Questions about the Carbide Series SPEC-03 case by Corsair

[uicabpatweyler]

Hello, how are you all. First of all, I send you a greeting from Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
I have just purchased a Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-03 case. According to the specifications, this case allows up to 6 fans of 1200 mm each.

• 2 Front
• 2 Top
• 1 Rear
• 1 Bottom

If I want to connect these 6 fans:

a) What should I take into account, the type of the motherboard?
b) The power supply?
c) In case of the power supply, from the basic/medium range of corsair, which one could it be?

Specifically, I would like to receive help to know if connecting these 6 fans, they go to the motherboard, to the power supply or both.

I clarify in advance, I am new to this and that is why I resort to guidance. Thank you very much in advance.

[Namiga]

Hello.
First of all, I want to tell you... Fans have two types of connectors: for the motherboard or the power supply...

Depending on which one you buy, you can put it in one place or another.

If you want to connect them all to the motherboard, you have to consider if the motherboard allows you to connect all 6... which I assume it doesn't.

It also depends on what you put in that case... because I doubt you need all 6.

Give us more information and we can help you.
Regards and welcome to the forum

[lforos]

Here's the translation of the Spanish text to English:

Well, I'll give you my opinion:

1. Fans, whenever possible, are better on the motherboard. This way, you can later use software from the motherboard itself or third-party software to regulate them automatically or according to your performance/noise criteria. Obviously, this implies that, as Namiga says, the fan must have the appropriate connector for the motherboard and the motherboard must have enough connectors.

2. You can always connect all the fans to the motherboard that you can, and if any are missing, you can connect them to the power supply, but try to make them as quiet as possible or that their speed can be regulated to avoid them being permanently at full speed and generating a lot of noise.

3. In general, you won't need all six fans, but it all depends on the configuration of components you put in the case, how well it's cooled, where you'll keep it (in a warm room or not), etc. Without more data, I would say that with normal components, normal use, in a normal place, four fans will be enough with 2 bringing air in the front and 2 taking it out, one from the back and one from the top, for example.

4. The components you use and their arrangement in the case will tell you what airflow you need. In general, it should come in from the front and exit through the back and top, but you'll have to see how you have to position the power supply, graphics card, and processor fans so that the airflows don't collide. The best thing is to draw it on paper and, according to the air direction of each fan, imagine the lines of how the air would move inside the machine.

5. The components can also impose some "obligations" on you. For example, if you put a Corsair liquid cooling kit, it will force you to put the radiator and its two fans (if it's a 2-fan one) in the back or top and you'll connect it to the CPU fan connector on the motherboard, so by occupying only one connector that's not a case connector on the motherboard, you already have 2 fans out of the six (in fact, that's how I have it).

And about the power supply, the fans won't be the element to consider. As always, don't skimp on quality or power because the power supply is the life insurance of the components. As general rules:

1. Buy a good quality power supply (the mid-range Corsair range is very good in my opinion, but you have many good options)

2. Balance the load well (don't put all the devices on the same line - it's preferable to distribute them as much as possible)

3. What will tell you the necessary power is not the fans, but the combination of motherboard+processor+graphics card+hard drives. Look at the consumption of each of these components or look for a website that does the calculation for you (you have several if you search for PC power calculator or similar on Google) and consider if you're going to do OverClock, if you plan to grow in the short term with a second graphics card or more hard drives, etc.

I hope this serves as a very basic guide for you.

[whoololon]

Now I ask you, do you really need that many fans?

It should be noted that adding fans means adding noise, and that tower with two front and one rear fan is going to be noisy; we left the pre-installation of the top radiator as passive.

In any case, I would suggest connecting all auxiliary fans to a rehobus/electrobus, and this to a free branch of the power supply, not to the motherboard,

[uicabpatweyler]

Good morning. First of all, I would like to thank each and every one of you for taking the time to respond to me. To be more specific, I would like to do the following for now:

1. On the front, I would like to replace the fan that comes with the case and install a pair of the model Air Series AF120 - Quiet Edition Here are the voltage specifications. Each fan comes with the 3-pin connector

2. I would also like to install a liquid cooling system, in this case I purchased the Corsair Hydro Series H45 120mm. The technical specifications of the box are: Fan speed: 2300RPM +/- 100 RPM. Fan airflow: 94 CFM. Fan pressure: 3.65mm. Fan noise level 31 dB(A). This cooling unit comes with two connectors, the 3-pin and the 4-pin. Is it necessary to connect both?

For now, this is the configuration I would like to make, perhaps later I will add two more, the ones on the top, in case I acquire a graphics card. For now, I will only have my motherboard inside the case.

Thank you in advance.

[whoololon]

2. One is the fan and the other is the pump. Of course you should connect both.