Case fans placement

[CanadianHuman]

PS: I don't have a GPU (yet). I just have a ryzen 5 5600g, 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD

 

I have this case from deep cool. There doesn't seem to be any cooling issues but I got this 140 mm 5 fan pack as a (sort of) gift from someone. And I want to put it to use.

 

I'd like to have at least one of the default front fans because ... I like the colours. I can't buy more fans now.

 

The case supports: Front: 3 x 120 mm OR 2 x 140 mm

                               Top: 2 x 120 mm OR 2 x 140 mm

                               Back: 1 x 120 mm

 

 

I know it's probably overkill for my PC but how can I get a balanced airflow using all the fan space? (and the 140 mm fans, not all of course) Or positive?

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, CanadianHuman said:

PS: I don't have a GPU (yet). I just have a ryzen 5 5600g, 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD

 

I have this case from deep cool. There doesn't seem to be any cooling issues but I got this 140 mm 5 fan pack as a (sort of) gift from someone. And I want to put it to use.

 

I'd like to have at least one of the default front fans because ... I like the colours. I can't buy more fans now.

 

The case supports: Front: 3 x 120 mm OR 2 x 140 mm

                               Top: 2 x 120 mm OR 2 x 140 mm

                               Back: 1 x 120 mm

 

 

I know it's probably overkill for my PC but how can I get a balanced airflow using all the fan space? (and the 140 mm fans, not all of course) Or positive?

Without knowing what case you are talking about this is impossible.  Also with no gpu things get weird because video cards often put out more heat than CPUs.  Sometimes multiple times more.  So specs are needed.

[CanadianHuman]

26 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Without knowing what case you are talking about this is impossible.  Also with no gpu things get weird because video cards often put out more heat than CPUs.  Sometimes multiple times more.  So specs are needed.

Hi, I linked the case in my post. I'm currently trying different fan placements and running cinebench to see what works well.

[Ralfi]

Case looks good. I like the pattern on the front & especially that it’s airflow focused.

 

If you had another 120mm fan, I’d suggest you add that to the front (or rear & then move your current rear RGB fan to the front, so you have 3 of the same fans sucking air in + a consistent RGB look) , but since your spares are all 140mm, I’d say just add one 140mm to the top-rear position & see how things go.

 

That’ll make it 2 fans intake & 2 fans exhaust.

 

If you need more cooling, then add a 140mm to the top-front as another intake.

 

 

[CanadianHuman]

40 minutes ago, Ralfi said:

Case looks good. I like the pattern on the front & especially that it’s airflow focused.

 

If you had another 120mm fan, I’d suggest you add that to the front (or rear & then move your current rear RGB fan to the front, so you have 3 of the same fans sucking air in + a consistent RGB look) , but since your spares are all 140mm, I’d say just add one 140mm to the top-rear position & see how things go.

 

That’ll make it 2 fans intake & 2 fans exhaust.

 

If you need more cooling, then add a 140mm to the top-front as another intake.

 

 

I've seen a few people say it's not good to have an intake on top because 'hot air rises' and it will ruin the flow. 

 

Also, If i add a 3rd fan 120mm to the front, most of it will be blowing towards the hard drive cases. 

[Bombastinator]

Ah.  I always miss those underlined links.  2 140 will produce nearly the same cfm as 3 120s but with less static pressure.  So potentially less noise with just as much cooling.    It’s real possible you don’t need that static pressure though so the test would be to replace the fans on the front with 2 140s and see if the temps go up and by how much.  

[Ralfi]

1 hour ago, CanadianHuman said:

I've seen a few people say it's not good to have an intake on top because 'hot air rises' and it will ruin the flow. 

If you have front to back airflow in your rig, most of the hot air will be pushed to the rear/top corner of the case. The top-front fan slot isn’t essential, though through my testing, I found it slightly beneficial during warmer months as it assists the front fans to get cool air into your CPU cooler.
 

I only mentioned it thinking you wanted to utilise those 140mm fans, but you don’t need to…It may be a test you can do later on.

 

You may not need to change anything in fact - test the factory fans & see if you’re happy with temps.

 

But you won’t know for sure until you get that GPU in there.

 

1 hour ago, CanadianHuman said:

Also, If i add a 3rd fan 120mm to the front, most of it will be blowing towards the hard drive cases. 

Some of it’s air will enter the motherboard area of the case. I’ve also tested this, & found that the more front 120mm fan slots you fill up, the better, not just for your CPU/GPU temps, but for your other motherboard components…

 

[CanadianHuman]

38 minutes ago, Ralfi said:

If you have front to back airflow in your rig, most of the hot air will be pushed to the rear/top corner of the case. The top-front fan slot isn’t essential, though through my testing, I found it slightly beneficial during warmer months as it assists the front fans to get cool air into your CPU cooler.
 

I only mentioned it thinking you wanted to utilise those 140mm fans, but you don’t need to…It may be a test you can do later on.

 

You may not need to change anything in fact - test the factory fans & see if you’re happy with temps.

 

But you won’t know for sure until you get that GPU in there.

 

Some of it’s air will enter the motherboard area of the case. I’ve also tested this, & found that the more front 120mm fan slots you fill up, the better, not just for your CPU/GPU temps, but for your other motherboard components…

 

With the default fans, it was idling at 40 deg c, and 80 deg c at full load. I don't do a lot of gaming so I won't be getting a GPU soon

 

I also decided to ditch the fancy lights in front because I won't even be seeing it most times.

 

What I have now is 2 x 140mm in front (intake). 1 x 120mm on top (exhaust), 1 x 120mm at the rear (exhaust). 

 

I'm running stress test now with that config. When it's done, I'll add 1 x 140mm on top (intake) and run another stress test. I'll go with the better config. 

[CanadianHuman]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

Ah.  I always miss those underlined links.  2 140 will produce nearly the same cfm as 3 120s but with less static pressure.  So potentially less noise with just as much cooling.    It’s real possible you don’t need that static pressure though so the test would be to replace the fans on the front with 2 140s and see if the temps go up and by how much.  

That's what I'm doing now

[Ralfi]

32 minutes ago, CanadianHuman said:

I don't do a lot of gaming so I won't be getting a GPU soon

Got ya. 80°C is fine, though I think you could do better with that CPU. Interesting to see how your fan changes impact things.

[Bombastinator]

It sort of depends on how much you value machine noise. The thing the 140s may give you over the 120s is less noise because fewer fans.  If you have to spin them faster though they may buy you nothing. The noise curve of fans isn’t flat though.  There’s a hook on the end, and if you can keep your fans slow enough to stay in that hook it can be a big enough difference that more fans actually equals less noise. This is how two fan air coolers work.  The rear fan on a 2 fan air cooler only buys about 20% more air moved, but if that 20% is enough it may be quieter with 2 fans than 1 because of the hook. What drives this is the airspeed of the outer tip of the fan blade, so the rpm needed varies by fan. This is why sickle blades are slightly quieter than straight blades.  Smaller fans will have a higher rpm before this happens than large fans.  So your rear exaust will spin faster to hit this point than your 120s will and for the 140s the number is even lower.  For 120s the number is usually around 800-1000 rpm.  So lower for 140s and higher for the rear exaust.  

[CanadianHuman]

I ended up going with 2 x 140 m intake in front, 1 x 120 mm exhaust on top, 1 x 120mm  exhaust at the back

 

On full load, it's around 74 deg c and 33 on idle