2x140 vs 3x120 vs 2x120 mm fans

[kenchu]

Hello everyone. I'm planning to do a silent build in the Phanteks p400s case. I will replace the stock fans with Antec truequiet 120mm fans (these are the most silent available in my country).

Is it better to use 2 of those fans as intakes in the front and 1 in the rear as an exhaust?

Or is it better to use 3 fans as intakes and 1 as an exhaust?

I want to know if there's a big gain in temperatures adding an extra 120mm fan. I know using 2 fans instead of 3 will be better in terms of noise (duh).

Ps: Also for my silent build. Is Wd red the best hdd in terms of noise? Or theres any more silent? (Ssd out of budget) .

 

[kenchu]

EDIT: or is it better to go with 2 corsair 140mm Af? Or sp? I want silence overall without loosing That mach cooling performance

 

[scout_03]

for cooling 2 in front as intake and you could had one on top with the back one as exhaust unless you use water cooling for the cpu .

 

[Tech_TTT]

For Silent build allways use the Larger Fan no Question about it.

so in your case :

1- FRONT 2x140 intake

2- TOP : 2x140 ALSO INTAKE

3- REAR 120 OUT.

 

[kenchu]

Tech_TTT
I was planning to have front intake fans only.
I'm asking wich will be more silent, because here where I live I can't find anywhere Antec 140mm. I've heard that corsair's quiet editions are quite loud.

My intake options where:

-front 2x120mm antec truequiet
-front 3x120mm antec truequiet
-front 2x140mm corsair af140
-front 2x140mm corsair sp140

Wich do you recommend among these 4? I don't want to have more fans because of the noise. I want the most silent configuration. Is the most silent configuration compromising with cooling?
Also, what rpms should I set for intake fans? What rpms for the exhaust?
Thank you for your time
Thank you for your time

 

[Tech_TTT]

2x140 ... for more silent.

and you dont need High static pressure fans for air intake , those are for radiators and heat sinks.

for most silent operation Get Noctua Fans.

 

[USAFRet]

For Silent build allways use the Larger Fan no Question about it.

so in your case :

1- FRONT 2x140 intake

2- TOP : 2x140 ALSO INTAKE

3- REAR 120 OUT.

Top intake?????
In the face of all accepted case airflow design and general thermodynamics...Why on earth would you do this?

 

[Tech_TTT]

For Silent build allways use the Larger Fan no Question about it.

so in your case :

1- FRONT 2x140 intake

2- TOP : 2x140 ALSO INTAKE

3- REAR 120 OUT.

Top intake?????
In the face of all accepted case airflow design and general thermodynamics...Why on earth would you do this?

This is only for silent build .. lowest RPM .. not for Performance build. Positive pressure .

When the intake is lowest RPM on the front you need more cool air in from the TOP at lowest RPM.

 

[USAFRet]

This is only for silent build .. lowest RPM .. not for Performance build. Positive pressure .

When the intake is lowest RPM on the front you need more cool air in from the TOP at lowest RPM.

I'd rather have NO fans on the top, over intake fans on the top.

Amid all this talk of fans and where they should go....we know absolutely nothing about his components or use.
The only requirement we know is "silent".

My HTPC is pretty damn silent. It has 2 fans. Front intake and rear exhaust. I could probably disconnect one or the other, and notice little if any temp difference.

 

[kenchu]

Yeah sorry for not being so specific.
I may just go for 2 120mm antec truequiet fans at the front, and another one exactly the same as exhaust. I will have possitive pressure and temps will not be extremely low right?

I mean compared to having 2 Corsair's 140mm fans as intake, and a case fan as exhaust.

2x140mm corsair fans cost the same here as 3x120mm Antec Truequiet. I would like to spend less if possible.

I just wanted to know silence and cooling performance beetween the 3 possible configs. (3x120 intake, 2x120 intake, 2x140 intake;but always paying attention to the fan models)

 

[Tech_TTT]

Yeah sorry for not being so specific.
I may just go for 2 120mm antec truequiet fans at the front, and another one exactly the same as exhaust. I will have possitive pressure and temps will not be extremely low right?

I mean compared to having 2 Corsair's 140mm fans as intake, and a case fan as exhaust.

2x140mm corsair fans cost the same here as 3x120mm Antec Truequiet. I would like to spend less if possible.

I just wanted to know silence and cooling performance beetween the 3 possible configs. (3x120 intake, 2x120 intake, 2x140 intake;but always paying attention to the fan models)

it is not only about the fan size , Rad the fan specs and see the best Air Volume it takes in at the bet DBA .. this is how you compare fans .. also , dont get static pressure fans for air flow , get the normal ones will give you better Volume of air at lower noise.

 

[Rogue Leader]

For Silent build allways use the Larger Fan no Question about it.

so in your case :

1- FRONT 2x140 intake

2- TOP : 2x140 ALSO INTAKE

3- REAR 120 OUT.

Top intake?????
In the face of all accepted case airflow design and general thermodynamics...Why on earth would you do this?

This is only for silent build .. lowest RPM .. not for Performance build. Positive pressure .

When the intake is lowest RPM on the front you need more cool air in from the TOP at lowest RPM.

No...

There is NEVER a reason for a top intake fan, especially for a silent build. Positive pressure can be achieved by 2 front intakes or 1 front 1 bottom intake and 1 exhaust.

Heat rises, we learned this in elementary school.

