Advice On Fan Configuration Wanted.

[Burnitory]

Hi guys and gals first time poster here. I'm building a new PC and would like some advice on the placement of my chassis fans. This is only the 2nd build I've ever done so I don't have much experience. Here's the case I have:
http://

Now my first issue is that my PC is going to be unavoidably backed up to a wall with 4-5 inches between the back and the wall tops. So is it even worth it for me to have a rear exhaust fan? I was thinking of having intake in the front and bottom and 2 exhaust in the top if the rear fan isn't needed with 2 in the top. so I'm trying to decide between buying this:
http://
or this
http://
Either I get the 2 fans to exhaust out the top and use the pre-installed rear fan as an intake on the bottom, or I get the 4 pack and do basically the same with an extra exhaust in the rear if it's necessary. Also, if I don't use a rear fan, should I cover that vent to avoid the rear top fan from just sucking air in through there and right out the top instead of exhausting the chassis air?

Lastly, this is the motherboard I have: http://
It has 3 chassis fan connectors and both my ideas for fan placement require 4-5, is this issue easily solvable via like a splitter, or should I abandon both my ideas and do something with only 3 fans instead?

Thanks in advance for anyone that answers!

 

[Darkbreeze]

First of all, don't buy a Raidmax case. I really am having a hard time trying to think of a company that possibly makes crappier products than Raidmax and traditionally speaking, I really can't.


This would be 10x the quality and features of that case, and is actually a bit less.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Case: NZXT Phantom 240 ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $64.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-22 02:52 EDT-0400


You need to have at least the rear exhaust and a front intake, and depending on your configuration, in this case most likely an FX chip, I'd probably opt for at least one additional intake and exhaust as well. If you're planning to overclock or run a high end graphics card I'd definitely go with two intake and two exhaust, with one of the exhaust being the rear location. Even a 1" distance from the rear fan to the closest external obstruction is fine. Two inches would be better, but as long as the unit has somewhere for the air to go it's not a problem.

Your board actually has a CPU, CPU optional and three chassis fan headers. You can use the three chassis fan headers for three of the case fans, the CPU optional header for the rear exhaust fan

(Which actually has some benefit, as it will increase and decrease in speed in direct proportion to the CPU temperature and CPU cooler fan, which helps to remove additional heat when the CPU cooler is working hard at removing heat from the CPU cooler heatsink, but does tend to make THAT particular case fan a bit louder under high load conditions.)

OR, you can use one or two of these to split the chassis fan headers into additional resources for more fans:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812162026


I would not try to operate without the rear exhaust, that fan does the bulk of the work shedding heat from the CPU cooler to the outside of the case and helping to draw to cool air from the intake fans across the rest of the hardware like the motherboard VRMs and hard drives. Top mounted exhaust fans are good too, as supplemental cooling, but they don't replace the rear exhaust. Without it you're likely to have a hot pocket in that area which is undesirable since the motherboard VRMs and CPU cooler are relatively close to that fan in most cases.

As far as the additional fans are concerned, for the price range you're looking at, I'd easily choose these over anything made by Cooler Master or Corsair:

140mm locations: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553004&cm_re=cougar_case_fans-_-35-553-004-_-Product


120mm locations: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553002&cm_re=cougar_case_fans-_-35-553-002-_-Product



If you want to spend a few bucks more, you can get MUCH better Phanteks, Noctua, Cryorig or even NZXT fans that match those that come with the case. Actually, those might even be less expensive than these others.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=nzxt%20case%20fans&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30

 

[Burnitory]

Thanks for the reply!

First of all, don't buy a Raidmax case. I really am having a hard time trying to think of a company that possibly makes crappier products than Raidmax and traditionally speaking, I really can't.

Well, the case isn't something I was buying, it is what I have (it was a spare that was given to me). I'd hate to just throw it away unless I have a problem with it. Is Raidmax really all that bad? My current PC has had a Raidmax PSU for like 5 years with no issues that I know of (it also has a high rating on newegg). I'm also on a pretty tight budget right now so I'd like to not spend more than I have to. I'm not defending them because I don't really know much, but the newegg reviews seemed happy with the case. So fingers crossed I guess haha.

