How many fans should I use for this system?

[JacobMc]

Hey guys,

I just recently bought the parts to build a budget gaming PC, it will be my first time building my own PC. Here is a link to my build.

The case (NZXT Source 210) comes with one rear 120mm fan and the CPU and GPU also have fans. Would you guys suggest that I get any more fans for this setup? If so where would you suggest I place any additional fans?

As of now I don't plan on overclocking anything. Also I don't have the PC built yet (parts are still being shipped) so I'm unable to run any tests but if you guys could give me recommendations just based on my current build that would be awesome.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Hey guys,

I just recently bought the parts to build a budget gaming PC, it will be my first time building my own PC. Here is a link to my build.

The case (NZXT Source 210) comes with one rear 120mm fan and the CPU and GPU also have fans. Would you guys suggest that I get any more fans for this setup? If so where would you suggest I place any additional fans?

As of now I don't plan on overclocking anything. Also I do have the PC built yet (parts are still being shipped) so I'm unable to run any tests but if you guys could give me recommendations just based on my current build that would be awesome.

An unlimited number of fans will of course increase power-draw by some amount and can potentially increase noise. It is not uncommon to see an excess of fans applied to a computer DIY project which don't appreciably increase airflow or apply airflow in a directed and focused way.

I wish the Source 210 had fan holes for 140mm fans. Actually, it may allow for fans of that size. But the 120mm units will do.

With no overclocking, the imperatives of airflow still apply. There may be other opinions, but (my view) it helps to arrange for more intake in CFM than exhaust.

I would block off any unused fan vents*. I would then install a fan in the lower front-panel intake vent, and another fan in either the side-panel or one of the top vents -- for intake.

Also, although you won't overclock, and you've implied that you will use either the Intel stock fan or an after-market heatpipe cooler for the CPU, I would attempt to thermally control all the fans from the motherboard fan ports. Usually, if you got a decent motherboard for a current gen processor, you should be easily able to do this with four fans.

Even so, you could provide for thermal control with only the exhaust and CPU fan. There should be at least one CPU_FAN (PWM/3-pin) port, and either a CPU_OPT_FAN (PWM/3-pin), a similar port for the exhaust fan labeled "CHA_FAN1" or both. [When I say "PWM/3-pin" I mean that the mobo has 4-pin ports which also except 3-pin fans]. A mobo made by ASUS (because I know for sure) will allow for either PWM thermal control or voltage control, depending on what type of fan is connected.

"Thermal control" means that the mobo will make the fan(s) spin up as a component temperature monitored by the mobo increases, and specifically -- it is almost always more than sufficient to use the CPU temperature alone to do this. The mobo should provide proprietary software to configure thermal control of fan-speed, and the BIOS should provide complementary features that work with or without the software.

Again -- just from my personal experience -- take a look at Akasa Viper and Cougar Vortex fans. IF you don't thermally control the remainder of the fans, they will run full-bore and be a bit noisier. These and other fans are likely to be less noisy. In fact, other folks keen to the noise issue (in their own way) may recommend other brands.

Also, I recommend purchasing rubber fan mounts. They're cheap by the handful. If you isolate the source of vibration (a fan) from the case metal, things will be as quiet as you can make them.

I would also recommend an aftermarket heatpipe cooler. Chuck the Intel cooler or it in a parts locker. Get a tower-heatpipe cooler like the CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ EVO -- about $30+ at various resellers. Attend to the thermal interface material and proper installation. At minimum, this lines up the CPU fan so its exhaust becomes input for the case exhaust fan. At best, you can duct the rear of the cooler to the exhaust fan (I use foam art-board*, foam glue and an Xacto knife). Thus, all the intake creates pressure, and all the exhausted air must pass through the cooler on its exit from the case.

NOW -- that's the way I'd do it with that case for that type of project. You could probably do as well to use a single intake fan and the CPU and exhaust fans, for a total of 3. In that case, it might not be such a good idea to block off unused fan vents.

