4x 120mm vs 2x 140mm? - Phanteks Enthoo Primo

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1kca

1kca

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I'm considering the Phanteks Enthoo Primo case to replace my R4 (insufficient cooling on air) and I see it can accommodate either 2x 140mm fans on the bottom, under the motherboard, or 4x 120mm fans.

Looking around the forums, it's clear that 120mms would push more air but at the expense of noise output.

My question is, in this configuration, could the 4x 120s push enough air that they can spin down and match the noise output of 2x 140s?


Edit: I'd be using them as bottom intakes

 
Solution
Karsten75
Decibels are a logarithmic scale. So yes, you cannot just stack them up. :)

This page may have some information, good luck in figuring it out, though.

That issue with the bottom air intake in the Fractal Design R4 also bit me with my PSU. Fortunately I only have one modest video card in that build and an AIO liquid cooler on the CPU in that build.
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Karsten75

Karsten75

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So wait...

You want to replace a case that can easily accommodate 2 x 140mm fans and in fact can have fans like this

  • ■ Front: 1 - 120/140mm fan (included is a hydraulic bearing 140mm Silent Series R2 fan, 1000 RPM speed; 1 - 120/140mm fan (not included)
    ■ Rear: 1 - 120/140mm fan (included is a hydraulic bearing 140mm Silent Series R2 fan, 1000 RPM speed)
    ■ Top: 2 - 120/140mm fans (not included) - positions also support some models of 240 radiators, depending on configuration
    ■ Bottom: 1 - 120/140mm fan (not included)
    ■ Side: 1 - 120/140mm fan (not included)
    ■ Fan controller: 1 - Integrated fan controller for up to 3 fans (included)

With another case with 2 x 140mm fans?
 
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1kca

1kca

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No, my R4 has 5 possible mounting points. It would have 7 140mm mounting points but I've swapped the original side panel for a windowed panel, so no mount there, and the mounting points for the bottom intake are covered by my PSU.

My two front intakes both have 140mm high RPM fans mounted and I have 140mm exhaust fans on the rear and top-rear


The Enthoo Primo can accommodate a lot more
 
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Karsten75

Karsten75

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My pint is you're not asking about "a lot more" but about subbing 4x120mm fans for 2x 140mm fans. That's the part that confuses me.

With 2 intakes at the front, and 1 outlet at the back plus 2 at the top, you can hardly ask for more unless you have an extreme amount of heat being generated?

However, do this mathL

Take your 2 x 140 mm fans, compare the CFM they can move with the rated CFM (cubic feet per minute) of the 4 x 120 mm fans. That should tell you which solution is the most efficient at moving air.
 
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1kca

1kca

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It's not subbing because I don't have either yet; I just know what the Primo can accommodate and I'm wondering which would be a better overall solution. Also, this is just for bottom intakes, not front intakes or the case as a whole.

And yes you're right. It's for an R9 290 crossfire configuration and the heat being generated is way more than my current case config can handle




So in my scenario, I'd be using Corsair AF140 Quiet Edition fans OR Corsair SP120 fans. Both the SP120 Quiet Editions and Performance Editions move more air than the 2x Corsair AF140's but what about noise? How could I accurately calculate maximum noise output for each setup? Individually, it's clear which fans are quieter but when you put four together.. To just 'stack' the dBA would be incorrect wouldn't it?
 
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1kca

1kca

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Thanks for your help. That website had a couple of dBA calculators and it worked out that for each configuration, I could expect around these numbers:

Corsair AF140 Quiet = 24dBA (single fan) = 27.028 (two fan config)
Corsair SP120 Quiet = 23dBA (single fan) = 29.021 (four fan config)
Corsair SP120 Perf. = 35dBA (single fan) = 41.021 (four fan config)


I'm sure they aren't 100% definitive-in-any-scenario numbers but it gives me something to go by.

Thanks again for your help
 
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1kca

1kca

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Yup lol

I'm going to go with 4x 120mm Quiet as opposed to 2x 140mm Quiet because they have a significantly higher CFM (151.4 vs 135.6), whilst having only marginally higher noise output
 
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