Air Cooling Upgrades/Recommendations

[Lumfish]

Thanks to all of you for helping me build the PC of my dreams a few months ago:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($338.99 @ Amazon) 

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($100.98 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII HERO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($194.99 @ NCIX US) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($66.98 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.99 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card  ($339.98 @ Amazon) 

Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case  ($119.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($64.99 @ Micro Center) 

Monitor: BenQ XL2411Z 144Hz 24.0" Monitor  ($278.99 @ NCIX US) 

Total: $1560.88

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-16 15:13 EDT-0400

 

 

I have never been happier with my PC! Except, I'm overclock curious and starting to dabble. So far with some very conservative OC'ing I've gotten my CPU to 4.4 and GPU up 200 mhz. Any more I go, things get a little too hot for my taste (no throttling) and more over Summer will be here soon and I'd like to not run my AC too intensely. 

 

As a Noctua fanboy, I'd like to see how I can improve cooling with some additional Case fans, and some new CPU Fans.

 

*note* At this time, I do *not* want to venture into liquid cool, I'd like everything to stay air cooled.

 

Right now my cooling setup is  running both Included NF-A15 fans on the CPU Heatsink, 2 of the included (from the Corsair 750D) 140 case fans as Intake in the front panel, and the last 140 mm included corsair fan as exhaust in the back. There are no fans on the top of the case, nor bottom (expect for my PSU). 

 

Now, what I'm looking to do is the following:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM 158.5 CFM 140mm  Fan  ($26.45 @ Amazon) 

Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM 158.5 CFM 140mm  Fan  ($26.45 @ Amazon) 

Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM 109.9 CFM 120mm  Fan

Case Fan: Noctua NF-F12 industrialPPC-3000 PWM 109.9 CFM 120mm  Fan

Total: $52.90

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-16 15:16 EDT-0400

 

So, swapping out the standard NF-A14's for the iPPC-A14's on the heatsink, then adding the 2 iPPC NF-F12 as top case fans for exhaust.

 

Would this be a good strategy for good airflow? Summary the complete setup would be:

 

* 2 iPPC NF-A14 on heat sink (Pushing out to back exhaust fan)

* 2 iPPC NF-F12 at top of case as Exhaust

* 2 Corsair Grey 140m fans at front panel as Intake

* 1 Corsair Grey 140 fan at back as Exhaust.

 

Any recommendations, changes? I understand these fans are loud, but noise is not the biggest concern for me plus the goal would be to control these via PWM and under most loads having them spin < 1500 rpm which reviews have rated are relatively quiet. 

 

Lastly, I was looking at the NXZT Mix 2 (http://www.amazon.com/NZXT-Technologies-Sentry-Controller-SEN-MIX2-M1/dp/B00DN3IT7M/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1429207300&sr=1-1&keywords=NZXT+mix) as a fan controller, however what I'm not clear on is does this remove the option to have these fans run at dynamic RPM's (i.e. at no load run silent, at full load be maxed)? 

 

Thanks for all the help!

[WoodenMarker]

That's pretty unnecessary. Adding NF-S12A's at the bottom for intake, NF-A14 for rear exhaust, and moving the existing rear fan to the top for exhaust would be good. 

[The_Warbird]

Well with more Airflow you might not get that much better temps if you really want to overclock more (btw 4.4 is the boostclock i think) then i would start looking into AIO liquidcooling or constantly running your'e fans at higher rpms.

[Lumfish]

That's pretty unnecessary. Adding NF-S12A's at the bottom for intake, NF-A14 for rear exhaust, and moving the existing rear fan to the top for exhaust would be good. 

 

Thanks so much WoodenMarker, in terms of fans on the bottom of the case, I currently have the HardDrive mounters (?) in place. Is it advisable to remove the mounters and place the Hard drives in my unused front panel bays? 

[WoodenMarker]

Thanks so much WoodenMarker, in terms of fans on the bottom of the case, I currently have the HardDrive mounters (?) in place. Is it advisable to remove the mounters and place the Hard drives in my unused front panel bays? 

Yep, that should be good.