Fractal Design Define 7 Compact - Airflow Question

PCs & Hardware
1

Been planning to add more case fans to Hoshī (muh PC) for some a long time now. For completion’s sake, not for min-maxing performance. It’s just, prices for Noctua Chromax fans kinda suck. :rofl:

I know Arctic and be quiet! and Noctua Reduxes are a thing. But, uh, kinda set on Chromax fans, 'cos Hoshī has a NH-D15 chromax.black chonki boi and I need consistency. 20x20

So… Planning stages? And double-checking. Opinion-seeking. Or something.

Will be sitting on my hands for forever a few more months waiting for prices to dip ever-so-slightly, feel free to chime in whenever. :sweat_smile:

Case: Fractal Design Define 7 Compact
(Mesh Top Panel)

Case Fans: 4 × 140mm + 1 × 120mm


Option 1: Intake > Exhaust
(Positive Pressure?)


Option 2: Exhaust > Intake
(Slight Negative Pressure?)

  • Option 1: Intake > Exhaust
  • Option 2: Exhaust > Intake
  • Option 3: Other

0 voters

Other Questions/Think Thonks

  • Only considered Options 1 + 2 'cos I’m uncertain if having one top fan as intake and the other as exhaust is a good idea. I remember hearing it isn’t?
  • Plan is to populate all(*) the case fan spots, with 4 × NF-A14 PWM chromax.Black + 1 × NF-S12A PWM chromax.Black. At full price, it’ll run me about $123.00. Open to other ideas, so long as they’re Noctua chromax.Blacks, lol.
  • Asterisk(*): Bottom is a rat’s nest of cables. Very much doubt squeezing an extra 120mm fan under all the cables there would help anything (would probably do more harm than good, lol), so not going to bother there. :sweat_smile:
  • Probably doesn’t matter, but CPU cooler is a Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black and graphics card is an ASRock RX 5600 XT (open-air GPU cooler).
  • …I did reach out to Noctua about potential discounts. Only way to get a “discount” is to purchase the fans off their noctua.at store site, review the product in accordance to their guidelines, wait for them to approve of whatever they see, then receive refund the discounted amount after all that waiting. Took one look at their guidelines and went, “Yeah, I can’t do that.” 20x20
  • Noctua’s bundles (Amazon Link) have been out of stock since forever. 20x20

…I could have posted this question on the LTT forums. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… ¯_(ツ)_/¯

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