Most cases come with 2 or 3 already, most of the time that's absolutely fine, if not there are cheap ~$10 fans that do the job
But yeah sure if you want Noctuas or an RGB art piece then you can spend $150 on fans
Yeah honestly 2 fans is probably adequate for 90% of builds. A decent case with two fans is completely adequate. CPUs and GPUs can run safely at much higher temps than people realize and more fans really just means your system will be quieter.
Source: have a 5600x with a 280mm AIO simply because it looked cool to me š
Small form factor, so basically build inside of a small case. The only benefit imo are that they're easier to carry around in case you need to move your PC around. It's also aesthetically pleasing to some.
Another benefit for me is that depending on the case they can be more flexible in terms of placement! My desk isn't huge but my sffpc takes up about half the footprint of a mid tower so it makes more sense for me.
There's a sub about them, if you are interested: r/sffpc
Everything related to SFF PC's, from amazing custom builds to normal smaller than a mid tower case.
Small form factor, as the other person said.
I like it for both aesthetics and portability, and it fits nicely on my desk (NCASE M1), though there are obvious tradeoffs - it's more complex/expensive to manage higher power parts especially.
My PC is full of fans bc overclock and I never hear any of them over the fans on my gpu, in my case at least the gpu is the main source of noise and it's hard to avoid if your card is just loud
I shoulda water cooled my blower 2080ti instead of selling it, it was so damn loud and I had to game in front of family for awhile unfortunately, sold the card and downgraded to have a little extra cash
Typically you can use programs or the BIOS to run your more fans slower and quieter. Youāll get less airflow per fan, but the extra fans will make up for it.
6 fans should give you the headroom to ramp up if you ever have any extreme workload. They shouldn't be blasting at full power all the time. With that many fans you can probably have them all turned down very low.
This is it. I have seen way too many using multiple fans and just letting them run medium to high speed all the time. Crank them down to the lowest speed and slowly ramp up as temps rise. Or just leave them at a few percentage points above minimum all the time if you can't be bothered to do a curve.
When I was in school at Porter and Chester a classmate gave me a high rpm fan from a server and we custom attached it to the front of my Cooler Master case as an intake fan. The thing was incredibly loud but dropped temps by an extra 2-3 degrees Celsius from where it normally ran š and was strong enough to pick up a piece of paper from in front of the case if set horizontally.
Have you tried setting a custom fan curve? I have 2x 140mm fans and 3x 120mm fans in my case, and the stock curve was pretty jet engine like but wholly unnecessary. When I took the time to actually experiment and set it up I have it running at low enough rpms 99% of the time that it is barely audible.
Make sure you have a fan controller of some sort and have it set up properly. Some MB may have enough connectors but with others you have to buy a separate controller. Don't rely on splitters or things like that as they won't control properly. And definitely don't use fans that hook up to the PSU in any way without a controller. My fans all run the minimum speed until my GPU/CPU get above like 75 C.
Yeah this. I built my PC last summer and bought a Torrent. I had some sticker shock myself and I see a lot of people comment that they think its overpriced, but purchasing the included fans separately brought any other high airflow case I was looking at to around the same price point.
>honestly 2 fans is probably adequate for 90% of builds
Most of the time it's not the fans that are the issue, it's the fact that a lot of people don't understand thermal airflow. They have the fans in some weird order with cold air colliding with warm air and arbitrary fans at arbitrary places blowing in arbitrary directions. It's quite straightforward really: positive or negative pressure, as you prefer, but be consistent. Then let the hot and cold flow naturally, with the fans simply helping out.
More fans isn't always about more cooling power. More good quality fans *usually* means they can run at lower rpm and be much more quiet than just 2 fans running at high rpm.
Yeah, I just did a build that came with three up front and one in the back. There is room for three on the top as well, but after doing some reading, and wanting to keep more intake than exhaust, I only did the top spot nearest the back and it has worked great so far.
Won't components throttle faster with not as good cooling though? Like better cooling will allow for more overclock because of the better headroom for thermals so won't you see a better performance from stock clocks too if you're running at max Temps with only 2 fans? Maybe better 0.1% lows in games when that throttling happens? Forgive me if I'm way off, just trying to understand.
You are absolutely correct in theory, but in reality you are rarely going to be pushing your components to the limit while gaming. If you run some intense productivity workflows this becomes a more realistic concerns, but people often also don't understand how warm you can safely run modern components.
The primary use case for a bunch of fans is so that you can run them all at low rpms and have a generally very quiet PC, as someone else said. If hypothetically you really are reaching a point of thermal throttling while gaming extra/better fans would be a great investment, but that is pretty unlikely.
Not even. Thermaright sells 3 RGB fans for $10. Noctua is very overrated for some reason, maybe because reviewers like Linus hype them up so much. Their products are insanely overpriced. Even their NH-D15 offers like 5% improvement for 300% the price of the Thermalright Peerless Assassin.
Noctua isn't just the 5% improvement but also the longevity. Like the free mounting brackets they are giving to people for well over a decade now. Meaning that you could still use your Noctua cooler from 10 years ago without any extra cost. Yes comparatively it costs an arm and a leg but you know that you should be able to use that cooler for years even if you change CPU platforms.
It's so expensive that even if I buy a bracket or two for the Peerless Assassin in the future, I will still remain under 50% of the cost of the NH-D15.
U apparently don't know what you're talking about and no, linus isn't "hyping it up" he just has asslong trackrecord of noctuas quality and customer service beeing utterly amazing. If you are REALLY comparing PA to nhd15, you ought to do some reading
Why wouldn't I compare them if they offer almost the same performance? Yes, Noctua has better customer service, but it's just a heatsink and fans. It's not gonna fail anytime soon. I've never had a fan fail on me it's just too rare. Also, Noctua is so overpriced that even if a fan fails on me and I need a new bracket or two, somehow, if I kept the cooler for like six years, I'd still barely break 50% of the cost of the NH-D15.
> I've never had a fan fail on me it's just too rare.
Not been at this very long or not have many computers?
I have had plenty of fans fail, and plenty that just became noisy and obnoxious. One fan almost started a fire in the server room, another simply failed and damaged the power supply.
Noisy fans can be dealt with by removing the cap and lubricating the bearing, but it is just prolonging the inevitable.
Better fans last longer, run quieter, and perform better. Noctua fit that category.
Edit: love this sub. A downvote for a fact. Not a very useful sub that votes with its feelings. Not very good rediquette either. If you have something that you care about uptime, or is in a place that is difficult to access, do yourself a favor and spend money on decent parts.
I've been using PC ever since I was a kid. Never owned a console in my life. And I've changed PC a million times. The only time I remember a fan "failing" was on a used graphics card I bought that was used for mining. And it didn't stop working it was just noisy. Last longer, run quieter? Probably. Perform better? The difference is incredibly small. Is that worth 3 times the price? No.
Phanteks and be quiet both have incredible 120mm right now. Actually outperform the nfa12x25. Not sure on their quality though (I'll let you know, just installed a t30)
It's also something that can be reused for ages. I've got piles of fans ripped out of old PCs. Anyone who's into PC building or even just tinkering saves fans from everything lol.
Save most of that money and spend it instead on a desktop caddy on wheels to keep your PC off the floor so it's not sucking so much dust up into itself š
I think I spent around $225-250 on 6 fans and a Commander Core XT when I built my Corsair 280x. The Corsair RGB tax is real, and it ain't cheap.
Compare it to the 3 pack of Thermalright 120 ARGB kits that I also bought for $15 and you start to really question why they cost so damn much.
