Fan choice

[martin1]

I have Corsair 4000D Airflow and I want to add some fans to it as it comes with 2 only. I was thinking about Corsair AF120 or SP120 for the front air intake. Should I choose airflow or static pressure fans ? I read something about it and somewhere it says airflow, somewhere static pressure and I want to someone to make it clear for me.

[Poinkachu]

13 minutes ago, martin1 said:

I have Corsair 4000D Airflow and I want to add some fans to it as it comes with 2 only. I was thinking about Corsair AF120 or SP120 for the front air intake. Should I choose airflow or static pressure fans ? I read something about it and somewhere it says airflow, somewhere static pressure and I want to someone to make it clear for me.

Basically :

When there's a lot of obstructions, you will want a static pressure fan.

 

Radiator fins, Heatsink fins, Dust Filter, etc.

Edited July 11, 2024 by Poinkachu

[ChrisLoudon]

3 minutes ago, martin1 said:

I have Corsair 4000D Airflow and I want to add some fans to it as it comes with 2 only. I was thinking about Corsair AF120 or SP120 for the front air intake. Should I choose airflow or static pressure fans ? I read something about it and somewhere it says airflow, somewhere static pressure and I want to someone to make it clear for me.

Hi buddy,

 

PC fans are a total nightmare given how many you can choose from.

 

Static Pressure fans are better when the air they are moving is going to meet resistance and air flow fans are best used to do just that, flow air!.

 

To put that into practice, you're best using static pressure fans when they are strapped to a radiator or placed hard up against a surface or close to a surface.

 

A good air flow flan is best used on its own.

 

If your build is an air-cool only build then would use air flow fans for all intake and exhausts unless you need to push through a particularly difficult dust filter. The same goes for the CPU cooler however, if the fin-stack is dense then a static pressure fan might perform better.

 

To be clear though, the chances of your temps improving or worsening dramatically are unlikely. You might see a few degrees here and there. 

[martin1]

Yeah I read what is the best use case for each type of fan, but it still confuses me. 4000D Airflow has front panel with a lot of triangular holes and dust filter and I dont know if it is strong enough obstacle to use static pressure fans. Also 4000D Airflow RGB includes three of AF120 in the front from factory.

[Poinkachu]

14 minutes ago, martin1 said:

Yeah I read what is the best use case for each type of fan, but it still confuses me. 4000D Airflow has front panel with a lot of triangular holes and dust filter and I dont know if it is strong enough obstacle to use static pressure fans. Also 4000D Airflow RGB includes three of AF120 in the front from factory.

Dust filter is almost always a strong enough obstacle

[Stahlmann]

Get a 5-pack of Arctic P12 PWMs and call it a day. They're better than 90% of included case fans and are ridiculously cheap, especially in the value packs. And if you need more than 5 case fans to keep your components cool, you have bigger problems.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

get a 5 pack of p12 maxes theyre 31$ and compete with 30$ noctuas though you only get 1 fan for that price with noctua maybe 2 or 3 with other brands

 

 

[Stahlmann]

8 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

get a 5 pack of p12 maxes theyre 31$ and compete with 30$ noctuas though you only get 1 fan for that price with noctua maybe 2 or 3 with other brands

The only difference between the regular P12 PWM and the P12 Max is that the max can go faster (and louder). So if OP doesn't need the extra RPM, that's another $10 saved. And let's face it, no one will run a 3000 RPM 120 mm fan in a personal computer. That's just too loud.

[Jeppes]

2 hours ago, Stahlmann said:

The only difference between the regular P12 PWM and the P12 Max is that the max can go faster (and louder). So if OP doesn't need the extra RPM, that's another $10 saved. And let's face it, no one will run a 3000 RPM 120 mm fan in a personal computer. That's just too loud.

No, p12 max has different blade design and those are better pretty much through the whole rpm range.

[Stahlmann]

32 minutes ago, Jeppes said:

No, p12 max has different blade design and those are better pretty much through the whole rpm range.

Reviews say the performance around the same RPM is pretty much the same. Where the Max pulls ahead is during noise normalized tests, meaning it can run faster while putting out the same noise, which is what leads to it's better performance. So I guess I was wrong in thinking they perform the same.

 

Still, I find it weird what reviewers consider useable amounts of noise. Even the best fans I ever had, the Noctua NF-A12x25, starts to sound like a jet engine when approacing 1500 RPM, let alone it's max 2200 RPM. That puts their noise normalized test way beyond what I'd consider useable. And the fact they talk about "quiet" in this context just sounds insane to me.