Best fan arrangement CM 431 Elite 431 Plus

CBJ023

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Hello everyone, I'm upgrading my PC and want to know what is the best way to set up my fans for cooling. The fans I have/ will be buying are:
- Cooler master sickle flow 120mm (70CFM)
- Cooler Master generic 120mm (Came with case I'd say 30-60CFM)
- ProlimaTech Blue Vortex 14 140mm (87CFM)

The 140mm fan will be my intake fan, and I thoguht I'd use the other two as exhaust, one in the back, and one at the top. I would have negative pressure which I personally feel is better for cooling, but I have 2 empty places where fans could go that dust would get sucked in (And as of right now is). So how do you guys think I should set up the fans? I have one spot in the back, two spots at the top, and one at the bottom. I'll also be installing a Hyper 212 evo CPU cooler should I have one exhaust, one intake, and then put the generic fan on as a pull fan for the CPU? the push fan would be much more powerful though.
 
Let me put you on to the best danged fans I have ever used.
120mm
COUGAR CF-V12HPB Vortex Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing (Fluid) 300,000 Hours 12CM Silent Cooling Fan with Pulse Width Modulation (Black) - Newegg.com

140mm
Newegg.com - Cougar CF-V14HP 140mm COUGAR CF-V14HP Vortex Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing (Fluid) 300,000 Hours 14CM Silent Cooling Fan with Puls

I have them in my Antec P280 case and the back is pointed at me. Moves a lot of air when the computer needs it and revs right back down when it doesn't.
In either case they are sooooo quiet.
Just ordered 4 more 120mm to finish up another computer project.

Make the intake passive as in no fans. Then on the fan mounts on the top and back put 120mm. Let the mother board run the fans so it revs them up when it needs the extra air flow and let's them idle when it doesn't.
 
Wow those are really good, right now my case doesn't need really good fans and I'm on a tight budget but I'll definitely look at getting some in the future.
 
Hi!

I dont think the 140 mm intake fan will be nessisary really. I have 2 x 120 Noctua, 1200 RPM mm fans at the back of my Antec P180B case. Ie. one at the back and one at the top blowing out. And just washable dust filters were the front fans should have been.

It's better to place such a filter where your 140 mm should be then. And also take a look at your cable arrangement, There are quite much to gain in question of air flow by arranging the cables out of the way.
 
Thanks for the reply! I use the 140mm to help direct the air because my case has a sort of grill on the front that traps most of the dust and the 140mm fan keeps the air from getting sucked in the gaps in the case. My cable management is pretty bad but it's as good as it can be (Short cables and no real place to hide them in my case) but I have them off to the side to avoid blocking air flow.
 
Thanks for the reply! I use the 140mm to help direct the air because my case has a sort of grill on the front that traps most of the dust and the 140mm fan keeps the air from getting sucked in the gaps in the case. My cable management is pretty bad but it's as good as it can be (Short cables and no real place to hide them in my case) but I have them off to the side to avoid blocking air flow.


You're welcome.


Ok.

But you can always snip away the grill. I have done that at the back and front of the P180B case. At the front intakes, I had to leave some grill on the sides so that I can hook up the filters though. And you can always make the edges look better after the snipping by glueing such "U" shaped rubber tubing to the intake or out blow openings that are used for insulating windows and doors. By doing this grill removement you will not just win better airflow, the fans will be more silent too. Yes, having the cables along the side of the case is a good strategy.
 
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I forgot to add before that such a grill will make the hot air sucked out by the rear case fan or fans bounce back and forth quite much between the fan and the grill. With the result of more heat building up inside the case. And a reduced air flow + more noise as said. The worst kind of grill are the ones with a flat mesh. The ones made out of round tread are slightly better.

These grills serves no other purpose than protect small children or pets from getting their fingers or a paw hit by the fan blades.

If you are going to use a Dremel to cut out a grill? Make sure to securely tape some kind of pretty sturdy bag on the inside and over the fan hole. You don't want metal dust in there!

Using, round elastic bands or fan, rubber pegs instead of screws will reduce vibrations between the fan housing and the case some.
You can even use a thin layer of Blue Tack, Play doh or similar at the corners of the fan housing facing the case to further reduce vibrations.
 
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