Fan placement...

RooBoonix

RooBoonix

RooBoonix

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Hi everyone,

Many of you may have seen my build in the general section, but I am stuck on the cooling, I have chosen a case, the BitFenix Merc Alpha, and I have about £25 to spend on fans (on a budget).

Now, it comes with 1x120mm rear fan which I guess is exhaust. It also has space for 6 more, 2x120mm at the front, 2x120mm at the top and 2x120mm at the side.

My question is... should I get 6 fans so I have maximum airflow? I am not too sure how many or where to put them to be honest. Also, I would like to get LED fans, so the case has an awesome glow :)

Thanks,
Cam
 
I would have 2 on the side blowing air on cpu gpu and mobo

then one at the front sucking the air away from your hard drives at the front.

And then see how that goes. Remember more fans more noise. If cooling is good enough on point making it louder.
 
The conventional layout, for good reasons, is to have inlet on the front and sides, exhaust to the back and top. The inlet fans should be slightly more powerful (or more plentiful) than the exhaust to create a positive air pressure within the case as this will help stop air and dust being sucked in through all the cracks and crevices. I'd put just one at the front and one at the top plus the two on the side. That should be enough unless you're running several GPUs. You'd better ask what the current favourite fans are as I haven't had to buy any for a while.
 
Hi, thanks for the help.

I might go for all 6 extra fans for good airflow, also that will make cooling not a problem in the future, so 4 slightly more powerful ones for inlet and 2 slightly less powerful for the exhaust? or i might just get what you say as I am on a budget, then i can buy some better quality fans :)

I will look at fans and post up what I think might be an option :)

Thanks
 
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Assuming you have a decent CPU cooler the biggest gain is to put one fan at the top rear of your case extracting air and one above your CPU on the top of the case also extracting air. These will pull out the hot air from your case.

Most cases are full of holes and gaps which let colder air in the bottom. To help colder air in try a fan at the front or side near the bottom pulling air in.

Another big factor is room temperature. If your room temp is high then this affects how good the cooling will be. For best results also make sure there is plenty of free space round your pc. If you shut your pc in a cupboard you will be just circulating hot air.
 
I am going to be using the stock Intel cooler that comes with the i3 processor.

I might fill all the fan bays and be careful if I should put them intake or exhaust :) then I will have good circulation and may make up for the rubbish stock cooler :D

Will post in a minute with some ideas of fans.
 
I am thinking:
1x Xigmatek 120mm Crystal Green LED fan for exhaust on the top.
and
3x Thermaltake Thunderblade 120mm Green LED Fan for intake, 1 on the front and 2 on the side.

The Xigmatek fans are 68.33 CFM and the Thermaltake fans are 70 CFM, so the intake will be slightly more powerful.
 
Just to give you an idea, I fitted the cooler in my sig which is cheap enough and it dropped my full load cpu temps by about 13c. Fitting the three case fans dropped my full load CPU temps by about another 10c running the fans at bout 1200rpm.

I think my stock intel cooler may have been a bit faulty but you can see the effect fitting even a cheap CPU cooler has.
 
I didn't really plan to get a custom CPU cooler, but I suppose I could, I am on a tight budget, so could you recommend me a CPU cooler and 4 fans (1 exhaust, 3 intake) for my case? I am getting a BitFenix Merc Alpha Case.

Lets say... budget is £40-£45 for cooler and 4 fans? Socket 1155 by the way :)
 
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