Is 2 case fans enough?

[KindaHardcoreGamer]

I was thinking about using 2 case fans compared to 4, because my friend told me 2 is all I need. I originally thought 4. What is the best idea?

(I was originally looking at Noctua fans, but people told me Phanteks fans are good/better so I am looking at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709022
or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709036)

 

[JQB45]

2 is fine. I use just 1 Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM fan and my computer idles at 32-36C and with the after market heat sink I never exceed 60C except when stress testing.

 

[why_wolf]

two is fine. You really only need more if you are aiming to keep the temps down as low as you can usually for OC purposes.

 

[JQB45]

I guess another time when you will need more fans is if you're running SLI/Crossfire, a massive overclock on a CPU that runs hot, or large water cooler radiators.

 

[KindaHardcoreGamer]

2 is fine. I use just 1 Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM fan and my computer idles at 32-36C and with the after market heat sink I never exceed 60C except when stress testing.

Thanks for all your help everyone
The problem is, that fan doesn't match very well with my primarily black/grey build (although there is some white). That fan is a bit too bright.
Is there any other fans that I could use?

 

[Zerk2012]

I was thinking about using 2 case fans compared to 4, because my friend told me 2 is all I need. I originally thought 4. What is the best idea?

(I was originally looking at Noctua fans, but people told me Phanteks fans are good/better so I am looking at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709022
or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709036)

How many fans you need depends on the case and all the parts your using. You did not give enough information to get a intelligent answer.

 

[JQB45]

Can you list the parts you're considering or already purchased, this will give us an idea of what fan color you want and how many you will need. The Noctua Industrial ones are dark charcoal/black, the model I mentioned earlier has a light grey fan shroud and a medium dark fan blade and hub.

The industrial models are expensive and high RPM and tend to be loud, PWM helps some but you may not like them if you value quiet.

With a proper parts list we could help you more. I suggest you go to pcpartpicker.com and make a list of your parts - we're not interested in prices so much as we are the parts, especially if you already purchased them. Then you can post a link to the parts list and we could then see the colors of the parts you have chosen and determine the cooling needs.

 

[KindaHardcoreGamer]

Can you list the parts you're considering or already purchased, this will give us an idea of what fan color you want and how many you will need. The Noctua Industrial ones are dark charcoal/black, the model I mentioned earlier has a light grey fan shroud and a medium dark fan blade and hub.

The industrial models are expensive and high RPM and tend to be loud, PWM helps some but you may not like them if you value quiet.

With a proper parts list we could help you more. I suggest you go to pcpartpicker.com and make a list of your parts - we're not interested in prices so much as we are the parts, especially if you already purchased them. Then you can post a link to the parts list and we could then see the colors of the parts you have chosen and determine the cooling needs.

I was thinking about using 2 case fans compared to 4, because my friend told me 2 is all I need. I originally thought 4. What is the best idea?

(I was originally looking at Noctua fans, but people told me Phanteks fans are good/better so I am looking at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709022
or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709036)

How many fans you need depends on the case and all the parts your using. You did not give enough information to get a intelligent answer.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/x7LwzM
That's the part list I made a while back. The only thing I might change is getting black memory instead of red.

 

[Oliver_21]

Its as simple as saying IT DEPENDS ON THE THINGS YOU ARE GOING TO BE DOING

For normal gaming and HTPC yes 2 fans is fine, especially 140mm fans that are expensive

For SLI and overclocked setups you might go for 3 or 5 depending on the airflow of the fans but those ones look very good

 

[Oliver_21]

Can you list the parts you're considering or already purchased, this will give us an idea of what fan color you want and how many you will need. The Noctua Industrial ones are dark charcoal/black, the model I mentioned earlier has a light grey fan shroud and a medium dark fan blade and hub.

The industrial models are expensive and high RPM and tend to be loud, PWM helps some but you may not like them if you value quiet.

With a proper parts list we could help you more. I suggest you go to pcpartpicker.com and make a list of your parts - we're not interested in prices so much as we are the parts, especially if you already purchased them. Then you can post a link to the parts list and we could then see the colors of the parts you have chosen and determine the cooling needs.

