Case Fan Question

[khubani]

Hi,

I have the Fractal Design Define R4 Series Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352024&cm_re=fractal_design_define_r4-_-11-352-024-_-Product

I only have the fans that came with it. One in the front, one in the back, 120mm. My cousin is jumping down my throat about buying fans with higher RPMs for sufficient cooling because it has that 'capability to cool' under extreme circumstances in gaming.

I don't know how many case fans to buy and how airflow should go in my case. Can someone help me? I was going to buy the Silent R2 Series (the one's that came with my case) as additional cooling. Thank you.

 

[rolli59]

What you have is recommended minimum for airflow, it is plenty for everything except extreme overclocking. More rpm means louder as well!

 

[khubani]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. My specs are:

i5-3570k
R9 280X GPU
Corsair 750 PSU
8 GB RAM
Samsung 840 EVO 256 GB

My CPU idles at 43c and under load peaks around 63c. I've seen it higher in more intensive games. What fans would you recommend? Should I buy the ones I already have? I was thinking a couple more. Not sure what I should be doing.

 

[Rami Zerker Reini]

I have the same case 😀 I myself have 4 fans but anyway, 2 fans is plenty unless if you're going to overclock or play games that really test your rig to the point where more cooling would be required. Usually people have a headset on and they are playing + listening to music so the extra sound that more fans would make doesn't matter tbh.

 

[rolli59]

Yep 2 original fans will be plenty airflow for that build. If you add fans I have good experience with cougar fans.

 

[khubani]

Thanks everyone. When I play games such as GTA 5 or something moderately intensive, my GPU gets up to 89C as well. Overall, my temps are pretty high in my opinion. Should I not be concerned in buying more fans?

 

[khubani]

I have the same case 😀 I myself have 4 fans but anyway, 2 fans is plenty unless if you're going to overclock or play games that really test your rig to the point where more cooling would be required. Usually people have a headset on and they are playing + listening to music so the extra sound that more fans would make doesn't matter tbh.

True. But, when it's quiet in my house, things that generally aren't loud become much louder. I'm a night owl. My family goes to sleep and I don't want to disturb them. So, a silent case should be accompanied by silent fans.

 

[affinitydesigns]

Any low RPM fan will keep noise levels down. You'll want to stick with quality manufacturers for reliability, but with the R4, you will want SP(static pressure) intake fans on the front as it does not have direct airflow and has to pull through the restrictive vents.

I'd recommend these personally: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181027&cm_re=corsair_sp120-_-35-181-027-_-Product

I run them in my Define S through my radiators and they don't add too much noise.

In all honesty, you might want to take advantage of your side fan slot as your GPU is probably heating up your case the most. You didn't give specific part specs, but I'm guessing you have an aftermarket cooler that exhausts into the case. Putting an exhaust fan on the side will help that heat from rising and contaminating the air around your CPU heatsink.

If you choose to add the side fan, I would add a low RPM fan to the front just to keep positive air pressure which will deter dust from building up in your case.

If you start adding a lot of fans, you'll also probably want an PWM controller so you can at least control the RPMs of the fans and they are not spinning constantly at full speed which increases noise. Since your motherboard is not listed, I cannot say for certain, but a lot of motherboards do not allow PWM voltage control over the sysfan pins and will only work off the CPUfan pin. If this is the case, you will definitely need a pwm controller which you will connect all your fans to and then connect to the cpufan pin. This will allow you to actually ramp up the speeds of the fans to compensate for usage loads on the pc.

Hope this helps

 

[rolli59]

89C is high but still within operation limit of that GPU. It is relatively cheap to add fans and I would do that in this case.

 

[khubani]

Any low RPM fan will keep noise levels down. You'll want to stick with quality manufacturers for reliability, but with the R4, you will want SP(static pressure) intake fans on the front as it does not have direct airflow and has to pull through the restrictive vents.

I'd recommend these personally: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181027&cm_re=corsair_sp120-_-35-181-027-_-Product

I run them in my Define S through my radiators and they don't add too much noise.

In all honesty, you might want to take advantage of your side fan slot as your GPU is probably heating up your case the most. You didn't give specific part specs, but I'm guessing you have an aftermarket cooler that exhausts into the case. Putting an exhaust fan on the side will help that heat from rising and contaminating the air around your CPU heatsink.

If you choose to add the side fan, I would add a low RPM fan to the front just to keep positive air pressure which will deter dust from building up in your case.

If you start adding a lot of fans, you'll also probably want an PWM controller so you can at least control the RPMs of the fans and they are not spinning constantly at full speed which increases noise. Since your motherboard is not listed, I cannot say for certain, but a lot of motherboards do not allow PWM voltage control over the sysfan pins and will only work off the CPUfan pin. If this is the case, you will definitely need a pwm controller which you will connect all your fans to and then connect to the cpufan pin. This will allow you to actually ramp up the speeds of the fans to compensate for usage loads on the pc.

Hope this helps

Thank you for all of that very informative information. Allow me to clarify my specifications to give you more information:

-ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 Motherboard
-Heatsink is stock from i5-3570k
-ASUS R9 280X GPU

I look forward to hearing from you.

 

[affinitydesigns]

Any low RPM fan will keep noise levels down. You'll want to stick with quality manufacturers for reliability, but with the R4, you will want SP(static pressure) intake fans on the front as it does not have direct airflow and has to pull through the restrictive vents.

I'd recommend these personally: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181027&cm_re=corsair_sp120-_-35-181-027-_-Product

I run them in my Define S through my radiators and they don't add too much noise.

