nzxt phantom 530 fan configuration for haswell

bocephas

Honorable
Jun 24, 2013
8
0
10,510
Hello toms community.

I finally got my hands on an nzxt phantom 530 as the long-term home for my build. I'm running the following setup:

i5-4670k
ASrock extreme6 z87
16gb crucial ballistix tactical low profile 1.35v (2x8)
Corsair H70 with two SP120 fans for the CPU cooler
EVGA GTX 560ti
corsair force gs 180gb ssd
lg blu-ray burner
and a 750gb western digital hard drive

The Phantom 530 case comes with a 140mm fan on the back and a 200mm fan up front. I currently have an extra 120mm CM sickleflow fan on hand.

So my question is, before I put everything into the new case (currently in an antec 300), What would you recommend as my fan configuration? I have to move the 140 from the back thanks to the radiator I have (though I guess I could mount that vertically out the top).

my options seem to be the following:
1) put the 140mm up top, mount the radiator with the 120mm fans on the back, and leave the 200mm up front.

2) move the 200mm up top as exhaust, the 140mm up front as intake, and the 120mm on the back as exhaust.

Other than those, I could also buy an additional 200mm (probably a CM MF) and put that up top, putting the 140 either inside on the angled fan mount, or on the side, or leaving it out. I want to eventually overclock, but nothing extreme. I want quiet most of all.

So as I'm getting ready to do this, what would y'all recommend for the configuration?
 
Solution
G
As you want a quiet case, option 1 would work very well. If you find your cooling isn't good enough, you can add a second fan on the top. The 200mm fan on the front will bring plenty of cool air into the case and 2 fans as exhaust on top should provide good air flow thru your case.

arrpee
G

Guest

Guest
As you want a quiet case, option 1 would work very well. If you find your cooling isn't good enough, you can add a second fan on the top. The 200mm fan on the front will bring plenty of cool air into the case and 2 fans as exhaust on top should provide good air flow thru your case.

arrpee
 
Solution

bocephas

Honorable
Jun 24, 2013
8
0
10,510

Soundslike both of you are recommending a stick with option 1. I'm in mid build at the moment and wanting to keep my motherboard as clear as possible. Since the radiator and two fans are pretty thick, they will overlap the motherboard quite a bit. So I'm going to leave the 140 mm fan at the back and try to mount the 120 mm fans and radiator on top. I'm guessing it will sound louder with the 120 fans on top as opposed to if they were in the back. I'm going to try and test this and see if the noise level is acceptable. I'll post my results here in case anyone is curious about this themselves.

 

bocephas

Honorable
Jun 24, 2013
8
0
10,510
The build is done. I tested the noise level of the case with the stock fan config (200mm up front, 140mm out the back) and added my push pull corsair h70 with two SP120 fans on top in the rear-most fan slot. Using the old paperclip trick, I got the fans running and found that the noise level was so minimal I had to get really close to the case to hear anything! Now that I've got everything plugged in, the noise level has increased significantly: I can actually hear the system now, and it's pretty much just the video card. I know this because I adjusted the fan speed between minimum and maximum and could not hear the difference. The rest of the system is being drowned out by my fairly quiet video card. Given how quiet the case was before the video card was installed, I'm almost tempted to buy a water radiator for it, just to give me that extra level of silence.

I for one am very impressed by this case. Thanks for the input on fan placement.