Thanks for all the viewer suggestions! Hopefully the people who've wanted this actually see it in their feeds! Share the word with your friends that we've finally done this popular viewer request. Article here: www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3477-case-fan-standardization-tests-noise-normalized-thermals Find the latest hardware news recap on PCIe 5 and DDR5 here: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pcyEqs-Q0NOddIE.html

Steve loves cases. I wonder if he lives in a giant PC case with a mesh front for airflow

Steve, I just wanted to say thank you to you and the whole GN team. Your videos are maybe the most professional, considering, nuanced productions I've ever seen on youtube. Not just among tech channels, but just overall. The effort you guys put into being thorough and detailed, highlighting discrepant anomalies and odd factors, and being transparent with your methodology is nothing short of inspirational. Hats off, good sir. Hats off and sincere thanks and appreciation for what you do!

Holy crap this is amazing work, and a very clear explanation of what to expect and conclude from these results. Thank you very much!

12/10 amazing amazing work. I love how detailed this was, and how much care you took in describing the conclusions and caveats. OMG, this is GN at its best. THANK YOU. :)

Why not show also the best case scenario (no pun intended) for each case, meaning the fan setup that gives the best performance, besides the standardized approach? I suspect that most people actually want to know the potential of a case and that is what they were hoping to figure out with a standardized fan test. I get that providing the best scenario would probably be even more work, but with your knowledge and there being a limited number of variations of meaningfully different case designs I think this should be achievable.

Thank you GN for those tests with normalized fans! I've probably watched most of your case reviews and I believe you are the best source of unbiased case reviews on youtube.

Steve I loved your rant on fan airflow vs the importance of convection. Both because you're entertaining when you're mad and because it was a well constructed and informative point.

I really, REALLY like the work you're putting into this. The noise normalized testing is particularly interesting to me.

Well, what I think you guys should be doing is stock test (so the viewers know what they purchase), but also include best case scenario so we know what we can expect when we tweak our rigs up. I know there will be differences depending on components we buy and quality of fans, but we would be able to gauge much better how good or bad the case is, rather then dismissing it coze it had bad stock thermals.

The amount of forethought and level of detail of this video are perfect examples of what makes me proud to be one of your Patreon patrons. Keep up the great work!

Yes! I've wanted this for SO long 🤪 I am still hoping for a fan face off between the big case fan vendors though 🤔

very. Very, much a fan of the little decreasing bars on the sides of the screen when charts are up. no more guessing if i need to pause or not. super kudos

I love how you were trying to counter every possible negative response or nitpicker you could get about your methodology, and I could feel the frustration in your words. 10/10!

Thank you so much for this!! The entire GN Team. Cases are complex as it is. And normalizing the testing methodology to compare must have been really difficult. Thank you for that. Again!

I can't even image how many hours of thought, discussion, and work went into making this monster of a video. Thank's for your effort guys!

These videos are always so detailed. Love the effort put in. Thanks!

@GN, thank you Steve for now incorporating this into your testing. What you said in the video was accurate, but still this is a needed test as it helps eliminate variations in fans and that "what if" notion if more or better fans would or would not help. Thus adding this test will without a doubt help viewers make more knowledgeable decisions when purchasing chassis in the future.

Detailed testing very helpful :) Thank you Steve and GN! Watch until end to fully understand...

Thanks for doing this sort of content Steve! This is very educational. While watching this, I started tinkering all of my PWM fans in my NZXT source 530

Outstanding and thorough review. Great methodology, transparent, and explained very well. Great job guys!

Was trying to understand pos vs neg pressure for years and the benefits of different setups. This really helped, thank you.

Thanks for the data, and for the explanation that went with it. This is exactly the kind of data I would be wanting when determining which case to use. Noise is important to me, but I also want good thermals to get the most out of the rest of the system.

Considering the topic and the obvious issues highlighted I think this is a job real well done, good information and useful insights Thanks!

