Which case fans to use...

[MatBailie]

I've read around a lot about fans, and am now much the wiser.

That is, I now KNOW just how ignorant I am

I've just got a second hand BeQuiet Silent Base 600 case, but came without the fans. I've added my own old fans, but a couple are a bit "tricky". So, I'm trying to work out what fans to use where, how much it matters, what to believe on manufacturers site, whether PWM matters on case fans, etc, etc.

My ignorant thoughts so far...

- The front panel only has narrow side vents
- So, use higher static pressure fans?

- The bottom vent has good clearance, and a filter
- So, a high airflow fan is fine?

- The rear vent lines up with my air cooler
- So, a high airflow fan is perfect?

- Putting fans in the top is noisiest
- Should be okay to leave empty?

This means that I think I'm happy with my old Phanteks F140TS in the back. It has 9 fins which indicates air flow rather than pressure? And air flow is more important for an unobstructed exhaust?

Then I looked around for cheap 140mm options for the bottom and front intakes. I found on ebay 3 Phanteks (coincidence, I have Zero brand loyalty) F140SP fans for a TOTAL of £9.50 (including postage, from inside the UK).

Should I be scared of fake fans at that price?

I've also seen that the MP version of the fans (and others with high static pressure) have 5 or 7 fins rather than 9. Does this mean that in Reality the F140SP may struggle with the obstructed intake of my front panel?

Assuming I've found a bargain, does leaving the top exhausts empty matter?
- 3 intake
- 2 empty exhaust
- 1 rear exhaust

Finally, my MB seems to support both PWM and voltage controlled case fans. The F140SP are 3pin and so no PWM, does that matter? Or is voltage control fine? (P8Z77V, with FanXpert software to control speeds)

What I'm cooling is relatively low power...
- 2500K @ 4.3GHz
- 1060 6GB @ 2.05GHz
- 3 x 1.5 TB HDD
- 1 x 250GB Samsung 840 Evo

As you can see, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Hopefully over the next few days I'll learn enough to help myself

[Ttaskmaster]

I could give you chapter and verse in response... but more and more, I find the best answer is to get whatever fans you want and try them out in your specific case with your specific combination of components, to see how it turns out.
Brands and models are a good indication, but there are so many variables that you can't really pin things down just with calculations and numbers.

I personally recommend Noctua fans, EK Vardars or Noiseblockers, myself. The newer Corsair fans are very good, if you're not so bothered about noise.

Case in point - I'm just helping a friend re-build his gaming rig. Neither of us is a Noob at this, I'm a fairly experienced builder and he's a pretty high ranking competitive overclocker with many more years experience on me.
Triple EK Vardar F4 120ERs in the top EKWB rad mounted to an Enthoo Primo with custom w/c loop. Turns out the rad has too many fans per inch and the Vardars have too wide a spread of airflow, causing a compression stall. The fans are awesome, the rad is great, but the combination is abysmal. Manufacturers don't detail airflow spreads, so the only way to find this out is to test-fit and see.

In general, you want to first make sure your GPU and CPU have the best cooling you can manage.

[Jonj1611]

Agree with above.

I have BeQuiet PureWings on the front and rear of my case and EK Vardars on the rad.

Though did go through a few fans before settling on that.