 

[JacobMc]

An unlimited number of fans will of course increase power-draw by some amount and can potentially increase noise. It is not uncommon to see an excess of fans applied to a computer DIY project which don't appreciably increase airflow or apply airflow in a directed and focused way.

I wish the Source 210 had fan holes for 140mm fans. Actually, it may allow for fans of that size. But the 120mm units will do.

With no overclocking, the imperatives of airflow still apply. There may be other opinions, but (my view) it helps to arrange for more intake in CFM than exhaust.

I would block off any unused fan vents*. I would then install a fan in the lower front-panel intake vent, and another fan in either the side-panel or one of the top vents -- for intake.

Also, although you won't overclock, and you've implied that you will use either the Intel stock fan or an after-market heatpipe cooler for the CPU, I would attempt to thermally control all the fans from the motherboard fan ports. Usually, if you got a decent motherboard for a current gen processor, you should be easily able to do this with four fans.

Even so, you could provide for thermal control with only the exhaust and CPU fan. There should be at least one CPU_FAN (PWM/3-pin) port, and either a CPU_OPT_FAN (PWM/3-pin), a similar port for the exhaust fan labeled "CHA_FAN1" or both. [When I say "PWM/3-pin" I mean that the mobo has 4-pin ports which also except 3-pin fans]. A mobo made by ASUS (because I know for sure) will allow for either PWM thermal control or voltage control, depending on what type of fan is connected.

"Thermal control" means that the mobo will make the fan(s) spin up as a component temperature monitored by the mobo increases, and specifically -- it is almost always more than sufficient to use the CPU temperature alone to do this. The mobo should provide proprietary software to configure thermal control of fan-speed, and the BIOS should provide complementary features that work with or without the software.

Again -- just from my personal experience -- take a look at Akasa Viper and Cougar Vortex fans. IF you don't thermally control the remainder of the fans, they will run full-bore and be a bit noisier. These and other fans are likely to be less noisy. In fact, other folks keen to the noise issue (in their own way) may recommend other brands.

Also, I recommend purchasing rubber fan mounts. They're cheap by the handful. If you isolate the source of vibration (a fan) from the case metal, things will be as quiet as you can make them.

I would also recommend an aftermarket heatpipe cooler. Chuck the Intel cooler or it in a parts locker. Get a tower-heatpipe cooler like the CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ EVO -- about $30+ at various resellers. Attend to the thermal interface material and proper installation. At minimum, this lines up the CPU fan so its exhaust becomes input for the case exhaust fan. At best, you can duct the rear of the cooler to the exhaust fan (I use foam art-board*, foam glue and an Xacto knife). Thus, all the intake creates pressure, and all the exhausted air must pass through the cooler on its exit from the case.

NOW -- that's the way I'd do it with that case for that type of project. You could probably do as well to use a single intake fan and the CPU and exhaust fans, for a total of 3. In that case, it might not be such a good idea to block off unused fan vents.

Thank you so much for all of the information, it was really helpful!

However, I think will take a more basic approach to cooling my system.

NOW -- that's the way I'd do it with that case for that type of project. You could probably do as well to use a single intake fan and the CPU and exhaust fans, for a total of 3. In that case, it might not be such a good idea to block off unused fan vents.

If I were to just use an intake fan, the CPU fan, and the exhaust fan, would you recommend placing the intake fan on the front panel as you mentioned earlier?

And by the way, I am planning on using the stock Intel cooler.

Also, would my motherboard use thermal control by default or will I have to configure it like you mentioned?

Again, I appreciate all the information you provided me it's helping me learn more about the PC building process.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Thank you so much for all of the information, it was really helpful!

However, I think will take a more basic approach to cooling my system.



If I were to just use an intake fan, the CPU fan, and the exhaust fan, would you recommend placing the intake fan on the front panel as you mentioned earlier?

And by the way, I am planning on using the stock Intel cooler.

Also, would my motherboard use thermal control by default or will I have to configure it like you mentioned?

Again, I appreciate all the information you provided me it's helping me learn more about the PC building process.

