air cooling Newbie question regarding cooling

[thenewbuilder]

Hi everyone, I have a bit of a stupid question. I have a NZXT H500 case which has 2 fans pre-installed, my PSU is Seasonic 650 FX which also has 1 fan, soon I'll buy a Ryzen 7 3700x which will also have 1 fan from the cooler, and I've already ordered MSI Gaming X Trio 2070 Super which has 3 fans, additionally I have 2 Thermaltake 12 Ring fans that I've already bought, but haven't installed yet on the front side of the pc case. My question is should I install those two fans on the front or return them? Is there such a thing as too much cooling or should I only install one fan and return the other, the noise doesn't bother me at all and it's not that loud even. Thanks for your help fellas.

[Faisal A]

This might help : 

 

[thenewbuilder]

Okay, thanks, I'll check it out.

 

Also maybe you have an idea regarding my exact setup?

[Moonzy]

4 minutes ago, thenewbuilder said:

My question is should I install those two fans on the front or return them?

install one in the front,blowing in

one in the back or top, blowing out

4 minutes ago, thenewbuilder said:

Is there such a thing as too much cooling or should I only install one fan and return the other

yes there is diminishing return, @Faisal A shared a good video representing this topic

 

as for the way you calculated your fans, it's kind of wrong

here's how it goes

we separate fans into few categories:

- case fans (job is to intake fresh air and/or exhaust hot air in case)

- CPU cooler fan (attached to the CPU cooler, main job is to cool CPU's heatsink, side job can be to cool VRMs)

- GPU cooler fans (the fans that comes stock on your GPU, these aren't normally factored into your consideration when speaking of cooling in PC case overall, as they are only responsible for cooling your GPU)

- PSU fan (this fan is a mixed bag, some people use their power supply as exhaust for their case (facing the fan inward of the case) or just let the PSU draw fresh air by itself and blowing it out the back (fan facing outward where there are meshed or filter in your casing to allow it to pull air in from)

 

normally we view these categories differently

for case fans, i prefer to have 2 intake and 1 exhaust to maintain slightly positive pressure, this also ensures that the inside of my case gets enough air flow so my other components dont overheat

for CPU fans, this depends on the type of cooler, but most heatsink only requires 1 fan, 0/1/2 fans will do as long as your CPU temperature is fine under full load

for GPU fans, you cant do much about this yourself, just buy a GPU with good cooler and call it a day. (if you buy a blower cooler, positive case pressure* will help the temps of the card)

for PSU fans, your H550 case supports mounting the PSU fan grill outwards, which i would recommend. unless you plan to put your computer on carpet, which will choke the intake of the PSU, if that's the case then face the PSU fan grill upwards when installing

 

*positive case pressure is when more air in coming into your case then going out, creating a slightly higher pressure in your case so that dust wont get sucked in from small nooks and crannies. it helps blower coolers because more airflow will pass through your gpu heatsinks

 

feel free to quote me to ask any questions

[thenewbuilder]

Thanks for the elaborate answer, I haven't watched the video yet, but will in the evening after work.

 

I set the PSU fan looking downwards like it was recommended in the user's manual.

 

Regarding pre-installed fans, one is on the back and one is on the top.

 

From what I read that I should do is to install front case coolers as an intake fans, but I still haven't figured out how to do that, since my coolers don't have arrows on them to show which way the air is blowing out.

 

So if we disregard like you said PSU fan, GPU fans and CPU fans, I only have 2 fans on my pc case that actually do the cooling and my question is then how many should I install on the front of the pc case as intake?

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, thenewbuilder said:

since my coolers don't have arrows on them to show which way the air is blowing out.

in most cases (haha, get the pun? sorry), the side with the spokes connecting to the middle of the fan is where the air will come out from

there are usually arrows on one of the side of the fan to point towards air flow and blade spin, but i dont believe NZXT case fans have that arrow

 

3 minutes ago, thenewbuilder said:

I only have 2 fans on my pc case that actually do the cooling and my question is then how many should I install on the front of the pc case as intake?

