[SOLVED] Fractal Design Meshify 2 questions (alternatives?)

Phil_33

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Hi, so I'm planning on building a PC at the end of this year and I'm interested in a Fractal Design Meshify 2 case.

I've done some reseearch (obviously because it looks so good too), and I was wondering, out of stock, I'll get 2x140mm and 1x120mm.
Now I'm going to add additional fans, specifically 2x120mm (3 if nessecairy) at the top as exhaust.
Is it better to replace the 2x140mm fans to 120mm as well to get even better airflow? I heard the best airflow is 3 frontintake, 2 top and 1 back exhaust...
Does anyone have results that are better then the 2x140mm, front 2-3x120mm top exhaust and 1x120mm back exhaust setup?
If it is better, then that's a pitty because I would have loved to keep the 140mm fans since I now would need to buy additional fans... (Flipside: I can go full RGB fans if I want too)

Also, is there any better budget case for airflow that has the exact same looking/interior/cablemanagement features like the Meshify 2? If so, which do I need to consider?
 
Solution
the best system-wide cooling setup will depend on the CPU cooler you are using.

if using an air cooler;
3x 140mm front intakes,
1x 140mm rear exhaust,
1x 140mm top-rear exhaust,
depending on dedicated GPU temperatures possibly a 140mm bottom intake.

if using liquid cooler;
top mounted 280\360mm radiator,
3x 140mm front intakes,
1x 140mm rear exhaust,
possibly a 140mm bottom intake.
Is it better to replace the 2x140mm fans to 120mm as well to get even better airflow?
why would you suspect that 120mm fans would give better airflow than 140mm?
if you are comparing the same make\model with the same specs; the larger the fan, the more air it moves.
is there any better
a list of mostly better looking mid-large ATX cases...
the best system-wide cooling setup will depend on the CPU cooler you are using.

if using an air cooler;
3x 140mm front intakes,
1x 140mm rear exhaust,
1x 140mm top-rear exhaust,
depending on dedicated GPU temperatures possibly a 140mm bottom intake.

if using liquid cooler;
top mounted 280\360mm radiator,
3x 140mm front intakes,
1x 140mm rear exhaust,
possibly a 140mm bottom intake.
Is it better to replace the 2x140mm fans to 120mm as well to get even better airflow?
why would you suspect that 120mm fans would give better airflow than 140mm?
if you are comparing the same make\model with the same specs; the larger the fan, the more air it moves.
is there any better
a list of mostly better looking mid-large ATX cases, most with better cooling options and other features:
Cases Shopping List

the be quiet! Silent base 802 is the nicest i've seen in the last year or so.
 
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Solution

Phil_33

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Nov 8, 2016
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the best system-wide cooling setup will depend on the CPU cooler you are using.

if using an air cooler;
3x 140mm front intakes,
1x 140mm rear exhaust,
1x 140mm top-rear exhaust,
depending on dedicated GPU temperatures possibly a 140mm bottom intake.

if using liquid cooler;
top mounted 280\360mm radiator,
3x 140mm front intakes,
1x 140mm rear exhaust,
possibly a 140mm bottom intake.

So all I need to do there is add 1 140mm at the bottom front and add 1 140mm at the top as exhaust? Or shall I replace those fans? Maybe fractal don't make good fans...
 

Phil_33

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the Meshify 2 should come with a single rear exhaust and 2x front intakes.
so for 3x front, 1x rear, 1x top = 2x new fans
3x front, 1x rear, 1x top, 1x bottom = 3x new fans

depending on the cooler used you may also want to add or replace those included.
I'm gonna have aircooling. But you already stated the options so, thanks for that!
The aircooler I'm having is the arctic freezer 34.
 
Last edited:
The case layout looks similar to the Meshify C which I own and have played around with. I go with 2x140mms up front, one 120mm on rear top, and one on the rear. I left the front top mount unpopulated.

My thinking/reasoning, and this may not apply as much to the non-C version due to it being longer, is:
  • Having a 3x120mm setup didn't seem to make sense.
    • The bottom fan is directing a lot air in the bottom compartment. Since my PSU is a modular one, it's basically a wall so there's no airflow going through there.
    • The middle fan was split in the middle by my graphics card (my motherboard's primary x16 slot is second from top), which meant it had to push against the video card's exhaust.
    • The 2x140mm setup allowed the main case compartment to be basically straight-through, so no airflow going into the dead-end bottom compartment. I could dedicate one fan to supplying air to the video card while the other to the CPU. The gap between them was enough to not make the exhaust from the GPU a problem.
  • I don't have a fan in the top front because it also doesn't make sense.
    • Having the fan being an exhaust fan means it's drawing air away from the CPU cooler. Basically a chunk of the air the intake fan is pulling in is being drawn away. So what's the point?
    • Having the fan be an intake fan I felt is overkill, because there's already a dedicated fan blowing air through to the CPU.
    • There's a happy side effect anyway: the airflow created by the CPU cooler and front fan causes air to be sucked in from that spot.
This setup, as far as I can tell, is mostly linear in terms of airflow. Sure there's an exhaust fan on the top rear, but the two front fans are able to push air through the case which I think is ideal.

For context, this is the hardware in my system:
  • CPU: Ryzen 5600X (undervolted)
  • CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 34 eSports Duo
  • GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 Super SC
  • Motherboard: Asrock B550 Steel Legend
I've fitted my case with Noctua fans.
 
Nice case. It comes with2 140mm front intakes and one 140mm rear exhaust.
Leave it be, you need no more.

Think about things this way:
In time, you will be deciding on a processor that needs to be cooled.
The af 34 duo uses two 120mm fans. Consider one of the front 140mm intakes to handle that.
The other potentially hot component that needs cooling will be the graphics card.
Good luck on that now!
Still a good graphics card will have a couple of 100mm fans so consider that taken care of by the second front 140mm intake.
Try what you get first.
It is easy to change things out later.
Perhaps add a third 140mm front intake.
I like to concentrate on intake airflow first.
Whatever comes in the front will exit somewhere, taking component heat with it.
A rear exhaust is good mainly to direct the airflow through the cpu cooler, over the motherboard and graphics cards.
Extra top exhausts tend to divert the front intake up an out of the case before it can exchange heat.
Too many fans add cost and noise.
An added benefit of limiting all intake to one source is a cleaner pc when that intake is filtered.