Cooling setup advice

[Dawelio]

Hello everyone,

So I'm waiting on the release of the upcoming Lian Li O11D Mini case, which unfortunately has been delayed around 6 months, but seems to be getting closer and closer, hopefully mid November.

As with any build, planning is a huge part of it. Hence this thread.

I'm a bit unsure on what size fans I should go for, dual 120's or dual 140's on the side of the chassi. The side, meaning the fans to the right (on the AIO) of the motherboard in the picture below.

I will otherwise, fully utilize all fan spots in the case; one 120 in the back, triple 120's in the bottom, triple 120's in the top (AIO) and then there's the dual fans on the side. Which I am having a hard time deciding on. I'm not even sure if it even makes a huge difference between 120 and 140? Especially considering the colossal amount of airflow that the case will have anyway. At this point, it's just the aestethics with it, which is something I'm rather picky about.

In the end, it will be up to me to decide whatever I go for, although I've wanted to ask you guys for a while now what everyone's opinions on these are, what you would choose yourselfs in my position?...

The fans I've thought about are all Corsair ML120's and ML140's (if choosing for 140's on the side). They will be a nightmare to cable management, but this is something I'm willing to do, especially since this is pretty much a one time thing that you do. So not a huge thing overall.
If all 120's, then I might consider the Lian Li Uni Fans or similar. Due to their ease of cable management. Although I don't want the cable management to be deciding factor, since this isn't something that you will see anyway (I'm picky on clean and slick cable management in my build). So it's mostly down to size(s) and aestethics.

What do you guys think and what are your thoughts on this?:

Best regards,
Dawelio

 

[Excalabur50]

In this instance I'd personally match all the fans for size so, I'd go with all 120's and I would go with the Lian Li fans, everything will match, all fan pressures will match too, which can help reduce chop noise which can sometimes happen due to different fan sizes can often spin at different RPM unless carefully matched and IMO it's more balanced in aesthetics, but hey that's just me and how I'd do it.
And with the amount you're going to have you should be able to spin them all at a lower RPM and cut down some of the noise.

 

[Dawelio]

In this instance I'd personally match all the fans for size so, I'd go with all 120's and I would go with the Lian Li fans, everything will match, all fan pressures will match too, which can help reduce chop noise which can sometimes happen due to different fan sizes can often spin at different RPM unless carefully matched and IMO it's more balanced in aesthetics, but hey that's just me and how I'd do it.
And with the amount you're going to have you should be able to spin them all at a lower RPM and cut down some of the noise.

Really? Now this is something I did not know. Interesting... But seems rather logical though.

I always thought it's always best to go with the largest size fans you can, since you can spin those slower but still get the same amount of air. That being said, as mentioned in the OP, I'm not sure how much a of a real world difference that actually is or does between 120 and 140?

 

[Excalabur50]

Really? Now this is something I did not know. Interesting... But seems rather logical though.

I always thought it's always best to go with the largest size fans you can, since you can spin those slower but still get the same amount of air. That being said, as mentioned in the OP, I'm not sure how much a of a real world difference that actually is or does between 120 and 140?

Realistically the difference is minimal and the chop doesn't always happen just could, mostly though I'd just go with all 120's for the fact it's all matched and if you're a bit OCD and like things to look just so, this helps and those clip together Lian Li fans are pretty bloody nice so to me it's a win win
If it were a larger case you were using then I'd say go all 140's