Corsair Carbide 500R fan upgrade

melvyn · 27 Sep 2015 at 09:56

Hi I have the above case and want to optimise the cooling. Currently just has the default fans: 2x 120 front intake, side 240 intake, top rear 120 exhaust. Case has mounts for 2 120/140 top fans and one bottom. Any recommendations for mid range fans and whether any of the defaults should be replaced? Would also appreciate advice on the fan configuration and whether any more than what I've mentioned should be added. My cpu cooler is nhd15, gpu is gigabyte Gtx 770. Cheers.

TubbyGreg · 29 Sep 2015 at 20:33

Noctua Fans are good, so are corsair fans, be quiet, cooler master - all good.

dacads · 29 Sep 2015 at 22:17

Do you have any issues with temperature or noise? If not you can stick with what you have unless you fancy a change

Greybeard · 29 Sep 2015 at 23:01

dacads said:
Do you have any issues with temperature or noise? If not you can stick with what you have unless you fancy a change

This.. but if OP really needs to change those stock fans for a reason.. there are tons of good fans out there to choose from. From the Corsair side; AF120/140 are ideal for case fans, moves a good amount of air on a less restricted areas. Then you have Noctuas and CM fans that are good as well. Scythe GTs and BitFenix are worth looking into as well.

melvyn · 30 Sep 2015 at 11:03

Thanks all. I don't have a massive problem with temps no, I just fancied optimising the case as I never bothered giving it any thought before. I could just stick a couple of top exhaust fans in and leave everything else as is?

SamyBoy13 · 30 Sep 2015 at 11:21

I would recommend noctua fans super silent. They are maybe expensive but I had corsair sp/sf fans and they were making humming noise and noctua nothing just super silent.

dacads · 30 Sep 2015 at 15:32

I think you have enough exhaust fans as it is, how many do you have in total? Maybe add a bottom intake fan.

Noiseblocker make top quality fans as well

melvyn · 30 Sep 2015 at 16:51

dacads said:
I think you have enough exhaust fans as it is, how many do you have in total? Maybe add a bottom intake fan.

Noiseblocker make top quality fans as well

Er just the one at the back.

ttaskmaster · 30 Sep 2015 at 17:58

I have previously filled every slot in the 500R with fans... It's one heck of a noisy case on full chat!!

I love Corsair stuff, but those fans are crap (sorry Greybeard).
Well, they're sort-of crap these days compared to the other options. At one time, they were pretty darn great and, if I'm honest, they do alright still. Just a bit noisy, really.

Currently I'm running Noctuas:
- 2 x NF-S12A on the front intake
- 1 x NF-S12A on the rear exhaust
- 2 x NF-F12 pulling through a radiator and exhausting out the top

I also ripped out the dust mesh on the front grille for better and quieter airflow.
With that lot above, I start to get worried if my internal temperature probes report anything above 30ºC. My idle is about 22-23.

I also have 2 x NF-P12 Vortex on the side panel intake, but not actually turned on unless things really hot up... I've not had to use them at all since watercooling my PC.

dacads · 30 Sep 2015 at 22:49

melvyn said:
Er just the one at the back.

My bad, in that case yes you can stick two fans at the top. You could try putting the two side fans there to see how it goes.

Greybeard · 1 Oct 2015 at 00:33

ttaskmaster said:
I love Corsair stuff, but those fans are crap (sorry Greybeard).
Well, they're sort-of crap these days compared to the other options. At one time, they were pretty darn great and, if I'm honest, they do alright still. Just a bit noisy, really.

lol no need to apologize man, I totally understand what you mean. Yes, I do work for Corsair, but that doesn't mean that I don't judge our products objectively. For the most part, I still look at our products from an end user standpoint. In this situation, I know that there are better after market fans out there that can be used in this case to replace the stock ones

ttaskmaster · 2 Oct 2015 at 11:22

Greybeard said:
lol no need to apologize man, I totally understand what you mean. Yes, I do work for Corsair, but that doesn't mean that I don't judge our products objectively. For the most part, I still look at our products from an end user standpoint. In this situation, I know that there are better after market fans out there that can be used in this case to replace the stock ones

The ones that came with my H100, however, are still frickin' awesome!!
Also noisy as hell, but at least they still sit up the top of the performance charts... 2200rpm probably has something to do with it!

ΜΙΧΑΛΗΣ ΠΑΓΩΝΗΣ · 27 Dec 2018 at 19:11

Best configuration that i make
Fan Mount
Locations mm CFM Tot CFM
Front: 2 X 120 186 372,24 Noctua NF-F12 IndustrialPPC-3000 PWM
Top: 2 X 140 269 538,60 Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM
Rear: 1 X 140 269 269,30 Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM
Bottom: 1 X 140 183 182,50 Noctua NF-A14 IndustrialPPC-2000 PWM
Side: 1 X 200 253 252,70 BitFenix Spectre Pro All White LED 200mm White
Mid: 2 X 120 186 372,24 Noctua NF-F12 IndustrialPPC-3000 PWM