Question Fan direction advice

[Steelbom]

Hi,

I have the Coolermaster MasterCase H500M with two 200mm fans at the front (blowing air into the case) and two 200mm fans at the top (blowing air in) and one 140mm fan at the back (blowing air out).

I also have a Noctua NH D15 which is blowing air from front to back. All fans spin at a fixed 600-650 RPM except for the CPU (800-1200) and GPU (maxes out at 2200~).

I have attached probably my best artistic work that I have ever worked on in paint depicting my case's airflow.

Is this setup okay? Or not ideal?

Appreciate any input!

 

[UsandThem]

You really don't need the two fans on the top of the case blowing down into the case.

You likely would achieve better temps by just using one additional fan up top above your CPU heatsink, blowing out of the case.

If you have four 200mm fans blowing into the case with only 140mm exhaust, that setup will be greatly unbalanced and you will not exhaust enough hot air.

 

[Steelbom]

I see. Thanks for the input!

Would two 200mm fans blowing air up be too much?

Also is it then better to orient the CPU cooler so it blows air bottom to top instead of right to left?

 

[UsandThem]

I see. Thanks for the input!

Would two 200mm fans blowing air up be too much?

Also is it then better to orient the CPU cooler so it blows air bottom to top instead of right to left?

I took the time to find a picture of your particular case, along with adding arrows showing what configuration would give you the best temperatures. I didn't forget to add another fan, or place an arrow in the wrong location.

Although it's your build, so feel free to play around with different fan configurations to fit your needs/wants.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Ideally you balance the outtake with the intake, possibly leaning a little more on having higher intake if your case has fan dust filters. The filters will both restrict the airflow into the case as well as be defeated if you have excessive intake due to air then entering the system through any gap/seam that can be found (and thus bringing dust in through those gaps/seams completely defeating the purpose of the dust filters in the first place). I am not sure if this case would qualify as having true dust filters, but recognize that the screen/mesh will act as a filter, thus constricting some airflow.

 

[UsandThem]

Ideally you balance the outtake with the intake, possibly leaning a little more on having higher intake if your case has fan dust filters. The filters will both restrict the airflow into the case as well as be defeated if you have excessive intake due to air then entering the system through any gap/seam that can be found (and thus bringing dust in through those gaps/seams completely defeating the purpose of the dust filters in the first place). I am not sure if this case would qualify as having true dust filters, but recognize that the screen/mesh will act as a filter, thus constricting some airflow.

It doesn't have any front filters, just one on the top. It's very similar to one of their cases I bought a few years back, and ended up not using it because it let too much dust and hair from my dog get into the case.

 

[Steelbom]

I took the time to find a picture of your particular case, along with adding arrows showing what configuration would give you the best temperatures. I didn't forget to add another fan, or place an arrow in the wrong location.

Although it's your build, so feel free to play around with different fan configurations to fit your needs/wants.

Cheers, I just want to try to find a way to use my second top fan. I will do a bunch of testing.

Ideally you balance the outtake with the intake, possibly leaning a little more on having higher intake if your case has fan dust filters. The filters will both restrict the airflow into the case as well as be defeated if you have excessive intake due to air then entering the system through any gap/seam that can be found (and thus bringing dust in through those gaps/seams completely defeating the purpose of the dust filters in the first place). I am not sure if this case would qualify as having true dust filters, but recognize that the screen/mesh will act as a filter, thus constricting some airflow.

I see. I thought having lots of intake would force all the hot air out of the case, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

It doesn't have any front filters, just one on the top. It's very similar to one of their cases I bought a few years back, and ended up not using it because it let too much dust and hair from my dog get into the case.

This model has some front mesh/filter on the front but it doesn't work very well. (And I don't think it has one on top, but could be wrong.) The gaps on the side don't have any filter. It's a shame because it does let dust get through which is annoying!

 

[UsandThem]

This model has some front mesh/filter on the front but it doesn't work very well. (And I don't think it has one on top, but could be wrong.) The gaps on the side don't have any filter. It's a shame because it does let dust get through which is annoying!

Yeah, that's where they got me. The wording made it sound like it had a front filter, but it was just a metal mesh that lets pretty much anything small through. It was a nice case besides that, but after using it for a few weeks, I knew it had to be replaced because I began seeing my smaller dogs hair on a few of the components inside.

On the plus side, it has good airflow!

 

[Steelbom]

Yeah, that's where they got me. The wording made it sound like it had a front filter, but it was just a metal mesh that lets pretty much anything small through. It was a nice case besides that, but after using it for a few weeks, I knew it had to be replaced because I began seeing my smaller dogs hair on a few of the components inside.

On the plus side, it has good airflow!

Yeah, I previously had the Silverstone FT05. It was a great case in my opinion and the filtering was superb! Not one bit of visible dust got through! Sadly it was too cramped with the parts I had to easily get in there and add/remove stuff.

I may switch to the Alta S1 or the new Raven when it comes out.

 

[Heartbreaker]

Yeah, that's where they got me. The wording made it sound like it had a front filter, but it was just a metal mesh that lets pretty much anything small through. It was a nice case besides that, but after using it for a few weeks, I knew it had to be replaced because I began seeing my smaller dogs hair on a few of the components inside.

The metal mesh front instead of filters is all the rage currently but since they are also structural, they aren't great filters. They have fewer, larger holes. So the hole to material ratio isn't that favorable for air flow, and the holes are larger, so they aren't that great for dust protection. They do block larger dust particles, so better than nothing at all.

Which is why I prefer purpose built dust filters with finer non-structural mesh. The hole to material ratio is better, for decent airflow (though smaller holes can resist air more, even when they have larger surface area of holes), and they definitely block dust better, but case filters don't block the finest dust particles, until you get to HEPA class filters on highly specialized cases.