Help with matching front and rear case fans

[oregonxfile]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum, but have been a long time visitor to SPCR. I apologize if this question has been posted elsewhere before. If so, I'd appreciate a redirect to that info if available.

Is it ultra critical to "match" your front and rear fan CFM, all other things being equal?

I have an Antec case, with a single 90mm fan in front, and a single 120mm fan at the rear, in typical locations. I have a Seasonic X-650 power supply. I'm changing over to a Noctua NH-C14 heatsink, although I'm not sure if I'm going to run 1 or 2 fans.

AMD 965 processor.

This setup is quite quiet, but I do get a bit of fan noise from my front fan. Not significant, though, and easily fixable.

I've used both Scythe and Nexus fans in both front and rear positions.

How closely should you "match" the CFM of the fans to each other, so as to not create too much "pressure" inside the case? Better to have a higher CFM fan in the front, or rear?

Any advice or comments appreciated!

X

[fumino]

its not necessary at all to match the cfms.

since you're running more than one fan, i might lean towards more intake, for a positive pressure system.

[jhhoffma]

If you intake is filtered, positive airflow has it's benefits. If not, then you just end up with the noisier and more powerful fan closer to your ears.

Usually, you'll see the most powerful fan as the exhaust, and no intake fan at all, unless your HDDs or GPU suffer from high temps.

[matchu]

Hi all,
I have an Antec case, with a single 90mm fan in front, and a single 120mm fan at the rear, in typical locations. I have a Seasonic X-650 power supply. I'm changing over to a Noctua NH-C14 heatsink, although I'm not sure if I'm going to run 1 or 2 fans.

What case are you using?

you've got two 120mm exhaust fans (case, psu) but only a single 90mm intake fan. you're going to need a lot more intake if you want to match the two. and if you're sticking with just the 90mm intake, you're going to have to increase the volume quite a bit, i'd imagine.

have you measured your temperatures? unless they're really high, maybe this isn't a problem?