how much difference do case fans make?

paradisiac

paradisiac

paradisiac

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well i have my new cpu cooler on order and have fitted 2 80mm fans to the rear of my case as thats all that would fit. they are mounted inline with the cpu socket so when the arctic freezer 7 blows air back im guessing they will help disperse it out the rear. now my question is, i can probable make a way of fitting a spare 120mm fan to the front of the case, but there are 2 things that concern me, 1st is, it would be right down the bottom of the case so would this really pass any airflow over anything usefull? and 2nd, there are no vents on the front of the case, so would any air actually make its way into the case?
 
You posed a question and waited an hour before you bumped your thread... Have patients and someone will answer you. People have work and/or school
 
Hi paradisiac. In my case (antec 900), I took out 2 fans from the front and the fan in the door whilst rebuilding with a q9550. So I have the arctic cooler freezer pro, the rear case fan and the psu fan.

Temps are generally low 30's so I will leave it at that. All depends on the temp of the board and chip surely. I do not know the safe temp for the motherboard, it reports mid 20's.
 
n3llyboy said:
Hi paradisiac. In my case (antec 900), I took out 2 fans from the front and the fan in the door whilst rebuilding with a q9550. So I have the arctic cooler freezer pro, the rear case fan and the psu fan.

Temps are generally low 30's so I will leave it at that. All depends on the temp of the board and chip surely. I do not know the safe temp for the motherboard, it reports mid 20's.
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so there is an argument you can have too many fans?
im just concerned that although a 120mm fan will fit in the front, if there is no vents will it just be shifting around the warm air in the case rather than pulling cold air through. and also being mounted at the bottom of the case, will it not just blow the air across the bottom of the case and not benifiting anything at all.
 
Good airflow makes a small difference over average airflow and a massive difference over poor airflow. In my subjective opinion. However more fans does not mean more airflow.

Since none of us know what case you're using, and have no idea what the component/cable arrangement inside it is, we cannot advise. At the bare minimum you need to post a clear photo of the internal layout of the case. Otherwise you're going to have to buy the fan, fit it, and look at your temperatures.
 
JonJ678 said:
Good airflow makes a small difference over average airflow and a massive difference over poor airflow. In my subjective opinion. However more fans does not mean more airflow.

Since none of us know what case you're using, and have no idea what the component/cable arrangement inside it is, we cannot advise. At the bare minimum you need to post a clear photo of the internal layout of the case. Otherwise you're going to have to buy the fan, fit it, and look at your temperatures.
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i already have a 120mm fan laying around at home. will take some pics when i get in from work.
 
best way to improve airflow is to have decent fans pushing in at the front and/or bottom, and pulling at the rear/top. keep cables tidy as they can restrict airflow a fair bit. don't bother with fans on the side as it ruins the directional airflow
 
twist3d0n3 said:
best way to improve airflow is to have decent fans pushing in at the front and/or bottom, and pulling at the rear/top. keep cables tidy as they can restrict airflow a fair bit. don't bother with fans on the side as it ruins the directional airflow
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A side fan does wonders for your GPU temps.

I recently stopped using the side fan on my HAF922 as I decided to pop a windowed side panel on instead. My CPU temps are roughly the same, maybe slightly warmer (it varies by a few degrees from day to day anyway as I am contantly battling with the person I live with over the central heating settings, I like it colder :)).

My GPU temps have increased a little more though, maybe 5 degrees... but it still isn't all that hot anyway.
 
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ah right, well that would be how the setup would be, my only concern is there are no vents in the front, so what would the front fan be doing?
 
In my experience the only difference taking all the fans out of your case will make is a marginal increase in temperature and a massive drop in noise. And no, I'm not joking.
 
WJA96 said:
In my experience the only difference taking all the fans out of your case will make is a marginal increase in temperature and a massive drop in noise. And no, I'm not joking.
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Can't say mine is noisey at all with the fans all running slowly, the hard drives make more noise (OS is on an SSD though so I don't have that issue constantly :)). I notice fair changes in temperatures just by speeding them up though (as in temperatures drop, unfortunately at the cost of a tornado sitting under my desk) so having none at all would make me imagine temperatures would rise enough for me to be unhappy with them.
 
LeeKeery said:
I don't believe your front fan will be of any benefit. Unless you create a vent at the front from which it could suck air in thro.
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It won't be if it has no access to cool air outside the case. It will just have its airflow severely impaired and will be pushing already warm air around the case.
 
Parsley said:
It won't be if it has no access to cool air outside the case. It will just have its airflow severely impaired and will be pushing already warm air around the case.
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that is what i thought. hmm.......will wait for my arctic freezer to turn up and see if i still need more air to get temps down. noise and having a 'tornado' dont bother me too much so i just want to get the coolest i can without spending a fortune as my i7 build wasnt cheap :(
 
twist3d0n3 said:
time to get the dremmel out :D
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haha. there are vents on the metal part of the case, but not the plastic front panel, but from what i can remember, there is a big hole under it (between the plastic front panel and the metal case) where you put your hand in to pull the front off, so in theory if thats correct, if i raised the front of the case up a little bit that would allow air to flow in through the hand hole?
 
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