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Flogger23m
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2009
- Messages
- 14,375
I am thinking of switching my case from a Corsair 550D to a Fractal Design R5. I like the 550D, and it is cool and quiet in the winter months. But in the summer the temps can get a bit high, even when removing the side panel for some extra airflow. I recently upgraded to an EVGA GTX 1070, which seems to run a bit louder fan wise than my previous MSI GTX 970.
Essentially, I want to keep the temps down while retaining a low noise case with room for expansion. I use a number of drives (two SSD, three HDD). With the Corsair 550D and my non-modular PSU, this essentially means I must use all 6 of the drive bays which blocks airflow from the front of the case. Each cage folds 3 drives, so I can't really remove one of the drives as I need 5. I have 5x case fans installed:
1x 120mm rear
2x 120mm in the front of the vents
2x 120mm on the rear of the HDD cages
The Fractal Design R5 differs in that there are two mounts in the back of the motherboard tray for two SSDs. I am thinking I can place two there (PSU cables should allow this without being too messy) and remove the larger HDD cage. This will leave me with a HDD cage with exactly three mounts, just enough to fit my HDDs in while leaving nothing obstructing the front intake fans from blowing colder air across my GPU. Essentially, like this setup but removing the HDD/SSD cage with 5x slots in the front:
To top it off, the R5 comes with two 140mm fans. I can re-use some of my one or two of my 120mm fans; one in the front, one on the side if needed during the summer. That would be a total of 1x 140mm rear exhaust fan, 1x 140mm front intake & 1x front 120mm intake, and possibly 1x 120mm side intake in hotter months.
My question is, will this extra airflow be a worthwhile upgrade? Will some 140mm fans with more empty space in the front bring in enough airflow to keep temps, and therefore noise down by a noticeable amount? I realize quiet cases do not offer the best temps, but I am trying to hit the best middle ground between silence and low temps.
Any advice appreciated.
Essentially, I want to keep the temps down while retaining a low noise case with room for expansion. I use a number of drives (two SSD, three HDD). With the Corsair 550D and my non-modular PSU, this essentially means I must use all 6 of the drive bays which blocks airflow from the front of the case. Each cage folds 3 drives, so I can't really remove one of the drives as I need 5. I have 5x case fans installed:
1x 120mm rear
2x 120mm in the front of the vents
2x 120mm on the rear of the HDD cages
The Fractal Design R5 differs in that there are two mounts in the back of the motherboard tray for two SSDs. I am thinking I can place two there (PSU cables should allow this without being too messy) and remove the larger HDD cage. This will leave me with a HDD cage with exactly three mounts, just enough to fit my HDDs in while leaving nothing obstructing the front intake fans from blowing colder air across my GPU. Essentially, like this setup but removing the HDD/SSD cage with 5x slots in the front:
To top it off, the R5 comes with two 140mm fans. I can re-use some of my one or two of my 120mm fans; one in the front, one on the side if needed during the summer. That would be a total of 1x 140mm rear exhaust fan, 1x 140mm front intake & 1x front 120mm intake, and possibly 1x 120mm side intake in hotter months.
My question is, will this extra airflow be a worthwhile upgrade? Will some 140mm fans with more empty space in the front bring in enough airflow to keep temps, and therefore noise down by a noticeable amount? I realize quiet cases do not offer the best temps, but I am trying to hit the best middle ground between silence and low temps.
Any advice appreciated.