Share your Case airflow / Fan setup!

[peche]

Sup people?!

I would like to start a new topic, this may help new ones for setting up new cases, fans and also setup, if possible list your CPU cooler. Please share your case/ case fans model and the set-up do you have on it, also recommendations for other will be great, helping each other is always well appreciated!

Images are an excellent plus, if possible!


This is my setup:
Case: Thermaltake commander G42 window.

Case fans:
front intake: 3x 120mm thermaltake Thunder blade blue fan front intake fans, [had to use a ghetto mod]
Bottom intake 1x120mm thermaltake Thunder blade blue fan,
Top exhaust: 2x120mm Gelid extreme slim profile UV fans,
Rear exhaust: 2x120mm Thermaltake riing 12 fans on water 3.0 Pro AIO kit.

image:

Also i took the middle drive cage from the case,

Space on top exhaust is pretty tight... that why i use Gelid slim profile fans... they have no led lights and also are pretty much silent !


What about yours?
let us know!

 

[thebluebumblebee]

I don't understand the performance PC industry's love of push/pull fans. I know of no other industry that does that. The serial fans in servers are there for fault tolerance.
Personally, I like filtered intake fans and I'll let the air go out anywhere it wants, although I like an exhaust fan near the CPU.

 

[erocker]

Two 140's in the front, four 120's on the side, two 120's up top and one 120 on the back. Side and front are intake.

 

[xvi]

Had someone ask me for help figuring out why their FX 9350 kept overheating. They had a Hyper 212 Evo with only three of the four socket mounts connected because one of them was hard to get to. They used two fans on the cooler in a very, uhm, unique "push-push" configuration.

I tried to politely explain it all, but they argued with me that neither of those two things were the reason it was overheating.
Not like it's a 220W TDP CPU on a $30 heatsink or anything.

Edit: In my cases, I usually load up all the empty fan mounts with some kind of fan (usually the largest it will take). I haven't modded any extra airflow in to my cases since my Socket 754 Sempron days. Today's cases don't need it anyways.

 

[GreiverBlade]

i need a "other" option in the poll ... because i did as i feeled to ... seems to works so far

AIR 540
top 2x Alphacool Coolmove 2 120mm on a Alphacool NexXxos ST30 240 blowing ... inside
front 2x Corsair SP120L perf ed. on a Phobya G-Changer 240 V2 (240mmX60mm) 1 Corsair AF120L perf ed. at the bottom blowing on the PCH and HDD's all of them blowing inside
back 1x Corsair AF140L perf ed.

so far no overheating temps are fine and i have 5 fan intake 1 fan exhaust

 

[Kursah]

I'm running default config in my Corsair 600C. 2 fans in, 1 fan and PSU are acting as exhaust, and the intake fans are also pushing air out of the extra vent locations. This config can run on low and still beat my old Lian-Li PC-K62 that had 1 intake fan and 3 exhaust fans at higher RPMs.

Though to be fair the 600C has a more direct intake airflow path than the PC-K62 could ever dream of w/o mods. And that alone made a noticeable difference. I will say for all those folks that threw up their arms in disgust of the 600Q/C's design, it has been an excellent case, very quiet, keeps cool, looks great...and I find no need for top vents or extra exhaust fans. The filtered intakes are easy enough to access for service too. I do prefer more intake than exhaust overall.

 

[peche]

Had someone ask me for help figuring out why their FX 9350 kept overheating. They had a Hyper 212 Evo with only three of the four socket mounts connected because one of them was hard to get to. They used two fans on the cooler in a very, uhm, unique "push-push" configuration.

I tried to politely explain it all, but they argued with me that neither of those two things were the reason it was overheating.

you already listed the main problem… 3 of 4 socket screws are tighten and trying to create a seal / bond between thermal interface material and cpu & heatsink surface, so because is improperly attached / installed your processors keeps a heat then overheats, your CPU cooler is not properly working… that’s it lad,
install your CPU cooler correctly, no excuses for getting 3 of 4 screws …. then place the fan and check the temps, is the tasks is pretty big for your skills, take the rig to a store for making it done, not intending to offend lad,

i need a "other" option in the poll ... because i did as i feeled to ... seems to works so far

AIR 540
top 2x Alphacool Coolmove 2 120mm on a Alphacool NexXxos ST30 240 blowing ... inside
front 2x Corsair SP120L perf ed. on a Phobya G-Changer 240 V2 (240mmX60mm) 1 Corsair AF120L perf ed. at the bottom blowing on the PCH and HDD's all of them blowing inside
back 1x Corsair AF140L perf ed.

so far no overheating temps are fine and i have 5 fan intake 1 fan exhaust

option added dude!
nice setup, custom !

