First build help me choose case fans.

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Pole

Pole

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Mar 24, 2013
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http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/SvyU

I was thinking those two fans on top but can't figure out what I should add to create a good airflow in the Fractal Design R4, add one bottom, front , neither, I have no clue right now, please help its the last hurdle before I purchase it today/tomorrow.

or maybe go with 2x 140 mm fans top instead?
 
Solution
manofchalk
They will be drawing air up into the card, from there it is exhausted in every direction it can. With custom design coolers like the Gigabyte Windforce, its important to have good case airflow as they rely on it to get rid of the heat. Reference "blower" design coolers actively exhaust hot air out the back of the case.

However blower designs run louder and hotter than custom designs when airflow is not an issue. So which design to go for depends on your conditions. In your case, stick with the Gigabyte card. Airflow isnt an issue for you in this case, especially after adding more fans.

EDIT: I have no reason to think it wouldnt work.
Just see if it works on the day you assemble it, if not just throw that 140mm at the top of the case...
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manofchalk

manofchalk

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May 11, 2012
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I'm a fan (pun intended) of positive case pressure, what I would do is have two Corsair fans at the front of the case and move the fan that was there to the side intake. Should be getting a nice positive case pressure going, and hot air will be exhausted from the rear 140mm and passively out the top of the case.

EDIT: Your build looks good as well. If you decide to take advantage of that PSU and boards capability for dual cards, you will definitely want to fill all the fan slots in the case. Airflow is quite important with Crossfire/SLI setups.
 
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Pole

Pole

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Thanks sounds good, will it be better to get 140mm corsair x2 for front? What do you mean by taking the one already at the front and moving it to the side intake, there is already one fan at the back with no space for another one that side ?

If you could explain on this picture, cheers:
3k1qId2.jpg
 
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Pole

Pole

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Will the side panel fan fit with Noctua mounted on CPU It looks like it takes quite lot of space?
Also I noticed the 140mm corsair quiet editions fans are 24.0 dbA compared to 120mm which are 21.0 dbA but the 140 will spin slower so how does it pan out ? (excuse the nitpicking at the details, just curious)

I am also not sure if I will be able to remove to hardrive bays do to me having 2 in Raid 0 , one storing HDD and one SDD, will positive having those HDD cases there work against positive air pressure build?

Thanks again !
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

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The side panel fan is lower down, aiming its airflow at the graphics card. Should have no issue with the NH-D14.

The case has an integrated fan controller, I suggest using that. Not many fans make noise when their spinning at about 1000RPM.

The drive cages would obstruct airflow to some degree, but I doubt significantly.
 
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Pole

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Well I thank you for your swift responses I think I am set to make the purchase, minor point I was debating was i5 vs i7 in another thread, it seems I7 is only really noticeable benefits are during rendering videos.

PS: what would you go for 120mm or 140 and do I leave the back fan intact?

edit: while searching other threads this response to similar situation got me worked:
Unfortunately a side panel fan won't fit with a large cpu cooler. But this isn't a problem specific to the R4 - most cases would be the same, unless you get something like a Corsair 500R that has the extra wide panel (but they aren't too quiet I've read).

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/375439-31-fractal-design-define-cooling-options


 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

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Yea, unless your doing something like intense number crunching, Virtual machines or video editing an i7 isnt required. A 3570k and 3770k will perform fairly identically in games.

Bigger is better.
Part of the problem with the smaller fans (80, 92mm) is that the fan motor is basically a set size, which means that the fan blades have to be tiny to fit in their form factor. So for more airflow, you need it to spin faster, which means more noise. As you get to larger fans, the ratio of fan blade to motor area increases, meaning that you can spin your larger fans slower than a smaller fan and achieve the same CFM (Cubic feet of air moved per minute).
So unless you have some reason to stay at a particular size (water-cooling radiators often only support 120mm fans, though 140mm rads are starting to become common), go with the largest size possible.

Would leave the rear fan there.
 
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Pole

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Also which way will the fans on my 7970ghz (looks like it has three of them) will be pushing the air towards, would be bummer if it worked against the case air flow.

PS: Are you sure the noctua and side fans will fit in the case, doing research on this point atm.
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

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May 11, 2012
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They will be drawing air up into the card, from there it is exhausted in every direction it can. With custom design coolers like the Gigabyte Windforce, its important to have good case airflow as they rely on it to get rid of the heat. Reference "blower" design coolers actively exhaust hot air out the back of the case.

However blower designs run louder and hotter than custom designs when airflow is not an issue. So which design to go for depends on your conditions. In your case, stick with the Gigabyte card. Airflow isnt an issue for you in this case, especially after adding more fans.

EDIT: I have no reason to think it wouldnt work.
Just see if it works on the day you assemble it, if not just throw that 140mm at the top of the case instead.
 
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