Need help for my case Phanteks P400 airflow / fan setup sp/af120 corsair fans

[Renz Abbey]

Please look at the image.

http://imgur.com/texJkdV

Hey guys, I need help about my fan set up. Please look at the image above.

So I have a phanteks case with 6 fans. 3 intakes at the front, 2 exhaust at the top and 1 exhaust at the rear.

I have an idea of how SP and AF fan works, but what's bugging me is the 2 fan intakes at the front. The top and the middle. Currently, all three of them are SP120. I'm sure at the bottom fan it should be SP fan because my 2 HDD are blocking the way. What I'm not sure is the middle and top of the front of my case.

Should I also use SP fan there? Even though there are no components blocking the way unlike the bottom fan which is currently blocked by my HDDs but the front cover is blocking the fan so I put SP fans there because the front of my case is covered, unlike other cases that have access to airflow directly from the outside.

http://imgur.com/pMs2j2a

http://imgur.com/cMYC15J

As you can see on this 2 images. The front cover of my case is blocked and the only way for the air to be sucked in is the small gap at the top and at the bottom. Does it matter? I mean the air that the fan needs to be sucked in with the blocked front cover. Does SP fan work better if there's something blocking its path or it only matters on the exhaust side but not on the intake side? Or It's better to put AF fans because there's no component blocking the airflow inside but the front cover is blocking the intake of the fan?

Or should I continue with the 2 remaining SP fan at the front because the front/airflow is blocked by my case front cover but... there's no component that'll block the airflow inside my case. Sorry so confused right now. Thanks, guys!

One more thing, do I have a neutral airflow? Or it's a negative airflow because I have an evo 212 which I know is an exhaust too does it count? Or it should be better If I'll flip the 2 fans at the top to make it intake(well it does have a dust filter so maybe it's built as an intake? correct me if I'm wrong though) so I'll have 5 intakes and 1 exhaust or 2 if the evo 212 is counted.

Thanks!

 

[the nerd 389]

From the top:

None of your case fans should be SP120s. None at all. You don't have any radiators, and that case is pretty low resistance.

If you want more airflow (which won't really help with temperatures in that build), go with Noctua iPPC 3000s. I wouldn't bother with the SP or AF series. Neither the SP nor the AF perform particularly well.

Regarding neutral/positive ventilation, it's pretty easy to check. Go pick up some sticks of incense, light one, and hold it near an opening in the case that doesn't have a fan. If the smoke is pulled into the case, you have negative airflow. If it's blown away, you have positive airflow. If it rises perfectly vertically, neither moving towards or away from the case, you have neutral airflow.

 

[synphul]

Generally the same fans (and same speed, speed will factor into individual airflow) drawing air in and exhausting air out are considered 'neutral' for airflow. So long as air is moving through the case I wouldn't stress over it. If the p400 has an intake filter sp's might perform a bit better. Phanteks mesh air filters are pretty restrictive, at least the ones on my enthoo pro are. I removed the filter from the top of mine since my top fans are exhaust, it was causing air to push back into the case even with a pair of 140mm noctua's that have decent static pressure.

The cpu cooler doesn't count as 'exhaust' because it's inside the case. Intakes are fans pulling air into the case, exhausts are those at the case's exterior pushing air out. Gpu and cpu fans are neither unless it's something like an aio and the radiator/fan(s) are placed at the rear or top in place of the fans that exist there.

I'd leave the sp120's where they are. The sp's would be more to counter the restriction of the dust filter rather than the front panel, air will flow in fine through the vents around the front edge the way the case is designed. You've got plenty of fans, at full speed they're probably borderline overkill. The good thing about several fans is being able to turn them down so they're quiet and still move a good volume of air through the case.

Are you having a problem with heat on either the cpu or gpu? That's really the determining factor, you'll never cool a case beyond ambient with fans. So long as the main components are cool under load the addition of more fans or stressing over minor details becomes more aesthetic than functional. Personally I prefer other fans but there are plenty to choose from and something to suit everyone. You already have the corsair fans, they're sufficient. I wouldn't throw them out and purchase different ones, they're not that horrible. It's not like replacing a $5 apevia with a shot rifle bearing.