No complaints here, thank you GN. I do want to say that I'd prefer testing each of the cases with their individual optimal fan setup, regardless of how standardized the placement itself is, as long as essentially you show the optimal cooling capabilities of each case. If a case has less fan slots, that may show worse cooling than one with more fan slots- but that is what the consumer would be buying (and fan upgrading, if desired).

Steve you always have my undivided attention. And I truly mean that as a viewer and as a tech enthusiast with 20+ years of hardware experience. And I will one up that by saying I fully enjoy Buildzoid's videos/breakdowns also. Those are hard tho! But absolutely necessary video's in the tech world. So I truly hope he(buildzoid) never gets discouraged to make them. Highly or more technical than usual videos are I said mentioned absolutely necessary.

HA! YOU DID IT! Thanks Steve!

Love seeing the LN2 tank in the background! Hope you keep it there for future videos!

Love you guys. I have done a lot of research on what case i wanted for under £100 and with good airflow. I bought the meshify c yesterday and then you release this video today. Haha. Confirmed that i made a decent decision and your standardised fan placement was basically what i was going to run in the case. Though i was going to put the fan lower so it hits the gpu.

Thank you, I'm looking forward to the new insights this will bring!

Interesting Results. Gamers Nexus nails it yet again. Great work!!

Great video guys. Love concise information. Keep up the great work! ✌️🇨🇦

This is what you guys should have always done for these case tests. Thank you!

The amount of work is amazing ! Well done

"The point is that, some fan moving at a greater RPM than zero, is going to move more air than just hot air rising." ...True facts!

Very usefull test! Most people keep original fans, but it is nice to know what you can get by upgrading fans! I personally consider replasing, but it is hard to know if it is sensible or not without tests!

Thanks to the GN team for the effort! Most comprehensive tech channel on KZfaq.

I would think a standardized fan test would have the same amount of fans as stock, and in the same spots, but the fans themselves would be the same fans used for other test. With that said, I think you folks do a great job at testing cases, and it has helped me a lot in setting up the fans in my case. For that I say thankyou :)

thanks much for the education here on fans, hadn't really considered much of what you had said at the beginning.

Fantastic video Steve and team. I understand your hesitancy, but those of us that happy to work with and understand the limitations will really get something out of these tests. Many thanks! A suggestion: Now that you are testing cases both using your normal review video methodology, and this new standardised methodology, perhaps in your review videos you could now include an 'optimal' fan configuration for each case. It wouldn't have to be logged on charts against other cases, instead just the GN teams thoughts on how to get the best cooling performance (noise normalised probably/possibly?) out of a particular case.

Thanks for the in depth testing and explanations of why a case can excel/suck at thermals vs noise. A long time ago, you showed a plexiglass fan testing rig which piqued my curiosity about the claims made by various fan manufacturers. Please make a video to test their claims.

Can't wait for the frequency spectrum results. I recently purchased some fairly expensive 'low noise'' fans that ended up with what sounded like coil whine in a pull position, so while the overall dBs were lower, it was much more noticeable to me.

The fact that fan configuration impact changes on a case to case basis blew me away! Very cool insights..

Hell yeah this is what I've been waiting for!

You get a like from me GN team! Not because i wanted this but because of your dedication and passion. I don't think similar test parameters is necessary. As long as ambient temp is similar by a margin acceptable and utilizing best fans for each cases parameters needed. End user could always just place delta fans with tornado like cfm and say F it to noise for prime temps. But we don't.

God damn I really did not see you explaining all that testing in such extreme detail. I mean I probably would have summed it up a little bit sooner. But I completely understand your logic great works. Hope to see some more testing in the future like this fan overall my conclusions were exactly what I expected they were all going to be pretty all the same

Fantastic job trying to wittle down the physics nightmare that is airflow. You all are the best.

This channel is a gold mine.

This reminded me of the LTT case dust challenge, where they tested positive, negative pressured air flow, and and finally a mix of the two (push/pull combo) to see what configuration had more dust. Each case model had different results (sometimes die to air filters, or case design). Which is why dust is another factor that is important in test reviews.

