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Help with fan setup..

B

blade12

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 29, 2005
Messages
346
Hello. I bought a Corsair 330r recently and needed some assistance with fan setup. Do note that this PC is fully air-cooled.

What is the most efficient & optimal fan setup? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you want more air going in than coming out to limit dust getting pulled in (I think it is called positive pressure?).

1) My current fan setup is below in image.. The one top fan I have is Cooler Master R4-S2S-124K-GP (Here's the link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103052 ) -- I have 1 more fan from that set I can add to the top.. Should I?:

Note: This is NOT an image of my case but one I found on google. The setup & case is exactly the same except the fan for Hyper212 Evo is on the other side -- meaning my case I have set the CPU fan to pull rather than push. I included the arrows to show entire air movement setup.

FyK5lW8.jpg



The other front intake fan I have is Cooler Master CM Essentials 140 ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QZ6TBM )

2) Here's one issue.. I currently use a Hyper 212 EVO for CPU Cooling, and it points towards the back fan to the point that both fans are basically touching. Both are pointed in same direction, but I almost feel like they're redundant. Is that problematic? I can change it to push formation like the person set it up in the image above.

Thanks!!
 
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not sure I full understood, but if you have 1 fan on the EVO it should be pushing air through the heatsink towards the back, if you have a 2nd fan you can put it on the other side also pushing towards the back
Leave the 2 intake fans
top fan is fine venting out
 
zaniix said:
not sure I full understood, but if you have 1 fan on the EVO it should be pushing air through the heatsink towards the back, if you have a 2nd fan you can put it on the other side also pushing towards the back
Click to expand...

I have the EVO set pushing air to the back of case, but the EVO fan & case fan are both almost touching. Separation room between the 2 is less than one inch.

I have 2 options for that EVO issue:
A - leave it the way it is as explained above
B - move EVO fan to the other side of heatsink so it looks like it does in the image above

The other issue was whether I should add a 2nd top exhaust vent fan or just leave single top exhaust fan?
 
Yeah I'd set up the EVO's fan to push thru it (like image), more efficient that way even with no other fans around, the GPU fans probably push too even tho you've got the arrow inverted... Mostly they just expel heat into the case tho.

The PSU doesn't really contribute much to the overall airflow so I wouldn't worry about it, it's just expelling a little hot air but it's pretty weak. Mostly it just sucks in air to keep itself cool. If temps are fine I'd skip the extra fan.

Filters help a whole lot more than positive pressure at keeping dust out, 'course they also hamper airflow to an extent. Some people swear by positive pressure, others don't, it really depends...

If you've only got a single fan (not the case here, just as an example) then it's best used as an exhaust, like most cheap OEM systems... And yeah they do tend to suck a lot of dust in thru every pore and orifice, the exhaust is still better for temps tho.

That kinda system wouldn't have hot GPUs and whatnot tho. Anyway, a second top fan might just sit almost entirely over the drive bays no? Seems kinda pointless.
 
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Set the EVO fan to push, as said. There were experiments done with push/pull, and if there wasn't anything straightening out the airflow (like a heatsink or radiator, for example), the second fan just creates more turbulence and doesn't actually increase airflow.
 
Nasgul said:
On "B", yes, turn the fan to the other side so it's not close to the rear fan just like in the image.

You could easily install two fans on top of the case if you wanted, the more air flow in the case, the better, that's how I have set mine to. Also, 4 pipe coolers are good, better than the stock fans but more air flow would help, I had a 4 pipe HSF but traded for an AIO set up. And like this member did also change the set up to more air IN: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1873193
Click to expand...

I agree, I know many people will say have the top be exhaust, but I have found front and top intake working together to allow lots of airflow to the chipset area with lower fan RPM. I also tend to keep the rear exhaust running a little higher speed to compensate.

Test and find what works best for you.

The one thing you do need to change is to make sure the CPU fan is PUSHING air through the heatsink fins. 2nd fan is debatable, I think it increases my idle temps but reduces my load temps. its about a 1 - 2 degree change so not really worth it, but I had the extra fan so whatever.
 