 

[Renz Abbey]

Generally the same fans (and same speed, speed will factor into individual airflow) drawing air in and exhausting air out are considered 'neutral' for airflow. So long as air is moving through the case I wouldn't stress over it. If the p400 has an intake filter sp's might perform a bit better. Phanteks mesh air filters are pretty restrictive, at least the ones on my enthoo pro are. I removed the filter from the top of mine since my top fans are exhaust, it was causing air to push back into the case even with a pair of 140mm noctua's that have decent static pressure.

The CPU cooler doesn't count as 'exhaust' because it's inside the case. Intakes are fans pulling air into the case, exhausts are those on the case's exterior pushing air out. GPU and CPU fans are neither unless it's something like an aio and the radiator/fan(s) are placed at the rear or top in place of the fans that exist there.

I'd leave the sp120's where they are. The sp's would be more to counter the restriction of the dust filter rather than the front panel, air will flow in fine through the vents around the front edge the way the case is designed. You've got plenty of fans, at full speed they're probably borderline overkill. The good thing about several fans is being able to turn them down so they're quiet and still move a good volume of air through the case.

Are you having a problem with heat on either the cpu or gpu? That's really the determining factor, you'll never cool a case beyond ambient with fans. So long as the main components are cool under load the addition of more fans or stressing over minor details becomes more aesthetic than functional. Personally I prefer other fans but there are plenty to choose from and something to suit everyone. You already have the corsair fans, they're sufficient. I wouldn't throw them out and purchase different ones, they're not that horrible. It's not like replacing a $5 apevia with a shot rifle bearing.

I see, totally forgot the RPM of the fan, instead focus on the number of intakes and exhaust xD silly me. Thank you!

That's what I thought so when I put the SP fans on the front because of the restrictions of the front cover and the small filters. Thank you for clarifying it.

Sadly my board can only control 2 fans. 1 slot is already taken by my CPU cooler. Is there any other way to control it? I read somewhere that you can also reduce the voltage of the fans controlled by the GPU if I remember right. Btw all my corsair fans are 3 pins only. I don't mind them running at full speed though because even though they're running at full speed all the time I can't hear my fans at all. I got the quite edition for the AF's and the normal SP fans. And oh I'm living in a country that has around 29-33 ambient temp.

I think I'm not having a prob at all with my temp. But thinking that If in any way I can get a better cooling with just flipping or changing orders of my fans why not. I stress test my comp for 4 hours using MSI kombustor at full load my max GPU temp is at 81 Celsius and CPU around 50-60 Celsius. But yeah I'm somehow guilty about just putting all the fans there for aesthetic hehe.

Btw way my current setup is:

MSI B150m night elf
i5-6600k skylake
inno3d GTX 960 2g herculez
Cooler Master 212 evo
2 sticks Hyperx fury DDR4 2133mhz ram
Seasonic m12-II Evo Bronze Fully Modular PSU
2 pcs 1 tera HDD
SSD Hyperx 120g (for OS only and other day to day programs)

I'm switching my GPU to MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X 6gb
OR MSI GTX 1070 Gaming Z 8gb

Though many people say that MSI GTX1070 is so overkilled for gaming at 1080p 60Hz. So should I really stick to 1060? Can my current PSU handle the 1070 or even 1060 with my current setup? In normal stock and some overclocking? Do my fans can still keep up with the 1060 or 1070?

Btw I'm keeping my 2 VC239h Asus monitors because I really need an IPS panel for my business and work, for editing some kinds of stuff in photoshop, making videos etc. so there's no way I'm switching to a TN panel with more Hz. And I'm not a competitive gamer at all so I think I'll stick to 1080 60Hz for awhile. (I just want to play games on a smooth 50-60 FPS on max settings like Witcher 3, ROTTR, Darksouls III and some JRPG's on my free time)

 

[Renz Abbey]

From the top:

None of your case fans should be SP120s. None at all. You don't have any radiators, and that case is pretty low resistance.

If you want more airflow (which won't really help with temperatures in that build), go with Noctua iPPC 3000s. I wouldn't bother with the SP or AF series. Neither the SP nor the AF perform particularly well.

Regarding neutral/positive ventilation, it's pretty easy to check. Go pick up some sticks of incense, light one, and hold it near an opening in the case that doesn't have a fan. If the smoke is pulled into the case, you have negative airflow. If it's blown away, you have positive airflow. If it rises perfectly vertically, neither moving towards or away from the case, you have neutral airflow.

