How many CFM do you need moving in/out of your case to maintain approx room temps inside?

[dxkj]

Im ordering a case with 6 fan slots, 3 intake 3 output. If each fan is 30'ish CFM will that be plenty, or should i run them at 50cfm? (they are adjustable from 24 to 50


thanks

 

[OulOat]

I have 4 case fans, including PSU fan, moving approx 20 cfms each, and my case temps are only 1-2 C higher than room temp. So yeah, you don't need those powerful noisy fans for case cooling.

 

[farmercal]

I have to agree. I am running two 80mm Panaflo L1As in the front of my case and two 80mm Anatec case fans in the rear. I also have one 80mm Panaflo L1A blowing out the side. My case temps are running around 30C which is good since my case is sitting inside my computer desk. The important thing is to keep the fans and filters clean. Dirty filters will cause temps to go up. I have to clean mine monthly to keeps the temps down.

 

[Matt]

I have had some experience with optimizing airflow through the case. IMHO you don't often need to put on that may fans to get efficient cooling. The level of cooling isn't directly correlated to the temp inside the case. Thus, settle with a few degrees above room temp since it's not worth the extra noise from the fans to get that little extra cooling.
You also need to match the airflow from the intake fans with the exhaust fans in order to get maximum efficiency. Otherwise the fans have a tendency to work against eachother because the airflow inside the case becomes turbulent. (In other words, less airflow on intake fans lower the pressure inside the case, reducing the efficiency of the exhaust fans, and too much airflow through intake fans build up pressure and increases the resistance in the airflow through the case.)

Hey Farmercal! Would you please do an experiment for me? (and for you) Try removing the intake fans and just run with two exhaust fans instead. Make sure to have low resistance where the air gets sucked in through the case in the front.
I prefer to do it the easy way and construct a solution where you let the case work like a vacuum cleaner to provide the best possibilities to reach laminar flow through the case.

Do you get any noticable differences in case temp?

Any comments on this? I know that this isn't totally uncontroversial. However, just putting on a number of fans doesn't automatically correspond to better cooling.


/Matt