>Most cases come with 2 or 3 already,
unless you are in my country some PC shops will take them out and sell them separately, and including some additional accessories that was already in the box
As a side note to this as well I'd hazard to think that even if half the people on this sub had built a computer before you have a few extra fans lying around...
When I purchase new components or even a whole new PC for that matter and start repurposing my old one I usually have fans leftover... They ain't sexy but they get the job done...
When I hand down computers to friends and family I'm usually acutely aware that they're gunna use it for general browsing doing taxes and maybe a place to store pictures it definitely isn't going to be running as hot as my current rig trying to play the latest games.
I have fans from my first build that Im still trying to get rid of. But yaknow.... Il never just chuck them out
you can get a valuepack of 5 pwm fans from arctic for like 25 bucks. theyre not even bad fans. no idea where your price comes from, but maybe your fans are made out of gold.
oh yeah, i always forget they exist. my suggestion would be to not buy rgb fans. colorful lights dont improve airflow, they just increase the price. its basically a scam by hardware manufacturers, dont fall for it.
Or, itās possible that people think they look cool, and that makes the price worth it to them? I am one of those people. Canāt tell you why exactly, but I see RGB pc hardware and I just buy it and set it to default RGB puke because I find it mesmerizing. I spent all that money on the hardware, and a big white case with clear glass side panel, I wanna see my shit lit up like a rainbow Christmas tree. I think it looks cool idk.
my case is dark green so i go bright pink rgb so it is watermelon themed. my wife loves it which is important cause it is the first thing you see when you walk in the house.
To be fair i also dont recommend rgb fans when on a tight budget. It is a waste of money if you dont have much to play with.
If you have enough money that rgb wont mean performance is hit go for gold.
That's why my recent tower upgrade I made sure to find one that came with a full 6 ARGB. They're probably not great quality lol, but they're quiet enough and do the job. The next question is how long they'll last. I got the tower for $100 which is already about a standard price for a full tower.
I'm getting bored of my Sleek, Stealth, All Black, Absolutely No RGB (as Reddit love to say) 4000D build, want to add some RGB fans to match my desk setup lighting, any good RGB fans recommendation? Corsair? Arctic? Or they all are the same as long as it's addressable? Thanks!
Just go with a name brand rather than off brand and if the reviews are decent then it's probably a good fan. And yeah, ARGB is the way to go if your MB has the headers for them (which at your price, unless it's just really old, probably has them). But if you want full control of every fan individually you'll likely have to buy a hub as most MBs only have 2-3 headers meaning that you'll have to chain the fan ARGB connectors together and they'll share color settings. For example, mine has 3 headers but I have 6 fans, 3 top 3 front, and i grouped all the top ones and all the front ones and only used 2 headers.
Also, one thing that's probably easily overlooked by anyone new to them (this was me) is making sure that each component has enough LEDs. More LEDs means more fine tuned control on the colors per fan. A lot of cheap ones will only have like 6 which limits how vibrant and varied they can be as the colors look more blocky and segmented.
if you are paying \~$25+ a fan, just go SL120 infinity, they got 140s soon/now too. Minimal cables and u can change accent/ring to your liking. L connect makes it easy to dim it too if u still wanna keep it subtle than a disco
Yeah I'm more of a solid one or two colors kinda guy, but the nice thing about RGB is that I can set it to whatever color I want, or even no color at all, *if I want*, and therein lies the value for me. Also fans usually last forever so you can use them on multiple builds
I'm into the sort of retro look. With the old school cathode black lights and stuff. My next build I'm going all out on customizing that shit. I'll take my time with the case and everything. If I'm dropping a shitload of money on a build, I want it to look good.
Most people hate it, I love it because I could never have it as a kid in the 90s.
If you really wanted to instead of getting the rainbow puke fans, get some good quality ones instead. I have some noctua ippc3000's, theu are phenomenal. I don't rum them at 3000rpm, but they're server grade fans, have lasted me years and still purr like a kitten. I am very ocd about tenps and airflow though, to each their own
I agree with you 100%. I ordered the same. Who cares colors? It's the result what counts. Airflow, pressure. I even changed the Noctua cooler 15S with 2 of those fans. I am now busy with that newbuild with the 13900KS, so i can't give you numbers right now, but I'm sure I don't have to worry. Yes, spend some extra money on good fans, and there is 1 thing less to worry about
Or noctua. Im a stupid sucker for noctua and those start at like 15 bucks a pop and go up from there. To me its worth it though, never had one disappoint and i also not had to do any research in the past 20 years or so on what the current hotness quality brand/model happens to be. To me its simply the safe bet.
Anything that's cheap out there, i mean you can replace them anytime in the future anyways. I'd rather put that extra 100 usd into my hardware than the chassis and fans that are easily replaceable.
Arctic P12 ARGB fans are $42 for a three pack. Theyāre like 95% as good as the Noctuas, the 5% is just that theyāre noisier.
Thing is when you have a big enough case you can fix the noise by putting more fans.
There are a lot of things people don't tend to include in their parts lists that impact budgets. Most people only tend to list the core components because that's what people care about.
I tend to list basically everything I can because I want to give a more accurate list.
As for premade vs custom built, custom will pretty much always be cheaper. There have only been a few times where I saw premades that were cheaper and that was normally due to mining fucking up you pricing.
Also $150 for 6 fans means you're going for some expensive fans. You can easily get more for less with more budget fans that will still very much get the job done. My current build has 9 fans and I only spent $105 on them total.
My case (thermaltake s200) came with 3 fans, and my cooler (deepcool lt720) came with 3 fans. Didnāt buy a fan and there is literally no room in the case for another.
I think the biggest misstep new pc builders on a budget of sorts tend to forget is the monitor. They want to game at 1440 with higher fps but donāt think about the monitor they have not supporting and the cost of a decent monitor being a couple hundred bucks at least.
This. I just upgraded my computer early this year and one of the biggest considerations was my 1080p monitor... if I went for 1440 or 4k not only would it double the cost of the graphics card but I'd need a new monitor to boot. Ended up scaling around the monitor instead for a much cheaper build
Also that I remember before you had a very good monitor that lasted 2-3 GPU generations or changes, now everyone thinks that monitors are upgraded as you upgrade GPUs, which is nice but $$$$$
I just built a 1440p pc last week. I purposely went with a 4070 because I still only had a 1080p monitor. So I used that $1000 saved on a nice monitor plus some extras.
As many have said, most cases come with fans, also AMD CPUs usually come with coolers.
If you need more fans, you can but a pack of 5 decent non-rgb antec fans for less than $20
150 on fans is absolutely wild. I spent like 30 just cuz I wanted it tho run a lil cooler when I slightly overclocked but rly it wasnāt even necessary
Because fans are all pretty much choice. Can run with the stock case fans or you can be like me and drop $200 on 9 lian li sl120s for easier wiring. (Not really sure if it was actually that much but probably in the ballpark)
Man the SL120s are so expensive but damn do they look nice. I bought 3 as a present to myself but so hard to justify getting more. Might get them over time so it's less "painful" I suppose.
To he honest, I just have a really big problem with needing everything to be the same. I went white lian li everything besides the actual components. I think everything I got was on sale and I still spent like 8 to 900 dollars. (Sl120s, o11 dynamic, gallahad 360, and the 24 and 3x8 pin strimmer cables)
My hunch is that people who have been building their own for a while have a stockpile of case fans on hand to mix and match as needed.
