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Replacing Alienware Fans + Airflow Concern
Hi fellow Aliens,
I have a question. After performing autopsy on an Aurora R4, I decided to replace its aging fans.
My questions are:
1. Is it necessary to use fans with same airflow? E.g. replacing 180 cfm with a slower one.
2. I plan to use air cooler and how important is the main 120 mm fan?
3. Is it necessary to have one 180 cfm fan?
I have opted not to use liquid cooler and I am aiming at getting Noctua fans.
Why I am asking this is because, one of the HDD or near MIO fan is a 180 cfm fan with 92 mm size. Unfortunately, Noctua only has 120 mm fan whose airflow is 180 cfm. The problem is, the 180 cfm Noctua fan sounds more like a turbine than a PC fan.
I am planning to transfer the 180 cfm power to the 120 mm fan while replacing the original 92 mm fan with a slower one.
Is keeping at least one 180 cfm fan is necessary?
Thank you
Roladin
53 Posts
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July 4th, 2017 17:00
I saw Cass-Ole anwsered your questions regarding to MIO / motherboeard connected fans better than I ever could.
Regarding these Points:
To make it clear: I use four Corsair ML120 PRO fans at the Moment, three as case fans and one as CPU radiator fan. They all are PWM controlled and can go from 400 - 2400 rpm. (These are "hybrid" fans, what means they are a compromise between airflow and static pressure. You will typically use airflow optimized fans as case fans and pressure optimized fans as radiator fans. But because on one side the air intakes of the Area 51 R2 are not totally free, and on the other side, the radiator is a slim one, I decided to go with the hybrids, and it works pretty well.)
You are right, the radiator fan pulls the air through the radiator AND pushes it out of the case.
I run a custom fan profile for the case fans via the Thermal Controls of the Command Center. Top and middle fan are at >700 rpm in idle and bottom fan (linked to the PCI sensor) is at >500 rpm. CPU radiator fan (automatic control) runs at ~850 rpm.
Under load they all come a little more to live, I typically end up with all case fans at ~850 rpm and the CPU fan at ~1400 rpm in gaming sessions.
Rhenium
103 Posts
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July 2nd, 2017 22:00
From all parameters, I guess RPM matters more than Airflow (Cfm)?
Am I correct? I seek this one: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608052
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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17K Posts
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July 2nd, 2017 22:00
IMO, this is what to look for when replacing fans:
And going from nice Asetek cooler to an old-style fan-cooler, is a step backwards, IMHO.
Tesla1856
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July 2nd, 2017 22:00
Yes, I know. I also knew it when I wrote that post.
Rhenium
103 Posts
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July 2nd, 2017 22:00
Um, this is for Aurora R4. The old style one.
Roladin
53 Posts
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July 3rd, 2017 01:00
Hi Rhenium,
I can’t answer your detailed questions about your Aurora because I own an Area 51, but you can read about my fan replacement project here. Maybe you can find something helpful.
The original fans are often total overkill, because the developers have to make sure the system works in worst case scenarios. But there is no need for 3000 rpm / 180 cf/m under normal conditions.
What I can recommend is to stress your system and monitor the fan speeds via the Thermal Controls of the Command Center. This way you will get a hint what rpm you will need. Although same rpm with different fans will result in different airflows, you will at least have a guiding value.
For my fans I decided to go a wide rpm range (400 – 2400 rpm), this way I have almost no sound in idle and at the same time a lot of reserves if the the system gets under full load.
I tried the Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM as fan for the CPU liquid cooler. Noctua makes awesome fans, but be warned: the bearings of the industrial style fans are optimized for durability and not for noise reduction. They (can) make some weird clicking. You will not hear it at higher rpm, but at lower, it is definitely there, and it will annoy you beyond any believe.
But if it has to be Noctua, remember that you can change these ugly brown rubber parts against some in another color, just search for “NA-SAVP1 chromax”.
Rhenium
103 Posts
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July 3rd, 2017 15:00
Hi Roland,
I have seen your page about Area 51 new fans.
I'd like to have your opinion about my plan.
Since I use an aftermarket mobo, I don't want both mobo and MIO board complain at me.
