Top fan set up Coolermaster H500

[[HRE]Zulu_Samurai]

Hi there,
I'm looking to find some answers on the best top fan
setup (intake/exhaust) for this case, as from what
I've read it's been a bit misleading. Basically I want
to know if it is worth putting extra top fans in my
case as currently I don't have any at the top, just the
two stock 200mm fans at the front and a 120mm
exhaust. I also have a front mounted Corsair H150i
pro triple fan CPU cooler sat behind the 200mm
intake fans. My specs are:
intel 19 9900k OC to 4.3ghz MS Ventus RTX 2080
TI 11gb Corsair icue h150i pro MS mpg z390
gaming plus motherboard 4tb Seagate Barracuda
hod 1tb m.2 16gb (2x8gb) DDR4/3000mhz Corsair RAM

Thanks In advance guys

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You have the liquid cooler setup as intaking cool air from the front of the case; so yea only makes sense to have the Rear and Top fans setup as exhaust.

[my new friend]

Top, exhaust.

[[HRE]Zulu_Samurai]

Thanks guys, I saw a video on it and it said that having two fans at the top as exhausts actually sucked out the cold air before it had chance to reach some of the components though. But having them as intakes actually reduced the temp by a couple of degrees however they didn’t have the same cpu cooler as me they had a Noctua that sat over the processor so I’m guessing it would be different for me

[my new friend]

Can I have a link to that video?

[[HRE]Zulu_Samurai]

Originally posted by my new friend:

Can I have a link to that video?

Sure here it is mate:

https://youtu.be/XzTnUZR_0Vs

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Technically you could configure the Rear + Top as cool air intakes, blowing towards the motherboard, but if you do then that would mean flipping the front fans to blow towards the front to have a means of hot air exhaust. However if you have like a RTX 3080 FE or better gpu I would not do it cause the 3080 and above FE models blow hot air out the top of the gpu backplate area. But if have say an aftermarket gpu such as EVGA 2 or 3 fan style, then it's fine. But keep in mind, RGB fans will look ugly and/or odd when facing the other direction.

In larger cases like H500, it can work fine that way. Directional based airflow for the gou is not needed as much in a larger case, especially with the design of most gpus these days. As most gpus that are not an older single owner fan design, grab air from the bottom of your case. Where as blower fan gpus were designed for tighter oem based builds to grab cool air from front and blow hot air out the back of the gpu slot.

Bottom line, you can't have all your fans bringing cool air in, or you'll end up with hot spots somewhere. And having only the Rear fan blowing outward won't make much sense either.

[[HRE]Zulu_Samurai]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

Technically you could configure the Rear + Top as cool air intakes, blowing towards the motherboard, but if you do then that would mean flipping the front fans to blow towards the front to have a means of hot air exhaust. However if you have like a RTX 3080 FE or better gpu I would not do it cause the 3080 and above FE models blow hot air out the top of the gpu backplate area. But if have say an aftermarket gpu such as EVGA 2 or 3 fan style, then it's fine. But keep in mind, RGB fans will look ugly and/or odd when facing the other direction.

In larger cases like H500, it can work fine that way. Directional based airflow for the gou is not needed as much in a larger case, especially with the design of most gpus these days. As most gpus that are not an older single owner fan design, grab air from the bottom of your case. Where as blower fan gpus were designed for tighter oem based builds to grab cool air from front and blow hot air out the back of the gpu slot.

Bottom line, you can't have all your fans bringing cool air in, or you'll end up with hot spots somewhere. And having only the Rear fan blowing outward won't make much sense either.

Hey thanks for your reply, yeah I’ve never really witnessed anything get overly hot in my case it’s more for piece of mind, I’ve just had to send my 2080TI back to the manufacturers for a fan revving issue (probably needs new thermal paste) so it’s just got me thinking about putting a couple more fans in there. So in your opinion do you think it’s just best to leave it with the 2 200mm intake fans at the front, the cpu cooler behind them and the one exhaust fan at the back?

[Supafly]

Originally posted by BioFrog Zulu_Samurai:

Hey thanks for your reply, yeah I’ve never really witnessed anything get overly hot in my case it’s more for piece of mind, I’ve just had to send my 2080TI back to the manufacturers for a fan revving issue (probably needs new thermal paste) so it’s just got me thinking about putting a couple more fans in there. So in your opinion do you think it’s just best to leave it with the 2 200mm intake fans at the front, the cpu cooler behind them and the one exhaust fan at the back?

Personally I'd add 1-2 top exhaust fans. Just 1 of the 200mm is prob moving double the air the 120mm is exhausting and you have 2 of them. So 4x more intakes than out take. Even if you put in to more exhaust fan at the top you'll still have more intake than exhaust. So positive pressure.

