How many case fans for a locked i5 6500 and single MSI R9 390 build?

Jiggy The-Red

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Jul 22, 2015
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I'm using a Corsair Carbide 88R MATX chassis and currently only have 1 fan on the rear exhaust.
This chassis has the potential for 5 x 120mm fans: 2 front, 2 top, 1 rear.

I hear that the GPU, R9 390, can get quite warm. And given the cooling set up of the manufacturer(non reference), the heat will be spread out within the chassis. :eek:

With knowing the heat is brewing inside I'm scared that the one rear exhaust fan will not provide adequate cooling for the overall system. :fou:

Would extra fans make a strong difference?
I currently have a Corsair AF120 Quiet edition to keep noise low.
I don't want to cancel out the silence by adding more fans, but I am concerned about cooling.

I'm not overclocking the CPU as it's a locked Skylake, but have a Cryorig H7 anyway as I don't like the stock look.
And the motherboard only has one chassis fan header. That's not a problem as I can easily get a 4pin or 3pin splitter for more fans.

But yeah? Would extra fans provide great benefits? Or am I riding safe with one rear exhaust?

The Rig: i5 6500, Asus B150M, MSI R9 390, 550W PSU

Let me know, Wizards!
 
Solution
It depends whether your going to be overclocking the GPU or not. At stock clocks, the GPU should run fine with the one rear fan. If your planning to overclock, then another AF120 would be a good idea. Put one new fan in the front so the pressure is neutral and you should be good. If you didn't want to get another fan, you could just ramp up the fans on the GPU itself but they can be pretty noisy so its your choice.

Which aftermarket card are you running?

Edit: I saw that your running the MSI card which has a good aftermarket cooler on top so it all depends on how loud you want the system to be and whether your going to be overclocking the GPU or not.

_JakeDavies

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It depends whether your going to be overclocking the GPU or not. At stock clocks, the GPU should run fine with the one rear fan. If your planning to overclock, then another AF120 would be a good idea. Put one new fan in the front so the pressure is neutral and you should be good. If you didn't want to get another fan, you could just ramp up the fans on the GPU itself but they can be pretty noisy so its your choice.

Which aftermarket card are you running?

Edit: I saw that your running the MSI card which has a good aftermarket cooler on top so it all depends on how loud you want the system to be and whether your going to be overclocking the GPU or not.
 
Solution

Jiggy The-Red

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Jul 22, 2015
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I might do a bit of OCing if I feel it's not keeping up with certain programs.
Would an extra 1 or 2 Quiet AF120 make a noticeable difference?
 

Jiggy The-Red

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Jul 22, 2015
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I need to use a splitter cable to use more fans since the mobo only has one chassisfan header.
Would this enable pwm on the fans? Because I think it seems like it wont.
I'm all in for more fans to be honest, but I wanna see where that comes in vs noise/pwm/cableheadf$cks
I want to make a small and quiet machine