Zalman Z11 Plus - Fan Orientations?

[CGurrell]

So I've been using my Z11 for a while now, but I'm a little concerned about airflow as I only have 1 intake fan, yet 3 exhaust fans. At the front I have a Corsair AF-140 140mm fan as an intake, 2xAF-140s on the top exhausting and a Cooler Master BC120 exhausting at the rear (Along with a fan on my CM Hyper 212 EVO, pushing air through the heatsink towards the rear fan). The 2 80mm side fans I have in this case are disconnected atm due to extremely loud noise, combined with poor airflow. These were set to exhaust anyway, and are Zalmans idea of exhausting hot air from the HDD bays, however I only have one drive in there anyway which stays cool.

Should I consider rearranging some of the fans to get better airflow throughout the case?

Thanks guys

Pic of inside of case (Second fan on 212 evo has been removed due to noise combined with not actually doing much to help cool the cpu):

Spoiler

 

[babachicken]

negative air pressure isnt bad, you are basically getting rid of all the hot air and giving it a supply (small) of fresh air.

you can try to make one of those exhaust fans intake by mounting it at the front with the other intake

 

[williamcummins]

Well 1st of all, if you monitored temps are under reasonable value, there are no need to rearrange your setup (which seem ok, imo). One thing you might consider, is to set your side pannel fans as INTAKE. These slots are designed to set fans that will shoot fresh air directly at GPU. If you're concerned about the noise, you could get some quiet fans (lower RPM) or get a fan controller where you could set the RPM yourself. Beyond than that, I think your fan setup is great!

 

[CGurrell]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Couple of issues:

Baba, if I had another front fan mount I'd use it, but unfortunately the Z11 only has one front fan mount. It does have a bottom fan mount, but my PSU partially covers it

William, the side fans on this case are right by the HDD cage, nowhere near the GPU like where other cases would have them (annoying I know :/). If you look behind the HDD on the pic you can see what I mean. Also the side fans are molex powered so fan control isn't viable either :/

This is the one thing I don't like about this case, other than this it's brilliant 😛

 

[babachicken]

i know how the zalman z11 is laid out. you have the optimal layout. you should only use the top and back for exhaust.

if you can, get a more powerful static pressure fan for the front. like the noctua nf-f12

 

[CGurrell]

I thought static pressure fans were more for situations where there isn't much space between the fan and what it needs to cool (e.g. a fan on a heatsink)?

 

[babachicken]

yeah, it would also be beneficial when behind the HDD trays

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Push\Pull on the EVO doesn't help cooling , good move to remove the fan in front of the rear exhaust.

Cooling setup should look like this:

 

[CGurrell]

Push\Pull on the EVO doesn't help cooling , good move to remove the fan in front of the rear exhaust.

Cooling setup should look like this:

Spoiler

Thanks SR-71 That's exactly how I have my case laid out atm, with an added GPU obv. I flipped my PSU a while back as well so it wasn't sucking air away from the GPU

I've had a little thought, would it be worth trying some sort of custom fitting for a bottom fan using Zip-ties that allow the fan to be off-set from the mounts that are covered by my PSU? (Just an idea, may not make much sense lol)

 

[babachicken]

Push\Pull on the EVO doesn't help cooling , good move to remove the fan in front of the rear exhaust.

Cooling setup should look like this:

Spoiler

Thanks SR-71 That's exactly how I have my case laid out atm, with an added GPU obv. I flipped my PSU a while back as well so it wasn't sucking air away from the GPU

I've had a little thought, would it be worth trying some sort of custom fitting for a bottom fan using Zip-ties that allow the fan to be off-set from the mounts that are covered by my PSU? (Just an idea, may not make much sense lol)

you could always do that, but your case setup is fine. i dont see why your case would have bad airflow.

 

[CGurrell]

Push\Pull on the EVO doesn't help cooling , good move to remove the fan in front of the rear exhaust.

Cooling setup should look like this:

Spoiler

Thanks SR-71 That's exactly how I have my case laid out atm, with an added GPU obv. I flipped my PSU a while back as well so it wasn't sucking air away from the GPU

I've had a little thought, would it be worth trying some sort of custom fitting for a bottom fan using Zip-ties that allow the fan to be off-set from the mounts that are covered by my PSU? (Just an idea, may not make much sense lol)

you could always do that, but your case setup is fine. i dont see why your case would have bad airflow.

It just felt like I wasn't getting enough air into the case by only having one fan lol

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Leave your setup the way it is should be good for optimal airflow.