[SOLVED] Fans for 011 D XL

[morfey89]

I am planning to build a desktop on 011 D XL case and I have a couple questions as per cooling. Since the case has a non standard design I am planning to use 3x120mm fans for side intake, 3x120mm fans for bottom intake, 2x140mm fans for top exhaust and 1x120mm fan for back exhaust. The mobo I am planning to use is asus rog crosshair viii hero wifi. Because the intake has to be from the side and not front I am planning to use fans that look nice aesthetically from the back side and I concluded to use Corsair QL120, for the bottom more powerful Fractal Design Dynamic X2-GP12 fans, for rear exhaust Fractal Design Prisma AL12 and for top exhaust NZXT Aer RGB 2. Now my questions:

1. Provided the fan configuration is adequate, How much CFM is actually sufficient to properly cool the system? The corsairs have almost 42 CFM compared to 85-90 of the other fans, are corsair fans enough and the others are overkill? I am not planning to do heavy overclocking and tasks that will extensively load CPU for half a day type of thing.

2. How to reasonably connect all of that to the mobo? The bottom intake fans are non-RGB, the rest are. Would I be able to connect the bottom intake fractals to the commander pro for fan speed control or does the commander pro only accept corsair fans period. what to do with the rgb of the exhaust fans?

I would greatly appreciate any advice and maybe a change of my planned config is also welcomed
Thank you in advance

 

[Phaaze88]

1)You haven't said what's going in the chassis besides the fans...

2)You get splitters.
Something like this for the fans: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16812162059
RGB splitter: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16812229001

I would greatly appreciate any advice and maybe a change of my planned config is also welcomed

-There's nothing powerful about the Dynamic X2-GP12 fans. Those are airflow fans, and the worst of the 4 models that you could put at the bottom. They've got no real static pressure to them, and thus should be used as exhaust fans.
-The Prismas are static pressure fans, and out of the 4 would be the best fans at the bottom.

 

[DSzymborski]

The Commander PRO will work cross-brand with PWM/DC fans. For fan control, though.

Having RGB fans from three different companies, however, is setting up a gigantic nightmare for you, with multiple different hubs and software. This is one place I highly recommend sticking to one ecosystem if possible.

 

[morfey89]

Thanks a lot for your advice! I am still debating between going for ryzen 3800x and Gigabyte RTX 2070 super 3fan model or just waiting a couple more months and getting zen 3 ryzen and rtx 3series card.

I realize that having fans from multiple companies is a headache and thus was asking if there is a reasonable way to accomplish this. Or are the corsair fans enough for the cooling and should I just stick to those and get corsairs all around? I have searched a lot on the internet but I can't seem to find an answer for how much static pressure and flow rate is considered adequate for cooling.
So if I understand correctly what you said is I should get fans with higher static pressure for intake and with lower static pressure for exhaust?

 

[Phaaze88]

I can't seem to find an answer for how much static pressure and flow rate is considered adequate for cooling.

That's because there is no defined, or general answer for that. It's going to vary per user; hardly anyone has the exact same setups, yeah?

So if I understand correctly what you said is I should get fans with higher static pressure for intake and with lower static pressure for exhaust?

Yes, though you can use SP fans for exhaust too; they aren't as limited in their use as low SP fans are.
The stronger the obstacles and the greater the number of them, the weaker the airflow becomes going through or around them.
The bottom of the O11 XL is the most restrictive of the possible air intakes that you're probably better off skipping it entirely... but if you want to fill it up for looks, then you're gonna have to put some strong fans down there.
I'd say ones with a static pressure of at least 2.0mm-H20, which are basically radiator fans.

 

[morfey89]

Thank you for your explanation.
I wanted to have fans for the bottom of the case because I am thinking that having them there would aid in cooling the gpu, correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Phaaze88]

They can, but they gotta have some 'umph!' to them.

Some people who do vertical gpu with an air cooled card in that chassis also make the mistake of keeping bottom intake. That should either be left empty or set to exhaust.

 

[morfey89]

I am planning on having a regular gpu arrangement. Never found any logic in having an air cooled gpu shoved against the glass window of the case.