Advice on adding more fans - Corsair Spec Alpha

[Boris_12]

Hello guys,
I got my Corsair SPEC ALPHA a week ago, which comes with 2 stock front fans and 1 stock SP fan at the back.

I'm interested in adding more "cooling power" but I can't decide whether to install a 3rd fan at the FRONT (HDD and SDD slot) and 1 at the TOP, or just 1 at the TOP. Does adding 1 more at the FRONT makes any difference?

Thanks in advance!

P.S rig specs:
7700 + Freezer Arctic v7
Asus ROG gtx1080
SSD+HDD
16GB ram

 

[hwlr77]

that case has filters on the bottom? maybe bottom intake, and another top exhaust

 

[Boris_12]

It has a shitty filter on bottom and I didn't notice any sockets for a fan there, unfortunately.


UPDATE: I checked again and it DOES have an option for bottom intake, though the filter is really cheap.

Anyways, putting 1 at top and 1 at bottom is the best option for me?

 

[adamscurr]

I have fans mounted in the bottom towards the front and the top towards the back... Get's a diagonal air thing going and seems to cool well... I recommend it...

Adam

 

[Boris_12]

I have fans mounted in the bottom towards the front and the top towards the back... Get's a diagonal air thing going and seems to cool well... I recommend it...

Adam

Thanks Adam, thank what I'm up to. Which fans do you use? I thoght about corsair sp120.

 

[hwlr77]

i have my fans set up in the same way as adam. corsair fans are a solid choice

 

[adamscurr]

I agree with hwlr77. Corsair fans are great... I have a mix of Corsair and Thermaltake since my case was a thermaltake. They are doing a great job too...

From my experience, there are three levels of fans... The cheapies, which you want to stay away from since they will probably break and make a lot of noise before they do. Then there are the mid-level, which vary but for the most part are pretty good at what they do. Then there are the high dollar fans, which will almost always be good, but are quite expensive... I go for mid-high range normally, because I don't like fan whine, do like good cooling, and always enjoy saving a couple of bucks over premium fans!

Adam

 

[Boris_12]

Thanks guys, really appreciate it.
Can you tell me a bit about PWM fans? What's the difference and is it worthy?

 

[hwlr77]

pwm fans can have their speed controlled through the 4 pin pwm header on your motherboard. the speed can be controlled in your bios.

i have three 3 pin fans for exhaust, they're always at 100% (around 1000 rpm) and i have four fans in the front (2 140mm) and bottom (2 120mm) of my case that can get to 1400 rpm in the front and 2000 rpm in the bottom. if they're at full capacity, my computer is loud like a lawnmower.. but the pwm lets those fans do minimal work when the system is idle, so the fans are nice and quiet.

 

[adamscurr]

I have something similar... What is nice about my case is that I have a fan controller on the case, so I run the two 200mm fans on the front and another pair on the top that I can control with the case. The rest of the fans, including the two on the radiator, run off the board, so the MB controls them...

Something I've been dying to try is hooking up my two bottom fans to my GPU, which has two fan headers on it... I've been lazy and don't feel like redoing the cabling, which looks nice right now...

Hwlr77, mine sounds like a jet airplane as too when it cranks up and everything is running at 100%. It settles down and get's real quiet though once the fans are turned down by the board...


Adam

 

[Boris_12]

Well running at 100 constantly doesn't seem as an option for me.. but I think i'll go for non-pwm and let the MB control them.

Is it possible to connect 5-6 fans to the MB with the help of 3-pin splitter cable? Will the MB be able to read all of them and is capable to do this?

 

[hwlr77]

Well running at 100 constantly doesn't seem as an option for me.. but I think i'll go for non-pwm and let the MB control them.

Is it possible to connect 5-6 fans to the MB with the help of 3-pin splitter cable? Will the MB be able to read all of them and is capable to do this?

if you want your bios to control your fans you *want* pwm fans. if you connect a splitter to the pwm header and fans connected to that splitter will be controlled through your bios.

the only reason i have my exhaust fans running at 100% is because i know they won't go over 1000rpm, and at that speed the sound doesn't bother me.