Okay, I'm looking for some opinions on a new case that I am building. The case is an older Antec Performance series mini tower. I actually have 2 of these, one is my current rig and the other is my project. I'm looking, not only to give it a custom look, but I want it a bit quieter. So, I have 4 fans that I am considering putting in the case. They are all 120mm SilentFan made by Japan Servo Co. I actually pulled them from some old Sunblades up at work. According to the documents I found, they can push close to 100cfm and still be very quiet.

My question is, should I use 2 intake and 2 exhaust, or should 1 intake and 1 exhaust be sufficient?

To give you an idea, the exact same case that I'm modding houses my current setup. Right now it is only using 1 80mm intake and 1 80mm exhaust, not including the PSU and 80mm fan on the HDD cage. The temps are actually pretty good, my ambient temps, mobo, and drive temps always stay in a normal range. It's just those little 80mm fans are too loud!

One more thing I'm considering. I'm cooling my CPU with a ThermalRight SI-120 with a 120mm Panaflo 110 cfm fan. That thing makes a bit of noise also.
So, if I put a quieter, lower cfm fan on the CPU, then put 2 intake and 2 exhaust, could this create enough of an offset to keep my CPU at a reasonable temp? I can sacrifice a small amount of a temp increase on the CPU, but not much. Currently it's overclocked from 3.0 to 3.4, and under load it averages 55C. With the older HSF, I was running 65C under load easily. So if I lose a bit of my cooling, that's fine.

Anyway, please let me know what your opinions are. I would like to have my mind made up before I assemble, since I will have to cut holes for all the fans. I would hate to make holes for 4 fans and only need 2. Thanks

Use all 4 on a fan controller.

Put 1 on the front,and one in the side panal as intake's.

Put 1 up top, and 1 on the rear as exaust.

Thanks, that's what I was actually considering, just wasn't sure if 4 would be too much.

So, next question. I don't have a fan controller, but I do have enough plugs on the mobo to run all my fans, which is what I'm doing now. I then control them with speedfan. This setup should work just as well, correct?

wouldnt it be better to put to intakes on the front and 2 on the back? to keep the air flow in a striaghter path instead of having all these paths crossing each other. thats was always my understanding

Number of fans in a case is like breast sizes...

Some like 'em big & flashy, some like 'em quiet & understated.



It's a simple trade-off:

More fans = better cooling = more noise.
Less fans = hotter machine = quieter box.

What is too noisy for you?


As to modding the box for fans, start with two fans. If that isn't cooling enough for you, you can always add additional holes later.

If you have intake, make sure that the restrictions are minimal. I would do 1 front intake, 1 side intake and 1 exhaust.