discussion Corsair AF140 LED case fan as rear exhaust fan (air cooled PC)?

[moocow]

Took a quick look at the manual and in the Q Fan section, it doesn't let you define which temperature probe it use to define the fan curve so no idea if it's reading off the CPU or PCI-E. In my Z590 Intel board, I have multiple temperature probes onboard so I can bind the fan header to it. I guess you could use software like Fan Control to fine tune in Windows instead of BIOS. You actually have 4 PWM headers where the AIO pump could be repurposed for fan use.

Here's my suggestion:

• For rear fan, just wrap the cable around the fan casing a few times to get the right length. Electrical tape to hold the wire wrap in place so it doesn't come loose
• For top and front fan, use a PWM splitter cable or extension cable if you got the PST version of the P14
  • I see the case have cutout where you can route cables from the top of the case to the back and front fan using the side holes to route to the back, then use the bottom cut out the route the extension cable to the back to do all the wiring there
• If you buy a PWM splitter, the fan end of the cable would only have 1 4pin and the others are 3 pin, make sure to plug at least 1 fan into the 4 pin end
  • Do not use different fan brands and models on the same splitter cable, they will spin but spin funny
  • It depends on 1 fan's PWM signal and then feed the same amount of power to all fans so if you have different fan, they will spin differently

 

[andrepartthree]

Took a quick look at the manual and in the Q Fan section, it doesn't let you define which temperature probe it use to define the fan curve so no idea if it's reading off the CPU or PCI-E. In my Z590 Intel board, I have multiple temperature probes onboard so I can bind the fan header to it. I guess you could use software like Fan Control to fine tune in Windows instead of BIOS. You actually have 4 PWM headers where the AIO pump could be repurposed for fan use.

Here's my suggestion:
View attachment 46114

• For rear fan, just wrap the cable around the fan casing a few times to get the right length. Electrical tape to hold the wire wrap in place so it doesn't come loose
• For top and front fan, use a PWM splitter cable or extension cable if you got the PST version of the P14
  • I see the case have cutout where you can route cables from the top of the case to the back and front fan using the side holes to route to the back, then use the bottom cut out the route the extension cable to the back to do all the wiring there
• If you buy a PWM splitter, the fan end of the cable would only have 1 4pin and the others are 3 pin, make sure to plug at least 1 fan into the 4 pin end
  • Do not use different fan brands and models on the same splitter cable, they will spin but spin funny
  • It depends on 1 fan's PWM signal and then feed the same amount of power to all fans so if you have different fan, they will spin differently

View attachment 46115

Thank you so much I learned so much from just this one post alone I appreciate all the time and effort! Great big "doh" on my part I don't know how I missed that CHA_FAN 1 header you pointed out, it's right there on my asus motherboard manual too shows how dumb I am ... it's a lot closer to the rear fan location too ... but that's a brilliant idea, just wrap the extra wire around the rear fan and secure it with electrical tape I never would have thought of that! Yep the case does have that area in the back you can thread cables through I just wasn't sure if the cable length on the arctic fan was long enough to thread through that back area and through again to the opening in the "front" where the motherboard is.

And now I know why PC builders always use the same kind of PC case fans throughout their entire build I thought it was just for asthetics/looks! (I don't fault PC builders who want a "pretty" PC build by any means I envy them for that actually .. I'm just cheap so I'm happy to mix and match fans depending on what I got on Black Friday sales 8 years ago when the economy was better ) ... but duly noted, if I want all the fans to run at the same speed all the PC case fans I buy should be the same ... I'll have to look for long PWM splitter cables if I end up swapping out all the PC case fans , ignorant American here so I'd be shopping in the USA but one reddit user likes this one

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/mdhq00/best_fan_splitter_for_cheap_1_into_4

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TRV6XZX/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_KXNVYWW35RJ0NBA1KCMS?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1#averageCustomerReviewsAnchor

I had no clue there were PST versions of case fans either until you mentioned them I looked it up - apparently you can daisy chain them together and then like you said just use an extension cable to route them to the motherboard. Looks like you should only connect a maximum of two PC case fans together and then connect them to the motherboard though? Or at least in my case with the 1 am/ 12 watt limit for each fan header on my motherboard

ARCTIC P14 Max Fans Review - EnosTech.com

The ARCTIC P14 Max fans come with an amazing 6-year warranty and offer loads of cooling performance to keep your PC as cool as possible.

www.enostech.com

"A single fan draws 0.35A at 12VDC giving it a power consumption of 4.2W. You can’t connect three P14 Max fans on a single fan header that is rated at 1A/12W since three fans would draw 12.6W."

So it's a good thing I have three PC case fan headers

Thanks again for all of this and for your kindness on previous threads I've posted as well

 

[moocow]

If your case can do 3x top and 3x front, then consider getting one of these hubs so you get the extra juice.



Kind of sketchy solution would be this, just splitter cable with separate power using SATA as well.

 

[andrepartthree]

If your case can do 3x top and 3x front, then consider getting one of these hubs so you get the extra juice.

View attachment 46133

Kind of sketchy solution would be this, just splitter cable with separate power using SATA as well.

View attachment 46140

Thanks for that ... I actually used up all my sata cables because I have a ridiculous number of hard drives going in my PC plus a sata cable attached to my CD rom reader ... but one of the sata cables is attached to a 240 GB SD drive (2.5 form factor rather old) that honestly isn't seeing much use so I might end up doing the fan controllers you recommended too, I remember reading that a single sata cable should give more than enough power for a variety of PC case fans... with my PC case if I stick to the 140mm case fans like I was planning to do (I could be wrong in assuming the 140 mm case fans are better just because they're bigger than 120 mm though ! ) I'd only have room for the two fans in the front, one on top and one behind the PC case.