How should the fans be mounted? For best possible flow?

[zindan]

Here is my case and I have 4x 140mm fans, 3x 120mm fans The rear fan spot will have a h60 water cooler mounted to it.
Which ones should be intakes/outtakes for the best possible? 

I also have dust filters for all intakes.

[Ryujin2003]

Bottom, front, and side for intake. Rear and top for exhaust.

[LeviBW]

I would recomend haveing the H60 in the back with a 120mm on it obviously, and then 2 120mm in the front and thats it. No point in adding extra fans that you dont need, it will only add noise

 

[zzzzzzzhhh]

Mount 2 fans in the front, intake (If fresh air can get into the case through the front).

Mount a fan at the bottom, outtake, (If there is space for air to escape).

Mount two fans at the top, intake.

Mount 2 fans at the side, outtake.

 

(That's how I would do it).

[zindan]

Just now, Vespertine said:

Mount 2 fans in the front, intake (If fresh air can get into the case through the front).

Mount a fan at the bottom, outtake, (If there is space for air to escape).

Mount two fans at the top, intake.

Mount 2 fans at the side, outtake.

 

1 minute ago, LeviBW said:

I would recomend haveing the H60 in the back with a 120mm on it obviously, and then 2 120mm in the front and thats it. No point in adding extra fans that you dont need, it will only add noise

 

 

2 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Bottom, front, and side for intake. Rear and top for exhaust.

Really appriciate all replies, I have read through and it seems like you missunderstand me a little bit. Here is how I have planned it, what do you think of this? 
 

[LeviBW]

2 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Bottom, front, and side for intake. Rear and top for exhaust.

 

1 minute ago, Vespertine said:

Mount 2 fans in the front, intake (If fresh air can get into the case through the front).

Mount a fan at the bottom, outtake, (If there is space for air to escape).

Mount two fans at the top, intake.

Mount 2 fans at the side, outtake.

I dont see the need for that many fans they are just gonna add more noise and not improve the preformance, 3 fans should be fine IMo

 

[TVwazhere]

Two in the front, one in the rear. 

 

[LeviBW]

Just now, zindan said:

 

 

Really appriciate all replies, I have read through and it seems like you missunderstand me a little bit. Here is how I have planned it, what do you think of this? 
 

I understand that how you planned it and I think you are using way more fans than you need to, its only gonna make your system louder than it needs to be

[zindan]

1 minute ago, LeviBW said:

 

I dont see the need for that many fans they are just gonna add more noise and not improve the preformance, 3 fans should be fine IMo

 

Noise is not an issue at all, I wanna keep it cool.

[LeviBW]

Just now, zindan said:

Noise is not an issue at all, I wanna keep it cool.

ok still you dont need that many fans, i think 2 120s in the front and one in the back is fine but if you really want to add more fans then you can add another 120 in the bottom as long as it has a dust filter and a 140 in the top, but I doubt it will make much of a difference

 

[zindan]

Just now, LeviBW said:

ok still you dont need that many fans, i think 2 120s in the front and one in the back is fine but if you really want to add more fans then you can add another 120 in the bottom as long as it has a dust filter and a 140 in the top, but I doubt it will make much of a difference

 

See, I already sort of have the fans  so might aswell use them right? I mean what harm can it do +

[LeviBW]

Just now, zindan said:

See, I already sort of have the fans  so might aswell use them right? I mean what harm can it do +

I guess if Noise is of no concern to you then I dont see any negative effect of it

[LeviBW]

15 minutes ago, zindan said:

Here is my case and I have 4x 140mm fans, 3x 120mm fans The rear fan spot will have a h60 water cooler mounted to it.
Which ones should be intakes/outtakes for the best possible? 

I also have dust filters for all intakes.

Here, this is probably the answer you were actually looking for. If you are going to use all of the fan mounting points I would have the front 2 fans and the bottom as intake fans, the top 2 fans and the back as exhaust and then the 2 fans on the back blowing against your mobo

[zindan]

2 minutes ago, LeviBW said:

Here, this is probably the answer you were actually looking for. If you are going to use all of the fan mounting points I would have the front 2 fans and the bottom as intake fans, the top 2 fans and the back as exhaust and then the 2 fans on the back blowing against your mobo

only 2 outtakes at the top? hmm seems like to much intake dont you think ?

[LeviBW]

1 minute ago, zindan said:

only 2 outtakes at the top? hmm seems like to much intake dont you think ?

The back should be an outtake as well, And you really only have 3 intakes, because the fans behind the mobo are not going to be providing a lot of air flow to the rest of the case.

 

Also just out of curiosity what case are you building in

[ravenshrike]

6 minutes ago, zindan said:

only 2 outtakes at the top? hmm seems like to much intake dont you think ?

Positive pressure is better than negative pressure.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Anything that needs airflow to cool off will have a fan and it'll draw whatever air it can take.

 

That said, I find it better to have more intakes than exhaust because of the positive pressure idea. Having an exhaust fan is good for helping push out hot hair, but the act of pushing in cold air will also push out hot air.

[Sniperfox47]

44 minutes ago, Vespertine said:

Mount two fans at the top, intake.

Please no. Top fans should, in almost all cases, be output fans, since dust naturally settles downwards, and you want to push dust away, not pull it in.

[MEC-777]

Just going to jump in here because I see a few things being said and suggested that is not entirely correct or ideal.

 

@zindan can you list your full system specs, or at least the CPU and GPU you plan to use? 

