What is the correct fan type and arrangement for a mesh front case? (ie Phanteks p400A)

MentalSharps · 5 Sep 2020 at 15:54

I'm looking for optimal airflow / cooling for overclocking during gaming, that I won't need to upgrade when I upgrade my CPU / GPU etc next year. But also that is as quiet as possible when I'm using my PC to watch movies on my TV.

Currently I'm looking at the p400a mesh as the best (white) price/performer. Or Lian Li Lancool II mesh seems to be exact same price/performance when you tape up the hole at the front

If I do go for the p400A, it has 3 dRGB fans, and I was going to pick up some more Arctic P12 fans. But I'm not sure of a few things

1. Are PWM fans better as case fans? If so, should I get 6x Arctic P12 PWM and replace the dRGB ones that come in the case? (I'm not fussed about RGB)

2. What is the optimal fan configuration for noise-normalised performance? In terms of whether the fans are push/pulling and where they're placed and how many? I've watched some videos and tbh I'm still confused about this.

I use open backed headphones so fan noise during gaming can be an issue, I prefer not to have to have the game sound blasting my eardrums ideally.

Also I will have a CPNS20x as my CPU cooler, possibly with just one fan if the other fan doesn't fit over my RAM.

clone · 6 Sep 2020 at 21:27

Pwm fans can be controlled in the bios if conected to a 4pin fan header on motherboard,does the case have a built in fan hub as I've got one in my phantek evolv x.
I have two 140mm corsair ml in the front as intake,one of the same as rear outake and two on the roof as intake,you can have these as outake if you like but I've got some demflex replacement fan grills to stop the dust.

Jonnybmac · 6 Sep 2020 at 21:32

intake front and bottom, exhaust top and rear.

Friend has his intake front, bottom and top and exhaust rear.

Realistically it doesn't make that much of a difference, a degree or two as we had many debates and watched and read many reviews to prove each other wrong since he used an a Corsair AIO at the top as his instructions recommended it as an intake to which I argued it better an exhaust.

Then theres push, pull ect too which all comes down to dust management when cleaning

clone · 6 Sep 2020 at 21:34

I have the front and top as intake as I've got two rads in my loop so cold air is needed.

Jonnybmac · 6 Sep 2020 at 21:36

clone said:
I have the front and top as intake as I've got two rads in my loop so cold air is needed.

This was my argument though, because you're drawing cold air in to cool your water but blowing that warm air back into the case to be recirculated rather than drawing air in from the front and blowing it out past the water.

If you have a good exhaust then then heated air from your water cooling will go straight out but if not then it will heat up the case. Research has shown though it makes barely any difference, kind of like CPU paste patterns

clone · 6 Sep 2020 at 21:41

The rear fan handles the heat well and as the gpu is watercooled and in a vertical mount the warm air flys past.
With a air build I would go top as outake..

danlightbulb · 7 Sep 2020 at 09:16

I would say intake through the front (with your cpu radiator there if you have one) and exhaust top and rear. I would say that is the most efficient/least turbulant from an airflow perspective when considering the gpu pushing heat into the mid-rear area of your case.

However AIO's are best mounted at the top (see recent gamers nexus videos) which is annoying because it screws that config up.

If seeking the perfect solution for both cpu cooling and logical/least turbulant airflow i dont know what the answer is.

pp111 · 7 Sep 2020 at 11:42

There is no one setup that solves all issues. It's a case ( pun not intended ) of setting things up the way you like it. I actually disagree that AIO's are best on the top, I have always obtained better results with them front mounted as intakes. But you know it's always possible to tweak stuff and results very often depend on exactly how everything is set. The only one thing I usually do is have a lot of intake fans and few ( if any ) exhaust fans. You want to maintain a positive air pressure in the case and it's the easiest way to do it. If you have a ton of fans you just don't need an exhaust fan.
I like PWM fans for the case, three pin can give unreliable results at low rpm, can stall, etc.

danlightbulb · 8 Sep 2020 at 01:35

pp111 said:
There is no one setup that solves all issues. It's a case ( pun not intended ) of setting things up the way you like it. I actually disagree that AIO's are best on the top, I have always obtained better results with them front mounted as intakes.

The issue wasnt the front/top placement per se (i agree they should do better at the front) but the consequences for the tubes. a lot of AIOs dont have long enough tubes to put them tubes down at the front and it interferes with long graphics cards too i believe.

pp111 · 8 Sep 2020 at 08:28

danlightbulb said:
The issue wasnt the front/top placement per se (i agree they should do better at the front) but the consequences for the tubes. a lot of AIOs dont have long enough tubes to put them tubes down at the front and it interferes with long graphics cards too i believe.

Aaah! I see.
As yet I haven't encountered an AIO that won't reach when mounted on the front, but of course I haven't tried every case or every AIO. What I do for that is just keep two plans in mind ~ first plan with the AIO on the front, second with in on the top, but so far it's always ended up on the front!
Depending on the case it most certainly can interfere with the graphics cards. You need to deduct about 50mm from the front mounting plate to the rear covers to get the maximum graphics card size. But in 99% of cases there is plenty of room, just a few there isn't. At the moment one of my PC's is in as Air 740, which is a really short case. There is only 300mm for the graphics card. For that one I am actually considering getting a more normal length case to increase the room because as it stands I can do Gigabyte or Asus graphics cards but MSI is out of the question!! And the new 3090 is even longer than the current crop.