I was thinking about using 2 case fans compared to 4, because my friend told me 2 is all I need. I originally thought 4. What is the best idea?

(I was originally looking at Noctua fans, but people told me Phanteks fans are good/better so I am looking at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709022
or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709036)

How many fans you need depends on the case and all the parts your using. You did not give enough information to get a intelligent answer.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/x7LwzM
That's the part list I made a while back. The only thing I might change is getting black memory instead of red.

and i7 and 16GB of RAM is too much for gaming, go for i5 and 8GB

 

[Zerk2012]

I would add 2X 140mm to the front blowing in since you have almost a 400 Watt PC.
Keep the I7 and 16GB of memory.
In some games I use over 8GB of memory already since I also run a few monitoring programs.

 

[heavymetal2000]

Are the price of case fans why not just have 4?

My tower isn't overclocked, nor is it running crossfire or a super hot chip, and I opted for 5 anyways.

2 up front pulling get in through a regularly cleaned screen, 1 out the back behind the cpu and two up top above the cpu/gpu areas.

It's not as important as it once was but I've ways found maintaining slightly negative case pressure works the best.

 

[KindaHardcoreGamer]

I would add 2X 140mm to the front blowing in since you have almost a 400 Watt PC.
Keep the I7 and 16GB of memory.
In some games I use over 8GB of memory already since I also run a few monitoring programs.

It's actually over that. Pcpartpicker doesn't know the wattage for my graphics card yet, so it doesn't include it.
(if it does, it's wrong, because the spec sheet for the 1080 suggests at least a 600 watt psu I believe.)
I was thinking having 1 front bottom intake fan and 1 back top exhaust fan, assuming I went with two.
If I used 4, i'd have 2 front intake, 1 back exhaust and 1 top exhaust.
I'd prefer 2 because of noise and such, plus I feel 4 is unnecessary.
Regardless of what I choose to do, can you suggest a fan that would be better than my two that I listed? Unless those are fine, I don't know much about fans.

 

[Zerk2012]

I would add 2X 140mm to the front blowing in since you have almost a 400 Watt PC.
Keep the I7 and 16GB of memory.
In some games I use over 8GB of memory already since I also run a few monitoring programs.

It's actually over that. Pcpartpicker doesn't know the wattage for my graphics card yet, so it doesn't include it.
(if it does, it's wrong, because the spec sheet for the 1080 suggests at least a 600 watt psu I believe.)
I was thinking having 1 front bottom intake fan and 1 back top exhaust fan, assuming I went with two.
If I used 4, i'd have 2 front intake, 1 back exhaust and 1 top exhaust.
I'd prefer 2 because of noise and such, plus I feel 4 is unnecessary.
Regardless of what I choose to do, can you suggest a fan that would be better than my two that I listed? Unless those are fine, I don't know much about fans.

Not accurate at all. The GTX 1080 has a TDP of 180 Watts.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10304/nvidia-announces-the-geforce-gtx-1080-1070/2?_ga=1.148749877.387854762.1470946875
That's all that should be stated about the power consumption of the video card nothing about a recommended power supply. They have no clue what the rest of the parts your using in the PC are.
And yes pcpicker added the watts here it is without the card.
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/thXxYr
One more time add 2X140mm fans to the front. Their no reason to add another to the top.

 

[JQB45]

I agree with Zerk2012. Keep the i7 and 16GB of RAM, games are becoming more demanding every day. Some are already using more then 8GB if the RAM is available.

 

[KindaHardcoreGamer]

I would add 2X 140mm to the front blowing in since you have almost a 400 Watt PC.
Keep the I7 and 16GB of memory.
In some games I use over 8GB of memory already since I also run a few monitoring programs.

It's actually over that. Pcpartpicker doesn't know the wattage for my graphics card yet, so it doesn't include it.
(if it does, it's wrong, because the spec sheet for the 1080 suggests at least a 600 watt psu I believe.)
I was thinking having 1 front bottom intake fan and 1 back top exhaust fan, assuming I went with two.
If I used 4, i'd have 2 front intake, 1 back exhaust and 1 top exhaust.
I'd prefer 2 because of noise and such, plus I feel 4 is unnecessary.
Regardless of what I choose to do, can you suggest a fan that would be better than my two that I listed? Unless those are fine, I don't know much about fans.

