HAF 912 - Adding Non-Stock Fans

[Paladin5]

I had asked in another forum about whether it was necessary to augment the stock fans on my HAF 912 and the consensus was that I would probably be fine if I'm not overclocking. However, Newegg just sent me a 25% case fans coupon which I would like to take advantage of the offer since I will probably do some overclocking in the future.

I've currently got a stock 120mm intake in front and a stock 120mm exhaust in back. Both are fairly low CFM, though I don't have an exact number. I can put two 120mm's on the front or one 200m; one 120mm on the back; two 120mm's or one 200m on the top; and one 120mm or one 140mm on the side. I don't have my motherboard (I'm picking it up Wednesday) so I'm not sure as to the positioning of the side fan yet.

Here are my options:

($12.74) 1x COOLER MASTER Megaflow 200 R4-LUS-07AB-GP 200mm on the front and move one of the stock fans to the top for exhaust.

($9.74) 4x COOLER MASTER R4-S2S-124K-GP 120mm. Put two on the front, one on the back, and one on the top with one of the stocks. The other stock could be used as a side fan if I wanted to.

($17.98) 3x COOLER MASTER R4-BMBS-20PK-R0 Blade Master 120mm . These are variable speed fans. I can put two in front intake, one in the back exhaust and have the two stock fans as the top exhaust.

Questions:
(1) Which setup would you recommend? Is there a better configuration that I haven't considered?

(2) Are my fan choices good?

(3) Is it better to go with fixed speed or variable speed fans? The variable speeds seem to have a much higher CFM at their max and are a bit quieter at their lowest speed. They are pretty loud at their max though.

(4) 200mm or two 120mm for my front intake? Adding two of 120mm variable speeds would have a higher max CFM but the 200mm would have a higher CFM than the two fixed speed 120mm's.

Here's my build:

CPU: Intel i5 2500k
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Z68 ATX
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB
Video Card: Gigiabyte Ultra Durable VGA Series GV-R685OC-1GD Radeon HD 6850
Case: HAF 912
HD 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Power: Corsair Builder Series 600 Watt ATX 12V Power Supply
Optical Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO

 

[T_Yamamoto]

1) just get regular fan (3 pin) and get a fan controller
2) Cooler Master megaflow=good 700 rpm and moving like 110 cfm of air
Cooler Master (9.74 one) are good too
3) fixed with fan controller
4) get this (so much better)
this fan controller

 

[Skott]

You are not overclocking so considering this I'd say get the 200mm for the front and move the front stock to the top. This is your best price vs performance I think. Now consider this... you decide later on you will overclock or that you just need better cooling. Now all you need to do is buy one more fan. You could buy another 120mm for the top or buy a 200mm fan for the top and then move the stock 120mm you had there to the side panel. Again best price vs performance I think. Just my opinion.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

OC it and see what your temps are. It's not a "deal" unless you really need it. Just did a build in a HAF 912. Very nice and cool with stock setup, even overclocked (phenom 955be @ 3.9)

 

[Paladin5]

Thanks for all the advice. I've decided to go with Skott's suggestion and buy the one 200mm for now.

 

[General Kenobi]

That's a good choice. If you want to look at additional 120mm fans later, check out the Cooler Master SickleFlow fans.