Fan Configuration

[datkins91]

Howdy,

So I bought a new case and fans in order to get the best possible airflow for overclocking. I really like the idea of having 3 input and 3 output to maintain airflow equilibrium, as well as the fact it's aesthetically pleasing ... however I'm just wondering whether the 2nd top mounted fan is actually doing a dis-service to the airflow by essentially just removing the air dragged in from the top front mounted fan and limiting cool air dragged in by CPU cooler? It'd be the coolest area of the PC also. Just wondering what your thoughts were/any benefits to keeping it how it is?

 

[Smart_Guy]

Hi there!

In my build, I have the attached config, and I have a very similar cooler with the same fan direction. Crossed fans means they are not there and the badly drawn one below is a fan to pull from the floor, the coolest area in the room, I believe. Unless your computer is on top of a furnace (that's heater in British English, I think) or something. Take the underlying meaning

Fan1 exhausts the heat the heatsink's fan pushes towards it.

Fan2 I don't have but it could interfere with Fan1 if it pushes to the inside. If it exhausts, it could help Fan1 but I think it's a little close to the heatsink's fan and could interfere with it in either air direction.

Fan3 gives cool air to both the heatsink's fan and the RAM.

Fan4 I don't have, but if you want it, make it a pusher along with Fan3. It will make Fan3's air go harder to the cooler and the RAM.

Fan5 for me is where the storage is. Since I have SSD's for gaming, it's in the right place. I will talk about storage later. It's good anyway so I like it there.

Fan6 looks unnecessary unless you have storage there. Some SSD's get hot and throttle, so cooling them is a good idea. HDD's get hot too but usually it's not a problem.

Fan7 you don't have, but I have to bring cool air as I mentioned before. This fan gets cool air to the GPU too.

I can't tell from the pics, but are you using M.2 storage? Seems to me the typical place to have it is empty. Some M.2 storage heats up and throttles. It's a good idea to ventilate it specially if it comes with a heatsink. Maybe your mobo has a heatsink provided for it.

I'm not overcloking now, but the CPU does boost to 4.8GHz for all cores and temps are min. 26C in the heat I live in. It was a rare occurrence, but I did see it once. Typically it's 29-30C. I don't remember the max since it's been a while for monitoring my system. My CPU is i5 10660K.

 

[datkins91]

Many thanks for the reply, that helps! I've made comments below in bold and red.

I think I'll try flipping fan 3 so that it takes in air instead and run some tests to see how it affects the temperatures and let you know!

Hi there!

In my build, I have the attached config, and I have a very similar cooler with the same fan direction. Crossed fans means they are not there and the badly drawn one below is a fan to pull from the floor, the coolest area in the room, I believe. Unless your computer is on top of a furnace (that's heater in British English, I think) or something. Take the underlying meaning

Fan1 exhausts the heat the heatsink's fan pushes towards it.

Fan2 I don't have but it could interfere with Fan1 if it pushes to the inside. If it exhausts, it could help Fan1 but I think it's a little close to the heatsink's fan and could interfere with it in either air direction. This is an exhaust fan.. I personally see it as beneficial! You can feel heat coming out from both exhaust 1 and 2 so seems good to me.

Fan3 gives cool air to both the heatsink's fan and the RAM. This is perhaps where I should make the change. It's currently exhausting air, so should perhaps have it intake! Also complements your comment about fan 4 below.

Fan4 I don't have, but if you want it, make it a pusher along with Fan3. It will make Fan3's air go harder to the cooler and the RAM.

Fan5 for me is where the storage is. Since I have SSD's for gaming, it's in the right place. I will talk about storage later. It's good anyway so I like it there.

Fan6 looks unnecessary unless you have storage there. Some SSD's get hot and throttle, so cooling them is a good idea. HDD's get hot too but usually it's not a problem. Yes the storage is underneath there.

Fan7 you don't have, but I have to bring cool air as I mentioned before. This fan gets cool air to the GPU too.

I can't tell from the pics, but are you using M.2 storage? Seems to me the typical place to have it is empty. Some M.2 storage heats up and throttles. It's a good idea to ventilate it specially if it comes with a heatsink. Maybe your mobo has a heatsink provided for it. Yes the M.2 is currently empty.

I'm not overcloking now, but the CPU does boost to 4.8GHz for all cores and temps are min. 26C in the heat I live in. It was a rare occurrence, but I did see it once. Typically it's 29-30C. I don't remember the max since it's been a while for monitoring my system. My CPU is i5 10660K.

View attachment 13261

 

[PP Mguire]

Depending on the airflow and static pressure of the fans flipping fan 3 could actually potentially cause a negative pressure situation. Because you're using ring fans it might not be as aesthetically pleasing, but I'd take the top right fan and put it on the CPU cooler facing the rear exhaust, keep the remaining top fan an exhaust, and leave all 3 in front as intake.

 

[datkins91]

Depending on the airflow and static pressure of the fans flipping fan 3 could actually potentially cause a negative pressure situation. Because you're using ring fans it might not be as aesthetically pleasing, but I'd take the top right fan and put it on the CPU cooler facing the rear exhaust, keep the remaining top fan an exhaust, and leave all 3 in front as intake.

Well it's currently exhausting the air, so flipping it would create a positive air pressure? Your suggestion of attaching to CPU cooler is a possible idea. I think the best thing to do is try running some temp benchmarks?

 

[PP Mguire]

That was my bad, I looked at his pic thinking you had an intake on the bottom so yea you're right. Honestly probably won't matter much at the end of the day as more than likely the fans don't pressurize the chassis enough to make a huge difference in configuration outside of being just setup dumb. I'd leave it as is and put another fan on the heatsink for push/pull. Matter a fact looking closer at the machine pics you'd get way more benefit buying a second stick of RAM for dual channel than OCs.

 

[Smart_Guy]

Yeah, for air direction, Fan3's white arrows are mine and red arrow is his.
You have only one stick of RAM? How come I didn't notice that?

 

[datkins91]

Because it's so pretty - yes I think there's a reason quite a while back I went with just the one stick, but I can't remember why now.

@PP Mguire - do you really not think there's an issue with the top front fan pulling in air and the top most right fan pulling out air? It seems like a pointless loop and may restrict CPU air intake?

 

[PP Mguire]

No. Your single channel RAM setup hinders way more than any airflow config would.

 

[Celery]

i like the way my xigmatek cube case is designed. two fans draw air from outside, two exhaust to outside. my psu draw air from outside. my vid card is right next to case drawing outside air.

fresh air all day long.