In all honesty, you might want to take advantage of your side fan slot as your GPU is probably heating up your case the most. You didn't give specific part specs, but I'm guessing you have an aftermarket cooler that exhausts into the case. Putting an exhaust fan on the side will help that heat from rising and contaminating the air around your CPU heatsink.

If you choose to add the side fan, I would add a low RPM fan to the front just to keep positive air pressure which will deter dust from building up in your case.

If you start adding a lot of fans, you'll also probably want an PWM controller so you can at least control the RPMs of the fans and they are not spinning constantly at full speed which increases noise. Since your motherboard is not listed, I cannot say for certain, but a lot of motherboards do not allow PWM voltage control over the sysfan pins and will only work off the CPUfan pin. If this is the case, you will definitely need a pwm controller which you will connect all your fans to and then connect to the cpufan pin. This will allow you to actually ramp up the speeds of the fans to compensate for usage loads on the pc.

Hope this helps

Thank you for all of that very informative information. Allow me to clarify my specifications to give you more information:

-ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 Motherboard
-Heatsink is stock from i5-3570k
-ASUS R9 280X GPU

I look forward to hearing from you.

The graphics card is exhausting internally, personally, I would add that side fan as an exhaust to help compartmentalize the heat expelled from the graphics card and keep that from heating my CPU. Then add a front intake fan to keep air pressure positive.

This is what I would do specifically:

1. Remove the current front fan and place it on the side panel slot as an exhaust. Use pwm cable extension to wire it cleanly: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812423167&cm_re=pwm_cable_extension-_-12-423-167-_-Product
2. Add the two corsair fans as intakes at the front of the case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181027&cm_re=corsair_sp120-_-35-181-027-_-Product
3. Use a PWM hub to connect all fans, including the cpu heatsink, to the CPUFAN pwn pin: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999309&cm_re=pwm_fan_hub-_-11-999-309-_-Product

Note: You may need extra pwn extensions to keep it tidy.

The 140mm fans included only spin at up to 1000rpm while the corsair 120mm fans spin at over twice that, so regulated at the same voltages you should be retaining positive air pressure which should prevent dust buildup in the case.

EDIT: You will want the PWM hub as your motherboard will not be able to regulate voltage(control fan speed) without four pin pwm fans excluding the CPUFAN header. That is why you will want to run them all off that pin.

 

[khubani]

Any low RPM fan will keep noise levels down. You'll want to stick with quality manufacturers for reliability, but with the R4, you will want SP(static pressure) intake fans on the front as it does not have direct airflow and has to pull through the restrictive vents.

I'd recommend these personally: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181027&cm_re=corsair_sp120-_-35-181-027-_-Product

I run them in my Define S through my radiators and they don't add too much noise.

In all honesty, you might want to take advantage of your side fan slot as your GPU is probably heating up your case the most. You didn't give specific part specs, but I'm guessing you have an aftermarket cooler that exhausts into the case. Putting an exhaust fan on the side will help that heat from rising and contaminating the air around your CPU heatsink.

If you choose to add the side fan, I would add a low RPM fan to the front just to keep positive air pressure which will deter dust from building up in your case.

If you start adding a lot of fans, you'll also probably want an PWM controller so you can at least control the RPMs of the fans and they are not spinning constantly at full speed which increases noise. Since your motherboard is not listed, I cannot say for certain, but a lot of motherboards do not allow PWM voltage control over the sysfan pins and will only work off the CPUfan pin. If this is the case, you will definitely need a pwm controller which you will connect all your fans to and then connect to the cpufan pin. This will allow you to actually ramp up the speeds of the fans to compensate for usage loads on the pc.

Hope this helps

Thank you for all of that very informative information. Allow me to clarify my specifications to give you more information:

-ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 Motherboard
-Heatsink is stock from i5-3570k
-ASUS R9 280X GPU

I look forward to hearing from you.

The graphics card is exhausting internally, personally, I would add that side fan as an exhaust to help compartmentalize the heat expelled from the graphics card and keep that from heating my CPU. Then add a front intake fan to keep air pressure positive.

This is what I would do specifically:

1. Remove the current front fan and place it on the side panel slot as an exhaust. Use pwm cable extension to wire it cleanly: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812423167&cm_re=pwm_cable_extension-_-12-423-167-_-Product
2. Add the two corsair fans as intakes at the front of the case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181027&cm_re=corsair_sp120-_-35-181-027-_-Product
3. Use a PWM hub to connect all fans, including the cpu heatsink, to the CPUFAN pwn pin: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811999309&cm_re=pwm_fan_hub-_-11-999-309-_-Product

Note: You may need extra pwn extensions to keep it tidy.

The 140mm fans included only spin at up to 1000rpm while the corsair 120mm fans spin at over twice that, so regulated at the same voltages you should be retaining positive air pressure which should prevent dust buildup in the case.

EDIT: You will want the PWM hub as your motherboard will not be able to regulate voltage(control fan speed) without four pin pwm fans excluding the CPUFAN header. That is why you will want to run them all off that pin.

I have one slot for a fan in the front. Where do I put the 2nd corsair fan?

 

[affinitydesigns]

The Define R4 has one 140mm and one 120/140mm front fan slots. You should be able to put two in the front. You may have to be a little creative to get the 120mm to fit in the 140mm slot, or you could go with a pair of 140mm static pressure fans. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007998%2050001459%20600035592&IsNodeId=1&Manufactory=1459&bop=And&SrchInDesc=sp140&Page=1&PageSize=30