Advice on fan configuration for the Corsair Carbide 275R

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farnoodsaghi

Oct 22, 2018
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So, I'm building a pc in the Corsair Carbide 275R case, and I'm trying to create a positive pressure to get the best cooling and temps. I am mounting a 280mm radiator (Corsair H115i) at the front of the case with 2x 140mm fans mounted to it as intake. However since this case has a closed front panel design, I'm worried that the 2x 140mm intake fans in the front won't suffice especially since they have to push air through the radiator which obviously adds to the restriction. So, all things considered, I came to the conclusion that, the best fan config for my particular set up is to use 2x 140mm fans in the front as intake, as well as another 2x 140mm fans at the top as intake. This will leave me with a single 120mm fan at the back as exhaust. However, I'm worried that a single exhaust fan won't be sufficient. What do you guys think?



P.S. I'm using 4x 140mm fans and 1x 120mm fan (A total of 5x fans) and I'm planning on overclocking my CPU (8700k), so achieving the best temps would be necessary.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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Oct 9, 2006
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One advantage of a positive pressure system is that since all intake is filtered, your parts will stay cleaner.
Adding extra top intakes(or exhaust will draw in unfiltered air to the case.

If you think the two 140mm front fans are not sufficient, you can buy higher rom 140mm fans to increase the intake airflow at the expense of more noise.
Whatever comes in the front is going to exit SOMEWHERE, taking component heat with it.
A single 120mm rear fan is fine to direct the airflow.

I am not so hot for a liquid cooler in a nice case like yours.
It has 170mm available for a top air cooler.
Look at a twin tower air cooler like the noctua NH-D15s or the be quiet dark rock 4 pro.
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Positive pressure does NOT provide the best cooling and temps. Positive pressure's ONLY benefit is dust suppression.

A positive pressure configuration is very hard on front intake fans, making them struggle to work harder against the increased resistance from the positive pressure it is trying to overcome, which in turn tends to reduce the lifespan of the fan motor and probably also bearing from the increased heat.

Negative pressure is ALWAYS the most efficient, highest performance cooling configuration. Having more exhaust than intake, or larger exhaust than intake, or faster spinning fans moving more air than what the intake fans are configured for, will all offer negative pressure. If dust is a concern I'd suggest a case with good front filtration or a modification allowing you to add filtration. Or just clean the case out occasionally.

If you are pushing through the restriction of a front mounted radiator, it's highly unlikely you'd come anywhere near a positive pressure configuration anyhow unless you only had one rear fan and sealed up every possible hole and seam. And that's probably a good thing, because with an AIO cooler you REALLY need the negative pressure to help those front fans AND to expel heat from the case so the rest of the system like the motherboard, drives and memory that won't have the benefit of residual airflow normally offered by a tower cooler.

I'd recommend you fill all top and rear fan locations with as big of fans as what those locations will accomodate, and then run the 2 x 140mm on the front radiator. If you wanted at some point, you could, or depending on space, might be able to add another two for push pull on the radiator but if there is no room for that because of drive cages or the panel design, then simply using it as is will have to be fine.
 
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farnoodsaghi

Oct 22, 2018
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Thanks for the reply. Yes i'm aware of everything you've said, and as for the noctua air cooler, that's no longer an option as i've already bought the aio. However, i dont think you understood my question. My question was this: Im gonna have fans intaking from both the front of the case, and the top of the case, and only one exhaust fan at the rear. For a visual representation, look at the picture below:
auzm2vb.png


 
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farnoodsaghi

Oct 22, 2018
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Positive pressure will prevent dust accumulation, BUT, possitive pressure is also very important for keeping temps low and ensuring there is enough cold air coming in from the outside of the case and circulating through hot components to cool them down. It's basic physics really, if there is a negative pressure in the case, more air is being taken out of the case than its coming in, which means that all the air that manages to come into the case, AND MORE, is being sucked out before having the chance to circulate through hot components and cool them down. So having negative pressure makes a kind of vacuum inside your case, and chokes your components and make them gasp for air, and therefore drastically reduces air flow inside the case. No matter what your configuration is, whether its air or liquid, negative pressure is always undesirable and bad for thermals. You always want either positive or neutral pressure...

