Which fans to get for this case?

Liopar

Commendable
Jul 8, 2016
2
0
1,510
Greetings, friends!

I'll be building my first rig (Yay!). My problem is that I don't know whether I should buy SP fans or AF fans for the front intake of the case (note that it has a dust filter), and if it's better to have 2x140 or 3x120. I was leaning towards 3x120 SP Quiet edition fans from Corsair since I like the looks... The PC will be something like this:

CPU i5 6600k w/ a Cryorig H7
MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X
Storage WD Blue 1 TB 7200rpm
Mobo Z170x Gigabyte Gaming 7
EVGA G2 650w PSU
Ripjaws V DDR4 @ 2400
Corsair Carbide 400C case

Any help is appreciated!



 
Solution
Personally, I wouldn't opt for any Corsair fans at all, but if you are partial to the aesthetics of those fans, then that's up to you and nothing we say is likely to change that.

My recommendation would be two 140mm front intake fans, at least one top 140mm fan and then the rear 120mm fan it comes with or an aftermarket replacement.

Any of the Noctua, Cryorig or Phanteks 140mm PWM fans would work well, offer great performance, long life bearings rather than sleeved bearings and have decent sound levels, with Noctua leading the pack when it comes to sound pressure levels as all their fans are primarily very quiet.

One problem you're probably going to run into is the fact that your motherboard has only three system fan headers, so...
Personally, I wouldn't opt for any Corsair fans at all, but if you are partial to the aesthetics of those fans, then that's up to you and nothing we say is likely to change that.

My recommendation would be two 140mm front intake fans, at least one top 140mm fan and then the rear 120mm fan it comes with or an aftermarket replacement.

Any of the Noctua, Cryorig or Phanteks 140mm PWM fans would work well, offer great performance, long life bearings rather than sleeved bearings and have decent sound levels, with Noctua leading the pack when it comes to sound pressure levels as all their fans are primarily very quiet.

One problem you're probably going to run into is the fact that your motherboard has only three system fan headers, so you're going to either need some kind of fan controller like the NZXT Grid+v2 or some PWM cable splitters so that if you go with more than three fans, which is almost a necessity if you're going to be overclocking, you'll be able to share a fan header with at least one other fan. If you plan to run fans in all five locations, then you'll need two PWM cable splitters rather than one, unless you opt for the controller or PWM hub option.
 
Solution

Liopar

Commendable
Jul 8, 2016
2
0
1,510
Thanks for the input!

Only a few questions more..
Would it be better to have two airflow oriented 140mm for the front intake and the 120mm rear exhaust, or the static pressure ones? The case has a dust filter between the fans and the front panel, however airflow inside the case is not really restricted.

Does using a cable splitter have any drawback? In case I go with the corsair fans, I would need to get a 3 pin cable splitter, right?

Sorry for my ignorance in this topic, I really appreciate the help.