Ideal fan layout

[Macroman595]

Hi, some of you may have been my post on the new build advice thread asking for help, this time I am looking for the ideal fan layout for the case I have.

The case is a Fractal Design Arc Midi R2. It is a lovely case in person. Tinytom had me sold on his review of the beauty.

The idea will be to replace the case standard fans with a mix of Corsair's AF/SP series High performance fans.

I also look to install a h100 water cooler in the future or something better than the stock cpu cooler for the LGA 1150 socket.

Configuring the fans as such:
2 inducting from the top(case includes top dust filter)
2 inducting from the front (again dust filter came with case)
1 fan exhausting out the back

 

[Ciric]

I would use front & back as intake, and top as exhaust.
Just get a fan filter for the back one.

 

[S_I_N]

front bottom in rear top out is best

 

[NeverBackDown]

Personally i would choose other fans because the Corsair's sound to loud to me even on 7v.. but if they are quiet to you then by all means get them.

I would run front/bottom as intake
rear/top as exhaust.

Thats how nature best plays with it so best stick to it.

 

[Feronix]

If you're on aircooling:
2 front intakes, 1 rear exhaust.

If you're using an H100i:
2 front intake, 1 rear intake, H100i in the top working as an exhaust.
And in that case also get a dust filter for the rear.

Make sure you have more intake fans than exhaust ones to keep positive air pressure and keep dust out. If you have more exhaust than intake fans, the dust gets pulled into the case.

 

[Meladath]

If you're on aircooling:
2 front intakes, 1 rear exhaust.

If you're using an H100i:
2 front intake, 1 rear intake, H100i in the top working as an exhaust.
And in that case also get a dust filter for the rear.

Make sure you have more intake fans than exhaust ones to keep positive air pressure and keep dust out. If you have more exhaust than intake fans, the dust gets pulled into the case.

Is 1 exhaust really enough? I imagine its not too bad for a single GPU setup, but what about SLI/Crossfire? I currently have 2 in and 3 out but I am going to take 1 exhaust out and replace the 2 front with better fans. Hopefully I will just about get enough positive pressure to make it ok. Although anything is better than it is now.

 

[Ciric]

Is 1 exhaust really enough? I imagine its not too bad for a single GPU setup, but what about SLI/Crossfire? I currently have 2 in and 3 out but I am going to take 1 exhaust out and replace the 2 front with better fans. Hopefully I will just about get enough positive pressure to make it ok. Although anything is better than it is now.

That's why i would use the back as intake aswell. Then you have 3 in & 2 out

 

[Feronix]

Is 1 exhaust really enough? I imagine its not too bad for a single GPU setup, but what about SLI/Crossfire? I currently have 2 in and 3 out but I am going to take 1 exhaust out and replace the 2 front with better fans. Hopefully I will just about get enough positive pressure to make it ok. Although anything is better than it is now.

It's mainly about the airflow path dude. Your components get cooled because the air moves over the heatsinks, not because the air is cold (obviously this helps though).

Your GPUs, depending on the style of cooler, will also exhaust some warm air out of the case and you can mount your PSU with the fan up so that will help pulling air from the GPU area as well (but not so much that your GPUs suffer).

Since the top of your case is 'open', the heat will passively rise out of the top as well as we all know that warm air rises