Carbide 400R - Fan setup sugestions

Hello everyone,

First I wasn't sure which particular forum area to post in so if this is the wrong one forgive me for that

 

I just 'finished' up this computer build about one - two weeks ago. I've not run into any real issues and I'm loving it personally my old computer was of the Intel Pentium 4 era with DDR1 memory. So i imaging just about any other modern computer setup I could have put together probably would of ran circles around it as well as this one does lol.

 

Alright onto the actual topic of discussion. As it stands right now i have the default fan setup. The preinstalled 2 fans in front and the 1 in back.

I thought just for future proofing (if that would be correct) i might want to add at least 2 fans to setup.

 

I figured it might be ideal to add 1 fan to the side panel and 1 fan to the top. But I don't know how benificial this would be?

 

I assume the side panel having airflow in would help keep the gpu cooler under use if it needs it. And having aditional ventilation out would help make sure heat escapes easier.

 

But strangly somewhere else i read someone remark that side fans and top fans could create if i remember terms correctly turbulance or an inbalance and actually hurt airflow.

 

I'm not to knowlagable on the airflow situation of fans so i'm looking for some help if any is avialable.

 

My last question is I was looking at some Corsair fans and I see two types 'Performace' and 'Quiet' the only thing I'm sure of on that matter is one moves more air. but would the potential performance difference be enough that i should buy them over the quiet model.

 

Thanks for anyone who took the time to read and possible help out in my venture.

maxing out the fans on your 400r will help cooling. "Turbulence" isn't a real problem, one thing you do want to keep in mind though is positive pressure (more fans on intake) vs negative pressure (more fans on exhaust). Positive pressure is ideal, it has shown to keep computers cooler than negative or static pressure, as well as keep out more dust vs negative pressure.

 

as far as af120 pe vs qe fans, it all comes down to preference. The qe fans should be sufficient for more people, but if you want better performance and are willing to put up with a little more noise then you can get the hp fans.

Alright I'm pretty sure I get what your saying about the positive pressure.

Would this be considered a good mix or positive pressure, if for instance I bought 1 High Performance fan for the side fan intake and then 1 Quiet Edition fan for the outtake.

In this instance.

2x Front Intake Fans (PreInstalled Case fans)

1x Rear Exhaust Fan (PreInstalled Case fan)

1x Side Performance Type Intake Fan

1x Top Quiet Exhaust Fan

 

Or would the best cooling / performance scenario be better to buy 2 Performance fans.

To keep positive pressure you just need to have more cfm coming into the case then going out. You have to take more into account then just the number of fans though to truly do this. Intake fans sometimes have things that block them, like the hdd cages at the front, that will lower the cfm coming into the case. You dont need to assume your getting half the cfm or anything, just keep in mind that your probably not getting the full cfm out of those fans and just make sure that since those fans are slightly restricted you have atleast one more intake to make up for it (which you would need anyways to create possitive pressure). Also have to take into account different makes of fans, one might push 2x more air then another one especially when you use stock fans vs aftermarket ones. Also keep the psu out of the loop by having it intake from the bottom. Keep in mind that positive pressure wont eliminate dust, it will still come in from unfiltered or poorly filtered fans, just will keep dust from coming in all the nooks and crannies.

 

On my set up on my 500r I have the 2 front stock fans, the stock 200mm side fan, a cm quite fan on the bottom, and the rear has my h50 on push pull, all as intake. I then have the 2 cm quites as my only exhaust, and one more cm quite mounted internally on the hdd cages. so to just rough estimate it you can assign high cfm fans a value of 3 (the 200mm fan) my cm quite fans are low cfm a value of 1, and my stock fans a medium cfm fan a value of 2, Im also guessing and giving my h50 fans a value of 2 since they are restricted by the radiator. So my intakes would then be 2+2+3+1+2=10 maybe take one point off for the hdd cages gives me 9 to be safe. My exhaust would be just 2+2=4 so I have plenty of positive pressure, if I wasn't running my h50 i could use the rear as a exhaust and still have positive pressure.

 

If you don't mind the noise just get the hp fans. If you do get them and find they are too loud then you can use the supplied cable to undervolt them and they will perform just under the qe fans at full strength, or you can connect them to the mb and set the speed to whatever you like.

 

Its also cheaper to buy them in a twin pack so that helps. Why not just max out the case and get 2 for the side and 2 for the top?

Oh I see, I'm not home to check I think my board has fan controls set to auto. But I thought only 4pin fans had fan control avialable to them? Or do they have a 4pin connection?

You are right, I thought they were 4 pin but just checked and they are 3 pin. You can still connect them to a fan controller.