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Replacing the rear 80mm Counter Flow Fans on the Norco 4224


limefrog

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Posted

I didn't realize this, but the 2 rear 80mm fans on the Norco 4224 are counter-flow fans, meaning one turn clockwise while the other turns counter-clockwise to push air out of the chassis.

 

I know many folks are replacing these stock 80mm fans with Noctua 80mm fans. Has anyone been finding any problems replacing the counterflow fans with two single 80mm fans? I couldn't find any counterflow 80mm fans for sale.

 

Thanks.

Posted

I didn't realize this, but the 2 rear 80mm fans on the Norco 4224 are counter-flow fans, meaning one turn clockwise while the other turns counter-clockwise to push air out of the chassis.

 

I know many folks are replacing these stock 80mm fans with Noctua 80mm fans. Has anyone been finding any problems replacing the counterflow fans with two single 80mm fans? I couldn't find any counterflow 80mm fans for sale.

 

Thanks.

 

The two stock exhaust fans are actually pretty quiet. The fan is a fan. You control which direction the air flow in the manner of which it is installed. When I received my Norco 4224 case the two rear fans (AFB0812H) were both exhausting air from the case. Both fans spinning in the same direction. The middle fan board came with 4 of those same fans all blowing in the same direction, towards the rear of the case. So it would be smart to keep to mount your CPU fan in that same direction. I did replace the 4 middle fans with 3 120mm Noctua industrial 3000's, but to tell you the truth in hindsight I would of just gotten the 2000 model. Those Industrial 3000's move air so well with good direction I can unplug 2 of them and the temps on the system would stay the same. I think I posted these in another thread for you to look at. If I were you, I wouldn't buy any replacements fans until you run the Norco 4224 case with stock fans and see which direction you want to go in. If you need any specific details let me know. I just re-built my unraid with the Norco 4224 case. Here are those pictures again if you didn't catch them the first time. There is also a link for the stock 80mm fan that comes with the Norco case.

 

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/AFB0812H/603-1050-ND/1014381

 

 

 

Picture1 - Replacement Fans on Middle Board

Picture2 - Stock Fan Board - 80mm Fans

Picture3 - CPU Fan Installed - Low Profile so it doesn't hit the case cover

Picture4 - Internal

Picture5 - Internal

Picture6 - Cables

Picture7 - Norco 4224 Backplane

Picture8 - Front of Case

Posted

The two stock exhaust fans are actually pretty quiet. The fan is a fan. You control which direction the air flow in the manner of which it is installed. When I received my Norco 4224 case the two rear fans (AFB0812H) were both exhausting air from the case. Both fans spinning in the same direction. The middle fan board came with 4 of those same fans all blowing in the same direction, towards the rear of the case. So it would be smart to keep to mount your CPU fan in that same direction. I did replace the 4 middle fans with 3 120mm Noctua industrial 3000's, but to tell you the truth in hindsight I would of just gotten the 2000 model. Those Industrial 3000's move air so well with good direction I can unplug 2 of them and the temps on the system would stay the same. I think I posted these in another thread for you to look at. If I were you, I wouldn't buy any replacements fans until you run the Norco 4224 case with stock fans and see which direction you want to go in. If you need any specific details let me know. I just re-built my unraid with the Norco 4224 case. Here are those pictures again if you didn't catch them the first time. There is also a link for the stock 80mm fan that comes with the Norco case.

 

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/AFB0812H/603-1050-ND/1014381

 

 

 

Picture1 - Replacement Fans on Middle Board

Picture2 - Stock Fan Board - 80mm Fans

Picture3 - CPU Fan Installed - Low Profile so it doesn't hit the case cover

Picture4 - Internal

Picture5 - Internal

Picture6 - Cables

Picture7 - Norco 4224 Backplane

Picture8 - Front of Case

 

Thanks for chiming in! Yes, your pictures in the previous post were very helpful. The pictures you just posted now are in even better resolution. Thanks. I'll get Noctua 1500 fans for the middle bracket and stick with the rear stock 80mm fans unless I find them too loud.

Posted

The links pointed directly to the JPG files themselves, the resolution should be the same unless something in caching or displaying a large thumbnail or something. Good luck with the build. I may actually replace the 3 Noctua Industrial 3000's with another Noctua slower RPM fan that is more quiet. When you get three Industrial's spinning at close 3000 RPM's they are easily heard. Good luck and make sure you give us some pictures!

