How Many Case Fans?

[adamguk]

Hey there! Building a new build PC and was just wondering how many case fans people would recommend for it. The hardware and case is as follows,

• Asus M5A78L/USB3 AMD Socket AM3+ 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
  
• AMD 960T Black Edition 3.0GHz Socket AM3 Processor
  
• XFX HD 5450 Heatsink 1GB DDR3 VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E
  
• Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V unbuffered
  
• WD 500GB 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s Caviar Blue Hard Drive - 7200RPM 16MB Cach
  
• Samsung Optical Drive

and the case is a Coolermaster Elite 330 with 500w PSU .. and the case has one rear case fan which I think is 120mm.

Thanks for your input in advance!

-Adam

 

[vierasniper]

well that's really up to you. how many can your case hold? more fans can keep it cooler and help keeps dust out if you position them properly. However it also equals more noise, unless you get some silent fans. i have 5 fans on mine, i can add 2 more tho.

 

[mickey megabyte]

hi adamguk, and welcome to sevenforums.

it depends.

i've only got two in my case (which isn't fancy by any means) rear 120mm and top 140mm, both turned down to minimum rpm. they keep my rig perfectly cool even through mammoth overclocked gaming sessions.

i'm not a big fan of fan noise.

 

[mjf]

Adam
I think it depends also on the ambient temperature your system runs in. In the UK you may be in a better situation than me but I think an intake fan blowing over your spinning HDDs is a good idea.

 

[tw33k]

I have 10 case fans and 3 on my CPU. It's only because I have 2x UK-3000s running full speed that I can hear it. When I turn them off, it's virtually silent.

 

[JoeDavola]

I have 7 case fans, all 1850 rpm Gentle Typhoons hooked to a fan controller. I hate fan noise so most of the time I run them between 800 and 1100 rpm.

 

[profdlp]

Add the optional 120mm fan to the front as an intake and make sure the rear fan is positioned to exhaust. The rest depend on your CPU heatsink.

Personally, I think those fancy hard drive coolers (the kind that are mounted directly to the drive) are worthless. Good airflow over the drive (that's where the intake fan comes into play) is what you want.

Your case doesn't appear to leave you a ton of options, unless you're handy with a hole saw:

Elite 330 - Cooler Master - Leading Provider of Computer Case | Cooler | Power Supply

 

[M1GU31]

i got 5 fans in my case and it runs cool and not to loud. I rarely notice the noise and even when gaming it's at a resealable noise level for me.

 

[smarteyeball]

Add the optional 120mm fan to the front as an intake and make sure the rear fan is positioned to exhaust. The rest depend on your CPU heatsink.



Your case doesn't appear to leave you a ton of options, unless you're handy with a hole saw:

You could probably get away with a side intake fan too - even if you have to blu-tack/masking tape it into place.

But adding the front 120mm is imperative.

As long as the core components (CPU, GPU) and to a lesser extent HDD's and ambient are within the limits, it's fine - more isn't always better.


(My personal max was 13 case fans in a HAF 932. My current Lian Li has 4 and overall, there is SFA difference in temp difference between 13 and 4 fans )

 

[mickey megabyte]

why do people need so many fans? just how hot does your case get?

if i were to put my mobo in the oven, i may need five, ten, thirteen fans to keep it cool, but i don't.

maybe too many fans start to cancel each other out? i like quiet pc's, me.

or maybe i'm lucky, and the fact that my psu sits in the bottom of my case really helps air flow a lot, allowing me to run cool with just two fans, even though i overclock and play games?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

• Asus M5A78L/USB3 AMD Socket AM3+ 8 Channel HD Audio ATX Motherboard
  
• AMD 960T Black Edition 3.0GHz Socket AM3 Processor
  
• XFX HD 5450 Heatsink 1GB DDR3 VGA DVI HDMI PCI-E
  
• Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz XMS3 Memory Kit CL9 1.5V unbuffered
  
• WD 500GB 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s Caviar Blue Hard Drive - 7200RPM 16MB Cach
  
• Samsung Optical Drive

That list of components shows nothing unusual.

You don't say what you intend to do with the PC.

