Fractal Design Define 7 with cd rom fan configuration question

[yepnew]

I need help finding the right amount of fans, size of fans and producer for my upcoming build.

I will use a fractal design define 7 with noteably an Asus BC 12D2HT 5.25" drive which i read will block the top fan slot of the 3 fans slots on the front end. I cant find the thread again and im wondering if im limited to 120mm fans on the front end with the cd drive present or if i can use 140mm.

Also wondering if i should bother with top fans since im going to be using an arctic liquid freezer 3 and that will apparently block the ceiling fans?

Also curious if its worth going with 2 bottom fans?

Lastely what fan supplier would you use? I heard the stock ones are terrible so on all the threads made when the define 7 came out people said nocturna, however a thread from last year said nocturna is more expensive and worse performing than other fans in 2023/2024 what do you guys think?

Complete parts list is here: https://no.pcpartpicker.com/list/CRqHMV

 

[jaslion]

I do not recommend you use that case due to its poor airflow.

 

If you need a 5.25 inch drive you can just get usb bluray drives or if you need that specific one you can get external housings for them if you cant find a mesh case you like.

 

A nr600 with ODD is a much better airflow case here.

 

Also no reason to get such an expensive liquid cooler a thermalright peerless assasin 120 is all you need.

 

Saving money on the case and cooler can allow you to get a 7900xt or 4070ti super.

 

Using the 5.25 inch slot on the fractal automatically means losing a fan slot.

 

Arctics p12 series is a great alternative for noctua and cheap.

 

 

[yepnew]

7 minutes ago, jaslion said:

I do not recommend you use that case due to its poor airflow.

 

If you need a 5.25 inch drive you can just get usb bluray drives or if you need that specific one you can get external housings for them if you cant find a mesh case you like.

 

A nr600 with ODD is a much better airflow case here.

 

Also no reason to get such an expensive liquid cooler a thermalright peerless assasin 120 is all you need.

 

Saving money on the case and cooler can allow you to get a 7900xt or 4070ti super.

 

Using the 5.25 inch slot on the fractal automatically means losing a fan slot.

 

Arctics p12 series is a great alternative for noctua and cheap.

 

 

But the case is not white unfortunately. I have picked an super ti oc....

P12 sounds great though so thanks, how many would you recommend or say i can get

[jaslion]

20 minutes ago, yepnew said:

But the case is not white unfortunately. I have picked an super ti oc....

P12 sounds great though so thanks, how many would you recommend or say i can get

Ah my bad misread.

 

Id still look for a meshcase as well due to poor airflow everything will have to run the fans faster tp cool thus be louder thus negate any noise cancelling from the case.

 

 

[yepnew]

1 minute ago, jaslion said:

Ah my bad misread.

 

Id still look for a meshcase as well due to poor airflow everything will have to run the fans faster tp cool thus be louder thus negate any noise cancelling from the case.

 

 

Im aware, but i really want an as pure white as possible with gold colour rgb   build instead of of mixing it with black that wont fit into my room and will drain natural light. Do you know how many fans my case will need? As i mentioned i know max is 8 with the cd rom but im unsure if the ceiling fans are blocked and im unsure of the effectiveness of the bottom fans

[podkall]

3 minutes ago, jaslion said:

Ah my bad misread.

 

Id still look for a meshcase as well due to poor airflow everything will have to run the fans faster tp cool thus be louder thus negate any noise cancelling from the case.

 

 

White mesh cases that might have enough whatever everything you need, but I didn't check: (and good airflow because they're mesh)

 

Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case  (kr1110.00 @ Proshop)

Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case  (kr1110.00 @ Proshop)

Case: Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case  (kr1003.00 @ Proshop)

Case: Montech X3 Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case  (kr722.00 @ Proshop)

Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air ATX Full Tower Case  (kr1538.00 @ Proshop)

[yepnew]

1 minute ago, podkall said:

White mesh cases that might have enough whatever everything you need, but I didn't check: (and good airflow because they're mesh)

 

Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case  (kr1110.00 @ Proshop)

Case: Montech AIR 903 MAX ATX Mid Tower Case  (kr1110.00 @ Proshop)

Case: Montech AIR 903 BASE ATX Mid Tower Case  (kr1003.00 @ Proshop)

Case: Montech X3 Mesh ATX Mid Tower Case  (kr722.00 @ Proshop)

Case: Fractal Design Pop XL Air ATX Full Tower Case  (kr1538.00 @ Proshop)

Montech was what i was originally was recommended but it has no cd rom option so no dice. Thanks for recommending it though, i really like how helpful and nice people on this forum ia

[podkall]

1 minute ago, yepnew said:

Montech was what i was originally was recommended but it has no cd rom option so no dice. Thanks for recommending it though, i really like how helpful and nice people on this forum ia

u can get external CD thingy if you don't already have the thing

[yepnew]

Just now, podkall said:

u can get external CD thingy if you don't already have the thing

Actual the pop air one does have cd rom support. You might have imrpoved my builds air support. Thanks bro. Im kinda spastic about it so i want it in the case

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 hour ago, podkall said:

u can get external CD thingy if you don't already have the thing

The usual reason for using the larger BD-ROM drives is their compatibility with MakeMKV.  There is specific firmware that allows faster Bluray ripping and some models even UHD Bluray.

 

Caddies for the larger drives are pretty cumbersome and not very common these days so tend to be expensive.  Its how I ended up with the Fractal Design Focus G, even though I'd rather have used a better case.