Yes, noctua fans are great! Can't even count on my 2 hands how many of you suggested me that. But... the problem is the way it hurt my eyes hehe. Yes, it's a great fan I know the only thing I won't get it because of the aesthetic.

But what do you mean by airflow won't help with the temperatures of my build?

Thanks, I'll probably try that incense thingy you suggest.

 

[Isokolon]

why did you swap out the Phanteks stock fans?

Phanteks makes the arguably best 140mm fans on earth right now
and while their 120mm fan lineup has some room for improvement, it's still way better than Corsair AF/SP fans

are the front intakes even visible at the P400? I mean Noctuas can't hurt you if you can't see them....

also 5-6fans is way overkill for that case and setup.
my i7+GTX1070 is cooled by 3, but honestly I can get away with 2 as well.....

 

[Renz Abbey]

why did you swap out the Phanteks stock fans?

Phanteks makes the arguably best 140mm fans on earth right now
and while their 120mm fan lineup has some room for improvement, it's still way better than Corsair AF/SP fans

are the front intakes even visible at the P400? I mean Noctuas can't hurt you if you can't see them....

also 5-6fans is way overkill for that case and setup.
my i7+GTX1070 is cooled by 3, but honestly I can get away with 2 as well.....

P400 Eclipse TG edition comes wth two 120mm stock fans. And I put the 2 phanteks fans on my other pc mainly for browsing and watching movies.

Yes it's visible as you can see my setup looks like this

http://imgur.com/a/gqYtX

You think so? even my ambient temp is at 29-33 on normal days? Well as I said in my reply I am guilty of putting the fans there just for aesthetics hehe xD

What's the maximum wattage of your PSU on your current setup? Can mine handle that? M12-II Evo Seasonic.

 

[Isokolon]

ah I see. yeah in that case it's visible.

yeah my ambient temps aren't exactly any lower
people largely overestimate the amount of airflow needed.

I got a 650W XFX TS Gold, mainly because it was 2€ more than the 550W
although in retrospect I wouldn't go for a non-modular unit (but I was already stretching my budget...)
a Seasonic M12II Evo 520W should be able to handle a 1070 and if you aren't OC CPU+Card like crazy and are benchmarking for hours even a 1080.

which fans do you currently have?
you don't list how many AF and how many SP fans you currently own.

 

[Renz Abbey]

ah I see. yeah in that case it's visible.

yeah my ambient temps aren't exactly any lower
people largely overestimate the amount of airflow needed.

I got a 650W XFX TS Gold, mainly because it was 2€ more than the 550W
although in retrospect I wouldn't go for a non-modular unit (but I was already stretching my budget...)
a Seasonic M12II Evo 520W should be able to handle a 1070 and if you aren't OC CPU+Card like crazy and are benchmarking for hours even a 1080.

which fans do you currently have?
you don't list how many AF and how many SP fans you currently own.

That's nice, so my M12-II Evo Seasonic 620watts is more than enough for an overclocked 1070?

Currently, my fan setup is 3 pcs corsair SP120 in front as intake, 2 pcs corsair AF120 quite edition on top as exhaust and 1 corsair AF120 quite edition at the rear as exhaust.

 

[the nerd 389]

From the top:

None of your case fans should be SP120s. None at all. You don't have any radiators, and that case is pretty low resistance.

If you want more airflow (which won't really help with temperatures in that build), go with Noctua iPPC 3000s. I wouldn't bother with the SP or AF series. Neither the SP nor the AF perform particularly well.

Regarding neutral/positive ventilation, it's pretty easy to check. Go pick up some sticks of incense, light one, and hold it near an opening in the case that doesn't have a fan. If the smoke is pulled into the case, you have negative airflow. If it's blown away, you have positive airflow. If it rises perfectly vertically, neither moving towards or away from the case, you have neutral airflow.

Yes, noctua fans are great! Can't even count on my 2 hands how many of you suggested me that. But... the problem is the way it hurt my eyes hehe. Yes, it's a great fan I know the only thing I won't get it because of the aesthetic.

But what do you mean by airflow won't help with the temperatures of my build?

Thanks, I'll probably try that incense thingy you suggest.

I suggested the iPPC model. That one's black. The brown rubber pads can be changed out for any color you like.