one 240mm fan, or four 120mm fans?

Control: management of fans, temp/rpm monitoring via soft/hardware

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Linqon
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:38 am
Location: Sweden

one 240mm fan, or four 120mm fans?

Post by Linqon » Tue Sep 29, 2009 12:18 am

I'm considering upgrading my system around christmas time, when the christmas bonus arrives and the dx11 cards will have arrived and hopefully dropped a bit in price.

Currently I have a watercooled rig with a 3x120mm radiator. I'm loosely considering getting a second 3x120mm radiator and get one big 240mm fan to cool them both.

So one 240mm fan, or four 120mm fans...

Which would be a better solution in terms of cooling/noice?

(Obviously, there are alot of factors that weigh in, but as a general rule of thumb)

ascl
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 1:15 am
Location: Sydney, Australia

Post by ascl » Tue Sep 29, 2009 5:07 pm

I think its impossible to say with certainty without knowing the exact details of the fans. However, I do believe in general the larger sized case fans do not have good static pressure, which is a very important factor when trying to push (or pull) air through a radiator.

120mm fans are a known, and well tested, factor. I'd stick with them for radiator usage.

If you are talking about purely a case fan (ie little restriction, basically open air), then personally I'd stick with the larger fan, as it should be quieter for the same volume of air moved.

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