Answered Fractal design r5 black case

brandy123

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Hi guys after all the great av forums people picking me a great pc build last year I have constantly taking the 2 panels off the top of the r5 case for better cooling but the major downside is I am always opening the case up and see major dust build inside the case is their a way to close the top panels and still get good air flow inside my case,
I have 2 intake fans at the front,
1 intake on the side panel,
H60i rad as a intake at the back,
2 exhaust fans on the top,

So that is why I have to always leave the 2 panels off the top because of the 2 exhaust fans,
Is their a better example so I could close the top panels and move the exhaust fans ?
 
I've got the R4 with the following setup (if that helps):

- Two fans at the front (intake), case came with 1 and I added a second. Not sure if it has much of an effect though.
- One fan at the back (exhaust), came with case.
- CPU is air-cooled and runs a boost OC.
- GPU exhausts into the case.
- One HDD, two SSDs.

I deliberately didn't open the top up as I'm not a fan of dusting the innards out every few weeks. I've monitored temps and it's fine, even after a two hour heavy load.

For your setup, I believe the rad would be an exhaust rather than an intake? How many GPUs are you running in there (and which types)? Did you put the extra fans in because of heat issues? What heat issues are you experiencing now?

Maybe attach a photo of the PC without the side panel.
 
I'm running a msi 1080ti,
Will take a picture now
 
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I've been using the R5 case for two and a half years but never opened the top or side vents.

I used the two 140mm fans that came with the case in the front as intakes and the single 140mm fan/radiator of the NZXT Kraken CPU cooler in the back of the case as the outlet.

That's all you need really. I opened it up recently to clean for the first time and there was some dust on the fan blades but not much dust elsewhere in the case.
 
Hi guys after all the great av forums people picking me a great pc build last year I have constantly taking the 2 panels off the top of the r5 case for better cooling but the major downside is I am always opening the case up and see major dust build inside the case is their a way to close the top panels and still get good air flow inside my case,
I have 2 intake fans at the front,
1 intake on the side panel,
H60i rad as a intake at the back,
2 exhaust fans on the top,

So that is why I have to always leave the 2 panels off the top because of the 2 exhaust fans,
Is their a better example so I could close the top panels and move the exhaust fans ?
Remove the side fan off the side panel ( leave it off ) , and turn the rear one ( cpu rad ) to an exhaust
thus giving you the two at the front as intakes , the two top fans as exhausts and the cpu cooler as a exhaust too , you even use the one from the side panel and put the rad in push/pull config .
just my twocents .
 
Remove the side fan off the side panel ( leave it off ) , and turn the rear one ( cpu rad ) to an exhaust
thus giving you the two at the front as intakes , the two top fans as exhausts and the cpu cooler as a exhaust too , you even use the one from the side panel and put the rad in push/pull config .
just my twocents .

If I did it this way would I have to leave the door open for better air flow going into the case or are the two sides around the door enough for decent air flow to get into the case ?

Would ideally like to close the top panels for dust purposes but I can't see 2 intakes at the front and 1 rad exhaust at the rear enough for temps etc
 
If I did it this way would I have to leave the door open for better air flow going into the case or are the two sides around the door enough for decent air flow to get into the case ?

Would ideally like to close the top panels for dust purposes but I can't see 2 intakes at the front and 1 rad exhaust at the rear enough for temps etc

Yes close the door , don't forget your going to have the two at the top an exhausts as well
so
2x front in takes
2x top as exhausts
1 x ( or push/pull =2 cpu and rad ) as exhaust

with that you shouldn't really get any dust an coming in from the top of the case and temps should be a lot better ,
give it try , if it's not working , do as @IRobot and @richardb70 has done ,
cover the top up and have
two at the font as in takes and the cpu & rad as an exhaust .
 
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Innards of your case look good, airflow would be fine. The issue is just venting the GPU heat, by the looks of it.

Can you move the CPU radiator up to the top, which should block the dust as it's not open (?), and then put the exhaust fan back where the radiator was? Shouldn't need any other fans to keep it cool then.
 
Innards of your case look good, airflow would be fine. The issue is just venting the GPU heat, by the looks of it.

Can you move the CPU radiator up to the top, which should block the dust as it's not open (?), and then put the exhaust fan back where the radiator was? Shouldn't need any other fans to keep it cool then.

So putting the h60i to the top as a exhaust and leaving 1 or 2 panels off so the rad covers most of the open space thus not much dust dropping into the case ?
So I have 2 fans spare so should I add 1 to the h60i and have a push/pull or stick to useing the fan that came with the rad and just exhaust ?
 
You get more dust build up if you have more exhaust than intake.
That's why my 2-in, 1-out config didn't have much dust after two and half years in a dusty bedroom.
 
The way you are set up now has very poor airflow as the fans are all pushing against each other.