Any interest in a 'How To' guide on optimizing case airflow? Like what measurements I should take, in what conditions with a couple different suggested fan configurations, and how do I look at those numbers and draw a conclusion about why I am seeing those results. Also, does anyone experiment with adding ducting to cases anymore?

Awesome, a lot of work went into this and it shows

Fantastic video! Looking forward to see more cases. Would love to see Define C and be quiet 600!

This sort of thorough analysis is exactly why I love GN.

I do love these videos that properly explain methodology reasoning as context is king. Have you considered doing a 'best case scenario' section where you have a set pool of fans to choose from but the number and type that you put into a case is determined by the case itself to provide the best cooling (with one set of results for optimal CPU temps and another for optimal GPU temps)? Or would this introduce too many variables resulting in large margins of error?

Very interesting video,my good man!

Very well done. I always wanted something like this (maybe with 120s set up for whatever ideal setup for each case) mostly just for whatever a user would do, anecdotally, for what it's worth, etc. It gives some amount of decent info to decide about the purchase at least, not to mention the usefulness for PC building in general. I only have 2 intakes on a radiator in the front of my case, and it works well with 3 exhaust running slower than I run the front fans when the GPU ramps up because it is aimed perfectly at the GPU and is still cool enough to keep the GPU pretty cool under non-stress test loads. Anecdotal, but useful specifics to see.

So after soo long researching and going down the rabbit hole (looking into and learning just the tip of the iceberg) of personalization, your telling me if i would have found your channel a year ago (as opposed to 2019) then i could've saved myself all that trouble and just gotten the abridge version from GN?!!?!! 😵 Great video, next time i leave it to the pros!

Great job GN team!

I think Steve was frustrated with some commenters :P Thanks again for the great results as usual! :D

Sweet! Thanks for this.

I'm glad you added the standardized fan test. The fact that some cases will perform worse under a standardized test compared to stock doesn't invalidate the standardized test. The NZXT case you referenced several times using negative pressure is a good example. Sure, it performed worse under the standardized test, but that result also lets you show us why we should leave the negative pressure setup alone. In other words, you can use it to highlight interesting and unique design differences that may be obvious to you, but not necessarily to us.

This was really useful! Thanks!

You beautiful, magnificent bastards! This is basically everything I've ever wanted from this channel (that you didn't already do, which, to be fair, is/was a lot).

Drinking game of death: Take a shot every time case is said.

This vid actually makes sense and is more useful than you guys probably think

OK thats Awesome, thanks for doing this.

Fantastic work. This is why Gamers Nexus is best in class.

This actually sounds like a perfect topic for gn , as it's a very complex issue.

best channel hands down

You bring up some good points. I just got bequiet fans so they weren't so damn loud. Though I'm probably not optimal.

I'm currently working on a modular (universal) static pressure design Fan/Harness assembly that utilizes a separate 120V fan power circuit from a wall outlet plug much like the power plug on an ATX PSU. It has a speed controller and moves a LOT more air. It can be thermally controlled, and air demand can be based upon need and throttled back when no longer needed. It has modularity, and fans can be installed based on case needs. I just need a little more R & D time, and maybe a patent or a financial backer.

I really appreciate this. ❤

Ok here's another suggestion. When testing cases, test what the best fan configuration is (upgraded fans or not), and if it's cost effective. That way people interested in buying the case will already know what's the optimal way of setting it up. No real need of comparing it to other cases, perhaps except discussing if another more expensive case (but similar price once you factor in the cost of the new fans) would be a better option. This seems more useful to me, but is probably more time consuming to do too... and yeah, sorry about the rambling.

I've got a Thermaltake Tower 900, air in from the sides/bottom, & up out the top. I'm just liking for all the shots of Senior AMD Analyst, Snowflake & Steve's 10/10 case to case basis pun.

I'm sure that coming up with reliable data for a test like this must have been difficult but thanks for the video and the information.

