230mm case fans

[Kingfish999]

I have a AZZA Solano 1000 computer case. want to replace some of the case fans cause they old and some are failing. and all of them are 2-wire that pluf into molex connector so they use full power all the time. the case has plenty of cooling so i would like to make it quieter by going PWM or at least reduce voltage

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according to the specs, the top and the side fans are 230mm with blue led. there are also 2 front 140mm fans and a rear 120mm fan. so there is plenty of cooling. yet alone my water cooler had 2 addition 120mm fans. all the fans are dedicated 12v so its pretty excessive.

recommendations for 230mm fans? not sure if using a mobo header can handle a 230mm fan. would prefer blue or red, dont really need RGB tho. also is there a recommended brand fan for 140/120 fans that isnt too expensive?

 

[EarthDog]

230mm fans... not sure there's much to choose from out there... odd size.

Here's one that's 3-pin.. not sure if it's PWM or DC, but your motherboard should be able to control both (see your manual). https://www.newegg.com/bitfenix-bff-spro-23030kk-rp-case-fan/p/N82E16835345032

As far as your motherboard being able to handle it, again check the manual to confirm the output on the header. If you can't find it, assume 12W/1A. I'd assume most/all would work fine. The one I linked above says 0.38A, so plenty (see the hub on your fan for details like that).

 

[JLK03F150]

Here's two different 230mm fans on newegg (one is the same as ED's recommendation). Very few choices & no LED.

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For case & radiator fans, I'd recommend Arctic F12/F14 PWM (low static) & P12/P14 PWM (high static). Good quiet fans at a reasonable price. The PST option lets you daisy chain like fans together so they can share a mobo fan header. They are not LED or RGB.

 

[Kingfish999]

im going to try and do some measuring and see what size fans i can run. are there any other similar sizes that are more common? reviews say that those 230mm fans dont always fit so well.

im defiantly no stranger to modifying, you should see what i did to my this old 2000s cpu case for my work PC cause im too cheap to buy a new case. but i think it would be too much to try and run 4 120mm in place ofthe 230s.

it seems BitFenix does/did make an RGB version 230mm fan but show out of stock but it might just be discontinued.

too bad Fan Control does not support WIndows 7. would be great on my work computer with all its 80mm fans

 

[EarthDog]

Does the case web page/specs? Maybe there's holes for 200mm/140/120... etc. There are more 200mm fans, I'd imagine, but ,140/120 are the most common by far.

 

[Kingfish999]

its an older case. think i got it in like 2014 but it was introduced like 2009. cant find almost anything about it and no info on Azza website. the only fans they do list on the site are 120mm fans.

when i get home im going to measure one of the fans up. i been playing with Fan Control last couple hours trying to get it to work on my work PC. found a old version that works on Win 7 and i also have it on Win 10 on same PC. been having issues with some fans detecting. They detect in HWMonitor tho

 

[Kingfish999]

ignore the dust, i really need to clean this computer out when i do these fans

i did find the cause of my random squeek is from my 2080 fans going on and off constantly. it must be right at that threshold of temp that it is turning them on very low and turning them off every few seconds

the 230mm fan mounting holes measure about 5-3/4 inches. that would be about 146mm so it is alittle smaller than those Bitfenix 230mm which are 155mm mounting which seem to be the same as the 200mm fans


the visable hole on the side of the case is abit over 7" that i would need to cover


fan does not draw much power at least. only 0.35 amps.


the top fan is hidden under the louvered top cover. and the LED cant be seen much anyways. so i will probably just go with black.


the fronts use these plastic mounts that look like it accepts 140 or 120 fans. the light should shine through the mess but its very dim.

 

[Kingfish999]

ordered a Thermaltake 200mm RGB PWM fan to see if it fits, abit more expensive that i wanted to spend but not much for solid blue or red PWM 200mm from main brands.

not sure why the original fans were called 230mm cause the 200mm are pretty much exactly the same size. but the mounting holes on the 200 are alittle bit bigger to where have to drill new holes. Since the top you cannot see the color im going to try and find a non-LED 200mm for it now that i know a 200 will fit



fan is same size as 230mm


bolt holes dont perfectly match up tho.