 

[GreiverBlade]

you already listed the main problem… 3 of 4 socket screws are tighten and trying to create a seal / bond between thermal interface material and cpu & heatsink surface, so because is improperly attached / installed your processors keeps a heat then overheats, your CPU cooler is not properly working… that’s it lad,
install your CPU cooler correctly, no excuses for getting 3 of 4 screws …. then place the fan and check the temps, is the tasks is pretty big for your skills, take the rig to a store for making it done, not intending to offend lad,!

he didn't ask for help, someone asked HIM for help .... and the funniest they didn't listen to him explaining the obvious (to any of us) failure that would lead to a overheating

 

[peche]

he didn't ask for help, someone asked HIM for help .... and the funniest they didn't listen to him explaining the obvious (to any of us) failure that would lead to a overheating

lol.... sometimes is hard to believe how people mess-up the things...

 

[jboydgolfer]

this is my exact case(actually mine is the original one, a few years older), and the exact fan set-up i use, minus the bottom fan, my water pump goes there. these cases have VERY underrate Airflow capabilities.

This is the older one , it is my Actual PC. its a few years older, and looks a little different, but basically the same thing as the above pictured PC.

 

[scevism]

Mine is like this apart from having a h100i rad up top with 2 fans blowing down.
Mind you with a case this big heat is never a problem.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

I'm running default config in my Corsair 600C. 2 fans in, 1 fan and PSU are acting as exhaust, and the intake fans are also pushing air out of the extra vent locations. This config can run on low and still beat my old Lian-Li PC-K62 that had 1 intake fan and 3 exhaust fans at higher RPMs.

Though to be fair the 600C has a more direct intake airflow path than the PC-K62 could ever dream of w/o mods. And that alone made a noticeable difference. I will say for all those folks that threw up their arms in disgust of the 600Q/C's design, it has been an excellent case, very quiet, keeps cool, looks great...and I find no need for top vents or extra exhaust fans. The filtered intakes are easy enough to access for service too. I do prefer more intake than exhaust overall.

If I had that case, I'd tape off the bottom so that the air was directed out the back.

 

[sneekypeet]

All I use are a pair of 180mm in the middle and a 140mm for the exhaust.

 

[xvi]

I've had those stupid Intel push-pin processors pop off without realizing it and it's certainly not good, but the heatsink still makes okay contact. Enough to not alert you immediately, at least.
The thing that really bugged me was that they were trying to cool a 220w TDP CPU (basically a watercool-or-go-home processor) with a measly Hyper 212 Evo.... with both fans blowing opposite directions.

As in:

(Thank you whoever I stole this image from)

Tried to explain that they're fighting against each other and nope! They wouldn't listen to a word I said. Wouldn't even try turning the rear fan around.
Edit: Almost forgot, they would only tell me idle temps too. Wouldn't test under load. Apparently it wasn't important.

 

[Kursah]

If I had that case, I'd tape off the bottom so that the air was directed out the back.

You know with the rear being so much open mesh for venting, it's really no problem at all. I have my U14S aimed at the rear exhaust fan, and they line up fairly well...

My GTX 770 isn't a leafblower-style cooler, but rather the Windforce 450W triple fan...the heatsink fins are vertical, so they exhaust towards the board and the window'd sidepanel...the front intakes push that hot air right out the rear mesh with an unexpected ease. The case is so damn wide (around 2" wider than my Lian Li) and I really never expected that to make so much of a difference cooling-wise. I would've thought a narrower air tunnel like the Lian Li was (in a sense) would've been more effective with less area for the air to sit...but air moves front to back in the main chamber of the 600C.

It is nice that the front fans line right up with the CPU cooler and graphics card, and there's not a huge gap in between them either...I should take pictures...if I can dig up my light and camera I will.

Being concerned about the bottom vents, I did cover them... made absolutely no difference in cooling effectiveness or hindrance. But looked shoddy through that big ass window. Since it has a magnetic dust filter right there I took the makeshift cover out. I used painter's masking tape to make sure I didn't leave any residue. If anything the bottom allows the CPU to pull in more fresh air under heavy AVX-style loads (about the only thing I didn't test with the cover in there...oh well..).

If anyone wants to buy a really nice case that is upside down and back-ass-wards, and shouldn't necessarily work as-well-as it does...the 600C is that case. The Q too if you want a quieter case... but the C is already very quiet. Though I do run the fans on low.

 

[neatfeatguy]

In my Fractal Design Arc XL, I removed both HDD cages and mounted my HDDs in the 5.25" bay to remove anything blocking the two front fan intakes.

It's not something super cool, but I wanted to remove things blocking my front intake fans - it was one of the reasons I got the case.

I then mounted my 2 HDDs in the 5.25" bays and my SSD mounts to the back of the motherboard tray, so it seemed like a perfect thing to do to hopefully improve airflow.

 

[Kanan]

I still use a old Chieftec tower with 3x 92 mm right side that blow fresh air in and 1x 92 left side and 1x 120mm back that blow out. My PSU has a 135mm fan on top of it, that maybe pulls some air out too. Nothing special, but works good with my setup.

 

[kenkickr]

I've gone to the extent of cutting out plastic and steel meshing were fans are located as to minimize air flow restrictions. Just about every case I have has had a date with my dremel.

