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Ideal Fan Placement

WickedDogs
By WickedDogs
in Cooling
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Hey everyone I am super excited that I completed my first PC build several weeks ago, and today ordered a GPU!

 

I just need help deciding proper fan placement for my case. I have a Corsair Obsidian 550D, the 3 stock case fans, and 3 cougar vortex 120mm fans.

Being new to PC building I figured some input from the community would be ideal before I set up my gaming components of my PC. From what I read I should have positive air pressure to minimize dust even though I have dust filters on every opening. Intake on front, and generally exhaust top or back. I just do not know exactly where to put which fans to optimize airflow.

 

Available fans slots are:

-2 front panel slots (behind 2 panels and sound dampening foam)

-1 bottom

-2 side panel slots facing core components

-1 back side exhaust

-2 top

-2 on the hard drive cages (but I think it would be better to remove the middle cage for better airflow so I guess only 1 available on the bottom HDD cage).

 

The Cougar vortex fans have higher static pressure ratings than the case fans if that makes any difference. Please let me know what y'all think. I cannot run the fans currently on PWM control, and plan in the very near future to get a fan controller to properly run them. But I will use AS-Rock A-Tuning fan program to set up a curve.

 

Thank you :)

 

Edit: The vapor-x fans face downwards! So is it pulling in cool air from bottom or exhausting hot air downwards?

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($128.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Vapor-X Video Card  ($447.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Case: Corsair 550D ATX Mid Tower Case  ($124.99 @ NCIX US) 
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  ($14.99 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit)  ($103.85 @ NCIX US) 
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  ($34.99 @ Micro Center) 
Other: Asus MX279H 27.0" Monitor (Purchased)
Other: Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Speaker System (Purchased)
Total: $1300.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-11 23:15 EDT-0400
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Stock CPU cooler? Two front intakes are usually enough. Have fans with most CFM there. If you GPU is heating up, bottom or lower side fan to assist it. The 1 fan to rear and 1 to top as exhaust. They don't need to be special.

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Stock CPU cooler? Two front intakes are usually enough. Have fans with most CFM there. If you GPU is heating up, bottom or lower side fan to assist it. The 1 fan to rear and 1 to top as exhaust. They don't need to be special.

Stock for now. Noctua NH-D15 will be in a couple days. Thank you for the help I appreciate it.

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