Are Corsair Air Series AF120/SP120 Fans any good? (Suggest me some)

[CaptEinstein]

Looking for 120mm fans that can push the air into a Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-02 case (or any case) easily. I'm looking at the AF120 for the top/bottom and the SP120 for the front maybe? Well I'm kinda clueless to how AF120 and SP120 will work differently. I'm also open for suggestions for other fans that'll work better or more efficient at handling air flows/pushing hot air out/pulling cool air in etc. Please help

 

[geofelt]

The case is a nice one. It includes two 120mm fans. I would relocate the rear fan to the front, drawing all cooling air in through the front filter.
That gives you a positive pressure airflow that keeps your case cleaner.
Probably no more is really necessary.

Think about it:
A good cpu cooler will likely use a 120mm fan
and a strong graphics card will use 80-90mm fans which draw less airflow than a simple 120mm fan can deliver.

If you really want to simplify your cooling don't buy a liquid cooler.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
If you wanted more, I would buy 140mm fans for the front.
140mm fans push more air and are quieter.

 

[CaptEinstein]

The case is a nice one. It includes two 120mm fans. I would relocate the rear fan to the front, drawing all cooling air in through the front filter.
That gives you a positive pressure airflow that keeps your case cleaner.
Probably no more is really necessary.

Think about it:
A good cpu cooler will likely use a 120mm fan
and a strong graphics card will use 80-90mm fans which draw less airflow than a simple 120mm fan can deliver.

If you really want to simplify your cooling don't buy a liquid cooler.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
If you wanted more, I would buy 140mm fans for the front.
140mm fans push more air and are quieter.

I'm getting EVGA GTX 980 SC with ACX 2.0 cooler, I'm probably getting a 140mm for the front to pull in air into the case, and two more 120mm for the top to exhaust hot air out, for the rear, I'm not sure about it being an exhaust or for it to pull more air into the case, I'm not sure if I have to get a bottom one but as far as I know I need the two 120mm at the top to push hot air out. The problem right now is, I don't know which fan to get.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

The AF fans are better suited for cases and the SP fans are good for rads.

I have 5 AF fans in my 750D.

 

[Heathclifff]

Corsair has the bet fans immo.AF(air flow) and SP(static pressure) work alot differently.AF fans are only working good in the front and back,giving the necessary air flow to the system.SP are usefull when the air they push "hits" other stuff inside like hdd cages/drives or radiators.So it would be only usefull on the top(if you liquid cool) or just 1 the bottom.Just use 2 AF140/120s in the front,2 SP120 in the top/or AF120 if you arent liquid cooling,1 SP120 bottom and keep the rear with the fan the case come withs.All corsair fans have a high perf/quiet edition too,check this also out.

 

[jukesie]

Everything I've seen on YouTube, or forum posts suggest differently.

SP fans are great if you need to push air through close resistance. So in the front of a case where you're going to have HDD cages and such directly behind them it would be beneficial to use SP fans to really push the air through.

AF fans work very well for moving a large quantity of air around, so these would be very good for exhaust fans, in other words, on the top and rear. They might also be useful as side-mounted intake fans to 'blast' your CPU/GPU with extra cooling if you felt the need.

However, as Heathcliff mentioned above. If you have a radiator mounted on the top of your case you'll be wanting to use SP fans and not AF as I just suggested, because you will be needing to push air through the radiator rather than just exhausting it out of your case. This stands true for a bottom-mounted radiator too.

I'm unsure where that Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-02 case you mentioned can have a fan mounted on the HDD cage directly, I suspect it doesn't, however, many cases offer that now. In this instance, unless I'm mistaken, you'll be wanting AF fans to catch as much air as your front-mounted SP fans can push through the HDD's.

At least that's my take on cooling. And yes, Corsair fans are the best on price/performance by a margin.

 

[Heathclifff]

Well said,but for me af is the only option for the front as I dont use much hdds(1-2).If you have more than 2 hdds then ok buy 1 sp to hit on those only.I am personally buying for the corsair 780T case,a couple af 140 for the front,an af 120 for the bottom,2 sp 120 top(i have radiator).

 

[jukesie]

I take your point, however if you're only running 2 HDD's then I would suggest, for consideration, mounting both in the lower HDD cage and use a SP fan in front for best cooling. Then remove the upper HDD cage and use an AF as the top-front fan. That would deliver the best of both as the AF fan would have zero restrictions to it's airflow and push it directly on to your GPU. It's a win win really

But as you say, it does all depend on the configuration you want to run.