Your board actually has a CPU, CPU optional and three chassis fan headers. You can use the three chassis fan headers for three of the case fans, the CPU optional header for the rear exhaust fan

I was just poking around in the case checking stuff out, and noticed that the built in fan controller supports 4 fans. Is there any reason that would better than what you suggested or vice versa?

As far as the additional fans are concerned, for the price range you're looking at, I'd easily choose these over anything made by Cooler Master or Corsair:

Are Cooler Master/Rosewill no good? The ratings are good so I figured they would be fine. Again, I'm on a tight budget. So as much as I'd love to get the best stuff, those fans you linked would be over double for the same number of fans. I'm not hardline against spending more if the other ones are bad (as opposed to just less good), I'd just rather save money where I can. As I said I don't really have much experience or knowledge, so I've been going off of ratings and reviews.

 

[Darkbreeze]

IF you have the case already, and it's working for you, then I probably wouldn't say it's "necessary" to buy another one. I certainly wouldn't recommend one for a new purchase though. As for the PSU, I'd definitely either get it out of my system or in the event you haven't yet used it, not use it. They are bad.

All Raidmax units are tier 5, "replace immediately", and have been known for severe failures including damage to other hardware and even fires. The fact that you've been lucky and not had a problem with yours in no way means they're safe or reliable, or that they are still not dangerous. I would not use the built in fan hub either on that case. Low quality fan hubs are known for causing electrical fires, melted wires, ruined hardware etc., and that unit is almost certainly within that category.

Cooler master and Rosewill have some ok products, but they both also have a ton of crap as well. As a budget option I'd go with the cougar fans unless you already have the fans in which case they're probably ok-ish, but likely to me a bit louder and are just not generally as high of quality as some other products.

 

[Burnitory]

Well if the PSU is really that much of a risk, then I'll definitely replace it. The case I'm assuming is just potentially poor quality and not really a risk like the PSU, as it's really just holding my parts correct? I'm spending a lot of money on my parts, so I really really don't want to risk them. I didn't buy the fans yet, so I guess I might as well get the Cougers for that. Though in the 2nd link to "much better" fans I saw this for the same price as the Couger http://also this http://

What are some decent PSU brands? I hate being a noob having to ask all this stuff :/

I saw this: http://
And this: http://

Which I can afford and I've heard good things about both brands' PSUs. Also, speaking of fan configuration. Bottom mounted PSU fan facing down if there's a vent? From what I read it seems to be the general rule but some people were saying otherwise.

 

[Darkbreeze]

The Seasonic is a good unit, the Corsair CX, CS, VS and RM units, while good as compared to the MAJORITY of units out there, are NOT good as compared to, well, GOOD units. They a good fit for business machines and machines used for mainstream purposes. They're not really recommended for gaming or overclocked systems because they don't hold up well under high stress or prolonged loads. They use inferior caps and have generally lower quality internal components than many other similarly priced units. The same goes for Corsair, Thermaltake and some of the EVGA and Antec units, although both those companies also have some very good reasonably priced units. Corsair also sells some very good units, but they are priced higher than other units that have similar performance and are built by trusted OEMs like Seasonic, Super Flower and Delta.

If you want to learn the in's and out's of power supplies, here are a few good links that will get you up to speed relatively fast. The PSU tier list is a good quick reference for determining what power supply models, and I do mean models and not just brands because many brands have both good and not so good models, sometimes even within the same named series. Most power supplies are not made by the company that sells them but use manufacturers like Seasonic, Super Flower, Delta, FSP, Channel Well and some others, not all of which make good, reliable platforms.

I'd start with the conversations found in the power supply tier list found at the following link:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html


And here is a little tidbit about Raidmax power supplies. If you Google Raidmax power supplies and read the forum posts on just about any forum out there, you'll see what I mean.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list/page-20.html



This is a good primer on what makes a power supply good or bad. While I don't exactly agree with EVERYTHING in there, most of it is pretty accurate:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/low-cost-psu-pc-power-supply,2862.html

As far as fans go, this is the way I'd choose them and I'll just reference 120mm fans since apparently that case only supports and has locations for a single front 120mm fan and a single rear 120mm fan, which is pretty minimal cooling these days and part, but certainly not all, of the reason why their cases are poor choices. Sometimes free doesn't equal good, even though it may not seem that way at the time.