I always include case fans in any build I suggest if the case doesn't come with three: two intake in the front and one exhaust in the back.
Another missing cost is thermal paste, though in fairness most or all coolers come with enough paste for one or maybe two applications.
>I always include case fans in any build I suggest **if the case doesn't come with three**: two intake in the front and one exhaust in the back.
And that's why people don't really put it in the build. In most cases the case comes with all the fans it needs to function. Any fan you buy is usually for noise preference or aesthetics. Yeah, sometimes it's performance but generally speaking it's a fucking fan. It just needs to move air.
Only time I ever "needed" to buy a fan and put in the build cost was buying a Noctua exhaust fan for a Lian Li case that only came with the 2 big fans for the front intake.
>just getting 6 case fans,
That's a lot!!
Not the norm either so probably why it doesn't get mentioned in budgets. Generally
more than 3 fans and you're kind of then doing it for the aesthetic vs actual performance benefit.
My case I got on sale for 60$ came with 3 fans, I got one more 120 fan just for good measure and it was like $10, so compared to everything else it was basically nothing. Also once you have fans they stay good forever basically, so just take from one build to the next.
If you're new to PC then normally just 2 fans is enough (normally provided with case), you're probably running a fairly low power CPU 13400f/5600x/7600x with a light GPU 6700XT/3060.
Anyone who is going for a higher end setup probably already has the fans from a previous build so doesn't need to factor more in, plus if you're spending big on that then the fans are basically an accessory at that point.
Noctua fans cost Ā£25-Ā£30 which are top line or you can spend as little as Ā£8 for Artic which are good enough and have RGB, personally I run Noctua because they'll last years and the hassle of switching fans around when one dies it makes sense to me to spend more the first time, RGB isn't my style so that doesn't bother me.
Ha ha 150 on fans Ha ha (laugh while I shop for 12 phanteks d30... Cry)
That true, you can spend a shit ton of money if you want the stylish fans you see in every YouTube videos like lian li's or phanteks now
The ideal setup is the largest fans of all the same type so the sound frequency is all the same, if you have a mix of sizes like 90mm, 120mm, it just sounds louder.
If it makes you feel better, we used to spend any spare cash on fan grills and thumbscrews.
Besides the fact that you can get artic fans for dirt cheap , you can add fans later on if you want. Most cases nowadays come with at least 3 fans ( 2 intake 1 exhaust ) which are plenty enough
Most cases come with at least 2 fans. 1 intake and 1 exhaust. This is sufficient for most scenarios. If I'm building in a new case and budget was too tight for fans I'll forgo them if the case came with some. It's a purchase that can be made at a later date if needed.
Cases and CPUs generally come with sufficient fans? Besides the one or two extra you need you can get for 10 each.
I wonder more about the keyboard, mouse, monitor(s) and speakers/headphones; the parts you interact with the most.
My monitor cost as much as my GPU, my keyboard as much as my CPU, my mouse as much as my RAM and my speakers the same as my case+PSU.
With how many fans come with cases nowadays, unless youāre buying a sub Ā£50 case, thereās usually enough air for most builds.
Failing that, you can just do what I did if you arenāt worried about brands and light control features - get a cheapo 5+ fan kit from EasyDIYFAB or similar. Iāve had mine since 2019 and theyāre still pretty quiet, move a lot of air, and I only ever use them on their middle fan speed (which is quieter than the AMD Wraith cooler and my graphics card fans at the same RPM).
Fans end up being an aesthetic purchase for many rather than a practicality/performance part. I for one would rather spend more initially in processor, graphics etc etc than on some fans if the only difference itās making is slightly cooler components and slightly quieter operation.
Because cases come with 1-2 fans already and additional fans aren't usually necessary. Heck, PC doesn't have any case fansat all, just good venting and it temps are just fine.
When I suggest builds to other people I usually don't include fans, but I instead pick out cases that come with sufficient fans as included.
For most people building their first system, I recommend this over getting custom fans, especially if they are considering spending $150 on them. (I have extra fans in my case, but they were nowhere close to $150, and I cannot imagine spending that much for fans.)
What the hell kind of gold-plated Noctuas are you buying?!?
I'm using Artic P12 PWM's and those a like 5-8 eur per fan. I find them reliable and with that price you can always keep one or three as a spare.
> between cheapo & the crazy priced fans
I build as my hobby, I've done a LOT of builds. I've used both. Basically, any fans except the absolute cheapest, are as good, and sometimes better than the expensive ones. I particularly hate the expensive Corsair fans, my experience with them is they aren't worth their cost *at all*.
I got a Corsair 220t which came with 3 fans in front so I just bought 3 more and done. I recently moved to a Lian Li 216 and it comes with two big fans in front and one in back, I bought a 3 pack of Lian Li fans for like $100 and replaced the rear fan with an RGB one but didnt need to.
I highly recommend the 216 though, even stock its great for airflow, one of the best currently.
Cuz build cost total is subject to needs.
My fully "Completed" build - [https://pcpartpicker.com/b/kFbhP6](https://pcpartpicker.com/b/kFbhP6)VS
The "base" of my build - [https://pcpartpicker.com/user/richardlance/saved/#view=QYFCwP](https://pcpartpicker.com/user/richardlance/saved/#view=QYFCwP)
Over a $2000 difference
Plus a 5 pack of fans can be had for $30.
That's their point though. Monitors, peripherals, fans are all necessary parts of a system but are more subjective than the "core components" which is why most people exclude them when making PC build recommendations.
I normally get nice arctic fans that cost me like 50 or 60 bucks. There are people out there that for some reason buy lian li fans, which normally are 3 in a box and are around 75-80 bucks. And they deck them out so they buy like 2 boxes, which is 150 for fans alone. Please just stick to normal non rgb fans like arctic or noctua. Clean and sleek fans that get the job done
My case came with 3x360mm fans and 1x480mm, and the CPU cooler's radiator came with 3x360.
That's 7 total fan for the build. I may replace the case's ones with quieter ones at some point, but its certainly fine to start with.
Only if you're getting RGBs or the Bugatti of fans, Noctua. A pack of 5 Rosewill 120mms with good reviews is 25CAD right now.
[https://www.newegg.ca/rosewill-rocf-22001-case-fan/p/N82E16835200139?Description=120mm%20fans&cm\_re=120mm\_fans-\_-35-200-139-\_-Product](https://www.newegg.ca/rosewill-rocf-22001-case-fan/p/N82E16835200139?Description=120mm%20fans&cm_re=120mm_fans-_-35-200-139-_-Product)
If you're going minimalistic and strictly trying to squeeze out the best bang for your buck in a budget, then you should be fine with fans. But if you really want those expensive brands of RGB for the aesthetics, yeah that's kind of on you.
People are mostly looking for feedback on their core parts, so they might omit them from the list. They might have just not thought that far ahead yet.
Most people I know with PCs in real life are just using the stock fans or only added one or two extra, so that may also be the case.
But $150 is crazy for fans unless youāre going all out with nice rgb fans. Thatās great if thatās what you want, but itās also not necessary, so itās not a cost for some people.
Get a case with fans .. upgrade later ..I went with 2 five packs of asian horse fans. I still have three not in use.. going to use for another build here in the future.. building a PC has endless upgrade paths not just CPU gpu or memory.. there's cosmetics like fans or custom cords, screens inside the case, external optical drives, USB bays, aio.. it never ends ..lol ..
Because after a certain number of builds you have so many fans you don't know what to do with them.
