120mm vs 200mm fan & CPU cooler confusion

[Usman Aly]

Hi there guys,
Sorry for a lengthy post.

I went through a lot of 120mm vs 200mm fan debates on forums. I find it hard to come to a conclusion because one thread tends to lean toward 120mm & the other to 200mm. Some says 120mm is better & some says 200mm is better. Now I thought I'll just put in my situation & need here to get your opinions so I can figure out what is good for me. Also I need some answers related to CPU coolers.

Now my situation is I put a lot of stress on my system. Like video editing, 3D rendering & games. Right now I have only two 120mm chasis fan and I am planning to add more because at idle my temps stays between 30c to 40c all around the motherboard while the ambient/environment temps are below 30c. I have multiple sensors in my motherboard so I can monitor CPU, Vcore, Vcore(back), Dram, PCH, PCIE1 & PCIE2 temps. When I put load on my PC my CPU temp goes to 70c-90c and the rest of temps jumps between 40c to 50c. I know this isn't good that is why I am planning to add more fans & a CPU cooler. Now back to my question which is good for me?

Options for fans I have
CM sickleflow X (120mm) life expectancy is 160,000 hrs & have a flow of 69.69 cfm. Power 4.2W.
CM Megaflow (200mm) life expectany is 30,000 hrs & have a flow of 110 cfm. Power 3.36W.

Options for CPU cooler
Noctua NH-U14S available only at one place for $160+,
CM hyper 612 v2 available for $50+
CM Hyper 212x available for $50+
CM Hyper D92 available for $44+

1. I have 4 hard drive so what is best on front 1 x 200mm or 2 x 120mm.
2. Top for exhaust 1 x 200mm or 2 x 120mm?
3. I'll put my current fans on side & back when I purchase new one so you can ignore side & back.
5. If I go with Noctua NH-U14S. Does it worth the extra month they are asking for?

If you ask my opinion I am leaning toward sickflow X & hyper 212x.

My system specs are
Asus z87 gryphon Mobo
Intel Processor i7 4770k (Speed 3.50 to 3.75)
Corsair vengeance Ram 16Gb DDR3 1600 MHz
GPU Asus strix GTX 960 4Gb
Samsung DVD/RW 24x
SSD 120 Kingston V300 Primary
HDD 500 Seagate Primary + Secondary
HDD 2TB WD Black Secondary
HDD 4TB Seagate Barracuda Secondary
PSU 450W CM thunder
Case/Chasis CM HAF 912

 

[Usman Aly]

Don't fill the top with exhaust fans mate , just a rear & a top rear

Putting an exhaust in the top front mount pulls air away from a tower heatsink before it gets chance to use it.

The 212 evo would manage your CPU fine BUT in all honesty the mounting system is a pain in the ass generally .

Is the deepcool gammaxx 400 available at a decent price ??
Its a good , fairly budget cooler , has a fairly easy mounting system , & outperforms the 212 by 3-5c.

Oh great advise never thought of it earlier or heard of it. I don't mind mounting it is just one time pain in the ass

Don't know about the deeplcool gammaxx 400. Can't find it online also. Will have to visit the market to check the availability. If I find it will consider it as an option.

 

[Usman Aly]

Got one more option for CPU cooler which is CM 412 Slim. Price is a bit high as compare to other CM cooler which is around $60.

 

[madmatt30]

I probably wrongly assumed the deepcools would be available in Pakistan , as they're readily available in India at cheap prices.

I suppose being part of the same landmass doesn't necessarily mean the same products are available though.

So it seems that cooler master is the only real readily available at reasonable prices manufacturer ??

The 412s performs about the same as the 212x/212 evo - it just offers zero ram interference.

If you're just using 2 sticks or have fairly low height ram just go with the 212 mate if its one of the cheaper options.

Itll handle your CPU easily enough .

 

[Usman Aly]

I probably wrongly assumed the deepcools would be available in Pakistan , as they're readily available in India at cheap prices.

I suppose being part of the same landmass doesn't necessarily mean the same products are available though.

So it seems that cooler master is the only real readily available at reasonable prices manufacturer ??

The 412s performs about the same as the 212x/212 evo - it just offers zero ram interference.

If you're just using 2 sticks or have fairly low height ram just go with the 212 mate if its one of the cheaper options.

Itll handle your CPU easily enough .

Yeah you did. India is way much better than Pakistan in a lot of stuff. They have a lot of choices & means to get the things. A lot of things are already available there. I can't even order directly from Amazon(US or UK) to most of the areas in Pakistan.

Yeah mostly thermaltake & CM coolers are available here inshort only the popular stuff is available other than that everything is hard to find but I found one sweet cooler & most probably I am going for it. It is CRYORIG H7 for $47.

http://www.cryorig.com/h7_us.php

Every review is good. It is silent & performs better than all 212 versions.

I have Corsair vengeance Ram (16Gb DDR3 1600 MHz) which is pretty high.

If 212 can handle my CPU then CRYORIG can handle too maybe even better.

For fans I am planning to go with 2 sickleflow X & 1 Megaflow. This what looks fine to me so I can change 2 sickleflow X later with one more megaflow. If they are too loud for me.

 

[madmatt30]

^ h7 is a great choice of cooler mate , just surprised its readily available for you.

Good choice though mate & a definite beat buy.

 

[Usman Aly]

^ h7 is a great choice of cooler mate , just surprised its readily available for you.

Good choice though mate & a definite beat buy.

Yes it is a great choice. Well I am surprised too because I was searching & out of nowhere I found CRYORIG .

Thank you yeah exactly.

So I'll just choose my best answer tomorrow after the purchases.
Going with 1 megaflow on front. If airflow isn't enough will replace it with two sickleflow X.
Going with 2 sickleflow X on top rear & rear exhaust. If too loud will replace it with Megaflow on top & with the old fan at the back because they have a RPM of around 1200 so they're not so loud.
For CPU cooler CRYORIG H7.

 

[Usman Aly]

Finally got the stuff.
H7 is beauty the temps aaaahhhhhh I love them now. On idle the cpu is between 26c to 32c. Earlier is was 40c to 60c.
Over all temps have dropped too from (40c - 50c) to (25c to 35c).
CM Megaflow 200 was out of stock so I had to go with the 2 sickleflow x on front & 2 old fans on exhausts.

Thank you everyone for helping me & taking your time out for me.