Question about case fans

[sonyzz]

So a year and a half i bought IN Win GRone case, there was 5 fans installed by manufacturer but kinda cheap ones, so i bought myself Noctua fans and installed them where it was by manufacturer, in addition to that i took out top 5 hdd tray block for better airflow, and connected to the Lamptron FC5 V2 fan controller because at the time i had Sabertooth 990fx mobo which didn't had 5 case fan connectors, but now im using Asus Maximus 8 Hero mobo, and it seems it has lots of options for fans because i would like to use them with Asus Fan Xpert software - easier to set silent when it colder days or standart/turbo when its hot days, that turning pot on my fan controller, so after all that rambling the question would be do i need that fan which is in front of gpu? do those two fans spinning at same speed create turbulence? there is some cuttouts for like 120mm fan in that ''wall'' but i wasn't sure if airflow from front case of the fan will reach gpu section thru that wall....

[WoodenMarker]

The fan in front of the graphics card is probably doing more good than harm. As long as the acoustics are fine to you, don't worry about it.

[sonyzz]

8 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

The fan in front of the graphics card is probably doing more good than harm. As long as the acoustics are fine to you, don't worry about it.

Well since i changed from in win fans to Noctua NF-A14 which they spin 900rpm all time (1500rpm max) set on fan controller, acoustics are very silent (max 24dB) they are not that quiet as NF-S12A (17dB max) which i was using previously as exhaust fans but, NF-A14 is in between of airflow and static pressure fan

PS. i dont ccare about fan colors like other do

[LogicalDrm]

Take it off and test yourself. Its supposed to direct airflow for blower style cards.

[rheyL]

you can put that fan on the bottom as an intake... uhmm does it have a dust filter on the bottom? 

[Raintech]

On 7/5/2017 at 4:52 AM, sonyzz said:

<snip>

Assuming that you're going with the normal configuration where you're drawing in air through the front, the exhausting air out the back and top, this looks as though you have 2 intake fans and 4 outtake fans (well, maybe 3.5 due to 2 being the cheap, stock ones).

This will cause your system to be very negatively pressured - that is, pressure on the inside lower than outside. While this isn't the end of the world, dust will passively seep in through any tiny gaps it can over time, which means you may need to dust out your rig more often.

Regarding the fan in front of the GPU: A fan in this configuration generally don't cause enough "turbulence" to be cause any issues, in fact, your CPU cooler's fans are setup in the same type of configuration which is known as "Push-Pull". Having the fan setup like that helps with overcoming pressure differences in the airflow, whilst being more silent than additional push fans. This PC-case manufacturer seems to understand this very well- as pulling air through HDD bays is a very trafficky area and benefits alot from pressure optimization.
However, in your scenario your rig is negatively pressured, and you've taken steps to clear the path of the air flow, so the benefits of the fan are more reduced than the tower manufacturer designed it for.

 

I would consider using fan controller to bump up the speed on the front intake fans, and bump down the speed of the outtake fans to create a more neutrally pressured system.
For reference, anything under 20 db is considered as "atmospheric silence". 24 db is basically silent; Noctua fans were a great choice, I would go as far as to say that you could even run the intake fans at full speed at all times without any issues with noise, unless you leave your computer running while you sleep nearby.

And remember the golden rule: More fans does NOT always equal "more better".

[sonyzz]

On 06/07/2017 at 10:17 AM, rheyL said:

you can put that fan on the bottom as an intake... uhmm does it have a dust filter on the bottom? 

yes

[sonyzz]

On 06/07/2017 at 0:00 PM, Raintech said:

Assuming that you're going with the normal configuration where you're drawing in air through the front, the exhausting air out the back and top, this looks as though you have 2 intake fans and 4 outtake fans (well, maybe 3.5 due to 2 being the cheap, stock ones).

This will cause your system to be very negatively pressured - that is, pressure on the inside lower than outside. While this isn't the end of the world, dust will passively seep in through any tiny gaps it can over time, which means you may need to dust out your rig more often.

Regarding the fan in front of the GPU: A fan in this configuration generally don't cause enough "turbulence" to be cause any issues, in fact, your CPU cooler's fans are setup in the same type of configuration which is known as "Push-Pull". Having the fan setup like that helps with overcoming pressure differences in the airflow, whilst being more silent than additional push fans. This PC-case manufacturer seems to understand this very well- as pulling air through HDD bays is a very trafficky area and benefits alot from pressure optimization.
However, in your scenario your rig is negatively pressured, and you've taken steps to clear the path of the air flow, so the benefits of the fan are more reduced than the tower manufacturer designed it for.

 

I would consider using fan controller to bump up the speed on the front intake fans, and bump down the speed of the outtake fans to create a more neutrally pressured system.
For reference, anything under 20 db is considered as "atmospheric silence". 24 db is basically silent; Noctua fans were a great choice, I would go as far as to say that you could even run the intake fans at full speed at all times without any issues with noise, unless you leave your computer running while you sleep nearby.

