CM690ii Advanced Case & Hyper 212+: Stock Fans vs AP121s?

[Grunty]

Hello Linus Community!

In April of 2011, I built my first PC and it runs nicely. Recently, I have been considering upgrading the fans inside of the case and on my CPU cooler to see if I can get lower temperatures in order to try for a better overclock, lower temperatures of other components, and equivalent or better cooling at lower RPMs since all four of my fans are turned up to 100% and it is noisy. There are two 140mm fans inside of the case -- one front & one top -- and two 120mm fans -- one rear case & one CPU cooler.

I'm not sure if I will be able to notice a large improvement in temperature and that's where I would like the community to chime in. The suggestion I would like to avoid would be anything related to purchasing a new CPU cooler. I really love the appearance and the good reviews of the AP121s but am open to suggestions, except for ugly Noctua fans. Due to having to budget funds for purchasing textbooks for Spring semester, I don't have money to make any purchases right away so any current sales will not influence my decision.

Thanks in Advance,

Nick AKA Grunty

[mnm0710]

What processor (overclocked?) do you have and what kind of temps are you seeing?

I have the 690ii as well and my system runs really cool. I have a NH-D14 though and you already said you're not interested in buying a new CPU cooler?

AP121's are really good. Yea noctua fans are amazing but if you don't like how they look then you're not going to buy them.

[Dragon_Cannon]

Get some air flow optimised fans to replace the intake of your case so that you are getting new cold air all around the case.

Don't use the AP121s as intake fans because they are focused air flow fans which means that any air that they suck into the case wont be dispersed around the case like if you were using airflow optimised fans.

Use the AP121s on the heat sink and the exhaust because for the exhaust it doesn't really matter where the hot air goes so long as it is not back into the case.

The AP121 will offer a performance increase over what is currently on your heat sink. The amount of increase depends entirely upon the fans that are currently on there.

[Grunty]

Thanks for the helpful responses! Okay so from these responses, I should replace the fan on my heatsink as well as the top and rear exhaust fans with AP121s but not the front intake fan. What would be a good fan for the intake fan?

The CPU is a 2500k overclocked to 4.2GHz @ 1.31V. My desktop is back at the dorms during break so I don't have the temperature readings in front of me but I think they run mid-to-upper 50s after gaming for 3-4 hours. I have a 460 GTX installed and I heard they are infamous for creating a lot of heat inside the case too. I want to improve airflow and get the overall temperatures down and hopefully not have to run the fans as hard as the stock ones because I'm assuming the aftermarket ones will be more efficient. Am I correct in thinking I won't have to run them as hard to get the same or better cooling?

[Grunty]

I apologize for double posting but I wanted to add a related question. I just read on a separate forum, that a sign of not having enough exhaust is having the inside of the case build up a lot of dust. My case seems to easily build up dust on the inside, even having dust screens in place. Should I worry about replacing the exhaust fans before I replace the stock intake fan?

[mnm0710]

I apologize for double posting but I wanted to add a related question. I just read on a separate forum' date=' that a sign of not having enough exhaust is having the inside of the case build up a lot of dust. My case seems to easily build up dust on the inside, even having dust screens in place. Should I worry about replacing the exhaust fans before I replace the stock intake fan?[/quote']

Basically it's all about positive and negative pressure inside the case. If you have more intake fans than exhaust fans (in terms of how much air is moved) then there will be positive pressure inside the case. That is beneficial because then all the extra little vents and holes that you have will not suck in dust. If you had more exhaust fans than intake fans then those side vents will suck in air (and thus dust because there are no filters)

[Grunty]

Okay so I had the idea reversed in my head. Thanks for clearing up my misunderstanding of how dust builds up. Since I have two exhaust fans but only one intake fan, adding another intake fan should even out the pressure.

[Brian]

AirPenetrators are designed to be INTAKE fans...

[mnm0710]

Okay so I had the idea reversed in my head. Thanks for clearing up my misunderstanding of how dust builds up. Since I have two exhaust fans but only one intake fan' date=' adding another intake fan should even out the pressure.[/quote']

No problem. I personally would vote for positive pressure so I would see about adding a couple intake fans, but yea you don't want negative pressure.

[Brian]

Get some air flow optimised fans to replace the intake of your case so that you are getting new cold air all around the case.

Don't use the AP121s as intake fans because they are focused air flow fans which means that any air that they suck into the case wont be dispersed around the case like if you were using airflow optimised fans.

Use the AP121s on the heat sink and the exhaust because for the exhaust it doesn't really matter where the hot air goes so long as it is not back into the case.

The AP121 will offer a performance increase over what is currently on your heat sink. The amount of increase depends entirely upon the fans that are currently on there.

You've got that backwards chap. The focused airflow is for INTAKE purposes. It's designed to push it through things like hard drive cages and the like.

[BCreation]

Get some air flow optimised fans to replace the intake of your case so that you are getting new cold air all around the case.

Don't use the AP121s as intake fans because they are focused air flow fans which means that any air that they suck into the case wont be dispersed around the case like if you were using airflow optimised fans.

Use the AP121s on the heat sink and the exhaust because for the exhaust it doesn't really matter where the hot air goes so long as it is not back into the case.

The AP121 will offer a performance increase over what is currently on your heat sink. The amount of increase depends entirely upon the fans that are currently on there.

Hard drive cases basically mimic a radiator scenario.