Help. Fan Setup - Fractal Arc Mini R2

[Package]

Hi guys,

I hope to get some feedback and advice on my current setup. I'm not satisfied with it at the moment, and maybe you could help me.
Room temp is around 21-22, CPU idle at 35, GPU idle at 44..

imgur.com/2PXmt6E
Check out the picture.

- CPU Noctua fans on silent mode with reduced voltage, temp is fine and also the noise.
- case has 3 way (12v-9v-6v) switch with 3 fan connections
- case has dust filters on every side, dust is not a problem since I keep the case higher of the ground
- I have a fan splitter cable
- I also have 1 fan potentiometer that can connect onto the mobo

Now I have two front intakes, and upper/back on exhaust, and I usually keep the case voltage on 6v
I'm considering moving 120mm fan from HDDs to the bottom so it blows directly on the GPU, additionally, switching the upper right 140mm to intake air

What do you think is the best airflow setup? Best positions?
Should I remove some of the fans ?

Thx

 

[Ranulf]

Setup looks good to me. Might be worth it to swap that lower hdd fan to lower intake for gpu. Can't hurt to try it if gpu temps are bothering you.

 

[Stuka87]

Does that bottom location actually pull in air from under the case?

You have more exhaust than intakes, so you end up with a negative pressure case. Personally I have had better luck with positive pressure case setups, or neutral pressure setups (Equale amount of intake and exhaust).

The HDD's make the bottom intake essentially useless. Some air gets in, but they block most of it.

If it was me, I would add a fan to that bottom location, but keep both front fans. You will still be on the negative side of things, but should help keep the air moving through better.

 

[Package]

Yeah it does, and I keep the case horizontal so it has free airflow.

What I could do is take the upper left 140mm and put it on the bottom and change the other (right)140mm to intake air. That would make me have 4 intakes (2x120mm, 2x140mm) and 1x120mm back exhaust. What do you think?

And should I just remove the lower front 120mm because the HDD make it unusable and noisy ?

 

[lehtv]

This fan is sucking in cool air from the upper front intake before it can reach the CPU fan:

You would probably get the same or better temperatures by removing that fan.

I don't think turning it into an intake is productive either. You'll get best results with front/bottom to back/top airflow.

Honestly, I think you're overdoing this whole thing a bit. I used to do that too, at one point I had eight fans in a Define R3 even though my CPU was just mildly overclocked and I had one sub 200 watt graphics card. There just wasn't need for such overkill cooling, I would've got perfectly good results with two intakes and one exhaust, and I think you would too.

Currently I have a microATX setup with 2x 140mm front intakes and 2x 140mm exhaust (rear, top). All the fans are spinning at low RPM's even during full gaming load, and temperatures are more than fine. I could remove the top exhaust and temperatures and noise levels would still be more than fine.

And should I just remove the lower front 120mm because the HDD make it unusable and noisy ?

I don't understand how the HDD's make the fan noisy - isn't the lower fan making the same noise as the upper fan? And what do you mean by unusable, to me it seems quite the opposite. I would expect HDD temperatures to skyrocket if you removed that fan, so, not such a good idea IMO.

 

[Stuka87]

This fan is sucking in cool air from the upper front intake before it can reach the CPU fan:

I don't understand how the HDD's make the fan noisy - isn't the lower fan making the same noise as the upper fan? And what do you mean by unusable, to me it seems quite the opposite. I would expect HDD temperatures to skyrocket if you removed that fan, so, not such a good idea IMO.

Its most likely wind noise off the HD's themselves. The fan is extremely close to it.

 

[Package]

I tried the idea I mentioned; plus, removed the lower front hdd fan.
So now I have frontal intake above the HDDs, bottom intake 140mm for GPU, top right intake for the CPU, and the back exhaust.
I must say it works pretty well, not so noisy, the idle temps are 38 for GPU, 28 for CPU, video encoding & gaming load is around 65-70 for both of them.

The HDD temps are just fine 42, it didn't skyrocket since SSD takes the power. :thumbsup:

Which fan do you think should have more voltage ? i can put it on PWM and control it depending on what im doing

 

[lehtv]

Yes, temps are going to be fine with that setup pretty much no matter what you do, as long as you have at least 1 intake and exhaust

 

[Charlie98]

OP, I think you are overthinking it a bit...

All 3 of my Fractal Mini cases (2 Defines, 1 Arc) are set up the same: 2 intake fans, 1 exhaust. Even my OC'ed i5 runs just fine in this manner, using the included fan controller (I run it at 50% normally, 100% when gaming or benching) I did block off the upper vent and the side vent on the Arc, making a more closed case, allowing the airflow to move F to R without interference.

Modern components run much cooler, the days of having to have a Swiss-cheese case with 8 fans blowing are over (exception would be something like tri-SLI or other special application.) Keep it simple...