Static Pressure or Air Flow Fan?

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sapped

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Hey guys,

I’m hoping to buy a new fan to cool down my GPU which gets extremely hot while gaming, however I’m unsure whether to purchase an Air Flow or Static Pressure fan. I’m using a Fractal Design Define R5 case, with the two stock 140mm fans (GP14 @1000RPM) currently as intake and exhaust.

I’m going to add a single fan that’s more powerful than the current ones, however there are two things I’m uncertain of. Firstly would it be cooler for my GPU if the more powerful fan is blowing directly towards the card? Or would it be cooler to have the two GP14 fans blowing from the front, and the more powerful fan as an exhaust, sucking out hot air in the back?

And this leads on to my second question, which would be the more suitable fan for me to purchase? Would it be a high air flow one or a static pressure one? Also I’m not sure how much it affects this, but my PC case have two fan filters in the front and bottom. I’ve uploaded a pic of my system here:

http://imgur.com/a/edHgp

So given my current situation, which type of fans would be most suitable for my setup? Also any recommendation on the specific fan model I can purchase? It’s the first time I’ve added a fan to my PC, don’t have much of a clue and only know it’s supposed to be 140mm haha.

Thank you so much for reading this, sincerely appreciate any help and suggestions. Cheers and wish you a happy new year!
 
Solution
Aeacus
First off, here's a specs of your case,
link: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-r5-black-window

Your case supports:
Front: 2 – 120/140 mm fans (included is 1 Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 fan, 1000 RPM speed)
Rear: 1 – 120/140 mm fan (included is 1 Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 fan, 1000 RPM speed)
Top: 3 - 120/140 mm fan (not included)
Bottom: 2 – 120/140 mm fan (not included)
Fan controller: 3 step fan controller for up to 3 fans
Dust filters: Bottom and front intakes

Since hot air rises, case airflow rule of thumb is: front and bottom - intake; top and rear - exhaust.

Here you have 3 choices between negative, positive and neutral pressure.

Positive pressure (less cooling, less dust; more intake...
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Aeacus

Aeacus

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Mar 21, 2015
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First off, here's a specs of your case,
link: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-r5-black-window

Your case supports:
Front: 2 – 120/140 mm fans (included is 1 Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 fan, 1000 RPM speed)
Rear: 1 – 120/140 mm fan (included is 1 Fractal Design Dynamic GP14 fan, 1000 RPM speed)
Top: 3 - 120/140 mm fan (not included)
Bottom: 2 – 120/140 mm fan (not included)
Fan controller: 3 step fan controller for up to 3 fans
Dust filters: Bottom and front intakes

Since hot air rises, case airflow rule of thumb is: front and bottom - intake; top and rear - exhaust.

Here you have 3 choices between negative, positive and neutral pressure.

Positive pressure (less cooling, less dust; more intake than exhaust fans) would be:
Front: 2x 140mm intake
Bottom: 1x 140mm intake
Top: 1x 140mm exhaust
Rear: 1x 140mm exhaust

Negative pressure (better cooling, more dust; more exhaust than intake fans) would be:
Front: 2x 140mm intake
Bottom: 1x 140mm intake
Top: 3x 140mm exhaust
Rear: 1x 140mm exhaust

Neutral pressure (between positive and negative) would be:
Front: 2x 140mm intake
Bottom: 1x 140mm intake
Top: 2x 140mm exhaust
Rear: 1x 140mm exhaust

I'd go for neutral pressure. If it doesn't cool enough, remove the ODD bay and add the 3rd exhaust fan on the top.

As far as selecting fans goes, here's little description.
AF (Air Flow) fans are best used as case fans without too much restriction. (E.g unfiltered exhaust)
SP (Static Pressure) fans are best used as radiator fans with high restriction or with filtered intake.

In your case, intake fans should be SP fans since you have filters there. And exhaust fans can be regular AF fans.

Rather than going to search if the fan is AF or SP, i suggest you get a fan that can do both, AF and SP.
Here i suggest Corsair ML series,
link: http://www.corsair.com/en/cooling/ml-series-fans?fansize=140mm%20x%2025mm|

Just get 4x ML140. For eyecandy, go for LED version.
With ML series, it doesn't matter where you mount them. But i'd mount the fans as follows:
Front: 2x 140mm intake (Corsair ML140)
Bottom: 1x 140mm intake (Corsair ML140)
Top: 2x 140mm exhaust (Fractal Design Dynamic GP14)
Rear: 1x 140mm exhaust (Corsair ML140)

Also some further reading: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-1858957/airflow-101-setting-fans-keeping-computer-cool.html

Edit:
If the ML series is too pricey for you then for SP fans, you can go with Corsair SP series,
link: http://www.corsair.com/en/air-series-sp140-led-red-high-static-pressure-140mm-fan
Choice is between 5 different LED colors.

And Corsair AF series,
link: http://www.corsair.com/en/air-series-af140-quiet-edition-high-airflow-140mm-fan

Cheaper setup would be:
Front: 2x 140mm intake (Corsair SP140)
Bottom: 1x 140mm intake (Corsair SP140)
Top: 2x 140mm exhaust (Fractal Design Dynamic GP14)
Rear: 1x 140mm exhaust (Corsair AF140)
 
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Solution
Isokolon

Isokolon

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Jul 24, 2016
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Above post is pretty accurate.

However if you can't afford the ML-series, avoid Corsair all together. AF/SP are pretty weak in terms of performance while being noisy

I suggest going for Phanteks 140mm fans or Noctuas. They got better pressure, move more air and are quieter while doing so.
 
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