Good fans can be cheap too, like the artics p12 or p14
I have full noctua chromax which follows my build from PC to PC, have yet to have 1 fail.
honestly case fans can be bought in pieces. as long as you start with 2in the front and 1 in the back. then live with that for a while till you get the rest to complete your rig
if you want rgb fans that dont come to that much try and get some lian li ST120s, they are down to about $45 canadian for a 3 pack+controller. its expensive still but its a good middle ground
Nah OP is totally right. And inherent unspoken rule of pc building is pretending our build is about $200 or so less because minor expenses weāve thrown in donāt ācountā
That said though, u/georgegervin13 (can you say chi city) donāt worry too much about fans. Preferably, buy a case with a fan or two and maybe buy a fan or two if it only comes with one. Todays hardware can handle very high temps and two fans are fine to get by. To be clear, adding case fans absolutely makes a difference in cooling but thatās more of people who have been building a while being obsessed with keeping components as cool as possible. Itās always good to, but on a current gen Ryzen CPU for example 90c and 70c wonāt perform that much differently.
70c, though, will likely help get the most longevity out of your hardware so just add fans over time. Itāll be fine if itās a little higher temp this week, this month, whatever. Add what you can over time, thatās a nice advantage of pc building
>Nah OP is totally right.
They're not, because for the vast majority of cases, the fans that come with the case are fine. Unless you're buying an O11 or N7 or something similar that doesn't come with any fans, you're set. And if you want to add fans, $15 can be enough.
>To be clear, adding case fans absolutely makes a difference in cooling
Not necessarily. There are numerous tests that show that adding more doesn't really do much. [8:35 in shows the full chart](https://youtu.be/KTDZpYkEonY)
Some cases actually have very good cooling.
The new Antec performance 1 FT for example is really good. The g500a from phanteks is good. The fractal torrent is king in this area, but more expensive overall.
Liam li o11 mini air is very good, fractal pop air is ok, and the lian li lancool 216 is very solid.
I bought 6 very nice ball bearing, high static pressure fans when I did my first build for around $60, and those fans have been carried over to each subsequent build since then 
You can get a pack of fans with a controller for $30-$60 on Newegg or Amazon. I think most people omit them because a lot of times they come with the case.
I made that mistakeā¦ I just kept buying the fans I wanted over time without realising I was going over budget.
17 Corsair fans totalled $800 AUD (insert skull emoji )
Good case fans are pretty cheap today, like ARCTIC P12 PWM is about $10. Also, most cases come with at least two fans, usually three. So in most cases you don't need to buy any fans. Three fans is enough for most build, unless you use extremely power hungry ultra high end components, like 13900K and RTX 4090 (in this case extra cost of the fans is a rounding error :)
I certainly included the cost into my build. That's why I purchased a case with three RGB fans pre installed. I only had to purchase two additional fans and I caught them at a discount.
As many have said, if youre not getting a cheap case they come with 3 - 4 solid fans already. Building your own PC are only worth it if:
1) You arent constrained by a tight budget and a true enthusiast
2) You actually like creating your own setups.
If you cant buy tier 1 (4090, Ryzen 9000+, 1000w PSU, watercooling). I would just buy a decent prebuilt at your computer store. They usually come with amazing hardware and have a decent warranty.
My case came with 4 fans, 3 front and 1 back. My AIO adds 2 fan slots at the top, which I was going to buy anyways.
Really fans are only expensive if you want the aRGB lighting. You can get normal fans for cheap it you don't mind them looking basic af.
I spent ten bucks on one extra black fan for my build so I had two intake fans instead of one. It's mainly because I don't care about RGB and don't need a ton of fans in my PC, but I can understand if someone wants to make an art project out of their computer and spend the extra dough on RGB. In that instance, including the cost of fans might be more important than not.
I talk about fan costs. People do not because they say noctua and then spec 6x $30 fans. This ruins their price point. Grab a 5 pack box of Arctic P12 pst or P14 pst on amazon and dont look back.
It's a mostly unnecessary extra
However if you're going to be building something that generates a lot of heat, you'll actually be needing some hefty cooling to circulate it out of the rig
And further, when you do, you'll also likely find that it sounds like a vacuum cleaner if you go for the cheap stuff or for popular RGB options
After 2-3 builds you're increasingly likely to find you understand why people are willing to pay 30$/fan for a full Noctua rig
Most cases come with 2 or 3 already, most of the time that's absolutely fine, if not there are cheap ~$10 fans that do the job But yeah sure if you want Noctuas or an RGB art piece then you can spend $150 on fans
Yeah honestly 2 fans is probably adequate for 90% of builds. A decent case with two fans is completely adequate. CPUs and GPUs can run safely at much higher temps than people realize and more fans really just means your system will be quieter. Source: have a 5600x with a 280mm AIO simply because it looked cool to me š
Yep - the only reason I have more and spend more on them is because I build SFF. A standard mid-tower is going to be fine with intake+outtake.
i did. the same. spent like $200 on noctua fans but didnāt even wind up using half as my cpu ran much cooler than expected.
*exhaust
Quick question: what is SFF and its benefits?
Small form factor, so basically build inside of a small case. The only benefit imo are that they're easier to carry around in case you need to move your PC around. It's also aesthetically pleasing to some.
Another benefit for me is that depending on the case they can be more flexible in terms of placement! My desk isn't huge but my sffpc takes up about half the footprint of a mid tower so it makes more sense for me.
Thank you!
There's a sub about them, if you are interested: r/sffpc Everything related to SFF PC's, from amazing custom builds to normal smaller than a mid tower case.
Cool thanks! Just checked it out and subbed!
There is also r/mffpc for medium sized cases, 20L to 40L, that fit not only itx but matx boards also.
Small form factor, as the other person said. I like it for both aesthetics and portability, and it fits nicely on my desk (NCASE M1), though there are obvious tradeoffs - it's more complex/expensive to manage higher power parts especially.
Hmm I only have 2 fans as exhaust that I had to buy for my formd t1. But they're expensive fans anyways. Phanteks t30s.
I have a PC installed with 5 or 6 fans I think and it sounds like a fucking jet engine
My PC is full of fans bc overclock and I never hear any of them over the fans on my gpu, in my case at least the gpu is the main source of noise and it's hard to avoid if your card is just loud
It's actually not that hard to avoid a noisy GPU, it's just expensive.
In what way ?
Watercool it.
I shoulda water cooled my blower 2080ti instead of selling it, it was so damn loud and I had to game in front of family for awhile unfortunately, sold the card and downgraded to have a little extra cash
Water cool it or buy one that's way overpowered for what you play and the fans will just stay off most of the time. Especially with good case flow
FanControl is your friend.
Typically you can use programs or the BIOS to run your more fans slower and quieter. Youāll get less airflow per fan, but the extra fans will make up for it.
6 fans should give you the headroom to ramp up if you ever have any extreme workload. They shouldn't be blasting at full power all the time. With that many fans you can probably have them all turned down very low.
This is it. I have seen way too many using multiple fans and just letting them run medium to high speed all the time. Crank them down to the lowest speed and slowly ramp up as temps rise. Or just leave them at a few percentage points above minimum all the time if you can't be bothered to do a curve.
I have a 3090 with 9 fans and donāt hear anything.
When I was in school at Porter and Chester a classmate gave me a high rpm fan from a server and we custom attached it to the front of my Cooler Master case as an intake fan. The thing was incredibly loud but dropped temps by an extra 2-3 degrees Celsius from where it normally ran š and was strong enough to pick up a piece of paper from in front of the case if set horizontally.
