Fan layout advice / upgrade

[azibux1]

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice on the layout of my fans in my system to get the best airflow

I currently have the fan that came with my coolermaster elite 430 as an intake fan at the front of the case. Then my gelid tranquillo fan is blowing onto / through the heatsink and I have an apache black fan as an exhaust fan at the back of the case.

I have the system overclocked to 4GHz turbo mode rather than 3.7GHz turbo mode and I get temperatures in the 50s when the system is under light load. Earlier I was running a malware bytes scan and a virus scan and temperatures were in the low 60s. I then removed the side panel from the case and temperatures dropped to high 50s which makes me think that the intake fan isn't bringing in enough cool air. It doesn't feel like it is doing a very good job if you put your hand in front of it, whereas the other fans in the system are quite good so I'm just looking at upgrading the coolermaster one.

So I'm looking at upgrading the intake fan on the front to something possibly available in blue or white led options, but this isn't necessary, a non led fan would do.

Then I'll probably keep the coolermaster fan in the system somewhere (possibly mounted on the side panel of my case acting as another intake)

So if you were in my situation what fan would you buy and where would you put the fans in the case for the best airflow?

I want good air flow obviously, but as close to silent is also something I'm looking for so please spec a quiet fan with good airflow.

I will also get some rubber fan mounts as I hear they help quite a lot.

I have a fan controller that works with 3 pin fans only so please bear that in mind. And just for info.... The test I carried out above with the malware and virus scan was with the fans set to full RPM but ideally I want something that will do the job whilst running at a lower speed so that it is quieter.

My case has one fan mount on the front, back and side, and two on the top, all 120mm fans

Hope someone can help!

 

[Make]

Rubber fan mounts will do nothing to temperatures, but they do help on noise.

I doubt you will see more than 1-2c difference, no matter what 120mm fan you fit in there. It's hard to get any more air all the way from the front to the cpu. Though, fitting a side-fan will help on GPU temps, and possibly might shave off another 1-2c off the CPU as well, so you could try getting one there, if you think its worth the money. Remember a dust filter as well!

That said, your temps seem pretty fine in my opinion.

I'll let someone else with that nice browser add-on to spec you some fan recommends if you insist on upgrading them. Of course, if you just go for the looks then its worth it with the LED things.

 

[azibux1]

Rubber fan mounts will do nothing to temperatures, but they do help on noise.

I doubt you will see more than 1-2c difference, no matter what 120mm fan you fit in there. It's hard to get any more air all the way from the front to the cpu. Though, fitting a side-fan will help on GPU temps, and possibly might shave off another 1-2c off the CPU as well, so you could try getting one there, if you think its worth the money. Remember a dust filter as well!

That said, your temps seem pretty fine in my opinion.

I'll let someone else with that nice browser add-on to spec you some fan recommends if you insist on upgrading them. Of course, if you just go for the looks then its worth it with the LED things.

Aha yeah I meant that I'll get the rubber mounts to help with noise

And I see what you're saying as well about the air getting all the way to the middle of the case

That's one thing my current fans don't have, air filters, they do have filters in the front panel of the case though so I suppose that does the same job

Hmm okay, I thought that the temperatures were high but maybe you're correct, can anyone confirm please?

I suppose it won't do much harm having extra cool air coming into the case if I do add a fan to the side panel

 

[azibux1]

Nobody able to suggest any fans?

Also just for an update, I'm possibly looking at removing the V12XT fan controller and using 4 pin PWM fan headers on the motherboard instead if this helps anyone spec something for me