Setting up fans for positive pressure in a Define R5.

orcinhell · April 21, 2015

Hi Guys.

So I have posted a few times and had great help, the last few parts of my upgrade are arriving tomorrow the fans! I had only ordered 4 but plan to order more today depending on what you guys think. The 4 fans I ordered were Corsair Air Series SP140 Red LED 1 because they are red and wanted a red glow to be emitted from the bottom of my case and the front through the side vents and they are SP because airflow is not great.

I am wanting to create positive pressure on the balanced side. Mainly to help keep dust out while also making sure I have decent air flow. Attached is a picture of my case with all the mounting positions of fans. In a perfect scenario I would love to not have fans on the top and side keeping the covers on as it keeps the case looking sleek. But am willing to compromise depending on people’s opinions. I also have a NH-D15 Heat sink with both fans pulling air to the back exhaust fan.

My plan was to mount all 4 Corsair fans as intakes down the bottom and have a single Noctua 140mm NF-A14 at the back. I already had this fan on hand and it makes my heat sink fans look a little less out of place but am tossing up the idea of replacing all 3 fans for a more uniform look. To give you an idea I got custom sleeved cables even though my case has no window : )

I would love to hear your opinion on how you would set up my case in terms of air flow. Thanks for any comments.

Edit: I forgot to mention all my bays are removed as I do not use them. I use the back mounts for my 2 ssds and have not had a optical drive in years.

orcinhell · April 21, 2015

I would just have 2 140s in the front (intake) since its filtered and 1 120 in the back (exhaust). would defeat the purpose of having an R5 load it up with fans.

but if you want to load it up with fans. to get positive pressure you just have more intake then you do exhaust.

I do plan on using the built in fan control to control the fans so I can get a good balance between performance vs sound levels but wanted to get people’s opinions. I would love to have the quietest system possible but am willing to trade that to a certain point for better temps. In summer it can hit 40 degrees here. With most days in the middle of summer hitting around 32 to 35.

ThomasD · April 22, 2015

In addition to the front and bottom fans, you can also run the rear fan as intake if necessary. But of you do then get one of those aftermarket magnetic filter intake covers.

Otherwise a decent fan controller should allow you to adjust the fans for positive pressure and low noise.

Eight fans turning at around 800 rpm will move a lot of air with little noise.