How many fans

Jaffar · 10 Jun 2011 at 13:27

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the cases forum. I have just got a Coolermaster 430 elite case, and have realised it only comes with 1 front fan. Should I. add an exhaust fan (and / or any others) before I build and power up, or will this provide enough cooling?

I'll be putting in a i5 2500k (with stock cooler), gtx 560, 4gb ram - no overclocking for now.

Philtor · 10 Jun 2011 at 13:54

I would suggest buying an exhaust fan as you need to have a means for the hot air inside the case to escape. Antec Tri-Cool would do the job for £3.

edit: You don't need an exhaust fan right away but for £3 you might as well

cjgardens · 10 Jun 2011 at 13:55

You dont need to add fans if your not clocking. But i would get a few as it will keep your parts cool so it will be quieter. That's if you get quiet fans

Jaffar · 10 Jun 2011 at 14:00

Thanks for your answers. Just being paranoid about frying my parts on the first day

I'll order some more but will continue without them until they arrive.

Philtor · 10 Jun 2011 at 14:04

You won't do any damage running without an exhaust fan in the meantime..

DennisMenace · 10 Jun 2011 at 17:33

philtorrens said:
You won't do any damage running without an exhaust fan in the meantime..

... as long as you don't stress the CPU, eg running IBT/prime95 for 48hrs. :eek:

If you're not worried about noise, 1 or 2 cheap 120mm fans (£3-£5) would be fine. Decent fans which are quiet and/or PWM controlled are £10-£15, but worth it if you use the PC heavily or have it in your bedroom.

If your case/PSU fans are noisy, get some more noisy fans as they won't make much difference. It's only worth bothering if your whole PC is designed to be quiet/silent, ie good PSU/CPU/case fans, quiet/passive GPU etc.

And if you do start overclocking (and who wouldn't with a 2500K?), you'll have to compromise somewhere (or spend a small fortune on expensive PWM fans/controllers).

Reaper 392 · 10 Jun 2011 at 17:54

really dont worry about it. i had an elite 342 case (worse airflow than yours); a phenom 955BE which i believe chucks out more heat than your processor on the unbelievably bad standard cooler; and a GTX460, which also chucked out more heat than yours.

i only had the standard intake fan on the case, and the PSU fan acting as an exhaust, and all was perfectly fine even during stress tests

cjgardens · 10 Jun 2011 at 18:37

Reaper 392 said:
really dont worry about it. i had an elite 342 case (worse airflow than yours); a phenom 955BE which i believe chucks out more heat than your processor on the unbelievably bad standard cooler; and a GTX460, which also chucked out more heat than yours.

i only had the standard intake fan on the case, and the PSU fan acting as an exhaust, and all was perfectly fine even during stress tests

This

you can't damage any parts even if you stress test for a week.

Lelouch · 10 Jun 2011 at 18:41

As the others have said, you will be fine as long as you don't do any stress test on your CPU. Running on stock settings should be perfectly fine. You'd be surprised that the airflow with just 1 fan on your case wouldn't be as bad as you think it is.

Jaffar · 11 Jun 2011 at 15:11

Thanks for the advice.

On a related note - If I was to overclock the CPU and add another GTX 560 in SLI at some point in the future, what sort of cooling is that likely to need?