I have a Phanteks Eclipse P600S which has a huge space from the CPU and GPU to the front fans. I have the stock 140mm fans pulling in air from the front, two Fractal design 140mm (placed towards the rear of the case) on top pulling air out and a Corsair 140mm exhaust. I also have a Coolermaster Hyper 212 black edition RGB CPU cooler. My GPU (Sapphire Pulse Vega 56) is in the top PCIE slot. I have blocked the hole at the front of the shroud with perspex allowing air from the front bottom (ooer!) fan to push air under the GPU instead of blowing straight down the front of the shroud. I'm really unsure if my placement and number of fans is the best configuration though. Especially after this article. I can see why this is a very complex subject now. Thanks for the great work!

This get a like because know this testing took man6 days to complete. Wow! Good job!

Test request: Test a case based on the design of "hot air rises" theroy, then flip it upside down and test to se how much "hot air rise" actually does, even if it works against the setup being upside down..

Thank you for doing this. I might switch my top case fan to blow in now because I have 2 fans blowing in from the bottom side on my ancient NZXT Phantom case possibly missing my GPU altogether.

Fan placement, fan size, fan speed, fan cfm rating and number of each are all important. As well as whether the fans are manually controlled, thermally controlled, or uncontrollable (spin at factor set speed always). Thus a large (240mm fan) may move as much air as 2 smaller 140mm fans, but maybe at a lower rpm. Allowing the air to cool more components before exiting the case. Or maybe the larger fan with a larger dead zone (middle of fan) is blowing air around your cpu cooler, so using two smaller fans, allows better air flow to your cpu cooler. Don't envy case reviewers on KZfaq. You'll never satisfy the "What if" group.

Love this testing concept and how carefully you go about explaining and qualifying it. The last noise-normalized chart says both "Standardized Fans" in the header and "Stock fan configuration" in the subheader. Could you clarify which exactly it is? It sounds like you are discussing noise-normalized performance with the new standardized fans, but the subheader appears to contradict that. Thanks! Keep pushing your testing forward! As a fan of your channel and a data analyst, I appreciate it! EDIT: I see your article clarifies that the noise-normalized results are in stock fan configuration. I suppose the standardized fan config can reasonably be expected to produce the same noise in each case, so the noise-normalized performance would be the same as in the first two charts.

The best case reviewer ever, Case Jesus.

I understand the downsides of this method and the need for disclaimers, but I'm glad this test is being done. One suggestion that I think would help a lot is to label whether the stock config is positive or negative pressure.

This will forever be my favorite GN thumbnail lol!!!!

You answered a question that had been on my mind for a long time... Why don't I see cases with more balanced air pressure designs. The answer being: Having a fan that pulls air out can actually remove the air too quickly, so that it doesn't travel across the parts that need cooling in some cases. Extrapolating from that, I would guess that case designers don't simply choose fan placement with this in mind, because the parts that need cooling can change positions based on which motherboard is housed. As well as wanting to keep the airflow design more flexible to account for users replacing the stock fans with their own. Needing a solution that provides more even distribution of air flow+turbulence. I suppose air ducts to and from the CPU and/or GPU are no longer favored for these reasons and more as well. Nowadays, there are a lot of other PC parts that produce heat that needs removing. So an air duct would keep much more of the air flow used on a single part, and leave precious little for anything else like RAM, storage, or assorted motherboard components. And making custom ducts to address each little part would lead to an absurd tangle of air ducts. And the material the air ducts are made from would likely be wasted after the computer reaches its end-of-life, because it's all one-off custom, made to adapt air vents from one case, to the hotspots of one motherboard populated by a particular selection of parts and cooling solutions. You could probably use a hybrid solution. (Air ducts for major parts, and free-range airflow for everything else.) But that still has the problem of the (reduced volume of) ducting, being nearly one-off solution. Though I suppose you might use flexible air ducts, like you see in temperature control systems in buildings. I'm not sure if the accordion/helical-wire design of the flexible ducting would significantly increase air resistance. You'd still either need to standardize interfaces between ducts and radiators to reduce waste. But even if everything goes well, you'll have people that simply don't bother to reuse ducting from older PCs. Which will lead to some of it ending up in a landfill anyway. I think I've just convinced myself that free-range air cooling is more environmentally friendly than most other cooling design philosophies. A lot of this even applies to water cooling. This was an interesting mental exercise. I think it helped me untangle a few things in my mind regarding PC cooling.