1 intake and 1 exhaust is a pretty standard configuration

personally i would prefer 2 intake 1 exhaust

my personal rig have 3 intake and 2 exhaust, this is way overkill but i run them at low RPM so they're quiet but achieve the same thing, it's all about what you're looking for

[thenewbuilder]

Sorry, I confused you. Those NZXT that are pre-installed are both exhaust, the ones that don't have the arrows I was talking about are Thermaltake 12 Rings, the ones that I have two.

[thenewbuilder]

I'm looking for to keep my GPU at high loads not over 70 if possible.

[thenewbuilder]

I really don't want to remove the ones that come with the case and that NZXT already pre-installed for me, I think they have a better idea where to have coolers for me in their case, so I need to decide how many to put myself on the front

As I understood you're saying to only add 1 on the front and that's all.

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, thenewbuilder said:

Sorry, I confused you. Those NZXT that are pre-installed are both exhaust, the ones that don't have the arrows I was talking about are Thermaltake 12 Rings, the ones that I have two.

if you have 4 fans, i believe the only sensible configuration you can do is 2 intake and 2 exhaust

2 minutes ago, thenewbuilder said:

I'm looking for to keep my GPU at high loads not over 70 if possible.

depends on ambient temps, but this should be achievable

1 minute ago, thenewbuilder said:

they have a better idea where to have coolers for me in their case

they dont, really, it's just convenient for them to install it there lol

1 minute ago, thenewbuilder said:

As I understood you're saying to only add 1 on the front and that's all.

if you have 4 fans total, you can do 2 in 2 out as stated above

just make sure your motherboard have enough fan header to power all the fans

[thenewbuilder]

Ah, okay

 

So I have 2 pre-installed and 2 that I bought, I could return 1 of those that I bought, but yeah, if you think it's no worries I'll install 2 and to summarize I will have 4, 1 back, 1 top, 2 front.

 

Thank you.

[Moonzy]

15 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

they dont, really, it's just convenient for them to install it there lol

i went to find answers after giving this statement, i was wrong, they do know what they're doing (i also thought it was kind of weird at first when i used the case)

Spoiler

 

 

14 minutes ago, thenewbuilder said:

So I have 2 pre-installed and 2 that I bought, I could return 1 of those that I bought, but yeah, if you think it's no worries I'll install 2 and to summarize I will have 4, 1 back, 1 top, 2 front.

 

Thank you.

you're welcome

remember to quote the person you're replying to so they'll see your message

[thenewbuilder]

3 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

i went to find answers after giving this statement, i was wrong, they do know what they're doing (i also thought it was kind of weird at first when i used the case)

  Hide contents

 

 

you're welcome

remember to quote the person you're replying to so they'll see your message

 

Okay, so 4 coolers not too much.

 

But now since you've brought it up, I need to somehow cut a hole in my wooden pc case holder at the bottom so that the fan from the PSU is blowing out the air and is not standing on the ground like it is right now.

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, thenewbuilder said:

I need to somehow cut a hole in my wooden pc case holder at the bottom so that the fan from the PSU is blowing out the air and is not standing on the ground like it is right now.

as long as you have around 1 inch of space below the case (case feet height), you should be good

PSU sucks air in from the fan grill and exhaust them from the grill at the back by the way

[thenewbuilder]

5 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

as long as you have around 1 inch of space below the case (case feet height), you should be good

PSU sucks air in from the fan grill and exhaust them from the grill at the back by the way

Ah, so this space should be enough

[Moonzy]

1 minute ago, thenewbuilder said:

Ah, so this space should be enough

yeah, the only thing that can block the PSU is those furry carpets (which is also a fire hazard to have it so close to a PSU)

having your PC on solid floor/wood is fine

[00100000]

6 hours ago, Faisal A said:

This might help : 

 

Dang a useful LTT video on the forum to answer a question. Nice to see stuff like that.