[SOLVED] What Would Be The Best Cooling Configuration For Corsair SPEC-05?

[Ya_SG]

This is Corsair SPEC-05, comes with a fan pre-installed at the front and an extra 4 fans mounts (with the cage installed) for user installation. There are 5 fan mounts in aggregate. As I already had three 120mm fans lying around, I was suggested this config:

2x 120mm fans in front (intake), 1x 120mm fan in back (exhaust) and 1x 120mm fan in top (exhaust).

But since I received this cabinet, I feel like the front side of it is very restricted in airflow.
I’m willing to go like this:

• 1 at the rear for intake (with filter)
• 1 at the front for intake (don’t think I'd need filter for this one)
• 2 at the top for exhaust.

But will it keep my cabinet cool? Can this really get the job done?

 

[Karadjgne]

Fans work by drawing in air at front and exhausting it out the back. The strongest suction is closest to the fan. By placing a fan at rear as intake, you'll provide the closest exhaust with a good supply, bypassing most of the case. End result doesn't do much of anything for heat or flow. This is why it's generally recommended to have a front to rear flow, so all or most of the air inside the case gets a chance to move.

Exhaust fan placement depends on your cpu cooler. With an axial design, like the Ryzen stock Wraith, then 2x top would be better, heat rises and that'd be helping in the fight direction. With tower type coolers, definitely want rear exhaust. The cpu fan blows through the heatsink, and right at the rear exhaust area.

My suggestion is leave the fans as they are, the placement is pretty optimal already. What you can do is use bios/software to adjust the fan curves, make the intakes spin a little faster at lower temps. This'll have an aggregate affect of increasing intake cfm.

 

[13thmonkey]

very poor choice, in at the front, out at the back and top.

 

[Mr.Frisfruit]

• 1 at the rear for intake (with filter)
• 1 at the front for intake (don’t think I'd need filter for this one)
• 2 at the top for exhaust.

But will it keep my cabinet cool? Can this really get the job done?

I highly doubt it. An Unrestricted outtake is just as important as an unrestricted intake, maybe even more important since you want the heat to leave your system as fast as possible. Your proposed setup has several problems. For one, the air sucked in by your rear intake fan will immediately be sucked out again by your two outtake fans on the top and won't circulate the system. Additionally your system will suffer from crossflow, where the two input flows interfere with eachother. This can create hotspots and should be avoided. Lastly, with two outtakes on the top the air in your system will have a very strong tendency to go up as soon as it enters the system, without properly cooling your GPU.

I have a fairly restricted intake and solved it by placing two 140 mm high static pressure fans in front and two 120 mm outtakes (rear and rear top). I would recommend a similar setup.

 

[Ya_SG]

I highly doubt it. An Unrestricted outtake is just as important as an unrestricted intake, maybe even more important since you want the heat to leave your system as fast as possible. Your proposed setup has several problems. For one, the air sucked in by your rear intake fan will immediately be sucked out again by your two outtake fans on the top and won't circulate the system. Additionally your system will suffer from crossflow, where the two input flows interfere with eachother. This can create hotspots and should be avoided. Lastly, with two outtakes on the top the air in your system will have a very strong tendency to go up as soon as it enters the system, without properly cooling your GPU.

I have a fairly restricted intake and solved it by placing two 140 mm high static pressure fans in front and two 120 mm outtakes (rear and rear top). I would recommend a similar setup.

Since I don’t have 140mm fans, I’m thinking about removing the hard drive cage and putting another 120mm fan at the front.

• 3 120mm fans at the front
• 1 at the top & 1 at the rear for outtake.

Will this do the same thing as your one? Or would you suggest another configuration?

 

[13thmonkey]

Personally i've got 2 at the front, and one at the back, and a blower GPU, so 3>2 should be fine, possibly just louder.

 

[Mr.Frisfruit]

Since I don’t have 140mm fans, I’m thinking about removing the hard drive cage and putting another 120mm fan at the front.

• 3 120mm fans at the front
• 1 at the top & 1 at the rear for outtake.

Will this do the same thing as your one? Or would you suggest another configuration?

Removing the harddrive case is always a good idea if you're not using it. But yeah this setup should work fine. Only thing is that static pressure fans work better in tight spaces so it might be worth it to invest in 2/3 static pressure fans along the way. But just install what you have and see how the temps are, I expect your system to run pretty cool with such a setup (depending on the components ofc).