So here is the breakdown. I plan to go full Noctua build.
CPU Fan: Noctua NH U9S connected to Mobo.
Case Fan: NF s12A fan connected to mobo.
HDD and PCIE Fan: 90mm Redux Noctua connected to MIO.
In order to further fool the MIO board, I plan to install three fans on the top venting and connect them to the Theater Board.
Case fan: NF S12A 1200 RPM and 63.27 cfm.
Three venting fans: NF R8 Redux 1800 rpm, 31 cfm.
PCIE and HDD: NF B9 1600 rpm 37.8 cfm.
Keep in mind I install three venting fans to prevent the MIO from yelling at me. I also don't want to waster its potential.
My questions are:
Is this an overkill?
Is my 120mm case fan appropriate?
How noisy is Industrial 3000 rpm?
***
Does your Industrial 3000 rpm go 100% all the time?
Or is it during gaming/intense work?
Roladin
53 Posts
3
July 4th, 2017 04:00
Ok, a lot of questions. I will try to answer, but because I don’t own Aurora, it will be educated guessing at best.
First you should make sure that you have the right fans for your connectors (3 pin voltage regulated / 4pin PWM)
Is this an overkill?
Just to clarify this: The fans of the Aurora are originally connected to the MIO, and because you run a new (non Alienware) Motherboard with its own connectors, you have a lot of additional fan connectors?
So yes, if you install all these fans, it will be probably overkill. I also see some problems: If you connect case fans to the MIO connectors that are for other fans, you fan speed control will be messed up. (MIO will, for instance, measure the CPU temp to control the CPU fan speed, but now there is a case fan connected, and the CPU temp is no longer related to the fan speed.)
Have you thought about going only one way?
Is my 120mm case fan appropriate?
For the 120mm: Any size will work, the bigger the fan, the lower your rpm to reach a specific airflow, so for case fans bigger is better noisewise.
For the 63.27 cfm: I can’t say if the (max.) airflow is appropriate. You have to try it, but remember that you want a somewhat balanced airflow with a little overpressure in sum.
How noisy is Industrial 3000 rpm?
Any fan at 3000 rpm sounds like a jet engine.
Does your Industrial 3000 rpm go 100% all the time? Or is it during gaming/intense work?
My actual CPU fan is around 800 rpm in idle and around 1500 under max CPU load. The Noctua was the same because these are PWM fans and will run at the speed the fancontrol tells them to run at (Or at minimum or maximum speed this fan can run if the demanded rpm is outside of the capability of the fan)
Rhenium
103 Posts
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July 4th, 2017 05:00
Hi Roladin,
Apologies for the questions, but I always try to condense questions into main points.
Based on your idea about 3000 rpm fans, I guess I should reconsider this as I plan to use it as a backup option for the case fan.
Yes. I'm gonna use ASUS Z270G. I get two case fan headers, one will be used. I get two CPU fan headers, one will be used with Noctua NH U9S.
I get two case fan headers and two CPU fan headers. I'll only use one CPU header and one case header.
Speaking of your 3000 fan, I see that it is connected to your radiator. Therefore, it acts as both CPU and Case fan, am I correct?
Do you have any ideas of your other "true" case fans? How often do they go under full load? I actually now aim for Noctua's S12A fan.
I also think your warning about MIO board is worth listening to. For points 1 and 2, I do not trust the MIO board to handle rear case fan and CPU fan. That's why I will connect CPU and case fan to the mobo.
The MIO will be given access to non crucial fans in order to prevent them from yelling at me.
This is how I see situations:
The MIO will not conflict with the mobo as they work independently. They still source the same temperature data from CPU. So, I expect my BIOS to show only CPU and Case fan.
The MIO-connected fans will be isolated and invisible in BIOS.
In worst cases, I have identified a temperature probe header on MIO board. I may use it if I need to.
Will things be this ideal?
Rhenium
103 Posts
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July 4th, 2017 17:00
Knowing the RPM matters to me and I decided to go with Noctua 120mm Industrial 2000 rpm one as I only have one exit.
Thank you for letting me know how a typical workload looks like. This helps me a lot.