And remember the golden rule: More fans does NOT always equal "more better".

Im using Lamptron FC5 V2 fan controller, and what if intake and exhaust fans spin at same rpm?

[rheyL]

10 hours ago, sonyzz said:

Im using Lamptron FC5 V2 fan controller, and what if intake and exhaust fans spin at same rpm?

no problem on that running the same rpm.. you got noctua fans there.. you are good to go! 

 

since there is a filter, then go put that fan on the bottom and make it as an intake 

[Raintech]

14 hours ago, sonyzz said:

Im using Lamptron FC5 V2 fan controller, and what if intake and exhaust fans spin at same rpm?

If you're using 4 outtake, and 2 intake fans and they're all running at the same speed, you'll have a very negatively pressured system.
In the end as long as there's good airflow, or CFM (cubic feet per minute) your rig's temperatures will be very similar regardless of your exact setup of fans, whether it be negatively pressured or positively pressured. 

Keep in mind that static pressure optimizations help achieve good CFM, which means that it's harder to expel air from a negative system, and easer to draw in air into a negatively pressured system - This basically acts as a kind of self-balancing mechanism, with the caveat that a negatively pressured system draws in alot of dust.
That said, your total CFM will be higher if you maintain a more neutrally pressured system - that is, all fans are operating at near optimal pressures, instead of 4 fans trying to exhaust from an already very low pressure area, and thus not achieving good airflow.

Explanations aside: Try to balance your intake and outtake, and even more preferably if you can have just a SLIGHTLY higher amount of intake fans than outtake fans, you'll accumulate less dust inside your system.
 

 

[sonyzz]

1 hour ago, Raintech said:

If you're using 4 outtake, and 2 intake fans and they're all running at the same speed, you'll have a very negatively pressured system.
In the end as long as there's good airflow, or CFM (cubic feet per minute) your rig's temperatures will be very similar regardless of your exact setup of fans, whether it be negatively pressured or positively pressured. 

Keep in mind that static pressure optimizations help achieve good CFM, which means that it's harder to expel air from a negative system, and easer to draw in air into a negatively pressured system - This basically acts as a kind of self-balancing mechanism, with the caveat that a negatively pressured system draws in alot of dust.
That said, your total CFM will be higher if you maintain a more neutrally pressured system - that is, all fans are operating at near optimal pressures, instead of 4 fans trying to exhaust from an already very low pressure area, and thus not achieving good airflow.

Explanations aside: Try to balance your intake and outtake, and even more preferably if you can have just a SLIGHTLY higher amount of intake fans than outtake fans, you'll accumulate less dust inside your system.
 

 

well, i have 2 outtake (exhaust) fans (NF-A14 - top, NF-A15 - rear) and 2 (NF-A14) intake fans - that fan in front of gpu(NF-A14) is just pushing air got from intake fan further to the case

[Raintech]

2 minutes ago, sonyzz said:

well, i have 2 outtake (exhaust) fans (NF-A14 - top, NF-A15 - rear) and 2 (NF-A14) intake fans - that fan in front of gpu(NF-A14) is just pushing air got from intake fan further to the case

Oh! I misunderstood the OP, I thought you added on 2 extra fans at the top in addition to the 2 stock fans. Seems like you REPLACED them. 
Okay that seems good to me. I would probably turn the intake fans to max, along with the one in front of the GPU, and have the outtake fans just slightly slower.
For example, if you set 1400 RPM on both the front intake fans, and 1300 on the outtake fans at the top and rear, this should theoretically result in positive air pressure system which should prevent dust from seeping in passively.

[sonyzz]

1 minute ago, Raintech said:

Oh! I misunderstood the OP, I thought you added on 2 extra fans at the top in addition to the 2 stock fans. Seems like you REPLACED them. 
Okay that seems good to me. I would probably turn the intake fans to max, along with the one in front of the GPU, and have the outtake fans just slightly slower.
For example, if you set 1400 RPM on both the front intake fans, and 1300 on the outtake fans at the top and rear, this should theoretically result in positive air pressure system which should prevent dust from seeping in passively.

There was one time when case looked like this but, it does not cooled that well as i expected plus, the case looked like crap at the time with 4 of NF-S12A fans at rear-top, 2 NF-S12A at front-behind gpu and, 2 NF-P12 fans at front-bottom then i bought 4 x 140mm NF-A14 fans plus, NH-D15 because, i gave NH-D14 to my brother along with 2 NF-P12 as intake for him, and i had extra NF-A15 pwm fan i bought before for NH-D14 so i just used it as rear, and ofc bought high end PSU, and sold Seasonic M12II Evo 850w 80+ Bronze to my friend for half the price because, his Corsair VS650 psu was limiting overclock and looked like dying...