Fans inside a computer tower?

[Ellie]

Hi,

I recently bought a new computer, in a Li-Lian chassis, which comes
equipped with three small fans: two at the front to draw air in, and one
at the back to help drive air out.

I have discovered that none of these three fans are ever turning.
Removing a side of the chassis, I see that their leads are neatly tied
up and don't go anywhere, i.e. none of the three fans are connected to
power. However, right before the fan at the back is a fourth and
separate fan which is part of quite a large device that has the word
"Freezer" on it. I think this unit contains the main CPU (or whatever
it is that is in danger of overheating). The fan which is part of this
device begins revolving whenever the computer is switched on and it
directs air out the rear hole (between the stationary blades of the fan
in that hole).

Is it possible that the three integrated fans have been purposely
disconnected because of the fitting of the "Freezer" device containing
the fourth fan?

If people in this group feel the three integrated fans should be
operating too, I will feel more confident returning the computer to the
shop which supplied it and set it up for me.

Thanks.

Ellie.

 

[electricitym@yahoo.com]

More movement of air is better. ... but that many fans may be
over-kill.
I would think that at least the fan in the back should be running. If
ALL of the fans are hooked up maybe the noise level would be too high.
electricitym

 

[james.shedden@baesystems.com]

More movement of air is better. ... but that many fans may be
over-kill.
I would think that at least the fan in the back should be running. If
ALL of the fans are hooked up maybe the noise level would be too high.
electricitym

With regard to this suggestion, some computers have diagnostics to read
the temperature of the cpu and sometimes the inside of the system
enclosure. Maybe you would be able to judge the correct cooling by
monitoring these temperatures. I would like to see the fan in the back
running as well as it usually cools the power supply. Front fans are
usually set to add cooling to the disk(s) if they are mounted near
them.

Good luck
Jim

 

[Ellie]

I would think that at least the fan in the back should be running. If

I would like to see the fan in the back
running as well as it usually cools the power supply. Front fans are
usually set to add cooling to the disk(s) if they are mounted near
them.

Thanks to the two of you for this. You have given me an idea. As this
computer even with the one ARCTIC COOLER fan is not quiet enough to have
it in the same room as a microphone, I might as well have the other
three fans running just to ensure the greatest longevity of the machine!
Unfortunately, for recording, I am going to have to put the computer
in an adjacent room (with extension cables) anyway. So does having
four fans running sound reasonable - or unnecessary? If, as Jim
suggests, the two front fans are meant to cool the disks mounted above
them, then at the moment those disks aren't being cooled at all - unless
that ARCTIC COOLER fan up near the top of the back is just so great it's
cooling everything!

Ellie.

 

[James Sweet]

Thanks to the two of you for this. You have given me an idea. As this
computer even with the one ARCTIC COOLER fan is not quiet enough to have
it in the same room as a microphone, I might as well have the other
three fans running just to ensure the greatest longevity of the machine!
Unfortunately, for recording, I am going to have to put the computer
in an adjacent room (with extension cables) anyway. So does having
four fans running sound reasonable - or unnecessary? If, as Jim
suggests, the two front fans are meant to cool the disks mounted above
them, then at the moment those disks aren't being cooled at all - unless
that ARCTIC COOLER fan up near the top of the back is just so great it's
cooling everything!

Ellie.

In my own experience, the intake fans at the front do very little, I would
just remove that one to improve airflow. The rear exhaust fans will help
though, I recommend plugging those in, it was probably simply never done
when the system was built. If the fans are too noisy you can get special
quiet fans, same goes for the one on the CPU. Do some googling for quiet PC
or silent PC and you'll find lots of good info.

 

[Jumpster Jiver]

So does having

four fans running sound reasonable - or unnecessary?

For me the more fans the better. I have seven hard drives in my video
editing computer which generates lots of heat.
If you count all my fans... there are:
one in the power supply,
one on the processor,
two in the case rear,
one in the case front,
one on the video card,
one on the motherboard's chipset,
one in the side of the case

In case I missed any, ther are somewhere between 9 and 13 fans in my
tall tower case. It's noisy but necessary to keep it running cool.