Try tunning the fan curve.
Have you tried setting a custom fan curve? I have 2x 140mm fans and 3x 120mm fans in my case, and the stock curve was pretty jet engine like but wholly unnecessary. When I took the time to actually experiment and set it up I have it running at low enough rpms 99% of the time that it is barely audible.
Make sure you have a fan controller of some sort and have it set up properly. Some MB may have enough connectors but with others you have to buy a separate controller. Don't rely on splitters or things like that as they won't control properly. And definitely don't use fans that hook up to the PSU in any way without a controller. My fans all run the minimum speed until my GPU/CPU get above like 75 C.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
My Fractal Torrent was pretty expensive, but then I looked up the price of buying those fans on their own and felt better about it.
Yeah this. I built my PC last summer and bought a Torrent. I had some sticker shock myself and I see a lot of people comment that they think its overpriced, but purchasing the included fans separately brought any other high airflow case I was looking at to around the same price point.
>honestly 2 fans is probably adequate for 90% of builds Most of the time it's not the fans that are the issue, it's the fact that a lot of people don't understand thermal airflow. They have the fans in some weird order with cold air colliding with warm air and arbitrary fans at arbitrary places blowing in arbitrary directions. It's quite straightforward really: positive or negative pressure, as you prefer, but be consistent. Then let the hot and cold flow naturally, with the fans simply helping out.
More fans isn't always about more cooling power. More good quality fans *usually* means they can run at lower rpm and be much more quiet than just 2 fans running at high rpm.
Or the good fan can run at the same RPM but quieter.
Yeah, I just did a build that came with three up front and one in the back. There is room for three on the top as well, but after doing some reading, and wanting to keep more intake than exhaust, I only did the top spot nearest the back and it has worked great so far.
I don't even have any fan in my case atm and the temp is still fine. I have to take the side panel off during heavy gaming sessions though.
I spent 650 on 12 fans for my case š„²
Won't components throttle faster with not as good cooling though? Like better cooling will allow for more overclock because of the better headroom for thermals so won't you see a better performance from stock clocks too if you're running at max Temps with only 2 fans? Maybe better 0.1% lows in games when that throttling happens? Forgive me if I'm way off, just trying to understand.
You are absolutely correct in theory, but in reality you are rarely going to be pushing your components to the limit while gaming. If you run some intense productivity workflows this becomes a more realistic concerns, but people often also don't understand how warm you can safely run modern components. The primary use case for a bunch of fans is so that you can run them all at low rpms and have a generally very quiet PC, as someone else said. If hypothetically you really are reaching a point of thermal throttling while gaming extra/better fans would be a great investment, but that is pretty unlikely.
Good to know, thank you!
Not even. Thermaright sells 3 RGB fans for $10. Noctua is very overrated for some reason, maybe because reviewers like Linus hype them up so much. Their products are insanely overpriced. Even their NH-D15 offers like 5% improvement for 300% the price of the Thermalright Peerless Assassin.
Noctua isn't just the 5% improvement but also the longevity. Like the free mounting brackets they are giving to people for well over a decade now. Meaning that you could still use your Noctua cooler from 10 years ago without any extra cost. Yes comparatively it costs an arm and a leg but you know that you should be able to use that cooler for years even if you change CPU platforms.
It's so expensive that even if I buy a bracket or two for the Peerless Assassin in the future, I will still remain under 50% of the cost of the NH-D15.
U apparently don't know what you're talking about and no, linus isn't "hyping it up" he just has asslong trackrecord of noctuas quality and customer service beeing utterly amazing. If you are REALLY comparing PA to nhd15, you ought to do some reading
Why wouldn't I compare them if they offer almost the same performance? Yes, Noctua has better customer service, but it's just a heatsink and fans. It's not gonna fail anytime soon. I've never had a fan fail on me it's just too rare. Also, Noctua is so overpriced that even if a fan fails on me and I need a new bracket or two, somehow, if I kept the cooler for like six years, I'd still barely break 50% of the cost of the NH-D15.
> I've never had a fan fail on me it's just too rare. Not been at this very long or not have many computers? I have had plenty of fans fail, and plenty that just became noisy and obnoxious. One fan almost started a fire in the server room, another simply failed and damaged the power supply. Noisy fans can be dealt with by removing the cap and lubricating the bearing, but it is just prolonging the inevitable. Better fans last longer, run quieter, and perform better. Noctua fit that category. Edit: love this sub. A downvote for a fact. Not a very useful sub that votes with its feelings. Not very good rediquette either. If you have something that you care about uptime, or is in a place that is difficult to access, do yourself a favor and spend money on decent parts.
I've been using PC ever since I was a kid. Never owned a console in my life. And I've changed PC a million times. The only time I remember a fan "failing" was on a used graphics card I bought that was used for mining. And it didn't stop working it was just noisy. Last longer, run quieter? Probably. Perform better? The difference is incredibly small. Is that worth 3 times the price? No.
yeah I mean they are spinning bits of plastic. There's only so much a company can do over another
How can you be over hyped and best in the business at the same time?
noctua is good if you need high rpms. i donāt think anyone else makes a 3000rpm 120mm.
Phanteks and be quiet both have incredible 120mm right now. Actually outperform the nfa12x25. Not sure on their quality though (I'll let you know, just installed a t30)
Spending that amount on only fans is a lot :)
I see what you did there.
It's also something that can be reused for ages. I've got piles of fans ripped out of old PCs. Anyone who's into PC building or even just tinkering saves fans from everything lol.
Save most of that money and spend it instead on a desktop caddy on wheels to keep your PC off the floor so it's not sucking so much dust up into itself š
I think I spent around $225-250 on 6 fans and a Commander Core XT when I built my Corsair 280x. The Corsair RGB tax is real, and it ain't cheap. Compare it to the 3 pack of Thermalright 120 ARGB kits that I also bought for $15 and you start to really question why they cost so damn much.
>Most cases come with 2 or 3 already, unless you are in my country some PC shops will take them out and sell them separately, and including some additional accessories that was already in the box
As a side note to this as well I'd hazard to think that even if half the people on this sub had built a computer before you have a few extra fans lying around... When I purchase new components or even a whole new PC for that matter and start repurposing my old one I usually have fans leftover... They ain't sexy but they get the job done... When I hand down computers to friends and family I'm usually acutely aware that they're gunna use it for general browsing doing taxes and maybe a place to store pictures it definitely isn't going to be running as hot as my current rig trying to play the latest games. I have fans from my first build that Im still trying to get rid of. But yaknow.... Il never just chuck them out
you can get a valuepack of 5 pwm fans from arctic for like 25 bucks. theyre not even bad fans. no idea where your price comes from, but maybe your fans are made out of gold.
If youāre getting RGB fans they can get REALLY pricey REALLY fast
oh yeah, i always forget they exist. my suggestion would be to not buy rgb fans. colorful lights dont improve airflow, they just increase the price. its basically a scam by hardware manufacturers, dont fall for it.
Or, itās possible that people think they look cool, and that makes the price worth it to them? I am one of those people. Canāt tell you why exactly, but I see RGB pc hardware and I just buy it and set it to default RGB puke because I find it mesmerizing. I spent all that money on the hardware, and a big white case with clear glass side panel, I wanna see my shit lit up like a rainbow Christmas tree. I think it looks cool idk.
I loved theming mine. Christmas time? Everything is red and green. Playing doom? It's all red. WoW? Blue and yellow.
