Akasa Vortexx Neo (x2) with Y-splitter to power fans from MB?

[scorchio75]

Hello all,

I'm just about to push the button on two Akasa Vortexx NEO coolers for my overly toasty 8800GTs. (GPU1 goes from 65/70C idle to over 100C in-game?!)

Before I do, I wondered if anyone knows whether it would be okay to power both from one MB header (on an Asus P5N-T Deluxe) with the use of one of these splitters?

Cheers,

Adi

[mac124]

Don't see why not, i do something similar with a couple of 80mm case fans on one of my pc's and it runs them fine.

[scorchio75]

Ta! I've bought the splitter cable along with the coolers - fingers crossed they'll bring the GTs' temps down to something reasonable...

[Pob255]

in theory yes, in practise ummm

you should be ok as the fans probably don't need much power
just found the specs on akasa's web site 0.166A 2.0W shouldn't be an issue at all http://www.akasa.com.tw/update.php?t...l=AK-VC03-BLUV
I will say if you're hopeing to monitor fan speeds the splitter can cause real issues for a motherboard.

[mac124]

Looks like only one of the 2 cables on the Y splitter has the yellow wire attched so assimung the akasa votrexx has a speed sensor on it, looks like it has, the mobo will only read from one of them so it should be ok to control them from the mobo, if you can.

[scorchio75]

Thanks guys. Could I go straight into the PSU instead? I've been reading a few user comments across t'web that have stated that they haven't been able to control the fan speed using SpeedFan, RivaTuner, etc., and I assume that means that I'll be running the coolers at 100%, but the soundproofing on my Cosmos is fairly good, so hopefully I can get away with it...

[Pob255]

Actually I think if you're using a cable splitter you'll be running both at 6v which should slow them down

to run them off a psu you'll want a 3pin to 4pin molex through adaptor, they come with most decent case fans.

[scorchio75]

I've got a few of those floating around in the spares bin - and the coolers should come with them, according to the Akasa site...I've got enough spare molex plugs on the PSU to run them without the splitter, too.

Cheers,

Adi

[scorchio75]

Hello all,

Just a quick update:

I received the coolers yesterday and fitted them to the cards without any hassle - 20 minutes each, including the removal of the old coolers and cleaning the old thermal paste off the GPU/RAM.



The top card went in without trouble but the cooler on the bottom card interfered with the cable going into the Firewire header on the motherboard, so I removed the cable as I'm not using Firewire anyway.



As you can see from the second picture, the shroud on the lower card is also applying slight pressure to one of the USB headers, but it's not too much and I can't live without the USB ports on the top of my Cosmos!

As far as noise is concerned, these coolers are much quieter than the stock coolers - they're not totally silent, but even at full speed they aren't as noisy as the old coolers.

On the cooling front, the temps have dropped from 65/70C during normal usage to hovering around 50C. I've not done any intensive gaming yet, but I'm hopeful that they won't top 85C...I'll update this post once I've had a chance to fire up Crysis.

Thanks again for your help, chaps - much appreciated!

Cheers,

Adi

p.s. Thanks to Scan for sterling service (and great prices), yet again!

[Pob255]

very nice
did you plug the two into the y splitter then into the motherboard?

[scorchio75]

Yep - you can just about see the fan connector in the top right of the second picture! The flexible fans obscured the coolers' cables, otherwise you would have seen them and the Y-splitter in the first pic...