 

Posted

The links pointed directly to the JPG files themselves, the resolution should be the same unless something in caching or displaying a large thumbnail or something. Good luck with the build. I may actually replace the 3 Noctua Industrial 3000's with another Noctua slower RPM fan that is more quiet. When you get three Industrial's spinning at close 3000 RPM's they are easily heard. Good luck and make sure you give us some pictures!

 

Are you looking at the Noctua NF-F12 PWM or the NF-P12 PWM? The F12 has higher static pressure and is a bit more loud. I'm thinking of getting the P12. Let me know what you end up with!

 

Yes, I'll upload pictures when my build is done, this community has been so helpful in guiding a newb like me!

Posted

The links pointed directly to the JPG files themselves, the resolution should be the same unless something in caching or displaying a large thumbnail or something. Good luck with the build. I may actually replace the 3 Noctua Industrial 3000's with another Noctua slower RPM fan that is more quiet. When you get three Industrial's spinning at close 3000 RPM's they are easily heard. Good luck and make sure you give us some pictures!

 

Are you looking at the Noctua NF-F12 PWM or the NF-P12 PWM? The F12 has higher static pressure and is a bit more loud. I'm thinking of getting the P12. Let me know what you end up with!

 

Yes, I'll upload pictures when my build is done, this community has been so helpful in guiding a newb like me!

 

I have 3 of the NF-F12's (industrial) models on the middle fan board. To me, since it is not a gaming machine, they are over kill for my system. They aren't very "loud" per say, but three of them produce a certain HUM noise not like other fans. Just think, I have I think 30 of those fans running full speed in one room in my house. I had to install special sound insulation in the walls to dampen the sound, and install a sound dampening door. Since they are over kill for my unRaid I'll use them as usual on my Bitcoin miners and get their low speed NF-S12A model. I think 3 of those on the middle fan board would be perfect. Right next to the server my little sound meter averages 56dB. The replacing those fans I'll get the dB level below around 35dB. They all carry a 6 year warranty. Really can't beat that.

 

I also just noticed I'm still using my Seasonic X series 650 watt PSU in there. I have 14 7200RPM drives running all the time and the PSU fan rarely ever moves. I think at idle the whole system pulls 220watts. Never had power issues. I calculated that with my electricity rates it cost me $17/month to run my unRaid server.

 

Make sure to have fun doing it!

 

Posted

Hi opentoe,

 

Can I ask how you've hooked up those 3x NF-F12s, 2x back fans and CPU fan? I'm not seeing a schematic on the Sabertooth X79, but does it have 6x fan headers?

I'm trying to connect up the same setup onto a board with 5x fan headers and wondering how you're hooked up and if you're doing any kind of fan control for noise.

 

Thanks!

Posted

Hi opentoe,

 

Can I ask how you've hooked up those 3x NF-F12s, 2x back fans and CPU fan? I'm not seeing a schematic on the Sabertooth X79, but does it have 6x fan headers?

I'm trying to connect up the same setup onto a board with 5x fan headers and wondering how you're hooked up and if you're doing any kind of fan control for noise.

 

Thanks!

 

The mainboard does have a lot of fan connectors. It actually has 7 fan connectors.

CPU cooler uses the CPU fan header

Two rear 80mm fans use 2 chasis fan headers

One Noctua uses a one fan header

The other 2 Noctua's I use a splitter on one fan header. It is a regular 4 pin PWM fan splitter that came with one of my Noctua fans.

 

I don't use any noise control, but will replace the three Noctua NF-F12 3000's with three Noctua NF-S12A which is plenty sufficient since there are three of them in a row. Already have the new fans, just haven't replace them yet. I played around with the unraid fan plugin but had issues, so I took advantage of the Asus BIOS which has a complete built-in fan and temperature control. When I change out for the lower speed (quieter) Noctua fan's I will daisy all three to one fan header so they are all spinning the same RPM. They only use 1.4 watts each and the fan header is capable of 9 or 12 watts. It is perfectly fine to use a fan splitter, just make sure your combined fans don't pull more watts/amps then your fan header can provide.

 

 

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