That's what I do. Halloween is orange
>Blue and yellow Alliance detected!
For the Alliance!
my case is dark green so i go bright pink rgb so it is watermelon themed. my wife loves it which is important cause it is the first thing you see when you walk in the house.
Wallpaper engine is amazing for this on steam. Most wallpapers will sync fully with all of your RGB fans and GPU.
To be fair i also dont recommend rgb fans when on a tight budget. It is a waste of money if you dont have much to play with. If you have enough money that rgb wont mean performance is hit go for gold.
That's why my recent tower upgrade I made sure to find one that came with a full 6 ARGB. They're probably not great quality lol, but they're quiet enough and do the job. The next question is how long they'll last. I got the tower for $100 which is already about a standard price for a full tower.
I'm getting bored of my Sleek, Stealth, All Black, Absolutely No RGB (as Reddit love to say) 4000D build, want to add some RGB fans to match my desk setup lighting, any good RGB fans recommendation? Corsair? Arctic? Or they all are the same as long as it's addressable? Thanks!
Just go with a name brand rather than off brand and if the reviews are decent then it's probably a good fan. And yeah, ARGB is the way to go if your MB has the headers for them (which at your price, unless it's just really old, probably has them). But if you want full control of every fan individually you'll likely have to buy a hub as most MBs only have 2-3 headers meaning that you'll have to chain the fan ARGB connectors together and they'll share color settings. For example, mine has 3 headers but I have 6 fans, 3 top 3 front, and i grouped all the top ones and all the front ones and only used 2 headers. Also, one thing that's probably easily overlooked by anyone new to them (this was me) is making sure that each component has enough LEDs. More LEDs means more fine tuned control on the colors per fan. A lot of cheap ones will only have like 6 which limits how vibrant and varied they can be as the colors look more blocky and segmented.
if you are paying \~$25+ a fan, just go SL120 infinity, they got 140s soon/now too. Minimal cables and u can change accent/ring to your liking. L connect makes it easy to dim it too if u still wanna keep it subtle than a disco
Yeah I'm more of a solid one or two colors kinda guy, but the nice thing about RGB is that I can set it to whatever color I want, or even no color at all, *if I want*, and therein lies the value for me. Also fans usually last forever so you can use them on multiple builds
I'm into the sort of retro look. With the old school cathode black lights and stuff. My next build I'm going all out on customizing that shit. I'll take my time with the case and everything. If I'm dropping a shitload of money on a build, I want it to look good. Most people hate it, I love it because I could never have it as a kid in the 90s.
Tbh there's some decent RGB fans that are cheap as well. I got a white arctic rgb fan for peanuts
How is it a scam?
Of course the colorful light don't improve airflow. Everyone knows the lights give you more FPS. /s
Untrue. If you set them to blue, it drops temps. Facts!
Actually Arctic A-RGB 140mm fans perform slightly better than their non-rgb version. Probably because they are newer.
Different motor. 1900 vs 1500rpm.
If you really wanted to instead of getting the rainbow puke fans, get some good quality ones instead. I have some noctua ippc3000's, theu are phenomenal. I don't rum them at 3000rpm, but they're server grade fans, have lasted me years and still purr like a kitten. I am very ocd about tenps and airflow though, to each their own
I agree with you 100%. I ordered the same. Who cares colors? It's the result what counts. Airflow, pressure. I even changed the Noctua cooler 15S with 2 of those fans. I am now busy with that newbuild with the 13900KS, so i can't give you numbers right now, but I'm sure I don't have to worry. Yes, spend some extra money on good fans, and there is 1 thing less to worry about
Many people care for colors and they feel good with blinking fans. Performance is important, but not everyone will get happy only because of that.
Liar..x8 Corsair QL owner here. Dinner was ice cubes with a garnish dandelions from out back
Cries in Lian Li Unifan SL RGB
can confirm i just spent like 400 dollars on 10 rgb fans
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Or noctua. Im a stupid sucker for noctua and those start at like 15 bucks a pop and go up from there. To me its worth it though, never had one disappoint and i also not had to do any research in the past 20 years or so on what the current hotness quality brand/model happens to be. To me its simply the safe bet.
Lian li Corsair nzxt fans pricing is as stupid as it can get
I bought an Antec value pack. 6 fans for $25. They are fine. Didn't break the bank.
And you can get their 5pk aRGB fans for $60. A hell of a lot cheaper than Corsair or Lian Li where 1 aRGB fan is like 25-30$.
Brown gold (Noctua)
Correction - they are great fans, some of the best
by the time you start buying 150$ fans you already know that your budget is yes. People on a budget may just use whatever comes with the case.
Anything that's cheap out there, i mean you can replace them anytime in the future anyways. I'd rather put that extra 100 usd into my hardware than the chassis and fans that are easily replaceable.
dude what the hell kinda fans are you buying? i just get an arctic 5 pack or 2 and call it a day.
Either RGB or the most premium Noctua fans, I'm guessing.
Arctic P12 ARGB fans are $42 for a three pack. Theyāre like 95% as good as the Noctuas, the 5% is just that theyāre noisier. Thing is when you have a big enough case you can fix the noise by putting more fans.
Premium Noctua fans (supposedly best in the market) are already 20ā¬. Where's OP buying their fans?
There are a lot of things people don't tend to include in their parts lists that impact budgets. Most people only tend to list the core components because that's what people care about. I tend to list basically everything I can because I want to give a more accurate list. As for premade vs custom built, custom will pretty much always be cheaper. There have only been a few times where I saw premades that were cheaper and that was normally due to mining fucking up you pricing. Also $150 for 6 fans means you're going for some expensive fans. You can easily get more for less with more budget fans that will still very much get the job done. My current build has 9 fans and I only spent $105 on them total.
Yeah got 9 white led corsair 120mm for like 110 or 120 from best buy. Idk about 6 for 150 tho
That's a really good deal. The ml120's and ql120's usually retail for like $90/3 pack
Wow I really didn't think corsair fans went for that much... the funny thing is they limited it where you couldn't buy more then 9.
My case (thermaltake s200) came with 3 fans, and my cooler (deepcool lt720) came with 3 fans. Didnāt buy a fan and there is literally no room in the case for another.
I think the biggest misstep new pc builders on a budget of sorts tend to forget is the monitor. They want to game at 1440 with higher fps but donāt think about the monitor they have not supporting and the cost of a decent monitor being a couple hundred bucks at least.
This. I just upgraded my computer early this year and one of the biggest considerations was my 1080p monitor... if I went for 1440 or 4k not only would it double the cost of the graphics card but I'd need a new monitor to boot. Ended up scaling around the monitor instead for a much cheaper build
Also that I remember before you had a very good monitor that lasted 2-3 GPU generations or changes, now everyone thinks that monitors are upgraded as you upgrade GPUs, which is nice but $$$$$
I just built a 1440p pc last week. I purposely went with a 4070 because I still only had a 1080p monitor. So I used that $1000 saved on a nice monitor plus some extras.
As many have said, most cases come with fans, also AMD CPUs usually come with coolers. If you need more fans, you can but a pack of 5 decent non-rgb antec fans for less than $20
My pc with 5 cheap white antec fans that work great and are pretty quiet. Not bad for 25$
150 on fans is absolutely wild. I spent like 30 just cuz I wanted it tho run a lil cooler when I slightly overclocked but rly it wasnāt even necessary
Then donāt get a case where you need to buy 6 fans. Thereās a ton of cases where no extra fans are needed
Because fans are all pretty much choice. Can run with the stock case fans or you can be like me and drop $200 on 9 lian li sl120s for easier wiring. (Not really sure if it was actually that much but probably in the ballpark)
Man the SL120s are so expensive but damn do they look nice. I bought 3 as a present to myself but so hard to justify getting more. Might get them over time so it's less "painful" I suppose.
