Case fan layout

jemmypaeg · January 23, 2019

Hello, I've decided on doing a new build for the first time in many years and it will be my first experience with closed loop water cooling for the CPU.

I've decided on a Lian-Li 011 Dynamic, 9700k, 2080ti, and Kraken X72 cooler.

Does anybody have any advice on fan configuration? I believe this cooler will only fit top mounted in this case, which makes me think I would have the 3 fans pushing air through the rad as exhaust fans, then I will have 3 120mm fans on the side. These side fans I see in a lot of reviews are set as exhaust fans and perform very well, I'm not sure if I should have the top as an intake fan which goes against everything I know about heat dissipation, and then the side fans for exhaust, or if the top should be exhaust and the side intake.

Another option is the Lian-Li 011 Air which has a bit more options for placement, I plan on overclocking the CPU to around 5GHz, so if that is a better option I'd appreciate opinions on it as well as fan layout with that case.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Daniel644 · January 24, 2019

if at all possible always have the rads blowing out of the case, not sucking air through them into the case, I did that with my hybrid rad on my GPU by accident and raised my CPU (air cooled) temp by 10c. I would use the sides as intake and exhaust out the top, or put fans on the bottom intaking air blowing it straight up, this will get better airflow for the GPU.

jemmypaeg · January 24, 2019

Would doing 3 intake on the side and 3 intake on the bottom then exhaust out the top be a good idea? I could probably lower the fan speed a bit to combat noise with the added fans.

Daniel644 · January 25, 2019

On 1/23/2019 at 7:18 PM, jemmypaeg said:

Would doing 3 intake on the side and 3 intake on the bottom then exhaust out the top be a good idea? I could probably lower the fan speed a bit to combat noise with the added fans.

It won't hurt to do that, but it might not be worth the money for the extra fans, more intake fans then exhaust fans create positive pressure which is a good thing for expelling heat but after a certain point the diminishing returns ramp up very fast, you could play with the fans you have, see what temps are like with them as a side intake, then take say the top fan in the group of 3 side fans and put it in the bottom rear position and test temps again and just keep doing that one at a time.

sidenote, since you are new to the forum, if you use the Quote button (looks like a Reply arrow in the lower left of this text box, to the Right of the + and the left of the share and report icons) it will let people know when you are replying to them and they can get back to you, it's blind luck I hadn't refreshed the page and was able to pull this back up to see you had asked a followup question.

GeoSquigg · January 25, 2019

On 1/23/2019 at 6:56 PM, jemmypaeg said:

I've decided on a Lian-Li 011 Dynamic, 9700k, 2080ti, and Kraken X72 cooler.

typically in this case the AIO would be placed on the side exhausting air for the aesthetics, in your case I'd probably do just that with 3 intakes on the bottom. This will feed the GPU fresh air, and the x72 is big enough that the warmer air wont have much effect on cpu temps