Help with case fan placement and sizes for my first build

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James Devenberg

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May 22, 2013
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Hello everyone! After a long time wanting to build my own PC, I'm finally doing it. But, I need help/input on my case fans. So quickly, here is what my PC is going to have:

Core i3 4179
8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600 DDR3
ASRock H97 Pro4 MoBo
AMD R9 270 (Reference design meant for an Alienware Aurora, purchased new)
Corsair CX430 PSU
Seagate Pipeline 2TB HDD
Corsair Carbide SPEC 01 Case

The SPEC 01 only comes with a single case fan on the front of the case. I'm going to buy a second case fan, a Corsair Air Series Quiet Edition 140 (or a 120 if there is a disadvantage to the 140mm fan).

So, I have two questions in regard to the fan. Is there any big disadvantage to using one 140mm and one 120mm fan? Or should I match the sizes? Second, with my graphics card being a blower type cooler, not open air, it will act as an exhaust fan of sorts, along with my PSU. Given that, Should I put my second fan on the front of the case too as to bring in as much cool air to my GPU as possible? I don't think heat will be an issue for my i3, so putting the fan as an exhaust fan near the CPU seems less important than getting the GPU as much cool air as possible. Am I right?

Thanks in advance for any help!
 
Solution
JackNaylorPE
140 is better than 120 as they move more air while remaining quieter, all other things being equal.

Peeps often try and match intake and exhaust and not only is it just not worth doing, it's detrimental. You have all those slot vents and the rear grille which is a significant cooling asset .... which would go completely unused if you matched intake and exhaust flows via fans. With 2 fans, make them both intakes. Fan direction has less to do with how many ins and outs than it does with where the fan is. With air cooling ...

Top = Out
Rear = Out
Front = In
Sides = In
Bottom = In

With water cooling, same rule applies except all rad fans blow in no matter where they are.

Your case measures 16.85" x 7.87" x 17.60" or 1.40' x 0.66' x...
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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140 is better than 120 as they move more air while remaining quieter, all other things being equal.

Peeps often try and match intake and exhaust and not only is it just not worth doing, it's detrimental. You have all those slot vents and the rear grille which is a significant cooling asset .... which would go completely unused if you matched intake and exhaust flows via fans. With 2 fans, make them both intakes. Fan direction has less to do with how many ins and outs than it does with where the fan is. With air cooling ...

Top = Out
Rear = Out
Front = In
Sides = In
Bottom = In

With water cooling, same rule applies except all rad fans blow in no matter where they are.

Your case measures 16.85" x 7.87" x 17.60" or 1.40' x 0.66' x 1.47' or 1.36 cf

Corsair says the 120mm move 53 cfm which "in real life" means they will move about 25 cfm in front of an air filter so figure 50 cfm

That means that your entire case (empty) about 37 times a minute or about every 1.6 seconds


 
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