My god! I just tidied up my case, and lost 12 degrees.....

Hey all... I have an epox 8k3a+ (Reads internal diode) with an XP1900+ at 1600(No oc yet...) in an Antec Performance Plus880 case(gorgeous) with a 430w PSU.

I had a base temp of 60C load before I moved everything around and replugged all the wires in out of the way and such... I also rounded my IDE cables and hid them away from the fans. Now its all tidy!

I have 5 case fans (all 80MM YSTech Adjustable Speed) and they work very well.... I have a ThermalTake 6cu for a HSF (AX-7 gonna be here today!)

Well... i got sick of seeing my temps so high, so I did all of my work in the case (took 4 hours!)

I got it all working, and after turning it on, the fans were really slow. I was all "HUH?" well... it turned out the FANS ONLY molex connectors from the PSU aren't giving out 12V! So, all this time, I've been running LESS speed than normal (I had my HSF connected to this as well!!!) So, I plugged every fan into a 12V socket instead of the FANS ONLY molex's which only God knows which power that they give out.... and now my fans are MOVIN!

I wonder why my Antec 430w PSU doesn't give out the right voltages with those FANS ONLY connectors...??? Thank god theres about 40 of the normal Molex's on there I think I've used all but one of them

SO... instead of running 60C load, i'm running 48!!! All because the fans are moving a little faster, and my case is all cleared up.

That's good stuff man! Spring cleaning is in the cards for me soon too

It's amazing how the little things kill. I did the same tidying up and started using rounded cables and went from an average idle temp of 57C to as low as 49C.

I found that cutting out the factory grills that cover the case fans helped alot as well, about 3-4C! I am still using my factory AMD HSF I am going to put back on my Volcano 7 here soon with a nice layer of AS.

How do u indentify the voltage the cables coming from the PSU are? How were you able to tell apart the 12v from a non 12v cable... they look alike... atleast all 3-4 of them sometimes 2 that the psu brings to connect IDE and fans...? Also On a fan that has temp sensor there is a cable with yellow and a cable with red and black.. i figure yellow is to measure temp which connects to motherboard correct?

Check your MOBO manual, I know mine tells me the Voltage of all the color coded wires.

That is awesome man, i LOVE to hear good stories like this, especially when its due from hard work and taking advice form those who give it. I too have a 8k3a+ and get about 48c load also, but that is using a Millenium Glaciator. I think i can stilll do some case tweaking and i have a Alpha 8045 on teh way, and hopefully a AX7 soon. But great temps man..... keep it up

Genoide said:

How do u indentify the voltage the cables coming from the PSU are? How were you able to tell apart the 12v from a non 12v cable... they look alike... atleast all 3-4 of them sometimes 2 that the psu brings to connect IDE and fans...? Also On a fan that has temp sensor there is a cable with yellow and a cable with red and black.. i figure yellow is to measure temp which connects to motherboard correct?

Click to expand...

I dont know what voltage the wire is at... other than its not running at the 12v its supposed to run at.

When I plug my YS Tech 80mm with rheostat into one of the molex's labeled FANS ONLY (These molex only have a yellow/black wire... and they took of the red/black) it doesn't spin nearly as fast as it should. Hence, I came to the conclusion that it's not giving the proper voltage... I'm guessing the person who connected the wires inside of the PSU messed up and made it 5V instead of 12V No biggie... i just went around it.

oc jason said:

That is awesome man, i LOVE to hear good stories like this, especially when its due from hard work and taking advice form those who give it. I too have a 8k3a+ and get about 48c load also, but that is using a Millenium Glaciator. I think i can stilll do some case tweaking and i have a Alpha 8045 on teh way, and hopefully a AX7 soon. But great temps man..... keep it up

Click to expand...

My AX-7 is on a delivery truck on its way to my house My 6cu is going Bye Bye, and I'm putting one of my YS Tech 80mm's on it and letting her rip

I tested a theory about my YS Tech on a Heatsink. I took off the Thermal Take 60mm, and held my 80mm over the heatsink, and it dropped to 44 under load!!! I can only imagine what i'm going to get with the AX-7 on there too

Then maybe i'll try unlocking my xp1900.... because I can only get 141 FSB with it at 12.5. Which, i can say is really discouraging....

I think Antec has issues with their two "FAN ONLY" PSU connectors. I can't even get my fans to start if I plug them into those connections anymore. THey used to run off it...now they just twitch back and forth a bit if I power them off the "FAN ONLY" lines.

However, when I switch them to ANY other PSU molex, they work perfect....moral of this tale: Stay away from the FAN ONLY connectors.

XiveX

Fan bus.

They mount GREAT in those Antec Cases.. buttom front corner of the case, right near the buttom most front case fan slot.. fits right in there nicely.

That is great to hear. I just turned the fan on the side of my case, right above the CPU, to blow in instead of exhausting and my temps dropped 5 deg. I was so stoked by that little thing that I ordered up rounded cables and about to embark on exactly what you just did...hopefully, my results will be similar.

Well this really works, I have chieftech case and XP 2000 not overclocked and the temps are 41C for cpu and 26 room temp. I have tidy and neat setup tho rounded cables, just having some problems with exhaust fans, its thermalake what'd you expect.

Man...air cooling should be perfected.... Got to hate it!!!
My case DBA reaches about 120 I can hear it about 40 - 60 FT away. I'm planning on getting that Mc462 heatsink and fan see if that's any better.

PSU info

FYI, all molex connectors from a PSU carry all voltages that the power supply puts out.

as far as i can remember, they carry 5v, 7v, 12v, 12v ground, but i cant remember and i dont have a mobo book handy.

if i'm not mistaken, those antec PSU "fan only" connectors give out a voltage dependent on the temp. if the sensor is hot enough your fans will probably give out 12v

now claiming 12degrees on just tidying up your case probably isn't very accurate. your CPU fan and case fans were not running at the normal 12v speeds, i would attribute about 8-9degrees that you lost to that factor. if you cut the factory grills out then it may net you something, but just tidying up cables isn't going to net you that much of a temp drop unless you had them all stacked on top of your heatsink.

and as far and what voltages are supplied on a molex:12V(yellow i think), Ground(black), Ground(yes 2 of them), 5V(red i think)