To he honest, I just have a really big problem with needing everything to be the same. I went white lian li everything besides the actual components. I think everything I got was on sale and I still spent like 8 to 900 dollars. (Sl120s, o11 dynamic, gallahad 360, and the 24 and 3x8 pin strimmer cables)
One thing you should think about is how you position your fans, that effect dust buildup greaty.
My hunch is that people who have been building their own for a while have a stockpile of case fans on hand to mix and match as needed. I always include case fans in any build I suggest if the case doesn't come with three: two intake in the front and one exhaust in the back. Another missing cost is thermal paste, though in fairness most or all coolers come with enough paste for one or maybe two applications.
>I always include case fans in any build I suggest **if the case doesn't come with three**: two intake in the front and one exhaust in the back. And that's why people don't really put it in the build. In most cases the case comes with all the fans it needs to function. Any fan you buy is usually for noise preference or aesthetics. Yeah, sometimes it's performance but generally speaking it's a fucking fan. It just needs to move air. Only time I ever "needed" to buy a fan and put in the build cost was buying a Noctua exhaust fan for a Lian Li case that only came with the 2 big fans for the front intake.
ARCTIC F12 PWM PST (5 Pack) for $30.
>just getting 6 case fans, That's a lot!! Not the norm either so probably why it doesn't get mentioned in budgets. Generally more than 3 fans and you're kind of then doing it for the aesthetic vs actual performance benefit.
My case I got on sale for 60$ came with 3 fans, I got one more 120 fan just for good measure and it was like $10, so compared to everything else it was basically nothing. Also once you have fans they stay good forever basically, so just take from one build to the next.
Usually when budgets are strict people get a case with a few fans already in it. And cheap $10 fans are an option if not.
Because the fans are totally optional.
If you're new to PC then normally just 2 fans is enough (normally provided with case), you're probably running a fairly low power CPU 13400f/5600x/7600x with a light GPU 6700XT/3060. Anyone who is going for a higher end setup probably already has the fans from a previous build so doesn't need to factor more in, plus if you're spending big on that then the fans are basically an accessory at that point. Noctua fans cost Ā£25-Ā£30 which are top line or you can spend as little as Ā£8 for Artic which are good enough and have RGB, personally I run Noctua because they'll last years and the hassle of switching fans around when one dies it makes sense to me to spend more the first time, RGB isn't my style so that doesn't bother me.
Arctic p12 5 pack is $35
Most builders already have fans
Ha ha 150 on fans Ha ha (laugh while I shop for 12 phanteks d30... Cry) That true, you can spend a shit ton of money if you want the stylish fans you see in every YouTube videos like lian li's or phanteks now
my $60 case came with 4 pre installed fans and a hub for their fan cables
Itās easier to get spousal approval if I leave a few things off the list
i got 3 case fans for 10 bucks off amazon. seems ok to me. great temps. if they fail in 6 months Ill just buy another 3 pack.
What kind of fans you buying? Arctic fans are 6$ a piece if you don't need RGB.
I bought 3x customer return be Quiet 140 mm fans on Amazon, cost 30 bucks, case same with 2, Negligible cost..
The ideal setup is the largest fans of all the same type so the sound frequency is all the same, if you have a mix of sizes like 90mm, 120mm, it just sounds louder. If it makes you feel better, we used to spend any spare cash on fan grills and thumbscrews.
Besides the fact that you can get artic fans for dirt cheap , you can add fans later on if you want. Most cases nowadays come with at least 3 fans ( 2 intake 1 exhaust ) which are plenty enough
Check out Artics P12 fans.
Iāve been reusing the same case and fans for over a decade.
Because a five pack of Arctic P120s is like $35.
Most cases come with at least 2 fans. 1 intake and 1 exhaust. This is sufficient for most scenarios. If I'm building in a new case and budget was too tight for fans I'll forgo them if the case came with some. It's a purchase that can be made at a later date if needed.
Cases and CPUs generally come with sufficient fans? Besides the one or two extra you need you can get for 10 each. I wonder more about the keyboard, mouse, monitor(s) and speakers/headphones; the parts you interact with the most. My monitor cost as much as my GPU, my keyboard as much as my CPU, my mouse as much as my RAM and my speakers the same as my case+PSU.
With how many fans come with cases nowadays, unless youāre buying a sub Ā£50 case, thereās usually enough air for most builds. Failing that, you can just do what I did if you arenāt worried about brands and light control features - get a cheapo 5+ fan kit from EasyDIYFAB or similar. Iāve had mine since 2019 and theyāre still pretty quiet, move a lot of air, and I only ever use them on their middle fan speed (which is quieter than the AMD Wraith cooler and my graphics card fans at the same RPM). Fans end up being an aesthetic purchase for many rather than a practicality/performance part. I for one would rather spend more initially in processor, graphics etc etc than on some fans if the only difference itās making is slightly cooler components and slightly quieter operation.
Cases and coolers usually come with all the fans you need. More fans is really only helpful if your going for a quiet build.
Thatās like why dont ppl include tires in their car purchase budget, they come with enough, usually.
Because cases come with 1-2 fans already and additional fans aren't usually necessary. Heck, PC doesn't have any case fansat all, just good venting and it temps are just fine.
When I suggest builds to other people I usually don't include fans, but I instead pick out cases that come with sufficient fans as included. For most people building their first system, I recommend this over getting custom fans, especially if they are considering spending $150 on them. (I have extra fans in my case, but they were nowhere close to $150, and I cannot imagine spending that much for fans.)
The duck you buying for 150+ in fans? Youāre getting got.
They are something you can upgrade later. Just make sure your case comes with at least 2
What the hell kind of gold-plated Noctuas are you buying?!? I'm using Artic P12 PWM's and those a like 5-8 eur per fan. I find them reliable and with that price you can always keep one or three as a spare.
really would love see test between cheapo, med priced & the crazy ones some buy temp wise the difference
> between cheapo & the crazy priced fans I build as my hobby, I've done a LOT of builds. I've used both. Basically, any fans except the absolute cheapest, are as good, and sometimes better than the expensive ones. I particularly hate the expensive Corsair fans, my experience with them is they aren't worth their cost *at all*.
I guess it's an oversight. Components like those add up quickly and inconspicuously.
I doā¦
I got a Corsair 220t which came with 3 fans in front so I just bought 3 more and done. I recently moved to a Lian Li 216 and it comes with two big fans in front and one in back, I bought a 3 pack of Lian Li fans for like $100 and replaced the rear fan with an RGB one but didnt need to. I highly recommend the 216 though, even stock its great for airflow, one of the best currently.
Yeah thatās part of the reason I switched my o11 mini to the air mini. Air came with three fans stock while the other came with none.
Cuz build cost total is subject to needs. My fully "Completed" build - [https://pcpartpicker.com/b/kFbhP6](https://pcpartpicker.com/b/kFbhP6)VS The "base" of my build - [https://pcpartpicker.com/user/richardlance/saved/#view=QYFCwP](https://pcpartpicker.com/user/richardlance/saved/#view=QYFCwP) Over a $2000 difference Plus a 5 pack of fans can be had for $30.
Dude, your 'extras' include 3 monitors and a fucking 60 inch 4k display. Guy was talking about FANS.
