Case fans - are these worth it?

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1

Hello - 3 days ago, I built my computer, and while it pretty much rapes all games I have, the pre-installed case fans are pretty crappy. My case, the Fractal Design Define XL, has great cooling options, and I would like to use that to the best ability. I am looking at getting 2 Corsair Air Quiet 140mm fans ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181028 ), 2 Corsair Air Quiet 120mm fans ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181021 ), and a Silverstone 180mm fan ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835220039 ). Are these particular fans worth the price? All together, it is $80 worth of fans, a fee that I'm willing to pay if these are great fans. I want my graphics card, the EVGA gtx 680 FTW+ 4GB, to remain nice and cold, seeing as I'm unable to install a cooler onto it because of my CPU cooler (Phanteks PH-TC14PE) being as huge as it is. I was being conservative when making my list of fans, seeing as I could fit 3 more into my case along with these. Let me know what you think - my case theme is all black and red, limiting my case fan selection to my OCD (borderline official) and perfectionism. Thanks for any input you can provide!

 

Cheers,

 

Brennan Riddell

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EDIT - I have decided that 3x140mm and 1x180mm will move work better for my case. Using the same fans, it would cost the same to buy 3 of the Corsair Air AF140mm and 1 Silverston 180mm, would I get better airflow?

 

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might be a little less, but shouldn't be a noticable diff in airflow, but the 3x140 will be quieter than if you got the 120mm's

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I like the silverstone air penetrator fans (serious air flow directing in those fans) and have heard good things about the AF series fans. Just make sure you keep a positive pressure inside the case to keep it both clean and at its coolest.

Edit: Also if your case hase restrictive items like that black rewashable fan filter that fractal uses in some of their cases then maybe a more pressure oriented fan on the intake or exhaust with the filter material will help you with air flow .

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What about the fractal fns is bothering you, because if its noise theyre actually rated better than the corsairs.

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The old fractal design xl fans had very low RPM and don't push much air at all IIRC.  People were complaining about that with the Define R1/R2 as well.  So they included higher RPM fans in the Define R3 and beyond.