Optimal Fan Setup NZXT Noctis 450

Tmas_

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May 24, 2017
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My build is;
-i5 7600k (no OC)
-ASUS z270e mobo
-16gb rip jaws 3200mhz
-GTX 1070 Strix o8gb
-All in an NZXT Noctis 450 case

The cooling in my case has not been so good, for the 4 default fans have not been giving me good temps on my top exhaust h100i v2. I want to upgrade the fans on my rad too. I was wondering what fans you would recommend for the three front 120mm intake, what fan for the 140mm exhaust, and what two fans to use for my rad. (Note; Price is not an issue)

 
Solution
The be quiet silent wings are good. CFM isn't everything. Dumping a lot of air into a case does not much if you can't get it all out and vice versa.
You've got 3x 120mm dumping air in and 1x unrestricted 140mm and 2x 140mm seeing @70% flow. They are roughly even. As far as potential for intake/exhaust goes. Which leaves most of the flow issue with what the fans have to deal with, not the air. Hdd cages, optical, wiring, fan curves, your actual temp settings and speed settings will all have greater impact on flow than the flow potential from the fans. If your fans are waiting for 70°C before hitting 100% speeds, you'll never get the flow since most all pc's will run around 10° above ambient at idle and 10° more under loads. Assuming a...
Where are you going with this? You want pure performance, regardless of looks, you want looks with performance downgrade? You want specific color Leds? Quiet? Mix-n-match fans?

Case Fan: Phanteks - PH-F140SP_BK 82.1 CFM 140mm Fan ($16.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: be quiet! - SilentWings 3 PWM High-Speed 73.3 CFM 120mm Fan ($16.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: Fractal Design - X2 GP-14 (White) 68.4 CFM 140mm Fan ($14.99 @ Newegg)

Phanteks as rear, Fractals on rad, be quiets up front. For colors, many have good airflow from the nzxt AER series or thermaltake rings.

I've got a fractal design R5, has 4 fans. 2x 140mm stock fractals as intakes, 2x stock nzxts on kraken x61 as exhaust. That's it. Between the CAM software and SpeedFan fan curves, I don't have any cooling issues at all. Even with an i7-3770K at 4.9GHz OC, gaming for hours with a gtx970 with 124% user OC. Ambient temps @23°C, gaming temps cpu @ 55°C, gpu 65°C. Sometimes it's how the fans run, not so much exactly what the fans are.
 

I'm going for a more pure performance theme. I was also thinking of maybe putting some ML120's on my rad. As I said, price is not the issue so I was wondering if some of the more premium ones like Corsair's ML, SP and AF would be better. Or even fans from Noctua's lineup. I don't care about noise, mix-n-match fans or the colors that they make. (I especially don't care about LED's or colors on the front intake because I won't see them anyways.)
 
Phanteks makes (arguably) the best fans there is for a pc, topping Noctua (if not by much). I haven't seen the new ML pros, so I won't offer opinion on them, but scuttlebutt has it they are respectable. Forget about the air series, their claim to fame is cheap price with a colored plastic ring that's changeable. As for premium fans, the 3 I listed are top of the charts, for everything from performance to durability to noise. They sit right up there with Noctua and scythe GT.
With the quietness of the silent wings, you can crank them all the way up and not be offended, that's the bonus with that amount of airflow from a 120mm fan. The Phanteks physically matches the fractals, which are the same fans fractal design uses on its aio coolers, which stomp a mud-hole in what Corsair has to offer with its rad fans. The gimmick with the above fans is the performance curves, much sharper than corsair, so turning up my nzxts from silent mode (@700rpm max) to performance mode (1100rpm) only gets me @3°C difference, so not worth doing really. The Corsair's have a flatter, more linear curve, but you are looking at a @ 1400 minimum speed and over 2300 max speed as those fans only range from about 60%-100% duty cycle. Absolutely no need for that when you'll get similar if not better performance at @1/3 the rpm and a lot less noise.
6 fans at 30db(a) is about 40db(a)total, or basically the same volume as your significant other natteting away at you 6" away from your ear.
 



I just watched a video on the 120mm fractals and I will probably buy them. But, for the 3 intakes and the one exhaust, what fans should I go for? (I hope to get as much air into my case as posible.)

 
The be quiet silent wings are good. CFM isn't everything. Dumping a lot of air into a case does not much if you can't get it all out and vice versa.
You've got 3x 120mm dumping air in and 1x unrestricted 140mm and 2x 140mm seeing @70% flow. They are roughly even. As far as potential for intake/exhaust goes. Which leaves most of the flow issue with what the fans have to deal with, not the air. Hdd cages, optical, wiring, fan curves, your actual temp settings and speed settings will all have greater impact on flow than the flow potential from the fans. If your fans are waiting for 70°C before hitting 100% speeds, you'll never get the flow since most all pc's will run around 10° above ambient at idle and 10° more under loads. Assuming a low 20's ambient, expect idle in the low 30's and gaming loads in the low 40's. For cade/motherboard temps. So your case fans are only hitting 30-40% of rated speeds, but the rad fans are seeing higher percentage of use as the cpu is closer to low 50's. So case fans should not rely on cpu temps, but case/mobo temps. So when your gpu is busy, gaming, dumping heat into the case, your cpu will be busy too, but the case fans need to be reciprocal. Using SpeedFan or Asus fanXpert (better imho) set case fans to hit 100 at closer to 45-50°, not the default 70°. Makes a huge impact as slower fans don't have nearly the same cfm as that same fan spinning faster.
And get rid of obstacles. Anything that'll hinder airflow efficienctly reaching the gpu will cause higher temps all around.
 
Solution