[RevGAM]

7 hours ago, yepnew said:

I need help finding the right amount of fans, size of fans and producer for my upcoming build.

I will use a fractal design define 7 with noteably an Asus BC 12D2HT 5.25" drive which i read will block the top fan slot of the 3 fans slots on the front end. I cant find the thread again and im wondering if im limited to 120mm fans on the front end with the cd drive present or if i can use 140mm.

Also wondering if i should bother with top fans since im going to be using an arctic liquid freezer 3 and that will apparently block the ceiling fans?

Also curious if its worth going with 2 bottom fans?

Lastely what fan supplier would you use? I heard the stock ones are terrible so on all the threads made when the define 7 came out people said nocturna, however a thread from last year said nocturna is more expensive and worse performing than other fans in 2023/2024 what do you guys think?

Complete parts list is here: https://no.pcpartpicker.com/list/CRqHMV

 

Noctua makes very good fans, but are expensive. Arctic makes good fans, same warranty period, but are cheap. There are other inexpensive options, too.

6 hours ago, yepnew said:

Actual the pop air one does have cd rom support. You might have imrpoved my builds air support. Thanks bro. Im kinda spastic about it so i want it in the case

It sounds like you want to put the AIO radiator on top. It is much better to put it in front, intaking air. 

 

If you mount fans on the top, they should be pulling air out of the case, so don't put one in the front-most position as it'll stick out some of the air that the AIO fans pull in. 

 

FD fans are nothing special, in general. 

[yepnew]

4 hours ago, RevGAM said:

Noctua makes very good fans, but are expensive. Arctic makes good fans, same warranty period, but are cheap. There are other inexpensive options, too.

It sounds like you want to put the AIO radiator on top. It is much better to put it in front, intaking air. 

 

If you mount fans on the top, they should be pulling air out of the case, so don't put one in the front-most position as it'll stick out some of the air that the AIO fans pull in. 

 

FD fans are nothing special, in general. 

It was the guy going to build my pc who said that and this video https://youtube.com/shorts/qSgovLTF5Ko sorta confirmed it. I have no opinion on this as i have zero clue, i just want the best airflow. Thanks for telling me, ill keep it in mind

[RevGAM]

2 hours ago, yepnew said:

It was the guy going to build my pc who said that and this video https://youtube.com/shorts/qSgovLTF5Ko sorta confirmed it. I have no opinion on this as i have zero clue, i just want the best airflow. Thanks for telling me, ill keep it in mind

As the video points out, the top is the worst place to put the rad, and that is true most of the time. Side and front will ALWAYS be better unless the airflow is severely restricted. As for the gap between locations, there can be more than 5^oC of variance, and 5^oC CAN make a difference, so don't be misled by that statement. In my own testing, I found up to 13^oC difference, with top mounting being 5^oC-12^oC worse than the best option, and the others that were in the bottom half were all front-mounts. @Norkris did similar testing to what I did but the interesting difference is that his front mount had better airflow than his side mount, so his best results were in the front intaking, whereas mine were side exhausting. However, when I removed most of the restrictions for front intake I, too, got the best results by 1 degree over side mount exhaust. 1^oC means nothing, but 5^oC can, especially as room temperature rises.

It's up to you. Every case and every computer is different, but there are several other testers who have come to similar conclusions.

[yepnew]

14 hours ago, RevGAM said:

As the video points out, the top is the worst place to put the rad, and that is true most of the time. Side and front will ALWAYS be better unless the airflow is severely restricted. As for the gap between locations, there can be more than 5^oC of variance, and 5^oC CAN make a difference, so don't be misled by that statement. In my own testing, I found up to 13^oC difference, with top mounting being 5^oC-12^oC worse than the best option, and the others that were in the bottom half were all front-mounts. @Norkris did similar testing to what I did but the interesting difference is that his front mount had better airflow than his side mount, so his best results were in the front intaking, whereas mine were side exhausting. However, when I removed most of the restrictions for front intake I, too, got the best results by 1 degree over side mount exhaust. 1^oC means nothing, but 5^oC can, especially as room temperature rises.

It's up to you. Every case and every computer is different, but there are several other testers who have come to similar conclusions.

Okay thanks man, ill probably go for front intake then.

[OhioYJ]

21 minutes ago, yepnew said:

Okay thanks man, ill probably go for front intake then.

I've been using those Fractal cases for my NAS builds for a while now because they can hold a large amount of HDD, and the front panel is really the only issue. I modify them to let the front intake fans breath.

 

They make grilles in white.

 

 

 

[yepnew]

6 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

I've been using those Fractal cases for my NAS builds for a while now because they can hold a large amount of HDD, and the front panel is really the only issue. I modify them to let the front intake fans breath.

 

They make grilles in white.

 

 

 

Dont have the capability to make those modifications.

on a slightly related note, not sure if you're interested but theres a guy on youtube who published 3d printer files for both super sturdy (as in more sturdy than the case itself) wheels and hdd cages specifically for the 7 xl If you want to futher mod your case

[OhioYJ]

26 minutes ago, yepnew said:

on a slightly related note, not sure if you're interested but theres a guy on youtube who published 3d printer files for both super sturdy

Actually yes, Id be curious about the HDD cages. If you have a link handy, send it my way.  I have a fully loaded XL, and those hard drive trays are not my favorite: 

 

 

 

[yepnew]

2 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

Actually yes, Id be curious about the HDD cages. If you have a link handy, send it my way.  I have a fully loaded XL, and those hard drive trays are not my favorite: 

 

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OZ9avQXl7o