The best way to set your rig up is to keep it simple. 2 fans intake at the front. Set your H60i AOI as an exhaust and ditch the rest you shouldn't need it. This will give you positive air pressure, minimise the dust build up and your rig will also be quieter (which is what the R5 was designed to be in the first place).
 
The way you are set up now has very poor airflow as the fans are all pushing against each other.

The best way to set your rig up is to keep it simple. 2 fans intake at the front. Set your H60i AOI as an exhaust and ditch the rest you shouldn't need it. This will give you positive air pressure, minimise the dust build up and your rig will also be quieter (which is what the R5 was designed to be in the first place).

So I've had 3 different opinions,
Regarding yours I would have 2 intake at front and rad at the rear as a exhaust,
Would it matter if I done a push/pull on the h60i or it wouldn't make any difference?
 
So what he's doing there is ensuring a increased pressure inside the case, so that the air comes out of every orifice, thus keeping the dust out... however, I have an issue with this - it just doesn't work when the computer is switched off, and if you have holes in the top, then you're going to get dust inside.

So you still need to cover the top vents. You can get foam or mesh filters that screw in over the fans to provide you with dust covers. Shouldn't cost more than £1.50 each too.
 
So I've had 3 different opinions,
Regarding yours I would have 2 intake at front and rad at the rear as a exhaust,
Would it matter if I done a push/pull on the h60i or it wouldn't make any difference?
Do what @IRobot @richardb70 and @moonbeam120 have suggested
keep it simple and with that, it should/will keep the pc cooler( and you can cover the top up too )
my way : is the way mine is now ( in fact i have 3 in takes and 3 exhausts ) but what works for me may not work for you , ( i have corsair 540 with two rads in it as well ) and have never had any over heating problems .
 
So what he's doing there is ensuring a increased pressure inside the case, so that the air comes out of every orifice, thus keeping the dust out... however, I have an issue with this - it just doesn't work when the computer is switched off, and if you have holes in the top, then you're going to get dust inside.

So you still need to cover the top vents. You can get foam or mesh filters that screw in over the fans to provide you with dust covers. Shouldn't cost more than £1.50 each too.

If I follow the 2 in 1 out I wouldn't need mesh etc at the top as I would put back the panels that were originally on the top so theirs no chance of dust getting in from the top,
I originally took the top two panels out as I put in 2 exhaust fans at the top so obviously couldn't cover the top
 
Put filters over the intake fans and, as moonbeam120 says, aim for positive air pressure in the case - more air being blown in than sucked out. This will stop all the other openings sucking in dust. Just remember to clean your intake fan filters regularly.
 
Put filters over the intake fans and, as moonbeam120 says, aim for positive air pressure in the case - more air being blown in than sucked out. This will stop all the other openings sucking in dust. Just remember to clean your intake fan filters regularly.

Already have this over my 2 intakes at the front
IMG_0001.JPG
 
Just swapping my h60i over so it's set as exhaust at the back of case,
How about putting another fan on the front of rad so it's a push/pull ?
 
Not sure if it's possible but could you mount the radiator at the front? The intake fan would blow cold air over the rad on its way in. Then go with the suggestions above to keep everything simple, retain a single exhaust fan at the top/back, remove all the other fans.

If not, go with @moonbeam120's suggestions.
 
So I've had 3 different opinions,
Regarding yours I would have 2 intake at front and rad at the rear as a exhaust,
Would it matter if I done a push/pull on the h60i or it wouldn't make any difference?

Personally I wouldn't bother with push/pull for your AIO there would be minimal difference in cooling and it just adds another part that will collect dust.

@gbjbaanb refitting the top covers is a given.
 
Not sure if it's possible but could you mount the radiator at the front? The intake fan would blow cold air over the rad on its way in. Then go with the suggestions above to keep everything simple, retain a single exhaust fan at the top/back, remove all the other fans.

If not, go with @moonbeam120's suggestions.

I could possibly do that but as I have 2 intakes at the front I would need to move my hdd caddie down to the bottom,
Wouldn't that impact the intake fan as the hdd caddie will be blocking the fan ?
Plus wouldn't the rad be pushing hot air into my rig ?
 
I could possibly do that but as I have 2 intakes at the front I would need to move my hdd caddie down to the bottom,
Wouldn't that impact the intake fan as the hdd caddie will be blocking the fan ?
Plus wouldn't the rad be pushing hot air into my rig ?

You could do it the way @richardb70 suggests but fitting a rad to the front intake can be a bit tricky and you may have to remove the HHD caddies altogether.
 
It was just a thought, my air cooler is doing much the same (fresh air in, hot air out), so you end up with hot air as an output and rising to the top of your case to be expelled via the fan.

If you set the rad up as an exhaust then don't forget it's going to be expelling hot air from the GPU at the same time so you won't get cold air involved.

If you have the time and it's all possible easily then worth trying the combinations out to see what your CPU and GPU temps are after some heavy loading.
 
I could put the rad at the front (does it matter if you can turn the h60i upside down ) sticker showing at the top rather than the bottom ?
 

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