Question Can I get more cooling by installing greater CFM fans?

[Franj0]

G'day,
I have a Fractal Meshify 2 mid tower, with the following specs;

i7 11700KF CPU
Deepcool Assassin IV CPU cooler, with an additional 120mm Phanteks T30 strapped to the front of the cooler for greater air intake.
32GB DDr4 RAM @ 3200MHZ
MSI A pro Z 490 mobo
Gigabyte RTX 4080
Silverstone 1000w PSU gold.
Various NVME m.2, SSD and HDD storage.

I am playing in 4K on a Gigabyte M28U monitor at 144HZ.

My case fans are Arctic P 14s - 3 intake at the front
Arctic P 14 x 2 top exhaust
Arctic P12 x 2 bottom intake
Arctic P14 as a rear exhaust.

I am considering swapping out the 3 Arctic P14 intake front fans for 3 x Thermaltake Toughfan 140mm radiator fan to see if can get more air pushed through my case, going from the Arctic P14s @ 72 CFM to Thermaltake @ 119 CFM make a noticeable difference to my temps ?

 

[Phaaze88]

Arctic P14s @ 72 CFM to Thermaltake @ 119 CFM

This is only at 100% rpm; CFM/SP/dBA does not scale linearly.
Your personal fan curves are going to be a wild card here.

There's no way to really know without buying and trying them out... I could guess that it won't make a significant difference though.

 

[Franj0]

This is only at 100% rpm; CFM/SP/dBA does not scale linearly.
Your personal fan curves are going to be a wild card here.

There's no way to really know without buying and trying them out... I could guess that it won't make a significant difference though.

All I needed to hear, reckon you've saved me about $60.00 - $90.00 AUD, I'll keep what I have and if during our Australian summer the temps become unbearable, I'll just open a window to get fresher air into the room where I am gaming.

 

[Math Geek]

it's a bit ugly but if during the summer you get temp spikes, the old tried and true method of removing the side of the case and pointing a small fan into it always helps

nothing crazy but removing the side usually helps and the extra air from a small fan makes a heck of a difference.

again only if you have a high ambient temp is this needed, but sometimes i'd rather get my game on than worry about how my pc looks with the side off. lol

 

[Misgar]

going from the Arctic P14s @ 72 CFM to Thermaltake @ 119 CFM make a noticeable difference to my temps ?

You might see a drop of a couple of degrees Centigrade. You also need to choose between high static pressure and high airflow (see below).
https://www.windowscentral.com/static-pressure-vs-high-airflow-choosing-right-fans-your-pc
https://www.corsair.com/us/en/explorer/diy-builder/fans/pc-fans-static-pressure-vs-airflow/

Unless you spend a lot of money, any fan running flat out at 119 CFM is going to be louder, possibly annoyingly so if you're sensitive to noise.

I used to work in server rooms with hundreds of small Delta fans screaming away at very high speeds, e.g. 4,000 to 32,000 RPM.
https://www.delta-fan.com/technology/e-series-fans.html

the old tried and true method of removing the side of the case and pointing a small fan into it always helps

That's my favoured option when things get too warm.

 

[geofelt]

Do you have a cooling problem that needs fixing?
What is your cpu temperature under load?
An occasional 100c. is not bad for Intel.
Much less, and you may be leaving some performance on the table.

Fans do not cool, they move air.
Your cooler is excellent.
Your three 140mm front intake fans will draw in lots of air.
What comes in will exit the case sooner or later, hopefully taking component heat with it.
Your 140mm rear exhaust is there to direct the cooling air past the motherboard,
Try this experiment:
Disable the top exit fans. They tend to redirect airflow up and out of the case before it can pass the cpu cooler.
See what happens if you disable the bottom fans.

Are your fans running at max rpm?
Yes, they will be noisy if they do.

How well ventilated is your room?
A gaming pc can significantly increase room temperature and the temperature of the air used to cool your components.

 

[Paperdoc]

There is a difference between the CAPACITY of fans to move air (from their max speed airflow spec) and the ACTUAL airflow you are already achieving. You need more CAPACITY only if your fans already are running at near max speed for your highest workload. If they never run full speed, you don't need more!

Note this. We all talk constantly about fan SPEED control. But the truth is that these automatic fan controls are TEMPERATURE controls. That is, each (the CPU cooler system and the case cooler system) concentrates solely on keeping the
Temperature at a relevant sensor close to its pre-set target. It does this by altering the speed signal it sends to its fan to alter the airflow that removes heat. It does NOT care what the actual fan speed is at all. It only makes the fans do whatever is needed to reach that target TEMPERATURE and keep it there as workload changes. NORMALLY this speed is much lower than max, and hence the airflow is lower than max. As long as your fans can provide enough cooling at max workload without actually reaching the fan max speed, you will never use more fan airflow capacity.

 

[80251]

Attaching more powerful fans to a heatsink can definitely make a difference because higher velocity airflow and more of it remove the heat from heatsinks faster.

I found installing a high-powered, silverstone, 180mm sidepanel fan and a similar fan mounted in the top, back of the case made the following differences in peak CPU and GPU temps over time (i.e. gaming over a couple of hours):

with 4090 installed, sound deadened sidecover installed and silverstone 180x32mm fan installed as intake in sidecover

a. intake sidecover fan and top 180mm silverstone exhaust fan at max power definitely makes a diff. when gaming on BOTH CPU and GPU peak temps
i. drew down peak CPU temps by 16°C and GPU temps by 7°C