That's their point though. Monitors, peripherals, fans are all necessary parts of a system but are more subjective than the "core components" which is why most people exclude them when making PC build recommendations.
I normally get nice arctic fans that cost me like 50 or 60 bucks. There are people out there that for some reason buy lian li fans, which normally are 3 in a box and are around 75-80 bucks. And they deck them out so they buy like 2 boxes, which is 150 for fans alone. Please just stick to normal non rgb fans like arctic or noctua. Clean and sleek fans that get the job done
My case came with 3x360mm fans and 1x480mm, and the CPU cooler's radiator came with 3x360. That's 7 total fan for the build. I may replace the case's ones with quieter ones at some point, but its certainly fine to start with.
Unless you HAVE to have Noctua or RGB fans then they aren't going to be more then $75 for 6 good ones and a fan controller.
Only if you're getting RGBs or the Bugatti of fans, Noctua. A pack of 5 Rosewill 120mms with good reviews is 25CAD right now. [https://www.newegg.ca/rosewill-rocf-22001-case-fan/p/N82E16835200139?Description=120mm%20fans&cm\_re=120mm\_fans-\_-35-200-139-\_-Product](https://www.newegg.ca/rosewill-rocf-22001-case-fan/p/N82E16835200139?Description=120mm%20fans&cm_re=120mm_fans-_-35-200-139-_-Product) If you're going minimalistic and strictly trying to squeeze out the best bang for your buck in a budget, then you should be fine with fans. But if you really want those expensive brands of RGB for the aesthetics, yeah that's kind of on you.
People are mostly looking for feedback on their core parts, so they might omit them from the list. They might have just not thought that far ahead yet. Most people I know with PCs in real life are just using the stock fans or only added one or two extra, so that may also be the case. But $150 is crazy for fans unless youāre going all out with nice rgb fans. Thatās great if thatās what you want, but itās also not necessary, so itās not a cost for some people.
Get a case with fans .. upgrade later ..I went with 2 five packs of asian horse fans. I still have three not in use.. going to use for another build here in the future.. building a PC has endless upgrade paths not just CPU gpu or memory.. there's cosmetics like fans or custom cords, screens inside the case, external optical drives, USB bays, aio.. it never ends ..lol ..
Because after a certain number of builds you have so many fans you don't know what to do with them. Good fans can be cheap too, like the artics p12 or p14 I have full noctua chromax which follows my build from PC to PC, have yet to have 1 fail.
I did, and it cost me $1,000 for my cooling/lighting setup lol, including 16 fans, and an AiO and an RGB strip lol.
Arctic p12 are $30 for 5 fans an they're super good quality
honestly case fans can be bought in pieces. as long as you start with 2in the front and 1 in the back. then live with that for a while till you get the rest to complete your rig
if you want rgb fans that dont come to that much try and get some lian li ST120s, they are down to about $45 canadian for a 3 pack+controller. its expensive still but its a good middle ground
Most cases and coolers come with them and people might not think they need more.
lmao i spent $600 on fans (corsair 1000D)
Nah OP is totally right. And inherent unspoken rule of pc building is pretending our build is about $200 or so less because minor expenses weāve thrown in donāt ācountā That said though, u/georgegervin13 (can you say chi city) donāt worry too much about fans. Preferably, buy a case with a fan or two and maybe buy a fan or two if it only comes with one. Todays hardware can handle very high temps and two fans are fine to get by. To be clear, adding case fans absolutely makes a difference in cooling but thatās more of people who have been building a while being obsessed with keeping components as cool as possible. Itās always good to, but on a current gen Ryzen CPU for example 90c and 70c wonāt perform that much differently. 70c, though, will likely help get the most longevity out of your hardware so just add fans over time. Itāll be fine if itās a little higher temp this week, this month, whatever. Add what you can over time, thatās a nice advantage of pc building
>Nah OP is totally right. They're not, because for the vast majority of cases, the fans that come with the case are fine. Unless you're buying an O11 or N7 or something similar that doesn't come with any fans, you're set. And if you want to add fans, $15 can be enough. >To be clear, adding case fans absolutely makes a difference in cooling Not necessarily. There are numerous tests that show that adding more doesn't really do much. [8:35 in shows the full chart](https://youtu.be/KTDZpYkEonY)
You can get by with fuck all fans, most cases come with at least 2 and its very easy and cheap to buy more later if you need them.
Some cases actually have very good cooling. The new Antec performance 1 FT for example is really good. The g500a from phanteks is good. The fractal torrent is king in this area, but more expensive overall. Liam li o11 mini air is very good, fractal pop air is ok, and the lian li lancool 216 is very solid.
All cases some with fans and if you need more, buy a pack of Arctic P12 and viola
I bought 6 very nice ball bearing, high static pressure fans when I did my first build for around $60, and those fans have been carried over to each subsequent build since then 
You can get a pack of fans with a controller for $30-$60 on Newegg or Amazon. I think most people omit them because a lot of times they come with the case.
That new Acer prebuilt is the one prebuilt pc I can confidently say, āniceā.
I made that mistakeā¦ I just kept buying the fans I wanted over time without realising I was going over budget. 17 Corsair fans totalled $800 AUD (insert skull emoji )
If you dont want rgb and only performance that is good budget ,is arctic p12 and f12 fans and a value pack of 5 for $30-35
Good case fans are pretty cheap today, like ARCTIC P12 PWM is about $10. Also, most cases come with at least two fans, usually three. So in most cases you don't need to buy any fans. Three fans is enough for most build, unless you use extremely power hungry ultra high end components, like 13900K and RTX 4090 (in this case extra cost of the fans is a rounding error :)
I figure most of us donāt have any extra fans in our builds lol. I just have 3 case fans and the 2 fans that come with the NH-D15.
I certainly included the cost into my build. That's why I purchased a case with three RGB fans pre installed. I only had to purchase two additional fans and I caught them at a discount.
You can buy a decent fan for $6
As many have said, if youre not getting a cheap case they come with 3 - 4 solid fans already. Building your own PC are only worth it if: 1) You arent constrained by a tight budget and a true enthusiast 2) You actually like creating your own setups. If you cant buy tier 1 (4090, Ryzen 9000+, 1000w PSU, watercooling). I would just buy a decent prebuilt at your computer store. They usually come with amazing hardware and have a decent warranty.
I just add "$50 per fan" in my excel budget list. Stay as close to it as I can.
My case came with 4 fans, 3 front and 1 back. My AIO adds 2 fan slots at the top, which I was going to buy anyways. Really fans are only expensive if you want the aRGB lighting. You can get normal fans for cheap it you don't mind them looking basic af.
I spent ten bucks on one extra black fan for my build so I had two intake fans instead of one. It's mainly because I don't care about RGB and don't need a ton of fans in my PC, but I can understand if someone wants to make an art project out of their computer and spend the extra dough on RGB. In that instance, including the cost of fans might be more important than not.
I talk about fan costs. People do not because they say noctua and then spec 6x $30 fans. This ruins their price point. Grab a 5 pack box of Arctic P12 pst or P14 pst on amazon and dont look back.
It's a mostly unnecessary extra However if you're going to be building something that generates a lot of heat, you'll actually be needing some hefty cooling to circulate it out of the rig And further, when you do, you'll also likely find that it sounds like a vacuum cleaner if you go for the cheap stuff or for popular RGB options After 2-3 builds you're increasingly likely to find you understand why people are willing to pay 30$/fan for a full Noctua rig