- Oct 31, 2012
- 466
- 5
- 18,815
Hey guys,
I am not sure if it's really NEEDED, but I am debating on adding a third intake fan to my system. I have a media/gaming PC that I have put together, and although my temps are not anywhere near a red flag area, I am wondering if I could benefit from adding a 3rd intake fan at the bottom of my case.
Here is my setup via PC Parts picker:
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/liberty610/saved/#view=G48RsY
I am not overclocking, and I am not water cooling. I also am not using any exhaust fans at the top of the case, just the one in the rear of the case.
However, I am curious as if all my hard drives are preventing a decent amount of air flow getting through my case. None of my temps are horrid, but now that I am getting into higher end gaming, temps are getting a bit higher because of my 1080 graphics card pumping out a little heat. I have MSI afterburner running with a fan curve for that, but with the ambient room temp being higher in my room during the summer, I am wondering if a 3rd intake fan will be beneficial. The tww intake fans in the front have a speed switch on the case, so boosting them up a little could be helping a tad. but I am wondering if a bottom intake would be more efficient, and this is why....
This is my case:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139055
If you look through Newegg's pictures of the the inside of the case, it shows the two hard drive cages that hold 3 drives each are sitting next to each other at the bottom of the case. I have 2 SSDs - one on the board through M.2 and another mounted on the back side of the case, but I also have 5 HDDs installed. The 2 HDD cages that hold 3 drives each where not working out for me sitting side by side like they are in the pictures on Newegg. The drives on the left where getting a little toasty because the the drives on the right where closest to the bottom intake fan and where blocking the air flow to the second drive cage. So not only where the drives in the second cage not getting much airflow, they where getting heat from the other drives pushed to them, and they where 50 to 60c in temp because of it. So I reconfigured the layout, and now the two drive cages are stacked one on top of the other.
With this configuration, all the drives stay cool, but all the first intake fan at the bottom is mostly cooling the first set of hard drives, and the second fan is cooling the other drives, with only the top half of that second fan being open to push air to the rest of the case.
By moving the drive cages in a stacked layout, this leaves me an opening to add a intake fan at the bottom of the case where the drive cage was. I have a good 1 and 1/2 inch space between the floor and the case, so this could add extra air flow to my graphics card as well as the rest of the case. Would this be beneficial? Would I see a noticeable decrease in temps? And if so, what fan types are the better ones? I am looking into RGB or LED style fans to match the rest of the case setup I have, but I would like as little noise as possible of course. I would probably wire the can in with the 2 front fans so the speed switch would work with all 3.
Like I said, none of my temps are super high. The graphics card sits at around 75c when heavy gaming, but if adding a 3rd intake fan that isn't being blocked by anything will help, I would like to toss it in there.
Thanks in advance for any replies.
I am not sure if it's really NEEDED, but I am debating on adding a third intake fan to my system. I have a media/gaming PC that I have put together, and although my temps are not anywhere near a red flag area, I am wondering if I could benefit from adding a 3rd intake fan at the bottom of my case.
Here is my setup via PC Parts picker:
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/liberty610/saved/#view=G48RsY
I am not overclocking, and I am not water cooling. I also am not using any exhaust fans at the top of the case, just the one in the rear of the case.
However, I am curious as if all my hard drives are preventing a decent amount of air flow getting through my case. None of my temps are horrid, but now that I am getting into higher end gaming, temps are getting a bit higher because of my 1080 graphics card pumping out a little heat. I have MSI afterburner running with a fan curve for that, but with the ambient room temp being higher in my room during the summer, I am wondering if a 3rd intake fan will be beneficial. The tww intake fans in the front have a speed switch on the case, so boosting them up a little could be helping a tad. but I am wondering if a bottom intake would be more efficient, and this is why....
This is my case:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139055
If you look through Newegg's pictures of the the inside of the case, it shows the two hard drive cages that hold 3 drives each are sitting next to each other at the bottom of the case. I have 2 SSDs - one on the board through M.2 and another mounted on the back side of the case, but I also have 5 HDDs installed. The 2 HDD cages that hold 3 drives each where not working out for me sitting side by side like they are in the pictures on Newegg. The drives on the left where getting a little toasty because the the drives on the right where closest to the bottom intake fan and where blocking the air flow to the second drive cage. So not only where the drives in the second cage not getting much airflow, they where getting heat from the other drives pushed to them, and they where 50 to 60c in temp because of it. So I reconfigured the layout, and now the two drive cages are stacked one on top of the other.
With this configuration, all the drives stay cool, but all the first intake fan at the bottom is mostly cooling the first set of hard drives, and the second fan is cooling the other drives, with only the top half of that second fan being open to push air to the rest of the case.
By moving the drive cages in a stacked layout, this leaves me an opening to add a intake fan at the bottom of the case where the drive cage was. I have a good 1 and 1/2 inch space between the floor and the case, so this could add extra air flow to my graphics card as well as the rest of the case. Would this be beneficial? Would I see a noticeable decrease in temps? And if so, what fan types are the better ones? I am looking into RGB or LED style fans to match the rest of the case setup I have, but I would like as little noise as possible of course. I would probably wire the can in with the 2 front fans so the speed switch would work with all 3.
Like I said, none of my temps are super high. The graphics card sits at around 75c when heavy gaming, but if adding a 3rd intake fan that isn't being blocked by anything will help, I would like to toss it in there.
Thanks in advance for any replies.
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