Removing fans for winter?

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PigCorpse

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 4, 2005
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Hi

Now that winter is approaching, I think I can turn off most of my fans. My CPU fan is set to turn off under 45'C and it's now always off. I have one 120mm fan that doesn't support monitoring and controlling. I was wondering if I should just unplug it. That will leave me with the fan on my 6800GS, which I'll leave as is.

My main concern is dust and noise. I can solve the noise by turning off the fan, but will I end up with dust problems?
 
If its a noise problem it would be a better idea to just put a fan controller on there and undervolt them. Your going to want some airflow in the case since other components benefit from it. A passive mb chipset is a good example as well as the mosfets.

Unless the PC is in a very dusty area this shouldnt be a problem. Just pick up some canned air and give the system a good once over every week or so. You might want to look into some filters on your intakes as well.
 
PigCorpse said:
My main concern is dust and noise. I can solve the noise by turning off the fan, but will I end up with dust problems?
Click to expand...

If there are no fans running in your system how would dust enter?

Anyway if the 120mm is bothering you, swap the molex pin from yellow to red and that will give you 5v, which should be relatively quiet.
 
Well, there is the GPU fan running, though I don't know if it can cause a dust problem. Plus, there are multiple ways for dust to enter, and without something blowing it out, it might accumulate.

And the fan is connected to a 3pin header on my motherboard. Is there any way to undervolt that?

Thanks
 
PigCorpse said:
Well, there is the GPU fan running, though I don't know if it can cause a dust problem. Plus, there are multiple ways for dust to enter, and without something blowing it out, it might accumulate.
Click to expand...

Your GPU fan probably just circulates air within the case and doesn't bring any in or exit any out. Some GPU HSFs like the Original Arctic Silencer, 7900gtx/7800gtx 512mb HSF, and the newer ATI assemblies exhaust air out of the case, which would make a slight negative pressure pulling air in through other vent holes.


PigCorpse said:
And the fan is connected to a 3pin header on my motherboard. Is there any way to undervolt that?
Click to expand...

Depends on the Mobo and the specific Fan Connector. I know my mobo has 3 temp controlled fan ports which is essentially a method of voltage regulation (like your CPU fan header you mentioned).
 
Just get a fan controller or unervolt them using the 5v or 7v molex trick.

Having no fans helps cut down on dust. It's not like, "exhaust fans blow dust out" but dust laiden air gets sucked IN as clean air gets expelled.

Use a fan controller.
 
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