Do I need four fans or would two be enough?

[Dalton]

Just got a general question about the cooling fans in my desktop tower. I recently bought a used full tower and I put my parts from my other case in this one and I believe it is a Chieftec Dragon case and it has 2 intake and 2 outtake fans in it and it has no side fan like my other case. I have a dual core cpu with 4GB ram, a 9800GT card and a 450 psu. So what I am wondering is, do I really need the 2 intake and 2 outtake fans or would just one of each be enough and also should I make a hole for a side fan? I use speedfan and temps are normal but just wondering about the amount of fans I really need for that type of hardware. Thanks.

 

[captaincranky]

Listen, why don't you just disconnect a fan or two, then read the temps again. (Under load, of course).

That's probably more accurate than anybody on this end just taking a wild guess, wouldn't you say?

You can always buy a fan controller, and speed the fans up when necessary, and turn them down for the quiet when the machine isn't working hard.

 

[slh28]

If the temps are fine I wouldn't bother cutting holes in your case, it's not like you're running a powerful CPU or GPU (no offence )

 

[misor]

I have an i3-530, stock fan/heatsink, 2x2gb ddr3-1600 at 1333mhz, nvidia 9800gt 1gb ddr3, thermaltake sp630w in an antec one s3 case.
I have one 12cm fan intake, one 12cm fan exhaust, one 8cm fan exhaust.
temps are usually 50 degrees centigrade with ram and hard disk drive the lowest at around 35 to 39 degrees centigrade.

my other computer:
pentium dual core e5400, stock fan/heat sink, 2x2gb ddr3-1333, nvidia g210 512mb ddr3, 600w accopia in a generic case.
two 8 cm exhaust, no fan intake.
temps are similar to my i3-530.

btw, I live in a mountainous town, near grown trees so the ambiant temperature is always ok.
I barely hear the fan noise but then again, I suffer from partial deafness in both ears.
if the temps are within tolerable range (below 50-60 degrees centigrade), and you are disgusted with the fan noise, then you can opt to remove one or two.

alternatively, you can choose to replace your fans with more expensive "noiseless" case fans:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=494&name=Case Fans
or browse some tech sites' recommendations on which case fans to buy.
(unfortunately, I can't find the review on techspot's case fan review)

 

[Dalton]

Well the temps are good either way with 2 or 4 fans and I guess I will forget about making holes in the case, kinda don't want to do that and I might just take 2 out cause it's louder with the 4 but looks better with more blue from the LED's lol. I guess looks aren't everything lol. Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated!

 

[hood6558]

More fans = more peace of mind - I have 9 x 120mm and 2 x 140mm fans in my little Corsair 400R (4 of the 120mm are for the H100). All the loud ones are controlled by a fan controller, so even with all those fans, it's whisper quiet when not gaming or benchmarking. This way failure of one fan won't overheat the system, the others will keep the air flowing.

 

[Leeky]

More fans = more peace of mind...

I wouldn't say that's the case at all. You could have a hundred fans and be worse off in every possible way if they're incorrectly set up.

In my experience most computers are absolutely fine with a decent fan in the front and in the rear. It's not until you start heavily overclocking or running multi-GPU set ups that additional cooling measures come into play for most people.

 

[captaincranky]

More fans = more peace of mind - I have 9 x 120mm and 2 x 140mm fans in my little Corsair 400R (4 of the 120mm are for the H100). All the loud ones are controlled by a fan controller, so even with all those fans, it's whisper quiet when not gaming or benchmarking. This way failure of one fan won't overheat the system, the others will keep the air flowing.

I'm putting together a 22nn Ivy Bridge machine (Core i3-3225), in which I'll be using the integrated graphics. The only crappy case I have laying around the house is an original Cooler Master "Storm Scout". How many extra fans should I put in the case to insure my, "peace of mind", with respect to cooling? signed "Confoosed"

 

[hood6558]

Sorry, didn't mean to imply that a lot of fans are necessary for proper cooling, I'm just into tweaking every aspect of my system, and my case (Corsair Carbide 400R) has mounts for 10 fans. I'm also overclocking CPU and VGA, and I don't want any "dead spots" in my airflow. I use liquid cooling (Corsair H100), so I need good airflow to the motherboard. The most important thing is the configuration of the fans you use, so it helps to know the CFM rating of each fan at minimum & maximum speed. That way you can set your case up for "positive pressure" (more air going in than out), which tends to eliminate dead spots and prevents dust from being sucked into every crack and crevice. For a stock system using integrated graphics, 2 blowing in the front (or front & side) and 1 exhausting out the rear is probably ideal. As long as you have dust filters on the intake fans, your system will stay clean inside.