the temps are:
Click to expand...
Core: 27 degrees C
HD0: 38-C
HD1: 39-C
Temp1: 32-C
Temp3: 30-C
Click to expand...

While that is fine currently, it wont be as good on the hottest
days in summer unless the room its in is airconditioned.

The risk isnt that great if the hard drives get to say
45C or so in summer tho I wouldnt try it with Maxtors.

I'd risk it myself with your system if you care about a quiet system.
But then it also lists Temp1: 127-C and Temp2: 127-C ............
what in the heck is happening here?
Click to expand...

Thats normal, utes like that have to guess at the temp sensors.
See what Everest says, http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181
With everything else running so cool, this has to be a bogus
reading from the software program. What else could it be?
Click to expand...

Correct, you can safely ignore those silly values.
I ran the Biostar MB software and it also gave the
CPU temps as consistently low (from 38-40C)
Click to expand...

Thats fine. The problem is more the hard drive temps.
 
Thanks for all of your help on this. I did break down and go with a
fan. It dropped my HD temps 9-degrees C, so I guess I'll go with a bit
of noise and play it safe.
 
mdk77 said:
Thanks for all of your help on this. I did break down and
go with a fan. It dropped my HD temps 9-degrees C, so
I guess I'll go with a bit of noise and play it safe.
Click to expand...

You could always put a switch on it an only turn the fan on in summer.

I normally am in a more noisy environment in winter because I use a
fan heater to warm me in winter and it is more noisy than the PCs.
 
mdk77 said:
I'm running:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego - retail (stock fan & cooler)
MB: BIOSTAR TForce6100-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX
I have 2-SATA drives, WD 120gb and a 400gb.

I have this micro ATX board in a large case (I used an old server case)
so there's a huge amount of room to keep lots of space between the HD's
and the CDRW, for heat to dissipate without a fan. My CPU is running
~40 C. I'm not overclocking. Mostly just doing internet & email with
this system. No fancy graphics board, but just the integrated
graphics.

Am I ok going without a case fan (other than the PS fan)?
Click to expand...

...........................
Well, I tried shutting off the case fan. I fried my hard drive :-(
After installing a new HD, I installed a Scythe S-FLEX 120mm fan. It
was so quiet that I put a 2nd fan for my HD's and now I'm running
almost totally silent, and pushing a nice amount of air through the
case ~100+ FPS if you count both fans. My HD's are running at 34-C
right now.

Moral of the story is that yes I DO need a case fan. I just needed to
go with QUIET ones like the Scythe S-FLEX 120mm's.
 
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