Fractal Design Define R5 - Placement of Fans?

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Daseark

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Dec 21, 2014
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Hi, I am a bit confused on setting up a good airflow in my case, the Fractal R5. I have a Cooler Master Hyper 212 evo for the CPU cooler, and a Corsair RM650 as the PSU.

I'm only going to do light overclocking, so is getting additional case fans even necessary?
If so, can you give me any recommendations on what fans should I get and where to place them. And maybe also how I should mount the CPU Cooler and the PSU.
Thanks!
 
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It has 2 x 140mm fans mate which is ample for most setups.

Psu sectioned off ,fan facing down into the bottom case vent so its isolated.
212 evo - fan mounted nearest ram side - as an intake into the heatsink fins.
This blows all warm air to the rear exhaust fan.

Depending on GPU you may want to add 1 additional 140mm fan as an intake on the case bottom next to PSU.
That's the max I'd add though - you'll get decent positive pressure with 2 intakes / 1 exhaust & 140mm fans push an awful lot of air compared to 120mm ones.
 
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Uhh, I have a single MSI GTX 970, so is the included fans enough? Or should I get an intake at the bottom of the case, like you said. Or maybe I should even add an extra fan at the front of the case?

P.S - The case would be standing on a wooden table, just in case anybody asks ^_^


 
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Ok then, I'll guess I go for an extra intake at the bottom!
Can you recommend any Case Fans? What about the Noctua NF-A15?

 
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Add a second fan but place it at the front. The Noctua NF-A14 is what I would recommend. The second option would be an AF140 from Corsair. Both of these fans are very quiet but the Noctua NF-A14 is better in terms of static pressure too and I prefer a versatile fan.

Placing a fan at the bottom will create more noise than if it was at the front due to several factors.
 
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Hmmm...now I get one saying to add a fan at the front.
Should I get a fan at the front or bottom?
Or maybe I should compromise and get 2 more intakes then an extra exhaust for the top ?
 
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Ok then, I'll guess I go for either a front or a bottom fan.
Should I go for the Noctua NF A14 or A15? Or do you recommend any other noctua fans?
 
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NF-A14 for the front. If you want to get a bottom fan, the Silverstone AP123 is generally what I recommend as it is designed to be silent while intaking from a honeycomb grill. If you want to, you could try the Noctua NF-S12B for the bottom, but a second 140mm fan in the front would be better.
 
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he doesnt need to buy a front fan,the case has 2 silent series 140mm fans included - theyre damn good fans - the case also has a built in fan controller - I assume its the same one as in the r4 - if so its capable of controlling 3 fans
I would personally go for another fractal design ss 140 to match the fans already in there
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fan-fdfanssr2140bk


 
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I guess I forgot to mention this, but the case comes included with two 140mm fans, like you said. One fan is at the front, as an intake. While the other is at the Back, as Rear Exhaust.

The debate between choosing wether to get a fan at the front or the bottom is real. I;ll guess I'll just get one more fan, and the experiment with the placement of it...what about that idea? ^_^

As for the fan, Ill go for either a Noctua NF A14, A15 or a Matching Fractal Design Fan.
 
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i would honestly go for a fractal design on the bottom mount - you dont get ANY vibration from these cases as the bottom steel is 8mm thick,sound is damped massively by the foam filter
I did a very similar build in november with the R4 ( virtually the same case) with the same fan setup exactly.
This built had a fairly old 7870xt single fan gpu in it (my old one) which is one of the hottest/noisiest cards on the planet ,until this case & fan setup the card was either too noisy or too hot for any other system.
& we are talking 85c+ & jet engine noise.
with that setup it sat at 70c max & while I would never call it quiet (even the r4/r5 arent capable of that) it was for the first time entirely bearable under load.
 
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Hmmmm...I'll just experiment with that.
What about the side intake? Can I just filter that, and add a fan there?
 