If they need to be under ten bucks each, any of these:

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/compare/cooler-master-case-fan-r4l2r20arr1%2Cfractal-design-case-fan-fdfanssr2120%2Cfractal-design-case-fan-fdfanssr2120bk/


In the ten to fifteen dollar range, any of these:

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/compare/cougar-case-fan-cfv12hb%2Ccougar-case-fan-cfv12hp%2Cfractal-design-case-fan-fdfanventhf12bk/


And over 15.00, these would be my go to choices:

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/compare/noctua-case-fan-nfp12pwm%2Cnoctua-case-fan-nfs12bredux1200%2Cphanteks-case-fan-phf120sprled/


In reality, just about any compatible fan made, in order of preference, by Noctua, Thermalright (NOT Thermaltake), Phanteks, NZXT, Fractal Design, Noiseblocker, Scythe or Cougar are probably at least above average and probably fairly decent. Cooler Master and Corsair make a few good fan designs, but for the most part they make relatively inexpensive low end stuff with no extensive emphasis on quiet AND performance. There are a few exceptions but the rule generally holds true.

 

[Burnitory]

Hey thanks a lot for all the advice and info in this thread dude. I'll have to remember all this and do more research for my inevitable next build. I decided I'm going to order the cougar fans and the SeaSonic PSU.

As far as fans go, this is the way I'd choose them and I'll just reference 120mm fans since apparently that case only supports and has locations for a single front 120mm fan and a single rear 120mm fan, which is pretty minimal cooling these days and part, but certainly not all, of the reason why their cases are poor choices. Sometimes free doesn't equal good, even though it may not seem that way at the time.

I'm not sure if you were only talking about the front and rear specifically, but those are just the only 2 fans included. There are also 2 top mounts and a bottom mount (so total 5 fan mounts). I'm not too worried about the case being particularly great, I just need something usable for now until I upgrade to something better when it's more financially convenient.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You're right, and I didn't see the optional locations when I first looked at Newegg. So I'd actually not consider the bottom location, as there is rarely if ever room to actually mount a fan there plus the PSU cabling is almost always in the way of any bottom mounted fan. I don't think it's necessary anyhow unless you can manage to fit one there without any issues. With a rear exhaust, one or two top exhausts and a front intake you'll probably have plenty of airflow.

Negative airflow, meaning more exhaust than intake, offers better performance than positive pressure systems with more intake than exhaust anyhow. Positive pressure limits the amount of dust that enters the case though, so be sure to blow out the CPU cooler heatsink and the rest of the internals now and then, fairly regularly.

 

[Burnitory]

You're right, and I didn't see the optional locations when I first looked at Newegg. So I'd actually not consider the bottom location, as there is rarely if ever room to actually mount a fan there plus the PSU cabling is almost always in the way of any bottom mounted fan. I don't think it's necessary anyhow unless you can manage to fit one there without any issues. With a rear exhaust, one or two top exhausts and a front intake you'll probably have plenty of airflow.

Negative airflow, meaning more exhaust than intake, offers better performance than positive pressure systems with more intake than exhaust anyhow. Positive pressure limits the amount of dust that enters the case though, so be sure to blow out the CPU cooler heatsink and the rest of the internals now and then, fairly regularly.

If there's no issue fitting a fan in the bottom, would I still be better off with 3 exhaust (1 rear 2 top) and 1 intake (front) or 2 exhaust (1 rear 1 top) and 2 intake (1 front 1 bottom)?

 

[Darkbreeze]

I like an equalized pressure when possible, which goes against the grain of some builders who are vehemently in either the negative or positive pressure camps. Equal pressures, or something close to it, offers good airflow with less stress on intake fans (Since there is less internal pressure to overcome.) I try to build most rigs to equal pressure, so two intake and two exhaust would be fine.

 

[Burnitory]

Okay sweet. Again, thanks for all your help!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Anytime.