 

IMO, there's nothing wrong with populating all the fan slots in your case. It will be less likely to have any stagnant zones where fresh air doesn't quite reach or warm air to collect. Also having more fans does not necessarily mean more noise. My system has 8 120mm fans in total. At idle and low loads, none of them are even running. When they do, however, they ramp up gently and even with all the fans at 40%, it's barely audible with your ear right up to the case. 

 

IMO, running more fans is better because you can achieve sufficient air flow and cooling at full load without needing to run the fan at higher speed, thus keeping the system quieter.  

 

As for this specific setup, I would run the 2 front fans, the bottom fan and both side fans as intakes (for a slightly positive pressure and to get as much cool air to the GPU as possible) and the 2 top and rear fans as exhaust. I would also run the H60 in the forward top fan slot (as exhaust). Why? because it will then exhaust it's warm air outside of the case and will be able to draw on the fresh air entering from the front, bottom and sides and be less likely to collect warm air from the GPU. This will also minimize dust accumulation. 

 

Depending on how many fan headers your motherboard has, you can also have the ability to control each "bank" of fans individually and based on custom fan curves related to GPU and/or CPU temps using a program called speedfan. In most PCs, there's no reason for any fans to be running at all - including those on AIO rads. Believe it or not, there's enough heat exchange going on with just the water flowing through the rad, alone.   

[Ryujin2003]

1 hour ago, zindan said:

 

 

Really appriciate all replies, I have read through and it seems like you missunderstand me a little bit. Here is how I have planned it, what do you think of this? 
 

I think it's rubbish. Nice start though... But.... You're working against physics. Heat rises, so don't have intake on top. Intake on two front 120mm and 120mm an bottom if you need one there. Intake on the side 120/140. Blow right to the GPU and VRM. Exhaust on rear and top. Heat rises, so anything top level should be exhausted. Have your water cooler on rear, but blow it outwards.

 

Yes the law of diminishing returns with increased fans; however you get to choose where the air flows. Helps with dust and such.

[zindan]

1 hour ago, LeviBW said:

The back should be an outtake as well, And you really only have 3 intakes, because the fans behind the mobo are not going to be providing a lot of air flow to the rest of the case.

 

Also just out of curiosity what case are you building in

they are not behind the mobo they are in front of the mobo
Corsair carbide 200r

[LeviBW]

Just now, zindan said:

they are not behind the mobo they are in front of the mobo
Corsair carbide 200r

Oh they are on the side panel, I see. I would still have The 2 in the front the bottom and the 2 side one as intakes and then the back and top as exahusts.

[LogicalDrm]

On 2.8.2017 at 9:26 PM, zindan said:

 

Few issues with that. First is that all intake fans will need dust filters. If you have filters, sure. 2nd, need to know what GPU you are going to use. Bottom side and bottom fan are useless if you have wrong style GPU cooler. Actually bottom exhaust is useless altogether as all GPU fans are intaking and facing down. Side exhaust would work if you have open style GPU cooler.

 

With personal opinion I think top fans are useless with your use case as you don't have air cooler for them to cool nor big rad. You could have push-pull on H60 instead and be much happier.

 

23 hours ago, ravenshrike said:

Positive pressure is better than negative pressure.

 

And neutral will kick both of their asses.

 

23 hours ago, Ryujin2003 said:

- - Heat rises, so anything top level should be exhausted. Have your water cooler on rear, but blow it outwards.

 

When, I mean, WHEN are people going to learn that heat rising isn't important in closed space where air is constantly moving by some external force. Only air which isn't moved by external force moves upwards by itself. Since in PC case fans will be doing all air movement, heat rising isn't important. Outside case, different thing. Usually not so special either, unless case is placed somewhere where airflow around it is restricted. Like mine hanging under the table.

[Ryujin2003]

13 minutes ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

When, I mean, WHEN are people going to learn that heat rising isn't important in closed space where air is constantly moving by some external force. Only air which isn't moved by external force moves upwards by itself. Since in PC case fans will be doing all air movement, heat rising isn't important. Outside case, different thing. Usually not so special either, unless case is placed somewhere where airflow around it is restricted. Like mine hanging under the table.

Never... I mean NEVER. Heat rises, but yes, it won't have enough force to fight against the airflow created by the fans....

 

However, you've got a GPU, and unless it's reference, it won't be blowing heat out the back. So you're pushing all of the heat from the rad and system down towards the GPU to be used to cool the GPU. Doesn't make much sense.

 

Also, you'll push all of the hot air out the bottom of the PC only to have it rise past your CPU and get pulled back into it. The cooler denser air is on the floor, why not just intake with cool air only?

 

Buty statement, Heat Rises, so anything top level should be exhausted I guess culdve been elaborated a bit more... Any dead space where heat has a chance to sit will... Contain heat air if hot air continues to go there. If you have an exhaust or vent for it to escape, it won't sit in dead space. Yes proper fan orientation can prevent that.

 

I am not a Fluid Dynamics PHD holder, so I guess I apologise for sounding like a Neanderthal about aerodynamics inside of a PC case. I'll stick to stones and cave drawings in the future

[LogicalDrm]

2 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

However, you've got a GPU, and unless it's reference, it won't be blowing heat out the back. So you're pushing all of the heat from the rad and system down towards the GPU to be used to cool the GPU. Doesn't make much sense.

This, as whole, doesn't make any sense. Top fans wouldn't be pushing air from rad to anywhere. Rear top as intake would be feeding rear/rad with cool air and thats it. Top front would be blowing air down where it would be mixed with front intake air and then be sucked in by rad. Only air GPU is getting in OPs sketch will be coming from side and front intakes. From which lower side actually is located over GPUs heatsink which is pushing air away from GPU. If its open-air style cooler.