The are + and - for both positive and negative pressure. Something to look up if you want. Either way adding 2 more for exhaust won't really affect the current pressure setup it will just help move more air out of the case allowing cooler air to come in.

[[HRE]Zulu_Samurai]

Originally posted by Supafly:

Originally posted by BioFrog Zulu_Samurai:

Hey thanks for your reply, yeah I’ve never really witnessed anything get overly hot in my case it’s more for piece of mind, I’ve just had to send my 2080TI back to the manufacturers for a fan revving issue (probably needs new thermal paste) so it’s just got me thinking about putting a couple more fans in there. So in your opinion do you think it’s just best to leave it with the 2 200mm intake fans at the front, the cpu cooler behind them and the one exhaust fan at the back?

Personally I'd add 1-2 top exhaust fans. Just 1 of the 200mm is prob moving double the air the 120mm is exhausting and you have 2 of them. So 4x more intakes than out take. Even if you put in to more exhaust fan at the top you'll still have more intake than exhaust. So positive pressure.

The are + and - for both positive and negative pressure. Something to look up if you want. Either way adding 2 more for exhaust won't really affect the current pressure setup it will just help move more air out of the case allowing cooler air to come in.

Brilliant answer thanks for this, I think the video I posted above really threw me as they say that two intake fans at the top is better for some reason

[Supafly]

Originally posted by BioFrog Zulu_Samurai:

Brilliant answer thanks for this, I think the video I posted above really threw me as they say that two intake fans at the top is better for some reason

The YT video is often a flawed setup. Case and fan position plays a part but fan setup is often bottom, side fronts intake top and rear exhaust. That way there is a more natural flow from the front/side and bottom as intake towards rear/top to exhaust. Making top intakes could, maybe, get 1-2 degrees lower temps but that is highly dependant on specs of the fans, other fan placement and orientation, fan specs and internal setup.

Also the fact exhausting from the rear will normally be pushing air towards a wall and it'll be rising as hot air rises. That means the warmer air is bouncing of the wall as it rises and will pass near the top-rear fan. If it's intake that'll be pulling some, not all, of the warmer air back in. And some of that will be exhausting from the rear almost immediately.

Under the right circumstances top can work as an intake. Not so close to an exhaust fan as it'll be sucking warmer air back in.. Top middle if top-rear empty or top-front if no top-middle. Not hard to test yourself but for 1-2 degrees lower temp if and only IF the rest of the system is perfect for top intakes it's not really worthy it, unless you're a major overclocker.

Will also point out that if any dust makes it past the front dust filters having top fan/s as exhaust the top dust filter on could stop the dust being exhausted so be sure to remove it if you add top exhaust fans

[[HRE]Zulu_Samurai]

Originally posted by Supafly:

Originally posted by BioFrog Zulu_Samurai:

Brilliant answer thanks for this, I think the video I posted above really threw me as they say that two intake fans at the top is better for some reason

The YT video is often a flawed setup. Case and fan position plays a part but fan setup is often bottom, side fronts intake top and rear exhaust. That way there is a more natural flow from the front/side and bottom as intake towards rear/top to exhaust. Making top intakes could, maybe, get 1-2 degrees lower temps but that is highly dependant on specs of the fans, other fan placement and orientation, fan specs and internal setup.

Also the fact exhausting from the rear will normally be pushing air towards a wall and it'll be rising as hot air rises. That means the warmer air is bouncing of the wall as it rises and will pass near the top-rear fan. If it's intake that'll be pulling some, not all, of the warmer air back in. And some of that will be exhausting from the rear almost immediately.

Under the right circumstances top can work as an intake. Not so close to an exhaust fan as it'll be sucking warmer air back in.. Top middle if top-rear empty or top-front if no top-middle. Not hard to test yourself but for 1-2 degrees lower temp if and only IF the rest of the system is perfect for top intakes it's not really worthy it, unless you're a major overclocker.

Will also point out that if any dust makes it past the front dust filters having top fan/s as exhaust the top dust filter on could stop the dust being exhausted so be sure to remove it if you add top exhaust fans

Thank you very much for that explanation and taking the time to write. Makes a lot of sense, I’m someone who knows about pc parts and stuff but when it comes to upgrading and things like this I’m quite a noob. So thanks for explaining that. And especially the point about the dust filter as I would not have known to remove that if I was to put two fans at the top. I think I will do at least one but maybe two top exhaust fans as your point about the 200mm fans bringing double the amount of air in I think my back 120mm exhaust fan may struggle to get all that hot air out quick enough

[[HRE]Zulu_Samurai]

I will post a picture of my pc internal (minus the graphics card of course) so that you have a better understanding

[[HRE]Zulu_Samurai]

I’ll be back home later tonight

[Adam Malysz]

onlu 140mm

[[HRE]Zulu_Samurai]

Originally posted by JakubKoza:

onlu 140mm

Hi sorry I’m not sure what you mean?