Franksi Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 Hi all, will be building my partners sons first PC this weekend with him, We have a 220T case with an H100i Platinum in the front replacing 2 of the 3 SP120 fans. This means we will have 1 x SP120 and 2 x ML120 acting as intake. We will have 2x SP120 in the roof and 1x SP120 in the rear as exhausts. Long term intention is to switch all fans to ML120s... I want to make sure that I get high static pressure in the case to keep the dust out so could anyone suggest best settings considering the fan combination? I’m assuming I don’t want to let the AIO turn off it’s fans even when the CPU is cool? Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-attack Posted October 2, 2019 Share Posted October 2, 2019 You are aiming for a balanced volume between intake and exhaust. It can be difficult to estimate airflow volume on and off the radiator, but all you can do is use basic math (target rpm/maximum rpm) x maximum specified airflow. It's not perfect but then it doesn't need to be. For radiator fans, assume they will move half of the above calculation because of the resistance provided by the radiator. Without the calculations, you can surmise you won't need to blast the top/rear very hard, although ultimately actual use should dictate speeds. As for the idea of keeping your case dust free because you have positive pressure, I am afraid that is one of the more persistent internet myths. The general idea is you are keeping dust from entering the case through passive vents or openings by forcing case air out those openings. However, there are several problems with this. 1) If a particle of dust is near any intake fan, it's coming in. It doesn't matter what your pressure balance is. This means you need dust filters to prevent entry, not positive pressure. 2) Dust still floats around your room when the PC is off. Not too many people cover their PC with a drop cloth these days, so when off the normal room currents are still moving dust around. If you really want to prevent dust entry, you need filters on openings. Now covering every inch of your PC with dust filters is all well and good, but of course that comes with a performance cost. Fans will move less air through the filter. That is a judgment call you can make, but the one thing to really understand is radiator + dust filter is a big piece of resistance. You can add a noticeable amount bit to your coolant and CPU temps with choking off the radiator. In combination with heavy case paneling, this can be a serious problem. Most people would be better off dusting every 3 months rather than take a daily performance hit. Radiator fans should always move. There a few coolers with "zero fan speed", but I am not a proponent of letting the coolant heat up while idle, then having to blast the fans to bring it back down to avoid a load temp penalty. It is a lot easier to keep the fans a minimum speed which still provides some airflow with a nominal amount of fan noise. If you have 1 meter worth of radiators in your case, you can get away with cutting fans off, but for an AIO as intake, I would recommend against it. Aside from the radiator fans that you will be able to control effectively through iCUE, you may not have great control options from the BIOS anyway for the other case fans. Control variable choices have become strange as of late. If you are lucky enough to have a temp sensor for fan control on that board, that will be a big help. The 10K themistor sensor can go on the radiator exhaust side and that will let you match exhaust and intake speeds effectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franksi Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 Thanks for this. Sounds like long term a Commander Pro and more ML fans may give me extra control and flexibility? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c-attack Posted October 3, 2019 Share Posted October 3, 2019 The Commander Pro does help a lot. It can run DC and PWM fans in any combination. It gives you a huge number of control variable choices, including temp senor data that is native and does not require active software. The issue I am unsure of at this time is the interaction of the SP-PRO fans with ML/HD/LL fan types. They may have to be on different RGB hubs. Presumably the 220T comes with 1 RGB hub, but I don't think you can tack a ML-RGB on to it. I need someone else to verify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franksi Posted October 3, 2019 Author Share Posted October 3, 2019 The Commander Pro does help a lot. It can run DC and PWM fans in any combination. It gives you a huge number of control variable choices, including temp senor data that is native and does not require active software. The issue I am unsure of at this time is the interaction of the SP-PRO fans with ML/HD/LL fan types. They may have to be on different RGB hubs. Presumably the 220T comes with 1 RGB hub, but I don't think you can tack a ML-RGB on to it. I need someone else to verify. I think you’re right - i would wither need to replace the 4 SP120s with ML120s or put the MLs on a different hub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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