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Ok then, I'll just get one fan, and then try it out on both the bottom and front ^_^

EDIT - Actually, maybe I should really just get 2 extra fans. That way I can have 3 intake and 1 exhaust, wouldn't that be better?
 
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It comes with 2 fans and he is looking at getting another fan. Adding a second fan to the front would be a good choice and the Noctua's are top tier when it comes to fans.
 
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You don't want too high of a positive pressure as hot air will build up and not be removed effectively with only one exhaust. You would want a second exhaust if you did that.
 
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The reason I'm saying go with a 140mm FD ss are twofold - with various reasons for point 1 - mate.
1.the included fans are the same model, the inbuilt fan controller will take 3 fans,its basic & only controls the 3 fans at the same speed simultaneously via 5/7/12v regulation.
The included ss fans are 3 pin so you will be using the fan controller unless you're happy with full speed (still quiet enough) or plan on replacing all of them (expensive & pointless) .when using a 3 fan vr controller you are better having 3 identical fans IMO (identical rpm at the same voltage).
2. I've used the same setup in the r4 with a highly overclocked fx8320 with an evo & the 7870xt (one of the hottest cards around) - results were superb.
The r4/r5 are virtually identical apart from the fans are on vertically adjustable rails on the r5.
This is good ,line the front fan so its 70% above the GPU line/30% below.
Bottom mount fan blows air upwards - front fan displaces this airflow + its own both under & over the GPU.This to me is near as optimal as you can get.
& no you don't need 3 intakes - you are not realising how much airflow a decent 140mm fan creates (even at 5v) compared to a standard 120mm fan.
You will not get the same results with 2 front fans (the hard drive cages blocks 20% of the airflow)
The noctuas are good fans but drastically overpriced - if you want any kind of mb rpm control your other option is to buy the noctua ,swap the rear included fan to the bottom mount ,front & bottom connected to fan controller.
Rear 4 pin connected to mb header.
Youll have voltage control on the intakes ,mb rpm control on the exhaust.
More money though & no benefit IMO.

Wallaby - I'm not doubting how good than noctua fans are (they probably are THE best case fan around) but the fractal design ss are drastically under rated ,people steer clear because they're cheapish but they knock any ac/cooler master/silversone/thermal right case fsnd out of the ball park both for performance & noise.
 
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Ok then! Well, is this the fan I should go with then?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fractal+fan+140mm&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Afractal+fan+140mm
It looks slightly different to the R5 Case Fan thought, which is the only thing which I am concerned about. 😛
 
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They are the same fan mate - there is a black model which is normally a bit cheaper.
The only difference is these come with an inline 7/12v switch (your case fans will not have this)
Set the switch to high (12v) - it will run the same speed as your case fans & use the fan controller to control speeds.
I guarantee you won't have to set it above low for normal use & medium for intensive stuff unless you're on dome marathon 24hour gaming session.
 
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It would seem the r5 fans are new & named fractal g4 14 dynamic - you can't buy these anywhere so they must be just for the case.
The r4 has the silent series fitted
Checking specs they are both 1000rpm max at 12v,the noctua & many others are 1200rpm+
I would still go with the one from amazon.
 
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You can't buy the fan that is in the Define R5 as of now and there is no reason not to get the Noctua NF-A14 or CorsairAF140 over the Fractal design fan.

The Noctua's are not overpriced. You get the quality uo pay for.

Also, added a front fan will no be worse than a bottom fan and allows for a quieter intake. His temps won't be different either way and intaking from a honecyomb grill at the bottom increases the amount of noise created (example in video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4B82yQRUQc


A bottom fan will not be any better than a front fan in terms of performance.

I never said the Define R5 fans are bad. I like them but you cannot buy them as of now.
 
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Right now, I don't really mind about where to place them, since I can simply experiment with that later. As for the fan, I might actually go with either the corsair af140 black and white...or just go with the noctua one.
I don't really care about the looks of the case fan, since the case doesn't have a window on it 😛
I'll just go with the flow and just choose a fan when I buy it...which is going to be like right now 😀
 
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