Case Fan Setup Question

[kr0w]

Hello everyone. Next week I'm going to build my first computer and I have a question about case fans.

The case I'm going to buy comes with 3 fans and in the place I'm buying the parts some of them come included with a fan as an offer. The case has space for 3 front fans, 2 top and 1 rear.

So my question is, what fan setup would be ideal with a total of 6 fans? 

[Caennanu]

hi there, and welcome!

 

My personal experience is that you generally want more inflow than you have outflow. This will create positive pressure within the system resulting in less dust pockets.

When you have more outflow than inflow, the fans will suck air from places you do not want it comming from, such as the sides of a window, or from the panel behind the mainboard.

 

Possitive pressure can be achieved several ways. In the case of uneven amount of fans of all the same make and model, you would want 3 in and 2 out. Remember if you have a VGA card with a blower style cooler, that is also counted as an fan for the outtake.

In this last case, when you have a blower style cooler and your configuration (asuming the 6 fans are the same make and model and do not suffer from other limiting factors) you will still want 4 intake's and 3 outtake fans, where your graphics card is one of the 3.

 

If they are not of equal make and model is where it starts getting trickier, as you would need to compare their relative airflow.

For example, if you have 2x 200mm intake fan, and 3x 120mm outtake, it will most likely create possitive pressure, but if those 200mm fans are not able to take in much air due to airflow restrictions compared to the outflow generated by the 3x 120mm, you might end up with negative pressure.

 

Hope this helps.

[kr0w]

3 minutes ago, Caennanu said:

hi there, and welcome!

 

My personal experience is that you generally want more inflow than you have outflow. This will create positive pressure within the system resulting in less dust pockets.

When you have more outflow than inflow, the fans will suck air from places you do not want it comming from, such as the sides of a window, or from the panel behind the mainboard.

 

Possitive pressure can be achieved several ways. In the case of uneven amount of fans of all the same make and model, you would want 3 in and 2 out. Remember if you have a VGA card with a blower style cooler, that is also counted as an fan for the outtake.

In this last case, when you have a blower style cooler and your configuration (asuming the 6 fans are the same make and model and do not suffer from other limiting factors) you will still want 4 intake's and 3 outtake fans, where your graphics card is one of the 3.

 

If they are not of equal make and model is where it starts getting trickier, as you would need to compare their relative airflow.

For example, if you have 2x 200mm intake fan, and 3x 120mm outtake, it will most likely create possitive pressure, but if those 200mm fans are not able to take in much air due to airflow restrictions, you might end up with negative pressure.

 

Hope this helps.

Hey Caennanu, thanks for your answer. All the fans are Corsair SP 120 Performance fans. Do you think 4 intake(3 front and 1 rear) and 2 exhaust(top) would be ideal in this case?

[Eumel2]

 

[Caennanu]

32 minutes ago, kr0w said:

Hey Caennanu, thanks for your answer. All the fans are Corsair SP 120 Performance fans. Do you think 4 intake(3 front and 1 rear) and 2 exhaust(top) would be ideal in this case?

I cannot really tell, it depends on the actual case got a model number by chance?. Also generally the back fan has a rather big mesh preventing airflow and might actually cause an audible noise if you push alot of air thru it. but the same goes for any mesh. Maybe the case also supports a fan in the bottom or on the side. Fan's on the door panels are generally iffy in my experience so i wouldn't recommend that.

[kr0w]

3 hours ago, Caennanu said:

I cannot really tell, it depends on the actual case got a model number by chance?. Also generally the back fan has a rather big mesh preventing airflow and might actually cause an audible noise if you push alot of air thru it. but the same goes for any mesh. Maybe the case also supports a fan in the bottom or on the side. Fan's on the door panels are generally iffy in my experience so i wouldn't recommend that.

It's the Corsair iCUE 220T RGB.

[kr0w]

3 hours ago, Caennanu said:

I cannot really tell, it depends on the actual case got a model number by chance?. Also generally the back fan has a rather big mesh preventing airflow and might actually cause an audible noise if you push alot of air thru it. but the same goes for any mesh. Maybe the case also supports a fan in the bottom or on the side. Fan's on the door panels are generally iffy in my experience so i wouldn't recommend that.

Do you think I should just forget about the other 2 fans and just go with 3 intake at the front and 1 exhaust rear?

[WoodenMarker]

Specs?

[Caennanu]

14 hours ago, kr0w said:

Do you think I should just forget about the other 2 fans and just go with 3 intake at the front and 1 exhaust rear?

It is the most common setup, and if you're using 3 at the front, you will be feeding your powersupply and video card with fresh air too, so its going to be more like a 3 to 3 ratio.

You could add 2 fans on the top, but i think it won't actually be needed.

[kr0w]

13 hours ago, WoodenMarker said:

Specs?

CPU-Ryzen 5 3600

MOBO-Asus Prime X570-P

RAM-16GB(2x8) GSkill Trident Z 3200Mhz

COOLER-Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition

GPU-Gigabyte GTX 1660Ti Gaming OC

PSU-Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 650W

CASE-Corsair iCue 220T RGB

HDD/SSD- WD Blue 1TB 7200 RPM / 240GB Crucial BX500

 

 

[WoodenMarker]

The stock case fans are fine as is. You can move the lower fan from the front to the rear for exhaust.

On 9/11/2019 at 5:12 AM, kr0w said:

All the fans are Corsair SP 120 Performance fans. Do you think 4 intake(3 front and 1 rear) and 2 exhaust(top) would be ideal in this case?

Are you referring to the free bundled fans aside from the stock case fans?

SP120 PE's are loud and not worth using unless you really don't care about noise. There are plenty of better fans. 

[kr0w]

1 hour ago, WoodenMarker said:

The stock case fans are fine as is. You can move the lower fan from the front to the rear for exhaust.

Are you referring to the free bundled fans aside from the stock case fans?

SP120 PE's are loud and not worth using unless you really don't care about noise. There are plenty of better fans. 

Yes, the fans that come bundled are the SP120 PE's. So do you think I should just not use those and just stick to the case fans?

[WoodenMarker]

1 hour ago, kr0w said:

Yes, the fans that come bundled are the SP120 PE's. So do you think I should just not use those and just stick to the case fans?

Yeah, I'd stick with the stock case fans instead.