Fan choice

[JaDa]

Dear all, I've been an avid reader of the spcr articles since long and usually I can come to a good consensus myself, but at the moment I'm lost.
I've been spending my free time the last 10 days reading up on positive & negative airflow, airflow vs static pressure, cfm, etc etc..
It's been an interesting read, but I can't reach a decision, therefor I'm hoping you all can advise/guide me towards the solution.

Setup:
Current case: Silverstone FT03
Furure case: Corsair carbide series air 540 (friend of mine gave it to me because of a favor )
Intel i5 6600k @ 4ghz (small oc, nothing more needed) - Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120M
Zotac AMP GTX 1070 - stock cooling (loud when gaming)
650W TT Paris psu - virtually silent
no hdd's, only SSD

I can't complain about the temperatures of the CPU, they hover around 50 °C on full load, the GPU on the other hand easily hits ~70 °C (1440p gaming) and gets loud!

Since I'm figuring the Corsair A540 has the possibility for better airflow (6 fans - direct airflow path), I'm going for a totally silent build.

I'm thinking of getting an Arctic cooler for GPU (did a magnificent job on my previous GTX 970) whilst being inaudible + 6 new case fans.
Now that's where I ran into problems. I can't trust the cfm/db data mentioned by the manufacturers and I want superb airflow (no watercooling) and no noise whatsoever, even on full load.

I know it's a pipe dream to have all at the same time, but that won't hold me back from trying to get as close as possible.

Fan Mount Locations on the A540:
Front: 2 x 140mm (included) or 3 x 120mm
Top: 2 x 140mm
Rear: 1 x 140mm (included)

The included fans are 3 x Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition (1150rpm • Air flow: 114.58m³/​h • air pressure: 0.84mmH₂O • Volume: 24dB)

I would like to put the 2 x 140 intake fans in the top and purchase 3 new fans (120mm) as intake.

Which 3 should I take? I was contemplating on Noctua NF-P12. They have a good mix airflow/static pressure, because there's a dust filter + honeycomb 'mesh' of the case in front of them.

All fans will be attached to a fancontroller (0-12V).
Would this be the best setup possible? Or does anyone have advise to increat the potential of my build?

Thanks in advance everybody!

[Fire-Flare]

I'm quite happy with my Noctua fans; they aren't silent at full blast but they are quiet and effective at the speeds I usually run them at.

[CA_Steve]

Welcome to SPCR.

The FT-03 isn't a great case for gfx cards, the 540 should be. I suggest you just transplant your components into the new case and see how it does with the 3 stock fans and then adjust from there. You should be able to drop them down into the 500rpm range and shouldn't need more than two front and one rear fan, anyway.

What's your motherboard make/model? Why not use it to control both the CPU and case fans?

The Zotac AMP! 1070 is actually a decent card. Chances are you'll discover other noise sources once you do the transplant..like noticing the PSU fan. Is the TRUE cooler using the original fan or did you replace it? It can also be a bit of a noise source.

[Abula]

The included fans are 3 x Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition (1150rpm • Air flow: 114.58m³/​h • air pressure: 0.84mmH₂O • Volume: 24

I have done 3 builds on Air540 on the past 6 months, and in all 3 builds the Corsair fans were decent, but click at low rpms, Also if you bought the white that comes with LED, they will also lower the light as you undervolt them, but in a dynamic seutp they lightning jumps up and down... anyoing if the case is right next to you. Personally i like a lot the case, very open and good airflow, but the corsair fans.... i would exchange them, but try them first we all have different tolerances to noise.

All fans will be attached to a fancontroller (0-12V).
Would this be the best setup possible? Or does anyone have advise to increat the potential of my build?

If after you tested the fans you dont like them. What i did in the past builds was in two i swapped them for NF-P14R, one with 1200 PWM version and the other with 900 DC version, really depends on how you are going to control them, but if you are going with an external fan controller i would suggest either of the following,

Noctua NF-P14S 900rpm - it can reach very low in rpms, around 250rpms and can be ramp up around 950rpms, to me above 1k rpms the fans are noisy regardless, so this is a very good range for a quiet operation fan.



The last build i swaped the 2x140 corsair with 3x Noctua NF-S12B 700rpm, really nice fan also, to me a better option than the above in terms that the case mounts very cleanly the 120s with no extra metal blocking the airflow. They drop very low, but they dont go too high, this are very quiet fans, agian depends on your cooling desires, but to me this would be my choice.



Now another choice if you dont mind the real bearing noise, i dont mind it personally, is the Scythe Gentle Typhoons, that now a days are Nidec Gentle Typhoons, the 1850rpm version was their most popular fan among overclockers, the fans undervolt well, not as low as noctuas, have very good static preasure was one of the most raved fans among watercoolers, and to me their sound signature is pretty decent, SPCR did like them (800/1450 versions), so its a good bet, but remember we all have different tolerances, some want quiet but still overcolcing... etc, we all have different breakpoints into what we want to give in order to sustain certain performance and noise levels, either way, its a good fan overall, just wouldn't be my first pick, but close.



As a last suggestion, i like a lot tonally the Noiseblockers M12, SPCR liked a lot the M12-S1 and S2, its a very expensive fan, but well worth it, good for undervolting, and very quiet below 500rpms, up to you if need 1200 or 850rpm version.



You should also read SPCR Fan Roundup #6: Scythe, Noiseblocker, Antec, Nexus, Thermalright, its old but its has some of the best fans tested, and still today what they found is valid and true.