 

[Ellie]

Jumpster and James, thanks a lot.

Jumpster, you have all those fans running at it hasn't done your machine
any HARM, so that's a good indicator I should get my dead ones running.

James, this morning as a result of yesterday's answers from people in
this group I took another look round the interior of my chassis and
discovered I in fact have FIVE fans in there! This is quite surprising
for me because over the years, having moved from one reasonable desktop
PC to another, I have always noted just one little fan attached to the
CPU.

This morning I have found that what I reported yesterday is incorrect.
Yes, three fans are incorporated in the chassis itself (supposedly
coming with it from the manufacturers of the chassis) and, yes, there is
a fourth added fan attached to the ARCTIC COOLER device. But I was
wrong to say that that little fan alone was keeping the ARCTIC COOLER
cool. This morning I discovered a much bigger fan sitting within a
"large" horizontal compartment directly above the ARCTIC COOLER. What
is actually happening is that the small fan is drawing air towards the
ARCTIC COOLER (through the hole in the chasis where there is a dead fan)
and the big horizontal fan above is then drawing air away from the
ARCTIC COOLER and out the back of the chassis through a grille.

So, now that I find that TWO fans are at work in there, I am thinking
that maybe the company that built this audio computer for me know what
they are doing, and that maybe the work of these two fans is sufficient.

On the other hand, looking at the manual this morning, I see there are
only two sockets to supply the fans. One of them, designed for the rear
fan, is being used to power the two added fans working on the ARCTIC
COOLER. The other socket, adjacent to the two fans at the lower front
of the chassis, is empty. I see there seems to be a bundle of spare
connectors clipped away inside the chassis, so maybe it would be fine
and safe to connect those two little fans to the empty socket.

What do you think?

When I put my tower in the other room during recording, it will be five
metres away. Do I need to hunt for THREE separate five-metre extension
cables for keyboard, video, and mouse? Or is there by any chance some
kind of cable which combines all three so you only have one cable
trailing from one room to the other? I have tried looking for
something suitable online but the choice of fittings is bewildering and
the descriptions aren't particularly helpful.

Any advice?

Many thanks,

Ellie.

 

[MaxVT]

I don't think computers, with all those fans and spinning hard drives,
would be suitable in a silent audio room... Maybe a fanless power
supply in a diskless machine operating as a terminal to a "real pc" or
something similar.

Regarding fans, the front intake fans are best for cooling hard drives
in their airflow - high-speed drives get too hot to touch when tucked
away from the airflow, which is never good. The fans were not plugged
in either by mistake or intentionally so that you would decide the
noise vs. cooling or plug them in as you add new components to the
machine.

You can get a single cable combining keyboard, mouse and monitor. A KVM
cable would probably be ok but it must be male-to-female (male to PC,
female for the devices themselves)

 

[Alex Bird]

The fans were not plugged
in either by mistake or intentionally so that you would decide the
noise vs. cooling or plug them in as you add new components to the
machine.

Intentional or otherwise, this is definately a good thing.

Cool your drives. Modern drives drop like flies when they're run too
hot.

Alex

 

[Ellie]

I just want to say a big Thank-You to you, Alex, AND EVERYBODY else who
has been so helpful on this question of fans in an audio computer.

As a result of all your different pieces of help and points of view over
the last few days, little Ellie got down on her hands and knees this
morning and snipped her way into several little bundles of wires tucked
away in corners of her tower and then from all the plugs and sockets
that were released she matched up two by wire-colour and socket type
and, bingo, the three integrated fans of my chassis whirred into action.
So now all FIVE of my fans are operating AND the extraordinary thing is
that the increase in noise is only slight! But the draft that is being
pushed out of the rear grille is now CONSIDERABLY stronger and that
makes me happier about all the components of this machine being as cool
as possible when I am recording in future.

Thanks everyone for helping me get there and with confidence!

Ellie.