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Fractal Design cases

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pocock:

Here is a photo of another board in this particular case, does it appear suitable for Talos II?
https://support.fractal-design.com/support/solutions/articles/4000154671-define-7-xl-ssi-eeb-support

More about the case:
https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/define/define-7-xl/black/

Some of their cases also appear suitable for Blackbird.

Searching their support page produces some measurements and screenshots for SSI and E-ATX:

https://support.fractal-design.com/support/search/solutions?term=ssi

https://support.fractal-design.com/support/search/solutions?term=e-atx

For example, this appears to rule out their R6 E-ATX case for Talos II:

https://support.fractal-design.com/support/solutions/articles/4000114307-define-r6-e-atx-ssi-ceb-ssi-eeb-motherboard-support

pocock:

With the Fractal Design Define 7 XL, all the studs can be moved into positions compatible with the Talos II and the board fits nicely in the case.

By default, the case includes three 3-pin fans and a fan hub for powering them.

The fan hub has connections for
- each case fan
- the CPU1 fan
- connection to the motherboard
- connection directly to the PSU via a SATA power socket

Can anybody comment on whether

a) the case fans should be replaced with 4-pin fans or the default 3-pin fans will be OK?

b) the case fans should be connected to the Fractal fan hub or directly to the case fan jumpers on the Talos II motherboard?

c) the cable from the fan hub to motherboard would go to which port on the motherboard?

madscientist159:
A couple of notes...

The old style 3-pin fans would run at full speed all the time.  I'd personally replace them with modern 4-pin fans unless they're nice and quiet at full power (or the case is controlling their speed somehow with a sensor).

The Talos II fan headers can supply quite a bit of +12V power, just watch out for the connector(s) you attach to the header(s).  Just because the mainboard can supply a lot of amps safely doesn't mean the attached third party fan connector can actually handle that current without damage (melting, fire, fusing, etc.).

pocock:

I went looking for more details about the fan hub integrated in the case.

It appears that I can connect the 4-pin wire from the hub to one of the zone 3 outputs on the Talos II

The hub will then supply power to all three case fans.

I will test this to see if they run at full speed all the time or if the Talos II is able to control their speed through the hub

If the fan hub can't control the speed then I'll replace the case fans with 4-pin fans and connect those directly to the motherboard.

Does that make sense?

pocock:
I tried the above, connecting the case fans through the Fractal case's fan hub.  The fan hub is getting power from the PSU via a SATA power socket and it has a 4-pin input that connects to motherboard FAN1

Visually, it looks like the fans speed up after power on and they slow down after some time has passed.  It sounds really quiet too.

Is there any way to verify the speed of the case fans definitively?  For example, can I force them up to full speed while leaving the CPU fans at minimum, to see if I can hear the case fans alone?

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