Not accurate at all. The GTX 1080 has a TDP of 180 Watts.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10304/nvidia-announces-the-geforce-gtx-1080-1070/2?_ga=1.148749877.387854762.1470946875
That's all that should be stated about the power consumption of the video card nothing about a recommended power supply. They have no clue what the rest of the parts your using in the PC are.
And yes pcpicker added the watts here it is without the card.
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/thXxYr
One more time add 2X140mm fans to the front. Their no reason to add another to the top.

Have 2 in the front with no exhaust fans?

 

[Oliver_21]

I would add 2X 140mm to the front blowing in since you have almost a 400 Watt PC.
Keep the I7 and 16GB of memory.
In some games I use over 8GB of memory already since I also run a few monitoring programs.

It's actually over that. Pcpartpicker doesn't know the wattage for my graphics card yet, so it doesn't include it.
(if it does, it's wrong, because the spec sheet for the 1080 suggests at least a 600 watt psu I believe.)
I was thinking having 1 front bottom intake fan and 1 back top exhaust fan, assuming I went with two.
If I used 4, i'd have 2 front intake, 1 back exhaust and 1 top exhaust.
I'd prefer 2 because of noise and such, plus I feel 4 is unnecessary.
Regardless of what I choose to do, can you suggest a fan that would be better than my two that I listed? Unless those are fine, I don't know much about fans.

Not accurate at all. The GTX 1080 has a TDP of 180 Watts.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10304/nvidia-announces-the-geforce-gtx-1080-1070/2?_ga=1.148749877.387854762.1470946875
That's all that should be stated about the power consumption of the video card nothing about a recommended power supply. They have no clue what the rest of the parts your using in the PC are.
And yes pcpicker added the watts here it is without the card.
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/thXxYr
One more time add 2X140mm fans to the front. Their no reason to add another to the top.

Have 2 in the front with no exhaust fans?

You need to have both intake and exhaust fans or else the airflow is not good

You are leading air to the interior of the case but not disipating all that warm air

 

[Oliver_21]

I agree with Zerk2012. Keep the i7 and 16GB of RAM, games are becoming more demanding every day. Some are already using more then 8GB if the RAM is available.

Keeping in mind that it took a long time for games to utilize 4 cores and 8GB of RAM I wouldn't be that sure

On top of that he can get an i5 K (or a non K) an overclock it then he will get the "same performance" as an i7 that is what unlocked CPUs are meant to be used for

 

[Zerk2012]

I would add 2X 140mm to the front blowing in since you have almost a 400 Watt PC.
Keep the I7 and 16GB of memory.
In some games I use over 8GB of memory already since I also run a few monitoring programs.

It's actually over that. Pcpartpicker doesn't know the wattage for my graphics card yet, so it doesn't include it.
(if it does, it's wrong, because the spec sheet for the 1080 suggests at least a 600 watt psu I believe.)
I was thinking having 1 front bottom intake fan and 1 back top exhaust fan, assuming I went with two.
If I used 4, i'd have 2 front intake, 1 back exhaust and 1 top exhaust.
I'd prefer 2 because of noise and such, plus I feel 4 is unnecessary.
Regardless of what I choose to do, can you suggest a fan that would be better than my two that I listed? Unless those are fine, I don't know much about fans.

Not accurate at all. The GTX 1080 has a TDP of 180 Watts.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10304/nvidia-announces-the-geforce-gtx-1080-1070/2?_ga=1.148749877.387854762.1470946875
That's all that should be stated about the power consumption of the video card nothing about a recommended power supply. They have no clue what the rest of the parts your using in the PC are.
And yes pcpicker added the watts here it is without the card.
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/thXxYr
One more time add 2X140mm fans to the front. Their no reason to add another to the top.

Have 2 in the front with no exhaust fans?

I said add 2X140mm to the front nothing about removing the back fan. Keep what the case comes with buy 2X140mm fans and add to the front blowing in..