this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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Real queation: would putting fans in series like this perform (significantly) better?
They would likely perform worse. If ("if", ha) those fans are not in perfect sync, they're going to obstruct airflow. Also, consider that each fan introduces both audible noise and perturbations in the airflow which in turn, also will cause noise.
Incidentally, I have (almost) that very same case, an Antec P182. Mine has a super-quiet PSU fan, and a ginormous heat pipe cpu cooler (HR-1 if you're curious) with one fan ... and that is plenty.
But keep in mind that the sound of the cooling will be irrelevant once that user starts typing, as their mechanical keyboard will produce enough sound to not only drown out the fans, but also to shatter their eardrums
You say that as if that's a bad thing
MX Green Switches 4 life
BROWNS
Any that make that click feel...
I have browns & halo (way better than those cheap flat dell keyboards, but I feel both boring, dull. Suggestions welcome!), way way far from those old keyboards where you felt the click. It wasn't noisy without reason, or so I remember :-)
So in the end it might be better idea to go for “push” instead of “push/pull” solution?
Putting a fan after another will up pressure (doubling in theory), but not displace more air. Except if the air has to go through something slowing it down where more pressure will help to push more air through it.
There are obviously lots of variables at play (the extra fan takes up space too, reducing airflow for example) so you are surely right that it's probably useless or worse to have a "double fan" for a PC cooling system, but the fans being in perfect sync is just a noise problem (on small fans like this).
I know it's done in servers with high rpm 40mm fans. To create extra static pressure. But it didn't work with 2x 120mm fan on a aio in my testing.
Probably would only be slightly better, but it would be significantly louder since multiple fans creates significant turbulence.
No
The same amount of airflow is being pulled through, and your static pressure would go up meaning the fans actually need to work harder for the same effect.
This is incorrect. Two fans in series doubles the amount of pressure generated by the fan, while leaving the max flow rate the same. Two fans in parallel doubles the flow rate but leaves the pressure unchanged. This is why some radiators have two fans as it increases the airflow when needing to overcome something with high static pressure.
Fans in series should not be so close as it would cause turbulence, however, some gap will prevent this (or something that naturally fixes turbulent flow, like a radiator).
....you literally said the same thing as me.
"Two fans in series doubles the amount of pressure generated by the fan, while leaving the max flow rate the same"
Static pressure increases, airflow remains the same.
If there is a static load, the air flow increases compared to a single fan. At no static loading they are the same.