[SOLVED] I am getting the corsair h100i rbg platinum, I need to know how to manage my airflow with my case fans

[rileysmith147]

So I'm getting the h100i rgb platinum, I have a case with 4 intake fans and 2 exhaust fans. I've seen a lot of forums saying positive pressure is better and a lot saying negative is better. I have a low dust risk due to my PC sitting on top of another PC that is flipped sideways. Should I have 6 intake, 2 exhaust? 4 intake, 4 exhaust? I don't have much room to move the fans around, so I'm relatively limited to these two options.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

it depends on the case design.
you want slight positive pressure, but not so much that pockets of warm air are forced into regions of the case where the warm air cannot be cycled out of the case efficiently.

considering that the most common mid sized or full sized designs these days have front, top, & rear ventilation;
3x front fans drawing in cooler air,
1x rear fan expelling warmer air,
and 1x top-rear fan also expelling warmer air
usually is best common setup.

using a 240, 280, or 360mm liquid cooler in this type of setup the best option usually is;
3x front intake fans,
1x rear out-take fan,
and the radiator positioned on/in the top of the case with it's fans blowing air out through the radiator.

also, the PSU should have a vent under it in the bottom of the case. the PSU's fan should be facing this vent so it can pull cooler air into itself and exhaust that air out through it's own rear vent.

any particular case you are interested in may be different, so the setup would need to be re-evaluated based on that case.

 

[rileysmith147]

it depends on the case design.
you want slight positive pressure, but not so much that pockets of warm air are forced into regions of the case where the warm air cannot be cycled out of the case efficiently.

considering that the most common mid sized or full sized designs these days have front, top, & rear ventilation;
3x front fans drawing in cooler air,
1x rear fan expelling warmer air,
and 1x top-rear fan also expelling warmer air
usually is best common setup.

using a 240, 280, or 360mm liquid cooler in this type of setup the best option usually is;
3x front intake fans,
1x rear out-take fan,
and the radiator positioned on/in the top of the case with it's fans blowing air out through the radiator.

also, the PSU should have a vent under it in the bottom of the case. the PSU's fan should be facing this vent so it can pull cooler air into itself and exhaust that air out through it's own rear vent.

any particular case you are interested in may be different, so the setup would need to be re-evaluated based on that case.

The case I have is the darkFlash Phantom case with the psu fan facing the bottom of the case. It has 4 fans in the front and 2 fans in the back. Should I position my AIO to bring in more air if I already have 4 intake fans? or have it facing up and suck the air out of the case? I'm looking for the best overall temps for gpu and cpu, dust is not an issue. Thanks!

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

It has 4 fans in the front and 2 fans in the back.

two fans in the rear of the case? or one fan in the rear and one fan in the top(ceiling) towards the rear of the case?

Should I position my AIO to bring in more air if I already have 4 intake fans? or have it facing up and suck the air out of the case?

if it has the proper vent in the top;
the radiator should be attached to the top(ceiling) of the case with fans blowing/pushing air up through the radiator, not sucking/pulling air out of it.

 

[Phaaze88]

darkFlash Phantom

RIP airflow. Only the top and rear panels allow for any reasonable air pass-through...
That case is going to be negative pressure by default.

Mount the radiator at the top as exhaust, as that's going to be the best location for it in that case.

 

[rubix_1011]

That's the issue with thinking that upgrading a cooler is the only step necessary.

The best cooling available will still allow a CPU to overheat if there isn't adequate airflow to allow the cooler to dissipate thermal energy quickly and efficiently. This includes enough cool/fresh air to feed the cooler and the ability to get the warm air out. A PC inside a low-airflow or sealed box is basically an oven.

Let's hope that case has better airflow than it looks at first glance...because it doesn't look very promising.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

it looks as though there are pretty significant gaps between the front glass panel and the metal frame. hopefully this would allow a decent amount of air intake.
though there are no filters over these gaps, so a fairly regular very thorough cleaning would be needed.

i had an Anidees case similar to this(though quite a bit shorter) and it actually got very good temps with moderate airflow case fans and a 240mm AIO in the top with some high pressure fans attached.

 

[rileysmith147]

That's the issue with thinking that upgrading a cooler is the only step necessary.

The best cooling available will still allow a CPU to overheat if there isn't adequate airflow to allow the cooler to dissipate thermal energy quickly and efficiently. This includes enough cool/fresh air to feed the cooler and the ability to get the warm air out. A PC inside a low-airflow or sealed box is basically an oven.

Let's hope that case has better airflow than it looks at first glance...because it doesn't look very promising.

After running it with the AIO as an exhaust I saw a great change in temps on the GPU and CPU surprisingly! I overclocked the 9700k to 5.0 GHz and under heavy load, it sits around 45-50c and my 2070 Super overclocked 150MHz on core and 800MHz on the memory sits around 55c under load. Previous temps with the same overclock were about 60-65c on CPU and the GPU was sitting at about 75-80c under load. My previous CPU cooler was the Dark Rock Pro 3.

 

[Phaaze88]

Noice!