AF vs SP Fans: What is the difference and which should I use?

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aces19

aces19

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Aug 27, 2015
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So I have been looking at the corsair AF and SP fans but I'm not sure what the AF and SP mean. I'm guessing AF means Airflow? SP I've heard means static pressure, right? So my questions:

-What do those even mean
-Which should I use if I am replacing the fans in a radiator (does it matter?)
-I should go for AF fans for my case fans, right?
 
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anti-duck
Personally, for a rad given a choice between SP's or AF's, I would go for SP's :p Saying that, I have Parvum F1.0's (which are silence optimised and kinda like a hybrid fan with lots of narrow blades to give them a bit of pressure, but the blades are angled to increase flow) on my H100i in push. You're only going to drop a couple of degrees with SP's realistically.
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anti-duck

anti-duck

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AF = air flow and SP = static pressure. Flow optimised fans (AF) are meant for situations where there is unresticted air flow, whereas pressure optimised (SP) are meant for flow resticted situation, i.e - most commonly trying to move air through a radiator. Personally, I just use a silence optimised hybrid sort of fan throughout (including on both of my rads).
 
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utgotye

utgotye

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Pressure vs volume - move some air quickly vs move a lot of air slowly. Static pressure fans are recommended when there's an obstacle in the path suck as a radiator or hard drive cage. Exhaust fans (assuming no obstacles), are a matter of preference, as are heatsinks.
 
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anti-duck

anti-duck

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It really depends on the fin density and thickness of the rad. For your average 28mm thick CLC rad, you probably could just go with flow optimised though I don't know the numbers.
 
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aces19

aces19

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Just so you know, I am looking to replace my Kraken X61 fans. Do I need SP fans or can I just use AF fans for equal performance?
 
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anti-duck

anti-duck

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I was trying to find a video that Linus did where he used flow optimised fans on a radiator and compared them with pressure optimised fans, if I remember correctly, flow optimised fans pushing with pressure optimised fans pulling was the best configuration, I couldn't find the video unfortunately :( But anyway, for equal performance to the stock NZXT fans, you're going to need some pressure optimised fans. Flow optimised fans would decrease performance, but I can't see them decreasing performance drastically in a push configuration, in a pull configuration however you might not even want to bother.
 
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aces19

aces19

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Aug 27, 2015
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I could just run the AF fans in push, but is it just worth it to go for the SP fans? BTW, I saw that linus video :p
 
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anti-duck

anti-duck

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Personally, for a rad given a choice between SP's or AF's, I would go for SP's :p Saying that, I have Parvum F1.0's (which are silence optimised and kinda like a hybrid fan with lots of narrow blades to give them a bit of pressure, but the blades are angled to increase flow) on my H100i in push. You're only going to drop a couple of degrees with SP's realistically.
 
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