[SOLVED] Switching all fans on NZXT 510 elite

[sully6152]

I just built my first PC (on my own) and want to better the temps. The NZXT 510 elite case has brutal airflow as it blows air in from the back and top and "sucks" air in from the front/right panel. I don't want to sacrifice the RGB fans so I was curious if I grab 3 QL140 RGB fans (2 front, 1 top) and 1 QL120 RGB fan (back) if it work? The reason I want those fans are they look nice and have RGB on both sides so I can flip them and blow the air out at the back and top of the case and bring cool air in from the front/right panel. I understand the air flow is worse than the NZXT fans, but I'm sure with the correct airflow it'll decrease my temps on GPU/CPU.

I am open to any suggestions on how to improve the temps, but I do want RGB fans and I'm not getting a new case.

My specs are below.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/jJKMTJ

 

[sully6152]

Also, if I go with the QL140/120 fans, would I need to buy the iCUE Commander PRO controller?

 

[Phaaze88]

Negative... the limitation, or 'bottleneck', isn't the fans, but the chassis' design:
-strained front intake, of which you can get around somewhat by positioning fans further away from the solid panel for more 'breathing room'.
-strained rear and top exhaust, of which there's no real workaround.
A good chassis should allow air in and out easily... NZXT's H500 series does neither very well. A popular model for reasons I'm sure you understand, but cooling potential was not the focus of these, and with that, brings limitations.

With the gpu you have, a 400w - 450w with the EVGA vbios update - dumping it's heat inside the chassis, you can't get the heat out effectively.
That chassis works best with hybrid cooled and custom liquid graphics cards.
Air cooled cards like yours can work, but with that kind of power budget, that's gonna be rough; 250-300w cards would be easier to handle.

Unfortunate that you have no intention of replacing the chassis. Some new fans aren't going to help much against that kind of power.
The next best thing would be to go into Msi Afterburner or EVGA Precision X and dial down the power limit at the cost of some performance...
Since these cards' boost clocks are temperature sensitive, even if you don't mess with the power limits, you still stand to lose some performance to higher operating thermals.
The cooler they run, the higher the sustained boost clocks will be - bar power limits, anyway.


If you still want to proceed with the fans regardless:

Also, if I go with the QL140/120 fans, would I need to buy the iCUE Commander PRO controller?

If you get the multi-packs, they include a controller already.

 

[sully6152]

So with the current set up of the fans on the back and top blowing air in and the fans at the front blowing air out, if I switch them to were they're blowing air out at the back and top and sucking air in at the front, even with less powerful case fans, you don't think it'll improve the temps? What if I added a couple thinner fans to the radiator to have a push pull configuration?

 

[Phaaze88]

Negative. Whether you do the correct way of front to back airflow, or vice versa, you still run into the problem of strained intake and exhaust.

What if I added a couple thinner fans to the radiator to have a push pull configuration?

You still can't avoid the penalty of having front fans being right up against a wall(front panel). Likely worse than just doing pull intake.