I ordered a water cooling all-in-one solution for my CPU and I was wondering if I really need both fans that come shipped with it, or if one fan is enough.
What I am talking about is one of those coolers, where there is a fan on both sides of the radiator:
It seems to me that the second fan doesn't have a lot of work since the first fan already got the air moving and I don't see it slowing down that much inside the radiator, or am I wrong here?
Can I just leave off one fan and have a similar performance and if yes, which one should I keep? If no, why are two fans necessary or to be recommended? I am planning to mount it at the rear side of the case next to the IO-panel.
83 Answers
This is called a push-pull fan configuration.
You can remove one of the fans if, for example, the radiator/fan assembly would otherwise be too thick to fit in the case, but this will reduce cooling performance. The double fans help concentrate airflow through the radiator fins; a significant amount of static pressure is needed to push through the narrow fins, so having two fans increases effective airflow. The alternative would be to run a single, faster fan optimized for static pressure, but this would generate more noise.
If the fans supplied with the liquid cooler aren't satisfactory, you can, in most cases, replace them with aftermarket fans of your choice. If you're planning on doing this, be sure to choose fans optimized for static pressure—a good pick would be the Corsair SP series.
Both fans will provide a better cooling to your radiator (actually to the cooling liquid). If you must take 1 fan, then remove the fan that puts air into the radiator. Leave the one extracting air for best results. Although take into consideration that by removing 1 fan you will loose some cooling temp.
Tip:If you have room for it; you can also lmprove some CPU temp by implementing a fan on the CPU Heatsink extracting heat from the CPU.
7I have one made by corsair and it recommended to mount fan pushing air through fro best results so naturally i was curious so i tried both situations and yes mounted so it pushes air through better although not by a lot
