CPU Fans Placement

[nasuren]

To make a long story short: I'm building my first computer after being stuck with a Intel 3 and Geforce GT 730.

While I would love to bitch a bit about shit like accidently ordering Laptop Ram instead of Desktop Ram? I'm here seeking opinions and advice on something that could have a significant impact on both performance and looks.

Fans.

To put it simply? I now have a White Musetex K2 Case (a 'Fishtank Case') that came with three preinstalled non-RGB fans. Thing is that while I have ordered some Thermalright ARGB fans? I only got a three pack due to being on a budget and now I'm facing the dilemma of where to put what fans where. Now the K2 is a case that comes with 9 total spaces for fans: Three on top that has a dust cover, three on the bottom of the case/top of the PSU shroud that technically has a dust cover, two on the side and one in the back.

Currently I'm planning on using the ARGB on the side and rear as exhaust while using the non-RGB as input in likely the bottom space to take advantage of the small filter there along with the fact that hot air rises. However I want a second opinion before starting putting together my PC tomorrow.

So the big question? Where would you put them for both airflow, max ARGB light spread and appearance?

 

[rkyeun]

When you say there are fans on the bottom, do you mean that the slots face downwards towards the floor under your computer's feet?

Anyways, the slots with dust filters are your intakes. You want more intake flow than exhaust flow, and if your fans are all the same this means having more in fans than out fans. If they're different, you might have to do some math on how much air they move. The point of this is to create positive pressure that helps keep dust out, because the inside of your computer will have higher air pressure than outside and so dust trying to enter would rather go elsewhere. Having too much positive pressure protects better from dust, but means you aren't actually flowing your air as good to cool your computer.

High value components need a fan. Your power supply almost certainly has its own pointing out its butt. Your GPU probably has its own fan and heat sink combo pointing up into the case. Your CPU will probably have a heatsink but not its own fan, so above the heatsink is a good place for a strong exhaust fan. Heat rises so the top is a great place for exhaust fans, but again you have a tradeoff between pointing up for maximum heat release or pointing out to the side from near the top for maximum dust protection.

I personally have a strong aversion to upward fans due to someone spilling things into my computer one time, but I am probably overreacting.
I also tend to not give a singular shit for the aesthetics of the computer other than it be a color I don't hate looking at. I think all this RGB shit is the worst idea ever and just a gimmick to raise prices because shiny, and now we're all fucking stuck with it because there's not really a way to tell the high performance component manufacturers to stop with that shit.

Somewhere in a datacenter there's a disco rave made from all the rainbow glowing GPUs while the IT guy listens to Carameldansen and smokes weed all day.

 

[Vanrus]

What sort of hardware are we looking at here? Are you just using normal case fans, and whatever comes with the CPU/GPU, or do you have a more powerful CPU that needs its own dedicated cooler? If the CPU came with its own cooler you're fine with that, but if it didn't then you'll likely be looking at a dedicated air cooler or AIO (all-in-one) liquid cooler depending on what you purchased.

Generally speaking fan placement doesn't matter too terribly much other than choosing where you want air to enter the system, and where you want it to exit. Generally most builders have intake fans in the front (or the side fans, for a fishtank case like yours), and exhaust fans on top or otherwise opposite the where the intake fans are. You typically try to keep the number of intakes higher than the number of exhausts, but as rkyeun said, too much intake leads to reduced airflow for cooling, meaning you want to keep a reasonable ratio. I wouldn't do higher than 2:1 intake/exhaust myself.

Unfortunately I can't quite say for certain how I'd set up a fishtank case like yours. If I had to spitball a guess I'd say you can try using three in the bottom as intake, with three exhaust fans (one on rear and two on top). If you have an AIO cooler it's actually easier (assuming that it has clearance in your case) as that takes up 1-3 fan slots on its own and usually does best as exhaust, so AIOs are almost always top mounted.