I also ordered a 120mm Thermaltake and two 140 Thermaltake fans. The 120mm fit perfectly at least. the 140 mount inside these quick deteach plastic housings and the new fans are too big so ill ahve to trim them to fit.

i will say with the new 200 and 120 in, the computer is already wayyy quieter since both ofthese were full power only using the Molex connector. so ill consider it worth it already

 

[Zerileous]

Rather than drilling holes you could use zip ties or rubber fan mounts. With zip ties you'd find one where the locking head part won't go through the hole but the strip will, then thread it through the fan and the holes, take a second zip tie to secure the other end and cut off the extra bits. For the rubber ones there are all kinds of ones on Amazon, I can't vouch for how well they'll work but I'm sure you could figure it out.

Drilling an assembled PC always freaks me out because of the possibility of a metal shaving getting in somewhere and causing a short. I would take everything out personally if I were going to drill at all.

 

[Kingfish999]

You would have been freaking out over me using a sawzall and angle grinder inside my spare computers case while assembled lol. That case has been modified soo many times. I just put a sheet of paper to catch anything or blow it with compressed air. Between cutting the Floppy bay to mount my video card, cutting, HDD bay out to mount CPU cooler radiator, cutting out the very restricted case fan mounting location to allow more flow. I'm not stranger to modify things

Drilling a few holes doesn't bother me.

But to replace my top fan I will have to unmount the CPU radiator.

 

[EarthDog]

You would have been freaking out over me using a sawzall and angle grinder inside my spare computers case while assembled lol.

zOMG the metal shavings..........

 

[Kingfish999]

well i feel stupid. i spent alot of time looking for PWM fans. and as it turns out only the CPU fan headers are PWM on my older mobo. So that could have saved me some decent money knowing that since i really dont care for the RGB feature. that 200mm RGB fan was alot more than i wanted to spend and of course they are on sale now. oh well... i ordered a non-PWM black Thermaltake 200mm fan now for the top

 

[JLK03F150]

It's a bummer that the headers aren't PWM, but can't you still connect the fans & control them with DC instead of PWM?

 

[Kingfish999]

yes. but i wouldn't have paid 40$ for the 200mm RGB PWM fan when i could have paid 20$ for a Red non-PWM one. but thats OK, i got a new plan. so i cancled the order for the black 200mm Thermaltake and ordered the Noctura 200mm PWM black fan.

my goal was to have my fans run at minimal speed so i can make this computer almost silent using Fan Controller. unfortunately Fan Control program doesnt really work with this mobo very well, only 1 case fan and 1 CPU fan header is controllable. and the mobo settings dont let me get the fans as slow below 60%. my current plan is to use a PWM fan hub to connect al lthe PWM fans then using Fan Control i should be able to get them running at minimal duty between 20-40% for when the computer is still idling. then automaticly increase when needed.

Between ALL the fans in this computer, i think that is plenty of airflow still. two 200mm fans, two 140mm fans, one 120mm fan and two radiator 120mm fans.

 

[Kingfish999]

alright im all done finally! yay! wayyyyy more effort than i would expect for some fans. but end result is great

i put in the new Noctura 200mm on the top and wow was that a huge pain. drilling the holes was the easy part. having to trim the fan to be as narrow as i could so i can fit the top cover of the case on took hours. even still its slightly bulging the top cover widthwise abit.

the front two 140mm fans are also not true 140mm. i had to abandon the plastic retainers for the fans and did resort to just ziptieing them on cause there was not many good alternatives.

but i did put in the PWM hub and got all the fans inclueding the two for my radiator on it and have. having it in my Optional CPU fan header and using Fan Contol, i can lower them down to 15% duty cycle which is the minimal allowed by the mobo. its fantastic how quiet the computer is now, cant hear it at all. but there is still plenty of airflow to keep it cool. with the 240mm radiator and 3 fans on it, i can keep them very low speed and still not worry about the CPU getting hot. using CPUZ to stress the CPU, i can keep the fans at like 30% and it will never over 60*C. But i do have it set that once over 60*, it will quickly ramp u pthe speeds

being PWM i dont have to worry about the LEDs dimming and changing as the fans speeds increase. while the blue color is cool, the red is alot dimmer for night use which i like. really didnt like a big blue night light illuminating my room when i tried to sleep.

 

[JLK03F150]

It's always nice to get a positive result after investing a bunch of time & money. Congrats on the sound downgrade with a cooling upgrade.

 

[Nebulous]

I saw the Bitfenix fans Joe suggested and was going to comment on how good the Bitfenix fans are. I have 8x 120's on my top 480mm rad and they work great considering they're only 120mm. Plenty of airflow for push/pull.

Since you've already accomplished what you set out to do, my hat's off to ya