Noctua Airflow Guide

McCarthy · 16 Jun 2025 at 18:13

Anyone tried the 3x front intake, 2x top ( intake at the front 1 exhaust at the back), then one rear exhaust? Seems to be the best way to do it, it makes sense!

Airflow Guide - Next Steps

This article is the second instalment of the airflow guide, giving more in-depth considerations for achieving optimal airflow. It covers the correct choice of fans, other components, the number of fans and more information on case pressure. P...

faqs.noctua.at

McCarthy · 17 Jun 2025 at 12:21

Glanza said:
Plenty of people on the Noctua subreddit run their setup like this in various cases, some it works better than others.

My temps at the minute are good, just wondering if this would make any worthwhile difference?

McCarthy · 26 Jun 2025 at 14:28

I think it’s interesting that there was no mention of fan speed and how setting different speeds on different fans inside the case will also have an impact.

It’s kind of warm here at the minute so I might give this a go when I get time. I’m using the Fractal Design North XL Mesh. This case also came with a bracket that fits to the inside, side of the case wherever you can install two extra fans and position the bracket up or down in the case wherever you like. I’ve never used them but I’m thinking maybe getting more air directly to a part of the case might also be worth a go, they’re free after all.

McCarthy · 29 Jun 2025 at 20:31

Drumroll said:
Using the same case here. I was able to use a vertical GPU and side intake, great for GPU, slightly worse for the PCH and NVME. Far from throttling but few Celsius worse. Back to horizontal GPU, side intake and GPU temperature within margin of error from vertical setup but much better temperature for PCH and NVME.
PS: for the horizontal setup, depending on the GPU, a 90 degree cable is a must.

I was finding one of my NVME drives was a little warmer also . I’m using a 5090. Like you say it’s well within acceptable but my previous case and previous GPU were a little cooler. To be expected I suppose.

Great case I find. I had the Lian Li 011xl previously and found I was forever cleaning the glass lol.

McCarthy · 4 Jul 2025 at 19:30

Grim5 said:
I've seen a few videos over the years comparing fan configs but the problem is it's case specific and also changes depending on if you air cool or liquid cool.

But generally speaking, for most people it looks like strong positive pressure works best - that means have no more than a single 120mm or 140mm extracting air and have all other fans as intake and if you have lots of fans run the intake fans at the front and bottom of the case, leave the top of the case empty

As mentioned by others, having a decent distance between your intake and extract fans is key, that's why for most people a single 120mm at the back extracting is enough, any further extract fans are likely to sit too close to the intake fans and create a negative loop for no benefit.

Yeah there are variables to consider such as the radiator for your AIO if using one. I’ve always thought that top exhaust is the way to go for this and never had any temp issues doing it this way, but maybe there is a better way when taking the info provided into account?