Cooling Setup Question

 So, I am looking at getting the Fractal Design Define R5 case, and was looking at cooling options.

Since the case itself only includes 2 140mm fans, I was planning on getting a 3rd an putting it on the bottom by/under the HDD trays.

For the CPU cooling I was thinking water cooling, so looking at my options I could put a 240 on the top, but I would REALLY like to leave the the top covers on, so I was looking at getting a 140mm radiator on the back slot of the case.

So the real question here is: Will the 140mm radiator fan be good as the systems only exhaust fan out the back? or do I need to add the top fans to make it work well? 

Well...

Take a look here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Computer_case_coolingair_flow.png

You have most of the heat coming out of the back end of the PC. Meaning your watercooling will use hot air to cool the water in the loop. I would say put it on the front of the case instead of the back.

Source: Never used liquid cooling, just using common sense

 

I disagree for water-cooling radiators it's best to push the heat out of the case the 140mm unit in the back of the case would only perform like 1c worse and won't heat up your other components. That being said it really wouldn't be putting off tons of heat anyway; unless you had a high overclock and are folding or bench-marking.

To address the real question if you have to put fans in the top of the case if you placed a AIO in the back; no you do not, in fact without adding some fans in the front you might worsen cooling performance. my advise if you go for the 140mm AIO: take the case fan from the back put it in the front, use the SP fans that come with the radiator for the radiator and leave the top closed up.

All that being said I don't really care for 140mm AIOs they look good and are easy to install but the performance is less and the cost to go bigger (240/280) is very small <25$ usd typically. to strengthen that argument the case you want has room for larger units. the only thing if you go with a bigger AIO you will be limited in mounting locations and will likely be forced to mount it on the top so keep that in mind. Lastly, no matter what you decide to do the R5 will be a great case but it doesn't come with many fans if you plan on putting anything in the case it is worth it to buy a fan or two and get a good airflow path going. Don't get anything crazy like deltas, spend like 20$ USD extra and get some semi quiet AF fans for the front of the case.

Ok, thanks for the advice, I have decided that having better airflow is more important to me than the looks of the case, maybe I'll just have to mod the case later if I am so annoyed by it :P

Anyways, Was looking at getting some more fans, one question I have is should I have SP optimized fans on the front of the case since there isn't a lot of open air around there? or should I go with the normal high AF fans that people normally use with cases?

Thanks again!

 

That is a good question, AF fans are recommended not because they have higher air flow that is a very misleading thing. AF fans are used because of the shape of the air flow they generate; the air flows straight back in almost a cylinder kind of air flow path. SP fans often move the same CFM of air as the AF fans but the airflow is in a cone that is its not really directed at anything per-say however the static pressure generated is much higher do to less gaps in the fan blades and housing design. Given the cases sound damping design a SP fan would move more air faster but in the wrong places; whereas a AF fan would move less air but to the components that need it. Both would end up around the same temps neither would work terribly well. 

You have two good options you can buy better fans like the Noctua industrial series which are SP fans with special air channeling fins so it gets to some extent the best of both worlds but are expensive. Or you can use a in-between fan like the 140mm fans the fractal ships with. Given this case comes with two reasonably good fans I would move the 140mm fan cooling the Mobo to the front with the other stock fan and replace the Mobo fan with a airflow fan and use SP fans on the top and bottom.

Ok, I have Almost Decided on what to get, Since I still want silence to be a thing, I am probably going with the new Cooler Master Nepton 240m for the CPU cooler, it is a bit more expensive than the h100i, but if you add the cost of better fans to the mix then they even out in the end.

As for a case fan I am probably go with one of the COUGAR CF-V14HB fans for now, may get a second one down the line, but figured this would be a good start.

Any further thoughts on this? Sorry for dragging this on so long, but it is my first build and I don't want to mess anything up if I can help it :p

Fans look very nice not too dissimilar to the Noctua industrial fans  I will say this much I have a CM Nepton 280L and its a really good cooler, and I mean really good, like custom watercooling good in fact I would go as far as to say outside of custom kits the only CPU coolers that compare are the swifttec AIOs and the Thermaltake water 3.0 ult. Needless to say I like it much more then the H100i. I would also like to say, because this is your first build, although premium fans are better in every way they will not make much of a difference in the overall performance of your system; that is if you have a budget put your money where it counts the most better fans are quieter and move more air but are extremely cost ineffective. You could be OCD about these things like me and replace every fan in your case and spend an extra 150-200$ per build for a 3-5% performance gain. But, as a matter of sanity that money would probably be better spent on graphics cards and processors. Not to be a drag or to derail this but AIOs are also kinda in this vein; While I love AIOs and use them exclusively,  a good air cooler that is competitive with the 240mm AIOs cost less money and many are quieter. How much are you looking to overclock? If the answer is anything other then alot you may just be better off with a air cooling. 

Lastly some tips for your success as a soon to be member of the Glorious PC Master Race:

Mail in rebates are with few exceptions, scams it takes alot of work to for-fill them and you have to wait 3814083 years to get a gift card which will in all likelihood be to places you don't want to shop.

http://pcpartpicker.com/ is your friend, it does the heavy lifting leaving you to enjoy, but it doesn't always have the best prices listed nor does it have all the products. When buying search around you can often beat the lowest priced vender.

Bottlenecks are exaggerated to a point of stupidity, like when a member of the US Senate was worried Guam would capsize if you put more weight on it. Point is just because people who should know are saying things doesn't make them right. 

Pick the best performance for you not brands, AMD and Intel and AMD and Nvidia none of that matters each is dynamic and the best product is always subjective to what you are doing with it.

Research before you buy, a quick Google search can tell you all kinds of things about a product saving headaches and sadness later on.

Don't expect every part to overclock well, Ram, CPUs, GPUs, Mobos, monitors, and even some SSDs overclock. That doesn't mean they will do it well! They don't call the silicon lottery for nothing. HWbot is a good place to see what you might expect as well as compare to others to see how your parts stack up. 

Take your time when overclocking and never exceed your cooling ability. If a temperature worries you it probably should. If in doubt Google the part in question! 

Enjoy yourself, the PC master race will be better for it. We do this stuff because we love it. It's ok to get all bright eyed and excited waiting for the UPS guy, ok well it's a little creepy but still! Point withstanding and creepiness aside if you are not having fun your doing it wrong.

Thank you for your help again :P

In case you were interested, here is the complete list of parts I am using with the prices I bought them at: LINK

That is a very nice build it should serve you well for a long time to come!