Do you need to upgrade your PC case fans?

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When it comes to cooling your PC, case fans play a crucial role. Not only are they responsible for bringing fresh air into your system and exhausting hot air, but they can also improve (or detract from) the aesthetics of your PC. Many PC cases come with pre-installed case fans that are conveniently configured as intake and exhaust. So is upgrading your case fans still worth it? Is it even necessary?




Before this question can be answered, several factors must be considered, namely the number, type and quality of fans you already have in your system. Furthermore, your case fans may not actually be the limiting factor in your PC's heat and noise levels. Let's find out when it actually makes sense to upgrade your fans.

Which case fans do you have on your PC?

Check if your existing fans are missing


Before you start looking for new case fans on Amazon or Newegg, you should check your existing setup. In many cases, if you are not satisfied with the cooling performance of your PC, it may not be due to the case fans, especially if you already have enough high-quality fans configured in the correct orientation and well optimized.

Number of fans

To some extent, the biggest influence on cooling performance is the number of case fans your PC has. Assuming you already have a decent CPU cooler and a high-quality AIB graphics card, a lack of sufficient intake and exhaust fans can lead to increased temperatures inside your PC. Typically, you should have at least two intake and one exhaust fans in total.

With more than 2–3 supply air fans, the performance decreases with respect to the system temperatures.


An MSI MAG Forge 110R with two intake fans and one exhaust fan

If your CPU cooler fan(s) are already configured as an exhaust fan, you should install 2-3 intake fans in your case. If your PC case already meets this criteria, you probably don't need to worry about adding more fans. However, with more than 2-3 intake fans, performance in terms of system temperatures will decrease.


Fan types

If you have an older system with fans pre-installed, chances are they are all DC fans, not PWM fans. The speed of DC fans cannot be controlled from the motherboard, and they tend to run at full speed all the time. In contrast, PWM fans can be optimized to run at low speed when you don't need the extra power, and slowly ramp up when the system temperature starts to rise under load.

You may also want to consider switching to 140mm or 200mm fans to reduce noise levels, as larger fans can pull in the same amount of air at a lower speed.

MSI BIOS displays the fan control page


The high noise level of DC fans can be annoying, so replacing them with PWM fans will allow you to use software to set optimal fan curves so that your PC is silent most of the time. In addition, you can also consider switching to 140mm or 200mm fans to reduce noise levels, as larger fans can pull in the same amount of air at a lower speed.

For compact PC cases where airflow is limited, you may want to opt for static pressure fans over air circulation fans. Static pressure fans are better suited to pushing air against a resistance, such as in compact Mini-ITX cases, on top of radiators, and even in larger cases where things like drive cages get in the way.


Quality of the fans

If your PC has enough intake and exhaust fans, and they are all PWM fans, you may want to look into their design (in case you notice unusual noise levels). Cheaper fans with ball bearings can be noisier than their more expensive counterparts with Fluid Dynamics Bearings (FDB). Switching to FDB fans may result in a slightly quieter PC, assuming your old fans were indeed the noisiest part of the entire PC.

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Is it worth upgrading your case fans?

For most people it is not worth the investment and effort

When you get down to it, even if you've thought of everything – a reliable CPU cooler, a high-quality GPU model, and enough good intake and exhaust fans – buying new case fans may not bring you any noticeable performance improvements.

Optimizing your fan curves can make a much bigger difference than upgrading your case fans. If you haven't already done so and are leaving the fans to their own devices, I highly recommend configuring optimal fan curves for each of your fans to create a quiet PC.

You should also consider your power supply, CPU cooler, and GPU as possible suspects.


If your PC's CPU and GPU temperatures are within acceptable ranges and you're only concerned about noise levels, you should also consider your power supply, CPU cooler, and GPU as possible suspects. Unless you have a really cheap case with low-quality case fans, other areas could be making more noise than your case fans.

The be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13 fan

The fan inside the be quiet! Dark Power Pro 13.

You can tweak the fan curves for your CPU and GPU fans, but if you have a noisy PSU, replacing the PSU would probably be the only option. In these cases, you don't even need to think about upgrading your case fans.


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