Fan option question before I purchase

Demon[KcsF] · 22 Jul 2025 at 19:49

Hi

I'm looking to pick up some Phanteks D30 120mm DRGB PWM fans, 10 to be precise
3 top exhaust
1 rear exhaust
3 bottom intake (reversed)
3 on the rad

New photo · Tuesday, Jul 22

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Question is, do I go normal or reversed on the rad??
Logic says normal but then it's just pulling hot air from inside the case over the radiator but if I go with reversed it's then got to pull 'through' the radiator.

What are people's thoughts?

Cheers

hornetstinger · 22 Jul 2025 at 20:01

What's wrong with your existing fans?
10X d30 = a lot of money.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

£200 on fans? what the...

Waste your money on something else.

Demon[KcsF] · 22 Jul 2025 at 20:07

hornetstinger said:
What's wrong with your existing fans?
10X d30 = a lot of money.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

£200 on fans? what the...

Waste your money on something else.

Stock fans are noisy as hell tbh
I know it's a hefty chunk of money but it's a new build and the fans are the finishing touch.
It's not often at all I upgrade my full system in one go, which I did this time, so just want to finish it off properly this time

pastymuncher · 23 Jul 2025 at 11:55

That's a Thermalright Frozen Edge 360 isn't it? I have the 240mm version cooling my 7800x3d and it's extremely quiet, in fact silent at the moment. Go into your motherboards bios and fix the pump speed at 2600rpm, that's the pump nice and quiet. Put the fans on the motherboards silent profile and that should take care of fan noise. One problem I can see with your case is that the vents for the fans are very restrictive, that and how close the fans are to the vents is going to increase noise no matter what fans you put in it. Rather than spend a ridiculous amount of money on overpriced fans work with what you have and see how quiet you can make them. If you still want to replace the fans take a look at the Jonsbo ZL-120W, ZL-120WR (reverse flow). They are less than half the price of the D30's for a three pack (just under £38 for three) and are excellent fans. I have three of the reverse flow versions in my case and they are very quiet plus like the more expensive alternatives there is only a single wire to power all three fans and a single wire for all three fans ARGB. There is also the Jonsbo ZK-120W/WR but I don't think they look as good as the ZL series.

doyll · 23 Jul 2025 at 16:02

What Pastymuncher said about working with what you have first.

Looking at your pic it appears you have 2x intake fans on bottom with other 7 all exhaust. That huge exhaust vs intake will cause noise all by itself.
First thing I would try is changing right side fans to intake.
Next would be setting case feet on some 1" square blocks to increase airflow to bottom fans. Stock spacing is about half what fans need. Can use most anything for spacer blocks and if it lowers noise maybe buy/make a open center caster base for case. I didn't see any on OCUK, bu they're on web and cheap. Caster base increases airflow area the height of casters
Another is put spacers between fan and case grill / radiator so fan is at least 10-15mm away from grill/ radiator. It's amazing how much this quiets down fan noise. To do this you need longer screws and spacer shrouds. I used to make then using 5x10mm sticks made into a frame size of fan. Screw holes drilled as needed. Old fan housings with fan cut out of them work well. If you have access to a 3D printer there are print plans online.

Please keep us posted how it all goes.