Side panel case fans

andrewohare

andrewohare

andrewohare

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Hiya

im just wondering if its worth having the side panel case fan on

My setup at the moment is in a NZXT phatom 630 case (comes with 200mm Side panel fan i removed) with 2 Ref GTX 780Ti Using an MSI board and the the OC genie for overclock (4.0ghz)

My cooling at the moment consists of the following

Intake front - 230mm Bitfinex Spectre Pro
CPU - Corasair H60 with Corsair SP 120 quiet edition and a NZXT 200mm in push pull in roof of case
Exhaust Rear - 140mm Bitfinex Spectre Pro

i have installed but not plugged in an extra 200mm NZXT exhaust on roof didnt want to cause negative pressure by having too much exhaust


Temps are around room temperature and i have no issue,, just wondered if having a side fan would cause turbulence or if worth doing
 
I wouldn't bother.

If your getting around room temps and having no heating issues then no need to run extra fans as its just more sound and more power required for little to no improvement.
 
It depends on graphics temps. Running a 290x in my phantom 410, I was getting 80C. As soon as I put in a 140mm fan as an intake, directly over the card, I reduced temps to 72C after a couple of hours bf4.

As its a 200mm fan, should be relatively low rpm and so little extra noise? Is it worth trying and seeing if it does make a difference? Though if everything is fine at the mo, why break what doesn't need fixing?
 
cwgk91 said:
It depends on graphics temps. Running a 290x in my phantom 410, I was getting 80C. As soon as I put in a 140mm fan as an intake, directly over the card, I reduced temps to 72C after a couple of hours bf4.

As its a 200mm fan, should be relatively low rpm and so little extra noise? Is it worth trying and seeing if it does make a difference? Though if everything is fine at the mo, why break what doesn't need fixing?
Click to expand...

The cards run about 72 deg on full load on 1440p monitor so they are about the right temp i think and the whole case is relatively silent .. never heard the GPU fans hit 100% while gaming
Think your right it aint broke dont fix
 
Hi Andrew

How well does the front 230mm Spectre Pro fit in the front of your 630? Got any pics?

I've a 200mm Spectre Pro in the front of mine mounted on motherboard standoff screws and rubber washers to make it fit due to the clearance issue.

I ended up cutting down my 2 200mm Spectre Pros I put in the top to make them fit, mind if I ask how you got around it.

With regard to the side fan I recon it may be worth putting one in if you are air cooling your GPU's. Maybe do a test with and without and see what your temps are like. I've got the full window side panel so I don't have one but I am watercooling anyway.
 
to be honnest it was a bit of faff
had to remove the frame on the front of the fan and take off the dust filter on the 630 and use motherboard standoff screws to make it fit, and front cover was a only just fit to put back on .. excellent results though!!
Never put them in the top of the case , just used 2 x 200mm NZXT fans

Incidently i have changed my case now and gone for a corsair 750D and custom WC loop
 
Did you file the lugs on front cover so you can remove it without removing optical drives/card reader etc to clean filter (what a dumb design over older phantom).

The filter should have slide in from bottom then the bottom filter can slide in as it is to hold it all in place.

Side fan filter is a PIA to as you need remove door/fan to clean it fully.

If I keep this case (it has a few short comings) I may replace with Demi filter that stick to side with magnet that way it can be removed and cleaned easily.

There is many places for dust to get in that are not filters or gaps where filters are as they are not quite big enough though gap at side fan is not as bad as in 1st Phantom.
 
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Thanks, I may upgrade to one at some point then as its my only intake, I was not confident it would fit before but seen as I'm already using standoffs for the 200mm I may as well. Cheers
 
jh30uk said:
Did you file the lugs on front cover so you can remove it without removing optical drives/card reader etc to clean filter (what a dumb design over older phantom).

The filter should have slide in from bottom then the bottom filter can slide in as it is to hold it all in place.

Side fan filter is a PIA to as you need remove door/fan to clean it fully.

If I keep this case (it has a few short comings) I may replace with Demi filter that stick to side with magnet that way it can be removed and cleaned easily.

There is many places for dust to get in that are not filters or gaps where filters are as they are not quite big enough though gap at side fan is not as bad as in 1st Phantom.
Click to expand...

Yeah hated that to remove the front cover you had to remove drives ... So many times I forgot and ripped bezel of blu ray

I never filed anything didn't modify case because plAn was to sell at later date
 
I only filled down ones where I have a device fitted so 1 Optical Drive, 1 Card Reader and Asus Rog OC panel, left others so blank covers still fit.

I had it all wired up and then realised I could not get cover off lol.

I did however find out too late you can file them about 1/2 way and still remove the front cover to clean filter as it will pass your devices bezels and still hold on the blank covers so good to resell.
 
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Also caused. A major issue when I had a watercool bay reservoir ... Built the loop but at the time front panel was off .. And I never left enough room on tubing to remove the bay all way out

Guess what happened next lol
 
I didn't even know there was a front filter, got mine second hand minus fans so looks like they kept the filter lol. Ah well guess I'll pester NZXT to send me one.
 
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