Question Need case fan advice

[DreadBelch]

Hello, I'm looking to improve the cooling in my case. I could use some advice on optimal fan placement. I figure the Noctuas should go in the front, but not sure about the rest.

Fans:
2 X 140mm Noctua NF-A15 PWM
4 X 120mm Enermax Twister Pressure (High Static Pressure) PWM
2 X 140mm Fractal Design Dynamic GP-14 (Non PWM)

Case is a Fractal Design Define R5
Space for:
2 fans in front
2 fans on bottom
3 fans on top
1 fan in rear




PC Partpicker
i7 6700k and Noctua NH-D15
Gigabyte Gaming 7 mobo
GSkill Trident Z DDR4 3000
Samsung 850 EVO M.2
Muskin Reactor 1TB
EVGA Supernova G2 750W

 

[hayhayhayday]

Can just space them evenly , if you plan to upgrade to watercooling later can just put one on the top to save time later

 

[aigomorla]

What type of floor does the case rest on?
Is it a desk? Wooden Floor? Carpet?

If its on the floor, does the floor have high traffic?
Do you have pets?

If its yes to carpet, or the top two, then no fans on the bottom.
You will end up turning your case into a vacuum cleaner, and pick up just about every last thing your floor has.

If its on a desk, you could potentially go with 1 fan, i would not use 2, as you may cause too much positive pressure from the bottom, and it will end up again, picking up every last thing on your desk.

2 in front is usually an always, or 1 large.
This will feed your CPU + GPU fresh air.

1 In Rear is also an always as it will keep airflow uniform, and not stagnet inside.
It will also help the blowout from your cpu cooler so it does not get recycled.

Im a fan of having 1 or 2 up top, blowing out, because by nature, hot air tends to rise, and having an exhaust will keep force air to stay fresh.

 

[DreadBelch]

Case is on a desk with about one foot of clearance in the front and back.
Five feet of clearance above the computer up to the ceiling.
One inch of clearance along the bottom.

Thinking the intake fans should all run a slightly more aggressive fan curve to promote positive pressure. Although the larger 140mm intakes will probably do the trick.

 

[Furious_Styles]

That set up in your pic is fine and you should have excellent flow. I doubt you need any of them to be more aggressive than the others since you will have so many you could keep it dead silent and still have great flow.

 

[Dev P. First]

You can move one of the top fans to the left side panel in your case. Fans running in the vertical plane tends to have a longer lifespan than running in the horizontal plane.

 

[DreadBelch]

Ended up shifting most of the fans around. The Noctua A15s are evidently 150mm instead of 140mm and wouldn't fit together in the front. So I bought a pair of 140mm Noctua A14s for the front intake instead. The larger A15s were moved to the rear and side panel. Stuck the two cheaper 140mm Fractal Design GP-14s up top.

The 120mm PWM Enermax fans were intermittently rattling and complaining for months, so I set them aside.

Temps are way down. CPU was 54°C under load on Battlefield V, which is fine.

And I forgot to take an updated picture again. Ah well, thanks for everyone's help.

 

[Furious_Styles]

Looks great, once you tune the fan profiles it should be very quiet!

 

[DreadBelch]

Slight problem. The second Noctua A15 on the CPU cooler (the fan on the outside) makes a high-pitched whirling noise above ~600 RPM. Google says it's likely turbulence or some kind of resonance. Here's a Tumblr link to the mp3 I recorded with my phone. The volume is kinda low.

Still waiting on a customer support response from Noctua, but Google suggests either removing the second fan or installing some sort of shroud/decoupler or rubber adhesive strips to create a few millimeters of separation between the fan and radiator. But I'm not sure what to use exactly.


This is what my setup looks like. The outer fan had to be attached higher up on the radiator to clear the memory sticks.


Images linked from https://proclockers.com/reviews/cooling/noctua-nh-d15s-cpu-cooler-review?nopaging

 

[UsandThem]

Still waiting on a customer support response from Noctua, but Google suggests either removing the second fan or installing some sort of shroud/decoupler or rubber adhesive strips to create a few millimeters of separation between the fan and radiator. But I'm not sure what to use exactly.

My NH-U14S came with a set of rubber pads that were thicker if I wanted to add a 2nd fan (to do what you describe). Does yours not come with these thicker pads?

 

[DreadBelch]

Looks like my cooler doesn't come with those. Would have been nice.

 

[DreadBelch]

Noctua responded. This was really cool of them. Looks like I'll be getting those rubber pads after all!

 

[UsandThem]

Noctua responded. This was really cool of them. Looks like I'll be getting those rubber pads after all!

Noctua has really good customer service. I've only had to contact them once when one their fans began having issues after 5 years, and they sent me a brand new one without giving me the runaround.......one email and it was taken care of. I wish more companies were that good, and that's just one of the reasons I am a Noctua fanboy.