 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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It's FAR more important to get hot air out than it is to get cool air in. All fans are able to work at their optimum capacity when there is negative pressure, which is exactly why exhaust fans don't need to be high static pressure to work well.

I've been working with and testing cooling systems for over 25 years, more than 35 years working with computers in general. But if you think you know a better way to do things then more power to you.

This fully supports everything I've said, and what is considered standard methodology across the board in the enthusiast community and industry. So, whatever.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cooling-air-pressure-heatsink,3058-5.html

If you think negative pressure is somehow worse for cooling performance, it just goes to show you lack the knowledge necessary to do what you are doing and have any success at it. If you become willing to listen to advice based on sound principle, feel free to ask further questions or move forward with the advice already given.
 
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Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

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I'm not sure where you got this impression but its completely and totally incorrect. The advice darkbreeze has given you is 100% correct. Your explanation above works on the principle that the ONLY way to cool a component is to run cool air over it, when in fact removing the hot air as quickly as possible has the same or better effect. There are cases even specifically built around the concept of negative pressure (I own one, the InWin 509 ROG), and he has linked where the sites cooling experts have even described this methodology.

Considering your situation in fact your case sounds like a good candidate for negative pressure.
 
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Onus

Onus

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Jan 27, 2006
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Negative pressure, for the reasons given; control dust with filters. The only caveat I'd add looks like it does not apply to you, since your PSU draws its own air from beneath the case (otherwise, as an exhaust fan, having the PSU struggle against too many other exhaust fans can hinder its ability to keep itself cool, and/or significantly increase the noise from the PSU fan. As noted, this does not apply to you).
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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In REALITY, neutral pressure is the least easily argued against. There is still fairly good dust suppression, since no negative pressure to suck dust in through cracks or fans, at least, not as much.

Still good cooling performance because you are both getting plenty of ambient air in, and plenty of heat out.

To address the positive pressure more clearly, the bottom line is that you cannot EVER cool a thing below the ambient temperature of the air you are trying to cool a thing WITH, without the use of some kind of refrigerant that CAN cool below ambient and that brings it's own truckload of problems with it not least of which is moisture and condensation, so getting MORE of it IN the case is not going to further that in any way. At some point, you are exchanging air in and out of the case at a rate which is so rapid that you reach a plateau beyond which additional ambient air can never offer any benefit because you are already equalized with the outside thermal environment.

If however, you are not equally getting the heat OUT of the case, you destroy that benefit of having already reached as close to ambient as possible.

A case with NO intake fans, and two exhaust fans, for example, will STILL get the heat out of the case and by way of pressure differential, draw cool ambient air INTO the case through the front panel and any gaps in the case. Yes, this will create issues with dust accumulation, but it WILL cool better than conversely ONLY having two intake fans with no exhaust. Expanding that concept, and this has been proven through a good deal of industry wide testing by labs and enthusiasts, using both intake and exhaust fans, with more exhaust than intake, has been positively shown to increase cooling performance but lacks the benefit of dust suppression, so neutral configurations are the happy medium that gives you mostly the benefits of both worlds.

Barring the possibility of a neutral configuration, negative pressure would be the preferred option but only if you ALSO DO have enough intake airflow to provide a substantial exchange of cool air for hot.
 
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Rogue Leader

Rogue Leader

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^ agreed.

Its one of the reasons why many OEM systems ONLY have an exhaust fan. Heck back in the day PSU fans cooled most systems via exhaust!

For this system theres really two options, if youre insistent on front mounting the radiator, the top and rear fans should be exhaust. but a better choice would be to top mount the radiator and exhaust it out that way, with the fronts just being intake fans. If you want to make it more balanced you can remove the rear exhaust fan, although IMO I think it would work better.

How you drew having only the one exhaust fan and air intaking from the top is just going to make your system a hot box right around the GPU with the system unable to eliminate the heat from the GPU or the radiator efficiently.
 
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jjay03

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Jan 25, 2019
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I have the same case but I am all air cooled. Mine came with 1 120mm fan as an exhaust at the rear and 1 120mm fan at the front as an intake in the middle. I added another 120mm fan to the front but im guessing I should move it to the top and use it as an exhaust as well?
 
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