As long as you have no plans for overclocking the processor, I see nothing wrong with that. And -- yes -- my first choice would be the bottom front-panel fan port: it can blow air on your disk drives and cool the lower part of the motherboard (including a graphics card) before moving to the exhaust fan.

Intel configures the processor and designs the sink and fan to provide adequate cooling with stock BIOS settings. The fan itself is a PWM (4-pin) fan, and any contemporary motherboard CPU_FAN port will thermally control it, although I suspect you will need to configure the BIOS in the fan control and monitoring menu.

I don't like the design of the stock fan because I've long become used to more efficient heatpipe coolers which can be integrated into general case airflow. There are things that can be done with the stock cooler that would make it work better in this perspective. But you don't need to worry about such details as long as you plan to run the processor at its stock settings.

 

[Kenmitch]

If noise is a concern ditch the stock cooler. They tend to be pretty whiny under heavy loads.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

If noise is a concern ditch the stock cooler. They tend to be pretty whiny under heavy loads.

I still have to agree with that. It's his choice, though. It could be a $30 investment (Hyper 212 EVO?). At least he knows his options.

 

[mistersprinkles]

No. Back up. You're overclocking. If you buy a G3258 and you don't overclock it you're being ridiculous. The chip is designed for overclocking, on the stock cooler even.

Switch your board to the Gigabyte H97 G1 Sniper. It's a much better board than what you have there anyways. It's a $15 difference. You get WAY better LAN and WAY better audio for that $15. Put 1 or 2 fans in the front and a fan in the back of the case and you're good to go.

You can improve the performance of that cpu by over 30% (look it up) by overclocking it. It's easy, it won't cost you any money... why wouldn't you do it? Before you say anything, no overclocking will not damage the chip. You keep the voltage reasonable and no damage will come to the CPU. You'll decrease it's lifespan, but we're talking about going from 90 years to 30 years. You still gonna have that chip in 30 years? Exactly. Overclock it.

 

[Cerb]

The one exhaust fan it comes with should be sufficient. A Pentium and R7 265 are not power hogs. If you want it quieter, you can go down the rabbit hole, like in BonzaiDuck's post (and he doesn't even suggest going nearly as far as you could ).

 

[Aikouka]

I saw that the case has a mounting point of a side panel fan, which I tend to prefer. The only downside is that they usually make it harder to take off the side panel. However, you can usually remedy this a bit by just getting a 3-pin (or 4-pin) fan extension cable.

Although, I'm not too sure if a R7 265 would really need the extra air, but if you want to OC it, it may not hurt. The only other downside is that side panels tend to be a bit flimsy and tend to reverberate a bit more.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I saw that the case has a mounting point of a side panel fan, which I tend to prefer. The only downside is that they usually make it harder to take off the side panel. However, you can usually remedy this a bit by just getting a 3-pin (or 4-pin) fan extension cable.

Although, I'm not too sure if a R7 265 would really need the extra air, but if you want to OC it, it may not hurt. The only other downside is that side panels tend to be a bit flimsy and tend to reverberate a bit more.

Yeah . . it's a stark difference between how someone unfamiliar in working with the case sees the inconvenience, and how the builder sees it -- familiar with every aspect of case removal/replacement. But usually it just needs attention to where you first position the panel to slide and lock it into place, or a more careful removal.

The other problem: side-panel fans can transmit more noise, unless the fan mounts or corners are prepared with an acoustic rubber "wrapping." Best not to use screws or bolts as fasteners: If rubber fan mounts will work in the side-panel vent, then use them. If not, as long as you rubber-wrap the point of contact between fan and fastener, black cable ties alleviate any difficulty in matching holes on the panel with the fan mounts. Otherwise, you drill holes 4x each fan, and insist on using the rubber mounts. If so -- do precise drilling.

The fan needs an especially long cable, and you'd want to have a pull-apart fan connection so you didn't pull the plug off some obscure port of the motherboard. And that latter improvement can create continuity problems so the fan doesn't operate properly or the tach-wire doesn't register its signal. But that's probably the best way to go . . .