Case Fan Layout

[Caiyuo]

Ordering fans for my case tonight and was hoping to get some input on what sizes and placement would be best, but also wanted a thread in case anyone else has questions in the future.

The case is a Xigamatek Midgard 2, with the following options for fans

2 x120 or 140mm fans on top
1 x120mm fan in back at top
1 x120mm on bottom of case
2 x120 or 140mm fans in door
2 x120mm fans in front of hard drive cages

I'd been reading about positive and negative pressure setups so I thought the build might be important to consider, too.

i5-3570k, planned for overclock
CM 212 EVO for cooler
ATI 7850 or 7870
Bottom-mounted PSU
8GB (2 sticks of 4GB) 1.35v RAM planned for overclock

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What fan layout would you suggest? I wanted to utilize 140mm fans as much as possible to keep it quiet, but I'm more concerned about proper cooling. Would negative pressure be best?

[Niya]

It's mainly a matter of air flow. Warm air wants to rise, so it would be nonsense to work against this "natural" flow with the fans.
So the first basic rule is always: suck in on the bottom half, blow out on the upper half.
Next is to place the fans where needed: one in front of the (used) HDD slots, one above or behind the CPU cooler to get rid of the hot air.
I'd say the best pressure layout is a balanced one, that way you can direct the air flow. Negative would mean air gets sucked in everywhere, positive blows it out everywhere.

140mm where possible is always a good choice since they can transport the same amount of air with less rpm, and that keeps the system quiet.

The main flow should run from front bottom to back top. Which way does your CPU fan blow? Probably top or back, so place a fan to support it.

Hm, if i see this correctly the Midgard 2 normally comes with 2 fans pre-installed. Those should be enough, but if you want to add more, one to the 2nd HDD bay slot and one 140mm to the top slot above the CPU fan.
The door slots are pretty much nonsense unless your GPU doesn't get enough air flow (unlikely) and because you use a tower CPU cooler. Only a top-blow cooler might work with the top door slot, but that would still work against the general flow.

[GoggleHead]

Exhaust on the top and rear, everything else bringing in cool air. Your side panel fans are positioned pretty terribly. I'd suggest investing in a better case for your next build.

[Caiyuo]

Niya to the rescue! I'd thought I'd have to load up like every fan slot and compare the CFMs going in each direction when I posted this lol. Cooler arrives tomorrow, I'll put everything together and go from there.