[SOLVED] Replacing Define 7 fans + AIO placement and fan replacement

Lokari

Prominent
Aug 17, 2020
24
0
510
Hey,


I recently upgraded from a Define R4 to a Define 7 and went to an AIO at the same time. I got a Kraken X63 and top mounted it.

Now I'm quite unsatisfied with the noise levels of the original case fans so I thought I would replace them. PWM fans would likely be a much better option, right? Was looking at the 5 pack of Arctic P14’s and thought I could maybe replace the AIO fans at the same time.


Is there any point to this? Having 2 P14’s pulling air in in the front, having 2 P14’s on the radiator on the top and having 1 P14 as an exhaust in the back. Is there any point in replacing the radiators original Aer P140 fans with Arctic P14’s?



Also, should I have the radiator pulling or pushing air in the top? I currently have it pulling air in. So, in the current situation I have the 2 front fans pulling air in, the 2 radiator fans pulling air in and only one fan exhausting in the back. I thought about flipping the fans on the radiator but the idea of having 3 fans exhausting and 2 fans pulling air in feels wrong to me.
 
Solution
@Lokari
No need to overthink this.
Pick your poison:
A)Higher priority to cpu cooling:
-front mount the hybrid cooler
-top and rear exhaust
Done.

B)Higher priority to gpu cooling:
-top mount the hybrid cooler
-front intake
Done.

C)Alternative, cpu cooling:
-top mount the hybrid cooler, but as intake
-front intake
This one works well in very specific scenarios, namely with blower and liquid cooled gpus. Otherwise, it's typically worse than B.


As for replacing hybrid cooler fans: You have to be careful with that. More often than not, when people replace the fans on hybrid coolers, they perform worse.
And since manufacturers don't post fan curves, no one knows how they perform at a given speed below 100% - it's not linear.
At...

HappyTrails

Upstanding
Oct 30, 2020
286
34
340
Would say have fans flipped on radiator to exhaust. 2 instake, 3 exhaust sounds much better. If fan speeds are adjustable it makes much nicer to mess with speeds. Try to get quiet but have enough air move it cools efficient. For me I never take much time to tune fans but for this build I do its been good. Think I do this because ryzen stock temps goes up and down so much fans make too much noise.
 

Lokari

Prominent
Aug 17, 2020
24
0
510
Yeah 4 intakes and 1 exhaust sounds kind of iffy, but I would rather run more intakes than exhausts. Will likely give it a shot though once I get the time for it.

Any ideas on how much will my temps rise if I move the AIO to the front and changing the roof to the sound dampened one. Then I would have the AIO in the front pulling air in and only 1 fan in the back exhausting. That sounds kind of lacking as well.

Another option would be having the AIO in front pulling air in and having 2 fans in the roof exhausting and 1 fan in the back exhausting.

Also, should I swap the case fans/all fans to something like the Arctic P14? Hard to find any data on the performance of the original Aer 140 case fans, but at least the P14’s would be PWM.
 

neojack

Reputable
Apr 4, 2019
605
173
5,140
rule of thumb, it's good to have 60% intake , 40% exhausts of the total airflow
this give a positive pressure inside the case, and keep the dust out of the case.
heavy exhaust is better when the PC is new, but then dust get everywhere inside and temps get worse.
 

HappyTrails

Upstanding
Oct 30, 2020
286
34
340
No really familiar with those fans so maybe thinking thats a personal choice for you to pick. My case come with no fans clean slate. For me radiator in top makes best sense with fans exhaust. Agree with the positive pressure and maybe thinking 1 exhaust fan rear and 2 going out top isn't going to overpower 2 intakes in front but its you decide what you prefer. Finding that here 3 instake and 3 exhaust with dust filters all over. Dust still gets in its relentless :)
 

Phaaze88

Titan
Ambassador
Dust is INEVITABLE. Be responsible and clean the PC out 2-3 times a year. Filters will NOT stop it all.

Positive/neutral/negative pressure? Bah. You want air flowing through the chassis smoothly(airFLOW), not just filling up all the slots and creating a turbulent mess(airBLOW).
Heck, most chassis have too many open gaps that the pressure debate is irrelevant.
 
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Lokari

Prominent
Aug 17, 2020
24
0
510
Yeah dust is not a problem for me, I clean my pc like once every few months either way.

Theoretically I could also go 3 intakes in the front and having the rad + rear fan as exhausts.

This was so much simpler with a NH-D15. :D
 

Phaaze88

Titan
Ambassador
@Lokari
No need to overthink this.
Pick your poison:
A)Higher priority to cpu cooling:
-front mount the hybrid cooler
-top and rear exhaust
Done.

B)Higher priority to gpu cooling:
-top mount the hybrid cooler
-front intake
Done.

C)Alternative, cpu cooling:
-top mount the hybrid cooler, but as intake
-front intake
This one works well in very specific scenarios, namely with blower and liquid cooled gpus. Otherwise, it's typically worse than B.


As for replacing hybrid cooler fans: You have to be careful with that. More often than not, when people replace the fans on hybrid coolers, they perform worse.
And since manufacturers don't post fan curves, no one knows how they perform at a given speed below 100% - it's not linear.
At the very least, if you're going to replace them, they should have specs(CFM & SP) just as high, or higher than the original.
NZXT Aer P140
98.17CFM
2.71mmH2O
38dBA

Arctic P140
72.8CFM
2.4mmH2O
22.5dBA

Between those 2 fans, you do stand to lose some performance... as far as 100% fan speed is concerned.
IMO, if you're going to swap to fans with worse performance, you may as well have stuck with the NH-D15.
 
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Solution

Lokari

Prominent
Aug 17, 2020
24
0
510
@Lokari
No need to overthink this.
Pick your poison:
A)Higher priority to cpu cooling:
-front mount the hybrid cooler
-top and rear exhaust
Done.

B)Higher priority to gpu cooling:
-top mount the hybrid cooler
-front intake
Done.

C)Alternative, cpu cooling:
-top mount the hybrid cooler, but as intake
-front intake
This one works well in very specific scenarios, namely with blower and liquid cooled gpus. Otherwise, it's typically worse than B.


As for replacing hybrid cooler fans: You have to be careful with that. More often than not, when people replace the fans on hybrid coolers, they perform worse.
And since manufacturers don't post fan curves, no one knows how they perform at a given speed below 100% - it's not linear.
At the very least, if you're going to replace them, they should have specs(CFM & SP) just as high, or higher than the original.
NZXT Aer P140
98.17CFM
2.71mmH2O
38dBA

Arctic P140
72.8CFM
2.4mmH2O
22.5dBA

Between those 2 fans, you do stand to lose some performance... as far as 100% fan speed is concerned.
IMO, if you're going to swap to fans with worse performance, you may as well have stuck with the NH-D15.
Yeah I’m going for option B. I’m not going to do any heavy overclocking on my 9600K, and I should be getting my 3080 soon – at least hopefully…

I’m going to swap the case fans to P14 for sure and will have 2 spare fans, according to this video they should perform better:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv1S9RhABa8&


Case performance is at 7:48 and radiator performance at 11:08. Especially the difference in noise is what I am interested in, I don’t mind losing some degrees here and there.

I should have the radiator exhausting in the top, right? The question comes should I have the fans under the radiator pushing air through it out of the case or above it pulling air through it out of the case?
 

Lokari

Prominent
Aug 17, 2020
24
0
510
Okay, thank you!

Now all I need to figure out is if I should swap the fans on the X63 to the P14’s or not. According to the video I should, but I’m on the edge about it.