With no more information, I'd say 1 good exhaust fan is all you need.

Monitor your temps. If they get into dangerous levels, reconsider your situation.

I do use a slow (500 rpm) 120mm fan on the front side blowing over my hard drives, but it's hardly a requirement. HD temps rise only a few degrees without the fan.

Of course, if you are temperature-obsessed and believe that 32 degrees is by definition superior to 39 degrees, then load up with 6 or 8 fans.

Or, if you just like to tinker, get 6 or 8 fans for no particular reason.

 

[JoeDavola]

why do people need so many fans? just how hot does your case get?

if i were to put my mobo in the oven, i may need five, ten, thirteen fans to keep it cool, but i don't.

maybe too many fans start to cancel each other out? i like quiet pc's, me.

or maybe i'm lucky, and the fact that my psu sits in the bottom of my case really helps air flow a lot, allowing me to run cool with just two fans, even though i overclock and play games?

My case has openings for 7 case fans, and gentle typhoons on a fan controller are not that loud. I have a watercooled setup, so 2 fans are for the radiator. Mountain mod cases you attach up to 3 hard drives per 120mm fan with a bracket. I have 3 platter HD's and one SSD, so you could say one of my fan is for the HD's.

My old case with 4 fans was way louder than my current setup with 7 fans, plus my HD's run considerable cooler, and my radiator gets fresh air from outside the case. My cpu temps are way lower than my old Cosmos 1000 case where I had to mount the radiator on the inside top of the case. That meant warm air from inside was blowing through the rad.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I like the idea of more fans either quiet or speed limited than less fans running wide open or loudly.

 

[smarteyeball]

why do people need so many fans?

It becomes an obsession. Not to mention there's the aesthetic/tinker factor.

Plus Australian summers can get pretty blood hot, but I freely admit I went way overboard.

maybe too many fans start to cancel each other out? i like quiet pc's, me.

There does come a diminishing return point.

I got fed up with noise hence the reason for a case change + drastic reduction in the number of fans. 3 out of my four fans are hooked up to a controller so I've got a pretty quiet rig these days.

 

[profdlp]

I have a hard time resisting the urge to fill a blank space with a fan when the case has one available. I do try and get quiet ones, though.

 

[mjf]

Again in hot (eg Australian) weather I think
1) 1 good rear exhaust fan
2) 1 good CPU fan (eg. low cost but good Hyper 212+). I really don't think the Intel stock coolers are good enough.
3) 1 low noise intake fan blowing over the HDDs. In my climate these drives can easily hit mid 40C without a bit of cooling.
4) Make sure your graphics card is positioned in a well ventilated slot position.

Also don't block the PSU intake vent by sitting you case on thick carpet.

 

[smarteyeball]

I have a hard time resisting the urge to fill a blank space with a fan when the case has one available. I do try and get quiet ones, though.

I had a hard time resisting putting a fan in any blank space - whether it was meant for a fan or not

 

[profdlp]

I have a hard time resisting the urge to fill a blank space with a fan when the case has one available. I do try and get quiet ones, though.

I had a hard time resisting putting a fan in any blank space - whether it was meant for a fan or not

I know what you mean.

I had cases where the better part of them went into the trash in the form of round pieces I shook out of the hole saw. I wondered sometimes why I even bothered with a case at all - it would have been easier to build the thing on top of the motherboard box and point a giant box fan at it.

 

[JoeDavola]

I have a hard time resisting the urge to fill a blank space with a fan when the case has one available. I do try and get quiet ones, though.

I had a hard time resisting putting a fan in any blank space - whether it was meant for a fan or not

I know what you mean.

I had cases where the better part of them went into the trash in the form of round pieces I shook out of the hole saw. I wondered sometimes why I even bothered with a case at all - it would have been easier to build the thing on top of the motherboard box and point a giant box fan at it.

The Mountain Mods Extended Ascension was made for people like us. I went with the U2-UFO partly to save money on fans.

 

[profdlp]

The Mountain Mods Extended Ascension was made for people like us. I went with the U2-UFO partly to save money on fans.

Holy smoke - that's like waving crack at a reformed drug addict!

(I did mention that I had changed my ways, didn't I?)