Nicely done. I can understand what an absolute pain in the arse it would be to test 5, 6, 7+ fan configurations in every case, so picking something that will work in most cases makes sense. For me, the biggest improvement for clarity when comparing cases would be to have CPU & GPU on the same graph (like you have here for the noise-normalized thermals) with a stock and best-case-scenario listing. I forget how many different configurations there were, but the Q500L review was interesting for the sake of trying them all out. It would be interesting to see a similar approach: Stock; no fans; 1x in; 1x in & 1x out; etc, etc; all holes filled positive; all holes filled negative. From that picking the best case scenario to present in the comparison. Figuring out a way to do this without it being a time soak, however, is another story.

Thanks for giving the people what they want! Great channel! In my opinion, cases are too different to be too standardized. I like what you’ve been doing on thermals. I want to know the pros and cons of each case-much of which will be subjective-so I can make an informed choice. Quality? Ease to work in? Features? Thermal performance? But a case can’t be “faster.”

"case to case basis" - well played Steve, well played :)

You guys are the best!! Long live Tech Jesus & his crew

Instead of (or perhaps in addition to) a standardised set of fans, I'd like to see test results from what you would consider an optimum (within reason) fan configuration for each case. For example the Be Quiet Silent Base 601 - I'm considering buying this case and, given the inherent airflow restrictions of a silence focused case, the first thing I'd do is populate the front intake area with 3 x Noctua fans. I'm sure this would greatly improve thermals whilst also keeping the case quiet. BTW great work from all of you at Gamers Nexus - you're definitely the best channel for in-depth PC building content and I appreciate that you don't try and dumb things down just to get more views :)

You set the Standard for the entire PC community, great work.

I usually only tell people the caveats unless they're actually building in it. I find it's easier to rule out things that I don't want vs all the things I do want. May just be an opinion but I do believe knowing the bad before good is always better. Helps rule things out before wasting too much time.

Tech Jesus blessing us with content even when he is in a far away land doing his work.

Any ETA on the new noctua NH-U12A review?

FYI: rubber fan grommets (e.g. Noctua NA-SAV2) are super useful for testing fan configurations, since you don't have to screw the fan in every time.

G'day Steve, Wow you got so Passionate about this topic, I agree with you assessment of the 'Chinese Whispers' effect of information being shared by people after partially watching a video, If I think Information in one of your video is worth sharing on another channel I post you have a good video to watch & not try to re-explain it, I really appreciate all the testing work the G/N team does & the Quality of the content is Awesome, e.g.: Patrick tireless work on the CoolerMaster MasterBox Q500L as I saw so many other sites say it has good Airflow because of all the holes in the Chassis, Your Review was one I recommended on those channels, I have an Idea for if you get bored with all your spare time, Airflow testing the cases with a 120mm/140mm/240mm/280mm/360mm to get best size & installation position of radiator for each case ; ) hahaha, spare time

So glad that I went for Fractal Design Meshify C instead of Phanteks P400.

"Hot air rises...it's sort of made irrelevant when you look at blasting the hot air with a 2000 rpm fan..." Lol! Man... Great video. Thanks for this! Was really informative.

This is the kind of testing i prefer :) I wanna see how every case reacts to the same fans and the same speeds. Id hate to have a super cooled case that also sounds like an airplane.

Before I watch, I just want to say you read my mind Steve. When I buy a case I ditch the fans that come with it and I have a set series of ones I buy new to put in my new system