How to place 7x 140mm fans and 5x 120mm fans in the Fractal Design Define R5?

[191x7]

I have those fans:

- 5x new Arctic Cooling P14 140mm PWM PST fans    https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/p14-pwm-pst.html

- 2x new Arctic cooling P12 120mm PWM PST CO fans   https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/p12-pwm-pst-co.html

- 2x old Fractal Design Dynamic GP-14 140mm 3-pin fans   https://www.fractal-design.com/products/fans/dynamic/dynamic-gp-14/black/

- 2x old Cooler Master jetFlo 120mm fans   https://www.coolermaster.com/catalog/legacy-products/cooling/jetflo-120/

- 1x old LC Power 120mm fan (1400rpm) similar to https://www.lc-power.com/en/product/case-fans/lc-cf-120/ 

 

The case accepts 2 front fans, 1 rear, 3 top, 1 bottom (if my PSU doesn't block it, have to check) and 1 side.

The cooler accepts 2 120mm fans.

 

The two JetFlo are on the CPU cooler (tower cooler, 4 direct contact heat pipes https://www.lc-power.com/en/product/cpu-cooler/lc-cc-120/) and they are loud when spinning fast.

The  GP-14 fans are at the front using the included fan controller (I no longer wish to have to manually adjust the fans to low, mid or "high" rpm), they are silent on low or mid but do not move a lot of air.

The LC fan that came with the cooler is my exhaust.

Not a fan of the different fan looks. Three fan types, totally look different.

 

I am not using the ODD bay and I have removed it. Since I do have 4 HDD-s I do use the larger HDD bay (for 5 drives) which is located at the bottom but I can swap it to the top where the ODD would be.

 

I wish for positive air pressure inside the case.

At this time, the moduvent covers cover the complete top of the case and the case side. I do have 140mm fan filters and I do have those rubber mounting things for fans. And ofc, 4-pin fan extensions and splitters.

 

How should I arrange  my fans for optimal temperature and quiet operation? How would you do it?

I'm considering three P14 intake and two P14 exhaust + the 2 P12 on the cooler.

 

Yeah, it's a Ryzen system with an RX 5700XT Pulse. At this time R5 1600X, next year 4600.

[Meganter]

8 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

I'm considering three P14 intake and two P14 exhaust + the 2 P12 on the cooler.

That 

 

or

 

If you want to populate everything and use all fans :

Front fan

2x 140 mm intake P14

Top fan

2x 120 mm JetFlo

Rear fan

1x 140 mm GP-14

Bottom fan

2x 140 mm intake P14 (supposed to be able to have 2 at least on the website and if the HDD are on top)

Side fan

1x 140 mm intake P14

Cooler

2x 120mm P12

[1van]

15 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

Define R5

Yeah, it's a Ryzen system with an RX 5700XT Pulse. At this time R5 1600X, next year 4600.

Why to place so many fans in this case? Both R5 1600X and 5700XT are stone cold.

 

I suspect that one/some of your fans might be faulty or wrongly configured (unnecessarily high RPM), this is why it is noisy.

A 4-pipe cooler should be able to cool the 1600X at a very low fan speed. I'd suggest 2x140 mm intake fans, the top of the case covered, and 1x120 exhaust fan, this way the pressure is positive, the HDDs are cooled, and there is enough air flow for this system.

[191x7]

4 minutes ago, 1van said:

Why to place so many fans in this case? Both R5 1600X and 5700XT are stone cold.

 

I suspect that one/some of your fans might be faulty or wrongly configured (unnecessarily high RPM), this is why it is noisy.

...

Not all 12 fans should be installed. lol

 

And the fans are configurred fine. I'm just noise sensitive.

[1van]

1 minute ago, 191x7 said:

I'm just noise sensitive.

I'm afraid 4x HDDs will fail any noise-reduction attempt :)

[191x7]

57 minutes ago, 1van said:

I'm afraid 4x HDDs will fail any noise-reduction attempt

The drives aren't constantly spinning.

[191x7]

Would two P14 at the front, a single P14 at the bottom front, a P14 at the rear and a P14 top rear be enough?

Should I put a fan on the side to blow air to the GPU? Do I need two P12 fans on the CPU cooler?

[1van]

21 hours ago, 191x7 said:

Would two P14 at the front, a single P14 at the bottom front, a P14 at the rear and a P14 top rear be enough?

Should I put a fan on the side to blow air to the GPU? Do I need two P12 fans on the CPU cooler?

I still don't get why do you need so many coolers for such a cold system?

Why don't leave the top covered completely, and install 2x front intake and 1x rear exhaust only? And 1 fan on the CPU cooler

[191x7]

2 hours ago, 1van said:

I still don't get why do you need so many coolers for such a cold system?

Why don't leave the top covered completely, and install 2x front intake and 1x rear exhaust only? And 1 fan on the CPU cooler

More fans on lower rpm results in less noise than a lower number of fans on higher rpm - meaning there would be less noise on higher load.

 

Also, I'd like my GPU not to spin fans when just browsing, watching YouTube etc - but hard to have it so since on dual monitors or a single 144Hz the memory (vram) runs on max speed and I do have both - two monitors and one of them 144Hz.

[1van]

2 hours ago, 191x7 said:

More fans on lower rpm results in less noise than a lower number of fans on higher rpm - meaning there would be less noise on higher load.

This is right, forgetting the fact that you'll have to remove some (most) of the noise-dampening panels to install more fans. If your case is under the table, with the opened top it will act almost as a speaker enclosure, sending the noise up

 

What I don't get now is why to ask a question if you seem to be determined and to know the answer already? Good luck, anyway)

[191x7]

9 minutes ago, 1van said:

This is right, forgetting the fact that you'll have to remove some (most) of the noise-dampening panels to install more fans. If your case is under the table, with the opened top it will act almost as a speaker enclosure, sending the noise up

 

What I don't get now is why to ask a question if you seem to be determined and to know the answer already? Good luck, anyway)

It's on the side of my table, between two tables to be exact, there is nothing covering it from any side. 

The way I will probably go with only the last rear moduvent will be removed.

 

Thanks to your suggestions I've decided on two front intakes, one bottom intake, one rear exhaust and one top exhaust. 

[WoodenMarker]

On 11/22/2019 at 3:43 AM, 191x7 said:

Would two P14 at the front, a single P14 at the bottom front, a P14 at the rear and a P14 top rear be enough?

Should I put a fan on the side to blow air to the GPU? Do I need two P12 fans on the CPU cooler?

A single fan for front intake, rear exhaust, and another on the cpu cooler would already be plenty. More fans may help a bit but you're likely going to experience diminishing returns.