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Fractal R3 fan setup question

W

wgan

Junior Member
my build
i73930k (oc to 4.0)+Noctua NH-D14
ASUS P9X79 Pro
16g ram
single gfx 570
one ssd + one hhdhttp://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15350
Silverstone Strider Plus 750W

should I go
1. two front fans+bottom fan as intake, one top +one rear fan as exhaust
2. two front fans +side fan as intake, one top +one rear fan as exhaust
3. leave the top, bottom and side modu-vent as it is, only use two front as intake and one rear as exhaust

for fans, I'm gonna use CoolerMaster 120mm Silen, is it a good one?

what do you say?
 
I have mine set up according to your first option. I've found it's the best compromise between noise and cooling. Having a fan on the side panel doesn't add enough to cooling to justify the extra noise made by the fan and the bleedthrough of GPU fan noise. That's just my experience though. I suggest you do your own experimenting - try different fan configurations and run benchmarks and observe the temperatures while listening to how it sounds.
 
Noise and airflow can be adjusted easily enough though.

As Lehtv said experiment with fan configurations yourself and watch the temps change. We all have different hardware and different fans.

i7860@3.8 Ghz/Hyper212 Evo/Seasonic X-650 Gold+/ Sapphire HD5850/8 gigs Corsair/Antec 902 V3
 
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Going by my own experiments with this case I'd suggest using both front intake fans, a rear exhaust and a top exhaust. This should get rid of the massive amount of heat your hardware will be making while at the same time giving you filtration and reasonable noise levels.
 
If you're concerned over noise like me use the 2 front intake, 1 bottom intake and a single rear exhaust. You'll keep enough positive air pressure that the inside will be pretty darn clean and it's enough airflow for components. The bottom fan is good at giving longer cards extra airflow.

My R3

GQPUY.jpg
 
I have a 2600K (oc'd to 4.4) using a Zalman CNPS9900 and two HD5850's (both OC'd though I don't remember the settings off the top of my head) in this case.

Way I have it set up is 1 (120mm) front intake, 1 side intake (140mm), 1 top intake (140mm in the front), with one rear exhaust (120mm). Since the 5850's are the blower style cooler they act as exhaust. I get fresh air going directly through my CPU and directly to my 5850's.

Temps are ~60c under full load on CPU and GPU's running only around 30% fan speed on the cards. It's still a quiet little system.

I've been thinking of replacing the Zalman with something else. Not sure what to get for a replacement.
 
thanks for all the replies

another question, should all case fans be connected to PSU or mobo? what's the pros and cons doing so respectively. some say by doing the mobo way you get to monitor the fans, others say always connect case fans to PSU directly, what's your thought?
 
I have the front two fans hooked up to the fan controller that came with the R3 and run it at the lowest setting. I have the rear exhaust hooked to the mobo via a pwm connection so it speeds up depending on temp and usage.
When the computer is idle it is practically inaudible. One of my hard drives causes a vibration occasionally that is the loudest sound coming from the case. So clearly my priority is noise, but I am going to try a 120mm intake on the bottom and see how that does. It will be connected to the fan controller as well.
The motherboard connectors are nice because they can vary the speed of fans depending on temps, while the fan controller usually can run the fans at the lowest speeds. Hooking the fans to the psu will run them at full speed and even the most silent fans will make noise, if only the sound of moving air. So I never hook them up to the psu unless they have a speed switch on them.
 
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Contra9 said:
I have the front two fans hooked up to the fan controller that came with the R3 and run it at the lowest setting. I have the rear exhaust hooked to the mobo via a pwm connection so it speeds up depending on temp and usage.
When the computer is idle it is practically inaudible. One of my hard drives causes a vibration occasionally that is the loudest sound coming from the case. So clearly my priority is noise, but I am going to try a 120mm intake on the bottom and see how that does. It will be connected to the fan controller as well.
The motherboard connectors are nice because they can vary the speed of fans depending on temps, while the fan controller usually can run the fans at the lowest speeds. Hooking the fans to the psu will run them at full speed and even the most silent fans will make noise, if only the sound of moving air. So I never hook them up to the psu unless they have a speed switch on them.
Click to expand...

so you reckon its ok to hook all the case fans to mobo? any potential dangers to the mobo doing that? I've read somewhere there's a chance the fan will cause some damages to the mobo, I dont know where they got this, but if people saying so, there much be a reason, right?

to me, fans to mobo sounds really good, I just want to make sure that by doing this everything will be safe
 
I have never had a problem hooking up fans to a motherboard, whether it's a cheap board, top of the line, split (Y) cables. The manufacturers know what they are doing, they put the headers on the board. Plus these days even cheap motherboards have extensive speed options for fans.
 
lsv said:
If you're concerned over noise like me use the 2 front intake, 1 bottom intake and a single rear exhaust. You'll keep enough positive air pressure that the inside will be pretty darn clean and it's enough airflow for components. The bottom fan is good at giving longer cards extra airflow.

My R3
Click to expand...
Nice:thumbsup:
Did you modified the cooler fan's clips? I can't fit anything on my top PCIe slot since it is blocked by the clips🙁
 
one thing, how should I setup Noctua NH-D14, intake or exhaust? haven't got it yet, just wondering in case it doesn't mention in the manual
 
wgan said:
one thing, how should I setup Noctua NH-D14, intake or exhaust? haven't got it yet, just wondering in case it doesn't mention in the manual
Click to expand...

The NH-D14 doesn't 'exhaust' 😛

I think you mean airflow direction? I have mine going out towards the back of the case to assist the rear fan in exhausting air.

I wouldn't imagine setting it up differently unless you have a unique case.
 
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