 

[Tech_TTT]

For Silent build allways use the Larger Fan no Question about it.

so in your case :

1- FRONT 2x140 intake

2- TOP : 2x140 ALSO INTAKE

3- REAR 120 OUT.

Top intake?????
In the face of all accepted case airflow design and general thermodynamics...Why on earth would you do this?

This is only for silent build .. lowest RPM .. not for Performance build. Positive pressure .

When the intake is lowest RPM on the front you need more cool air in from the TOP at lowest RPM.

No...

There is NEVER a reason for a top intake fan, especially for a silent build. Positive pressure can be achieved by 2 front intakes or 1 front 1 bottom intake and 1 exhaust.

Heat rises, we learned this in elementary school.

I know that heat rises ... but top intake fans are not something new in Positive pressure cases ..

[video="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe-2ZqmSGug"][/video]

Try to test top intake .. I tried it and at low RPM it is good. I am talking about lowest RPM only as I said , where the fans will spin at lowest RPM. not all cases . this is one special case.

air will escape from the openings of the rear of the case from the positive pressure .

 

[Rogue Leader]

I see what he is doing. It is NOT the most efficient way to cool a system, and unless you have a major dust problem its a useless idea. Why not save your money off of buying another fan and allow for natural positive pressure which will give you lower temperatures. all that the video you showed is doing is forcing the hot air to channel out the back. Heck it could even make the GPU and CPU less efficient at cooling!

All you are seeing there is a test demo to show how positive pressure works (also note the hot spot right in the middle there caused by the excess pressure from the top fan). Find real people that are actually running a system like that (besides you). You won't.

 

[USAFRet]

A "silent PC" would suggest fewer fans. Not more and larger.
And still, we know nothing about the actual use case, component temps, components, ambient temp, etc, etc, etc.

Far too many people focus on 'how many fans do I need?' when designing a system.
And following that, far too many people chime in with "As many as will fit! More is better!"

Nonsense.

Adding more fans to my HTPC will result in 1 thing for sure, and maybe a second thing.
1. More noise. More moving parts.
2. Maybe, possibly, slightly lower temps. But that makes exactly zero difference in the overall performance of the PC.
If the operating temp is reduced from 55C to 50C...SO WHAT!!!!
Yes, it is lower. But it wasn't struggling at the previous temp.
More fans bring exactly zero to the performance table.


The question of "How many fans do I need", should be answered with "Only as many as it takes to keep the components within operating range".

 

[Tech_TTT]

The idea behind positive pressure cases is more intake fans as possible to force the air out using the holes at the back of the PC . the less intake fans the less pressure in the case .

However this is case dependent . he should test his PC ... does not work in all scenarios . If you did not try it yet test it .

 

[USAFRet]

The idea behind positive pressure cases is more intake fans as possible to force the air out using the holes at the back of the PC . the less intake fans the less pressure in the case .

However this is case dependent . he should test his PC ... does not work in all scenarios . If you did not try it yet test it .

2 years from now, some new kid will stumble across this thread and think "I need more fans!"

No...pos pressure is simply more intake than exhaust.
Not "more intake fans as possible".
There is a difference.

It is 'possible' to have 10 intake fans and 1 exhaust. That is clearly folly.

 

[Rogue Leader]

The idea behind positive pressure cases is more intake fans as possible to force the air out using the holes at the back of the PC . the less intake fans the less pressure in the case .

However this is case dependent . he should test his PC ... does not work in all scenarios . If you did not try it yet test it .

No, its more intake than exhaust. It has NOTHING to do with "more intake fans as possible" natural airflow rules still apply, extra fans will only make extra noise. And read my reply to your video post which is yet another issue.

 

[Tech_TTT]

The idea behind positive pressure cases is more intake fans as possible to force the air out using the holes at the back of the PC . the less intake fans the less pressure in the case .

However this is case dependent . he should test his PC ... does not work in all scenarios . If you did not try it yet test it .

2 years from now, some new kid will stumble across this thread and think "I need more fans!"

No...pos pressure is simply more intake than exhaust.
Not "more intake fans as possible".
There is a difference.

It is 'possible' to have 10 intake fans and 1 exhaust. That is clearly folly.

ofc I did not mean 10 intake fans. there is also something called common sense. I was talking about this case here in mind the OP case. not 10 fans case.

 

[USAFRet]

Well then you should be clear in what you wish to convey.
"more intake fans as possible" leads to 'How many can this case hold?'

Not..."How many do I need?"

 

[Rogue Leader]

The idea behind positive pressure cases is more intake fans as possible to force the air out using the holes at the back of the PC . the less intake fans the less pressure in the case .

However this is case dependent . he should test his PC ... does not work in all scenarios . If you did not try it yet test it .

2 years from now, some new kid will stumble across this thread and think "I need more fans!"

No...pos pressure is simply more intake than exhaust.
Not "more intake fans as possible".
There is a difference.

It is 'possible' to have 10 intake fans and 1 exhaust. That is clearly folly.

ofc I did not mean 10 intake fans. there is also something called common sense. I was talking about this case here in mind the OP case. not 10 fans case.

Adding a top fan intake disrupting natural airflow and adding an additional fan to a "silent" build, belies common sense.

 

[Tech_TTT]

Well then you should be clear in what you wish to convey.
"more intake fans as possible" leads to 'How many can this case hold?'

Not..."How many do I need?"

Sure will be more clear next time.

 

[USAFRet]

In a "silent PC" requirement, the suggestion might be:
"As few fans as is needed to maintain temps in the operating range."