 

[trog100]

the only case fans that do much on my case are the two side fans.. these blow nice cool room temp air directly onto the hot graphics card and top flow cpu cooler..

i think its more about where the ambient room temp air gets blown than how much of it there is going through the case.. case heat is very localised.. i am a firm believer in directing the cool air where it matters and does the most good.. side case fans dont seem to fit in very well with windowed cases but i swear by them..

trog

 

[rtwjunkie]

I've done too much research on this to be healthy with mine, collecting all kinds of data on static pressure, cfm and noise. I've finally arrived at the perfect slightly positive airflow (about 20cfm in than out), with extra being pushed out through other cracks.

I have 2 front 140mm fans with good static pressure because of the Fractal intakes and filters, and then the big drive enclosure obstructions. I have one of the Rosewill Hyperbola fans with very good SP because upper drive area is more retricted than lower, and pushing 89cfm. A Cougar V14HB with 70cfm on bottom front.

Case bottom intake is a Cougar CFD 140mm doing 73cfm.

Forward top exhaust is blocked with Fractal soundproofing pad. Rear top exhaust is a Phanteks 140mm SP-BK exhaustin 83cfm.

Rear exhaust is a Fractal Venturi pulling out 118.5cfm very quietly.

Altogether I have very cool components under load, and surprisingly, fairly quiet, bc the fan and air noise were all part of my endless research of user reviews. Very happy with the temperatures and the noise level!

 

[Toothless]

I took my two top fans off and everything runs as good as before. Quieter too..

Though front fan is intake, back fan outtake with CPU fans in the same direction. All that hot air dumping onto my monitors with the closed heat vent near the intake.

I may have solved my CPU-no-overclocky issue. brb.

 

[chinmi]

i'm using corsair carbide air 540, and i feel positive air pressure is best, so my setup is 3x 120mm in front as intake, 2x 140mm top as intake, 1x corsair h80i aio watercooler push pull 120mm fans as outtake.
with 5 intake spot and 1 outtake spot, the rest of the air is squeezing from all tiny holes on the case, and that makes less dust inside the case

 

[Jetster]

i'm using corsair carbide air 540, and i feel positive air pressure is best, so my setup is 3x 120mm in front as intake, 2x 140mm top as intake, 1x corsair h80i aio watercooler push pull 120mm fans as outtake.
with 5 intake spot and 1 outtake spot, the rest of the air is squeezing from all tiny holes on the case, and that makes less dust inside the case

I also run a positive pressure system. Two front 120s in, two top 120s in or down, 1 200 side in, and one 140 back out. All the in fans have filters. A positive system is not the best in cooling performance especially with filters. But with a H105 cooling is not really an issue and no dust is the reason I do it.

 

[Orijin16]

"Cooling" is important to me, "Case airflow" is not so much.

To clarify that point, I watercool my CPU with a 240mm Alphacool Monsta in the front of my Coolermaster CM-690iii and a Magicool G2 Slim 240mm in the top.

The Monsta is currently push only with 2x generic Coolermaster high static pressure PWM fans reduced to 7v and on the lowest PWM setting until CPU exceeds 50c (which it never does).

The Slim currently only has a single EK Vardar F4, reduced to 7v on the same PWM curve.

The reason for the odd fan setup on the radiators is because I messed up the wiring when reducing the voltage and burnt out the rest of the fans, but they will be replaced with 3 more Vardars when I can afford them.

All radiator fans are intakes with a single exhaust on the back of the case, a generic coolermaster that came with the case, this one being voltage controlled by the CPU fan header and doesn't turn on until the CPU hits 50c.

The reason for this setup is because my PC is 6 inches from my head when I'm bed, so as close to perfect silence is a must, but I get excellent temps with this setup anyway.

 

[peche]

this is my exact case(actually mine is the original one, a few years older), and the exact fan set-up i use, minus the bottom fan, my water pump goes there. these cases have VERY underrate Airflow capabilities.

This is the older one , it is my Actual PC. its a few years older, and looks a little different, but basically the same thing as the above pictured PC.

i guess this is your case:

thermaltake Commander MS-i, the one you pictured on the first photo is the new commander G42, launched some months ago,

Spoiler: photos

its pretty tight making some cable management on those cases, as far as i know the ms-i has bigger space comapred to ms ii which actually was my older case, Thermaltake Commander ms-ii

View attachment 71189
Mine is like this apart from having a h100i rad up top with 2 fans blowing down.
Mind you with a case this big heat is never a problem.

Cosmos are interesting cases, pretty nice and detailed design!

In my Fractal Design Arc XL, I removed both HDD cages and mounted my HDDs in the 5.25" bay to remove anything blocking the two front fan intakes.

It's not something super cool, but I wanted to remove things blocking my front intake fans - it was one of the reasons I got the case.

I then mounted my 2 HDDs in the 5.25" bays and my SSD mounts to the back of the motherboard tray, so it seemed like a perfect thing to do to hopefully improve airflow.

are there some photos with all your hardware?