how should i lay out the fans in my case and how many do i need

jjarhead24 · April 29, 2021

to start this is the case that i have bought the parts im panning to use are a ryzen 7 3700x and 3060 ti

it has 2 bays in the top for 2 120mm or 2 140mm, 3 in the front for 3 120mm or 2 140mm and 2 in the bottom for 2 120mm

I'm not sure how many fans i need which is my first question. i currently have 2 120mm fans and the exhaust fan in the back of the case, i was considering buying 2 140mm fans to go in the top of the case and putting the 2 120mm in the bottom of the case but i was told on reddit not to do this but wasn't given any explanation

i was also told the top and back should always be exhaust and the front and bottom always intake but does this mean ill also have to buy another 3 120mm fans so it balances more with the top fans being bigger?

and lastly the case has 6 places in the controller but if i was to get more than 6 fans do i need to buy another controller if i want RGB as im not sure if there is RGB with the fan headers in the motherboard for the last 2 fans that cant go in the controller?

this is the motherboard

this is my first build so I'm probably overthinking most of it as i don't want it to overheat and don't want to waste money buying unnecessary fans or controllers

overall my 3 questions i asked here are:

can i get away with 2 120mm fans in the bottom, 1 120mm in the back and 2 140mm fans in the top or do i need more?

which ones should be intake and outflow and do i need more fans to do the one suggested (front/bottom intake, back/top outflow)?

can i use more than the 6 fans with RBG that can be put in a controller without buying another controller (the MOBO has 3 cassis fan headers not sure on RGB) ?

thank you for reading and helping

mariushm · April 29, 2021

You don't need that many fans.

You have a CPU that doesn't produce a lot of heat, and can also work at up to 80+ degrees 24/7 without any problems.

You have a video card that doesn't consume a lot of power and can also work at up to 80 degrees or more without any problems.

The single fan on the back by the IO shield would be enough for your configuration.

If you want to add fans, I'd add one blowing air over mechanical drives or near mechanical drives, if you install one ...

One fan in front of the case to pull air into the case, maybe one on the bottom of the case (if the case is built to allow fan air from bottom to go up) again pulling air into the case and one fan on the back by the IO shield pulling warm air from cpu and video card OUT of the case should be enough. If you want, have one or two fans on the top of the case pushing warm air out of the case .

Warm air rises, so you want air to come into the case from the bottom, and warm air can go out from the top.

jjarhead24 · April 29, 2021

37 minutes ago, mariushm said:

You don't need that many fans.

You have a CPU that doesn't produce a lot of heat, and can also work at up to 80+ degrees 24/7 without any problems.

You have a video card that doesn't consume a lot of power and can also work at up to 80 degrees or more without any problems.

The single fan on the back by the IO shield would be enough for your configuration.

If you want to add fans, I'd add one blowing air over mechanical drives or near mechanical drives, if you install one ...

One fan in front of the case to pull air into the case, maybe one on the bottom of the case (if the case is built to allow fan air from bottom to go up) again pulling air into the case and one fan on the back by the IO shield pulling warm air from cpu and video card OUT of the case should be enough. If you want, have one or two fans on the top of the case pushing warm air out of the case .

Warm air rises, so you want air to come into the case from the bottom, and warm air can go out from the top.