Fans and Air Flow

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased the Slade system and am putting in the Corsair H80 cooling system. The 550d case has two fans in the front on in take, the H80 has two fans in the back (push/pull) that exhausts out the back. This leaves me with the top which has a panel that removes and allows 2x120mm or 2x140mm fans.  The case also has a removable side panel (2 x 120/140 mm) and a spot on the base for 1 x 120/140 mm.

Right now I am considering adding in one or two fans in the top that I will control and turn on during those long gaming sessions when I'm concerned about temps.I would run the top fans at a reduce speed just to supplement my case fans. My question is about air flow. Since I have two fans pulling from the front and the push pull two fans exhausting out the back should I do the one or two fans in the top exhausting out the top (since heat rises) or would it be better to pull cooler air in from the top?

I don't want to do the bottom and side fans since it then starts to be less of a quiet system.

True, but, I also recommend waiting to see how your system temps are while gaming before you decide to add more fans as you wanted a quiet system in the first place?

I agree. I figured once i have the H80 in place I will probably be fine to use it for a while and see if I need anything more. Part of me just wants to have one maybe two fans installed in the top just so they're waiting in case I want to use them. I think I could easily put in two 140mm fans and run them at a reduced speed for basically silent ventilation and turn them off when I'm not needing them. Just tinkering I guess.

Some advice about fan direction I read somewhere seems good in case anyone else is looking for it:

Hot air rises, so you want air-flow to be from bottom to the top. Using the top fan as intake is not ideal. Use the front and bottom as intake and the top and back as exhaust. The video card is usually the hottest component in the system, so the side fan should be used as intake blowing directly across the video card. That is 3 fans in and 2 fans out, which gives you positive pressure and reduces dust build up inside the case.