Magnetic levitation fans, case cooling, and a chipset question.

I'm building a new computer, and having never done so before, I have a few questions about cooling. My new computer will be a AMD-based machine with a 1.33GHz T-bird. I don't intend to overclock this one, but I am unsure of how much cooling I need.

The system will be running a Biostar M7MIA motherboard with a Voodoo5 5500, four PCI cards, and one ISA card. It will also have three disk drives (1 Zip250 and 2 floppy), two optical drives (one CD-ROM reader and one DVD-RW/CD-RW drive), and one hard drive (an 80GB 7200RPM IBM drive). I think I'll need two 80mm case fans, one each for exhaust and intake. But, because of all the drives up front and all the cards in back, I don't know exactly how much cooling I need. Spending an extra $23 will get me a case with two fans in the left panel, but do I really need that much cooling for a non-overclocked system?

I've also seen some magnetic levitation fans for sale at various online retailers. I've heard they can be very quiet, and good at moving air, but I've only been able to find 60mm maglev fans. Also, I'm concerned about putting anything that uses a magnetic field close to either the power supply or the drives. Any advice on whether to buy these fans?

Finally, I'd read somewhere that the M7MIA motherboard requires a chipset cooler for the Northbridge if a 1.2GHz or higher chip is used. However, nothing about this is said in the motherboard manual, and all the motherboard reviews I've read for the M7MIA haven't even mentioned chipset cooling. Has anyone here had experience with this motherboard and whether or not it needs a chipset cooler?

Thank you for your time.

where did U see the maglev fans? post a link, I wana check them out

As for the case fans in general, you wont need the extra fans if its not overclocked, hell, OEM (Gateway, dUll, etc) systems run quite high in temps with absolutely NO air circulation, and they're ok.

I dont know the motherboard in particular, but if it already has a NB heatsink on it (99% chance it does), if its not overclocked, it should run fine.

The maglev fans can be found at Directron (http://shop.store.yahoo.com/directron/magnetic.html) for $12.99 USD. I personally think it's a little pricey for a 60mm fan, but it does have advantages : No ball-bearing to get worn out, quieter function because (again) of the lack of mechanical bearings.

Has anybody else here has used these fans? If so, any advice on these fans would be greatly appreciated.

It also worries me that it is only 23 cfm at 35dba ... isn't that a bit low for a 'silent but powerful' fan?

Yeah, Id only get those fans for bragging rights, and even then there's not much to brag about. The "benefits" of maglev are far outweighed by the negatives

Newegg has a YS Tech mag fan at http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=BROWSE&manufactory=1564&depa=1

here's a link to YS Tech page with tech specs in pdf format on the fans http://www.ystech.com.tw/Tmd/tmd-0.htm they're fairly sensitive to back pressure.

The details for those maglev fans are too sketchy to make any assumptions about how they perform. Almost every fan in a computer today is brushless, meaning the only part touching anything is the small shaft in the very middle. The spinning itself comes from the timing circuit built inside the fan, causing different coils to become magnetized, which react with a permanent magnet in precise intervals, pushing it around.

This sounds like a cheap marketing ploy to me. Then again I could be completely wrong.

Ghastard said:

This sounds like a cheap marketing ploy to me

Click to expand...

Exactly.

---X--- said:

As for the case fans in general, you wont need the extra fans if its not overclocked, hell, OEM (Gateway, dUll, etc) systems run quite high in temps with absolutely NO air circulation, and they're ok.

I dont know the motherboard in particular, but if it already has a NB heatsink on it (99% chance it does), if its not overclocked, it should run fine.

Click to expand...

That is no no way true! I work on dell, Compaq, and HP systems all the time- Dells have 2 fans MINimum in there computers- Compaq- 2- Hp 2 each are DEAD silent, and only move probable 20cfm- but they have air flow-
SPyder

Well I know for a fact Gateway doesnt, and looking at the pics of the systems you could pretty much guess that they don't, so if they do have fans, then the circulation probably isn't as good as it would be with an obvious fan grill of some sort.

I stand corrected, though

While mag fans maybe new to the cooling arena, there is no point in buying them. Look at the cfm which already reflects the smaller hub, its effect is minimal as one would guess from a simple area ratiio. Lower friction, who cares since it is pushing air that is the real work. Noise shows no significant improvement either. Their cfm is sensitive to back pressure which is a really bad feature. Spend your $s elsewhere.