Adding lights and LED fans to a HAFX case.

[stefai]

Hi, I've just received my build from PC Specialist with the spec below which I'm very pleased with. I have decided following some YouTube vids to add some lighting and LED fans to the case to show off the innards. The thing is this is all new to me and I don't want to mess up. Is there an idiots guide available to help with doing this type of thing? I don't want to do any damage after spending over two thousand hard earned quid. Any advice or links appreciated.

Case COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core (3.40GHz @ max 4.80GHz)
Motherboard ASUS® SABERTOOTH P67 (NEW REV 3.0): USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, THERMAL ARMOR!
Memory (RAM) 8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (2 x 4GB KIT)
Change to: 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card 3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card NONE
3rd Graphics Card NONE
Memory - 1st Hard Disk 120GB INTEL® 320 SERIES SSD, SATA 3 Gb/s (upto 270MB/sR | 130MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd Hard Disk NONE
4th Hard Disk NONE
RAID NONE
SSD CACHE DRIVE NONE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 4x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM (£38)
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive NONE
Memory Card Reader NONE
Power Supply CORSAIR 650W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX650 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE (£72)
Change to: CORSAIR 1200W PRO SERIES™ GOLD AX1200-80 PLUS® GOLD MODULAR(£208)
Processor Cooling COOLIT ECO II C240 A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£99)
Thermal Paste ARCTIC COOLING MX-3 HIGH THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities ONBOARD GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Modem NONE, I WILL BE USING BROADBAND
Floppy Disk Drive NONE
Firewire & Video Editing NONE
TV Card NONE
Operating System Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Change to: IIYAMA E2773HDS 27" LED WIDESCREEN, HDMI/DVI-D HD1920x1080 (£229)

 

[tom_gr7]

nice setup,

How many fans have you got already in the case?

 

[stefai]

At the moment I have three fans - 230mm LED front, 200mm side, 140mm rear and at the top there is the 240mm radiator for the COOLIT ECO II C240 A.L.C which has a 120mm fan I believe. What I'd like to start with is replacing the non LED fans with LED versions. Is this just a straight swap or is there some wiring involved? This would make a start at lighting up the innards of the case. i'm also interested in a push/pull set up for the COOLIT which I notice you have. Is it difficult to set up?

 

[tom_gr7]

I believe the eco 240 has two 120mm fans?

You would have to add another 2 fans, but generally when you setup a push/pull you need all the fans to be the same, so i'd either try and get hold of another two fans that coolit use, I think they are made by sharkoon but may be wrong. Or buy 4 new fans that are the same.

Things to think about when looking for fans, look out for ones with high static pressure and high airflow. It may cost you a little more but better fans would result in better cpu cooling. They also need to be 4pin fans, PWM which means pulse width modulation, simply the fan speed is controlled in short bursts of power, that happens very fast, instead of conventionally the power voltage lowered/highered to decrease/increase the fan speed.

Anyway these are the fans i use
Akasa vipers

Apache blacks, very good fans for heatsinks,

have a look here there is a load of fan on this site, and you can compare them too.

you will also need a PWM Y cable, but as you will be using 4 fans, you will have to look around for a pretty decent one. it allows you to connect all the fans to the cpu fan header. I will seee if i can find one for 4 fans.

Have you overclocked your cpu?

Hope this helps tom

 

[tom_gr7]

Found cabe you will need to connect the four fans up

click here

This plugs into the psu as well as the cpu fan header, so the motherboard doesnt have to power the fans, just regulate the speed.

 

[stefai]

I believe the eco 240 has two 120mm fans?


Have you overclocked your cpu?

Hope this helps tom

Yes, my mistake, it has two fans.CPU is over clocked at 4.80GHz. Thanks for the push/pull info - that tells me everything I needed. As regards straight swapping the non LED fans to LED versions, is it possible or do I have to connect LEDs up to somewhere separate? What I mean is, does the power for the LEDs come from the same point as the fan power (motherboard fan plug)?

 

[tom_gr7]

Yes, my mistake, it has two fans.CPU is over clocked at 4.80GHz. Thanks for the push/pull info - that tells me everything I needed. As regards straight swapping the non LED fans to LED versions, is it possible or do I have to connect LEDs up to somewhere separate? What I mean is, does the power for the LEDs come from the same point as the fan power (motherboard fan plug)?

thanks for the rep

well on my sniper, the stock 200mm fans connect via a 2 pin molex, but the led's are powered by a separate cable that comes with the fan.

Are you planning on changing all the 200mm fans? or just the 140mm fans?

Top tip = if you go for the akasa apache or vipers for your double push/pull setup you can get a matching 140mm version
clicky

If you like the yellow, go for it, check out how much cfm the 120mm and 140mm shifts! 120mm 83cfm, 140mm 110cfm! both have awesome static pressure.

i couldn't recommend the akasa vipers any more! here's how mine looks.

 

[tom_gr7]

I most led fans come with one cable that powers both led's and fan. My spare coolermaster sickleflow does.

 

[stefai]

You're fans look excellent I hadn't thought about coloured fan blades. One more thing, do you use any temperature monitoring software and do you use a fan controller like the Lamptrons etc? With this being my first custom build PC and with the overclocking, I'm a bit paranoid about overheating.

 

[tom_gr7]

thanks, they are beasts, but noisy. there is plenty of other good fans on the market though that are very good for heatsinks. Noctua have some very good fans.

The fan controller i use is a lamptron fc 8, they are about 60 quid. But if you really wanted one for your case, go for a controller with 4 knob things on, for your 3 case fans.

 

[stefai]

This plugs into the psu as well as the cpu fan header, so the motherboard doesnt have to power the fans, just regulate the speed.

Just a couple of things Tom. As you know I want to add a fan controller unit to this now, I've been looking at the NZXT Sentry LX. Just so I can visualise it all, if I change to push/pull on my Coolit, do you know if everything from the fans just connects to the fan controller with one lead then going from the controller to the motherboard? I've read a few reviews and it's supposed to be easy (ish) to install.

The other thing was, since my initial question, my gpu has appeared to shut down mid game a few times on graphics heavy games (specifically Battlefield 3 and FFXIV) on max settings. Have you any ideas as how I can improve cooling around the GPU? Would cranking up the side and front fans on the HAFX with the help of a fan controller alleviate this or would another internal fan somewhere be better? I was hoping to SLI it with another card in a years time but if one card is getting too warm then what chance is there for two next to each other? o.0

 

[tom_gr7]

hey, just had a quick re read over.

Push pull problem
if you go for a push/pull config with your eco 240, 4 fans etc. You will need a cable like this You could buy one here
You connect all four fans to the cable, plug into the power supply, then plug into the "cpu_fan" on the motherboard. Your cpu fans will not be connected to your fan controller. The cpu will control the speed of the fans, and the power supply will power them.
edit - your case fans ie front, side, rear back, will be connected to the fan controller, power and you will control the speed.

Only connect case fans to the fan controller. I have read to that some fan controllers allow you to connect to the controller then to the motherboard, they do this to the fan controller supplies the power from the psu instead of putting strain on the cpu. But we don't need to worry about that as the cable I have provided a link to is powered from the psu, but speed is regulated/controlled by cpu.

GPu problem
it does sound like a temp problem, are both your front and side fans both set to intake?
Do you have any record of what temps the 580 reaches?
what software do you use to monitor the temps? if none I recommend "gpu_z"
It may be a good idea to place this specific problem in the technical support section, you will get alot more replies/opinions.

But certainly whilst gaming i'd make sure the front and side fans are on max. But when you sort out your fan controller that will be easier.

Hope this helps. Tom