H440 case airflow.

D1craig

Enthusiast
In the coming months I will be buying a new pc for gaming purposes with a decent gpu (hopefully gtx 800 series) the latest (not most expensive) CPU. I am by know means a 24/7 gamer but I do want something as close to high end as I can afford. I would be playing MMORPGs really. Not into much else for PC. The likes of WoW and archeage are what I have plans to play.

I am wandering will this case be sufficient? I really like the look of it and don't want another monster on my desk lol. I won't be overclocking or anything. I just want my components to be well cooled. Some reviews are saying that it won't be able to cool very well.

I would add fans where it allows also.
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
I have not looked at any reviews as you have, but from what I see it should perform just fine.

The 3 fans in the front and only 1 exhaust to the rear does seem a bit odd and would want balancing out with another exhaust in the top but overall it shouldn't suffer any problems.

Reviewers are probably picking at small marginal gains in cooling other cases may have.
 

D1craig

Enthusiast
I think the main problem they are having is with radiators not giving the fans the room to work properly but I won't be using them so that should ease my mind a bit.

Wouldn't the fan setup it has be very positive airflow? Is that not a good thing? I did read something about pos/neg airflow and it doesn't seem extremely beneficial. If I have it the right way around positive airflow should stop dust from collecting or getting in through the little holes in the case.

I will be adding either 2 140s or 3 120s to the top anyway so the setup is going to be changed drastically lol.
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
Positive airflow should stop dust building up inside the case, but the way they have it setup in that case means you have all the gubbins at the front of the case like HDD's and the wires associated to the optical drives getting in the way.

My personal preference is to clean the insides periodically and get some fresh air onto the GPU, CPU etc.
 

D1craig

Enthusiast
Can't have an optical drive on this case.

Not sure now. I want to keep it as clean as possible withot having to clean it myself, I always worry like mad that I'm going to break something going inside the case. I want all the extra fans. 3 120s exhausts on the top but that would make it a negative flow wouldn't it? And that would draw dust into it? Don't like the idea of that so I'm thinking of adding a single 120 at the top or a 140 only go for 140 if it keeps me in a positive state.
 

D1craig

Enthusiast
I read that 3pin fans can ony run at max rpm. Is this the case?

On the case I have atm I got the nzxt fan hub thing so I could stick two fans on the side of my case. I chose this hub because I thought it would regulate the fans to whatever my pc needed. Tbh I haven't paid attention to see if the fans change speed or not.

So how do I make fans be controlled by my system ie. change to what is needed from them?

This will apply to the thread as I will do it for my new case :)
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
If you really don't want to clean inside it (you will eventually have to anyway) you are better sticking with a positive pressure setup. That said, it does come with dust filters included, so dust shouldn't be too much of a problem however you run your fans.

Re the fans. You will need PWM fans for the best results. You can control 3 pin fans by changing the voltage supplied to them, things like fan xpert from ASUS do it this way but allow you to do it on the fly through the supplied software. Fan controllers use a similar method by using hardware or software.

If you connect a FAN to the PSU it will run at 100% regardless of what's happening in the system, if you don't have enough fan headers on the board this is the easiest way to connect extra fans. if you are running 5-6-7 fans in your system you will need to look into how you intend to run them all as even high end boards don't often have that many fan headers. You can buy 'y' cables, fan controllers or as mentioned before just connect directly to the PSU.
 

D1craig

Enthusiast
So as I have used one of the mobo slots for my fan hub does that make any fan plugged into the hub adjustable?

Thanx for all this help/advice mate.
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
So you have plugged a fan controller into one of the chassis fan headers on your motherboard? if so then it will be receiving the signal from the motherboard, and presumably will react if you have the setting enabled for it to do so.

EDIT

Just realised what you said in the previous post, since its a fan hub then yes, it will react along with the motherboard.
 

tom_gr7

Life Serving
I'd go for, three 120mm's in the front, two 140mm's top exhaust and then one 140mm rear exhaust. Connect them all up to a fan controller. When your not gaming, turn off the top exhausts and the one or two of the front fans.
 

D1craig

Enthusiast
if the front panel cant have any optical drive surely it cant have a fan controller? how would a fan controller be installed on this case then?

the only ones i have seen have been a panel on the front of the case. so excuse my ignorance.
 

tom_gr7

Life Serving
if the front panel cant have any optical drive surely it cant have a fan controller? how would a fan controller be installed on this case then?

the only ones i have seen have been a panel on the front of the case. so excuse my ignorance.

sorry, why can't the case have a fan controller on the front?

edit, ohh i see now. Thats a silly design imo.

probably worth watching this video, might give you some suggestions.

[video=youtube;KP85Zo-E55I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP85Zo-E55I&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
 
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D1craig

Enthusiast
Can you not use software to control fans? Just like you downing msi afterburner for the gpu?

Would be good if I could set something to cut the fans off when not gaming but turn them on when I am. I'm talking about the three top ones not the whole lot lol.
 

D1craig

Enthusiast
I don't need it atm because I don't have the case and new pc yet bit I will keep this in mind and try it when I come to buy the machine.
 

D1craig

Enthusiast
Seems I've got the bug now. All I want to do is make my pc and see it lmao. Looking for red stuff to go inside, even decided on a more expensive mobo so I can have a colour scheme.

A red mobo. So has to be them maximus ones for me the gigabytes don't look as nice.
Ram isn't red though :( but I guess I can't have it all red.
A red gpu from nvidia. I'm guessing it would have to be MSI or ASUS.

Don't want to make a new thread as I'm not building yet lol. Just browsing so I know what I can have lol. Just wish nvidia would hurry up with them 800s.
 

Yorkmann

Bronze Level Poster
Why not look at liquid cooling? My PC is still being built and I'm putting the H100i in there. That + the stock fans should be perfectly fine. Also you can run some red LEDs up the back of the tubes if you're wanting to stick to your red theme.
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
Just be aware we are not supposed to go too deep into the topic of self building for obvious reasons.
 

D1craig

Enthusiast
Won't be self build I would be getting It from here. But adding some stuff to it when I get it.

If probably stick with getting the gpu from pcs anyway.

EDIT - I should have said "get my system built". Oh well.
 
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tom_gr7

Life Serving
Are you getting a black H440? I think that case comes with some decent NZXT fans. Are you planning to replace them? If so you could sell them on ebay, I did that with my CM Storm Trooper case fans when i got it. There are so many fans on the market now, so much to choose from.

Are you getting a K version CPU? with that case you could get a 280mm liquid cooler in the rear exhaust. Something like the Kraken x60/61 (or the Corsair equivalent) - then depending on the space, put four 140mm fans on it in push pull. Then connect them to the cpu fan (using this special cable) and they will all run the exact same speed regulated by the cpu but powered by your PSU. :)

There are so many options you could go for with that case mate.
 
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