First off, your GPU is drawing air in through the fans, not exhausting it.
Second, as already said move cooler fan to front of cooler and turn top fan into an intake.
Third, remove all unused PCIe slot covers from the back to allow air to flow from front past GPU and out the back. This will move cooler air to GPU by moving it's heated exhaust back and out of case.

Setting up the case for optimum cooling is often the hardest and most time consuming part of a build... And the most neglected by most builders.

  • There is much more to cooling than good cases and good CPU / GPU coolers. Add the fact that many GPU's make more heat than CPU means getting that heat out of the case and keeping a cool airflow to components can be a challenge.
  • Cases, especially those with filters, usually benefit from fans with higher static pressure ratings than stock fans... "cooler" fans instead of "case" fans.
    Intakes are typically have more restricted than exhaust because of air filters, more restrictive grills, HDD cages, etc.
  • I prefer more intake than exhaust. And don't confuse number of fans with amount of airflow... or airflow with airblow
  • airflow is flowing cool air from intake to component and flowing hot air from component out of case without the hot air mixing with the cool air.
  • airblow is lots of fans blowing air with some of hot air from components mixing with cool air making it warmer resulting in warm air not cooling components as well as the cool air will.
  • Putting fans in case as intake and/or exhaust is only the first step. These fans only move air in and out of case.
  • This does not mean heated air is not mixing with cool air.
  • Nor does it mean cool air is going to where it is needed.
  • Getting the air to flow inside of case properly is even more important. We still need to manage where the air flows inside the case. We can do this several ways; deflectors, more intake fans.. & exhaust fans, removing vent grills, removing HDD cage, using fans with higher pressure/airflow, building ducts to or from CPU/GPU cooler, etc.
  • Using a remote temperature sensor to monitor what air temps are is the key to finding out where the cool air is flowing and knowing heated air is not mixing into it. By monitoring this we can than make changes to get airflow the way we want it.
  • Keep in mind your case needs to flow more air than components do. It isn't so much how many fans but how well they flow air through the case. If component fans move more air than case fans move through case components are using their own heated exhaust to make up the difference and case heats up. Good rule of thumb is 25-50% more case cfm than component cfm but well tuned airflow can be almost equal equal.
  • Traditional tower cooler exhausting toward back of case must have rear / rear & top back case exhaust fan that remove as much or more cfm than cooler fans exhaust.
  • A duct from back of cooler to back of case (like Thermalright HR-22 uses) is also an option that works very well.
    For example
    • My Define R2 system has three TY-140 74cfm intake fans. (no exhaust fans) in case while CPU has TY-143 130cfm fan and GPU has two TY-100 44cfm fans
    • Case = 222cfm
    • Components = 218cfm
    • Air temp inside of case is never more than 3c above room.
    • 2 front TY-140 & CPU cooler TY-143 fans are PWM controlled by CPU
    • Bottom TY-140 & GPU TY-100 fans are PWM controlled by GPU

  • A cheap indoor/outdoor thermometer with a piece of insulated wire and a plastic clothspin works great.
  • Made up with floral wire and tape. We don't want anything to short out with metal. ;)
    1832154
  • Clip and position sensor where I want to check the temp. Make it easy to see what the air temp going into components actually is relative to room temp. ;)
  • Optimum cooling is when air temps going into coolers only being 2-3c warmer than room.. 5c or less is good.
 
Lots of very useful information here by everyone! I will play around with my case setup tomorrow evening.

Would it be a good idea to add one top fan near the drive bay for intake and leave the top fan near the back as exhaust? Cool air can flow in one top fan above the dvdrom, travel through the CPU HSF and out the top/back fans. Only issue is the two top fans are very close to each other so the two might mix, creating an airloop.

The main concern I have with making the top intake only is that it will leave only one back 120mm fan doing all the exhausting. I don't know how good the stock corsair 330r 120mm fan is. I tried googling up the specs for the stock fan but no luck.
 
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Probably not. Having intake and exhaust near each other generally causes the air to flow from one fan to the other in a circle.
LL
 
interesting, I had once thought what would happen if 1 top fan was out and 2md top fan intake, but it just seemed like a dumb idea. I think this explains why it is the wrong thing to do.
 
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