Cardboard is the vastly more cost-effective option. And taping a HEPA filter directly to the back of the fan effective and proven.
The net filtration rate per filter will fall as that's a function of flow rate * filtration size.
Yes, the four- or five-filter version will probably have a slightly better overall filtration rate ... but that's really not the principle constraint here. A single-filter design will drop particle density by ~90% in about 30 minutes. That's sufficient. It's doubtful the final particle density measurement will be much reduced (though if someone's got the data I'd be interested in seeing it), or that this reduction is clinically significant from a health perspective. Remember that you're likely going outside the filtered area, so achieving perfection inside but spending a substantial fraction of your time in unfiltered or far-more-poorly-filtered air, isn't much of a win.
Meantime, you're tying up 3-4 filters that you don't really need, and which others could make effective use of, for a very low marginal imrovement in your own experience.
Where the filters themselves are in low supply -- typical for a region where a wildfire has errupted, and particularly true where filters aren't a high-volume item as with Australia presently -- designs which economise on filter use are a net social benefit.
I used a cheap box fan for some DIY ventilation and the loss in airflow is massive after filter and ducting.
Flow drops a lot, but it still works. Filter was dirty after some time. It was hilariously undersized for my purpose (serious belt-sander action leveling sub-floors), but air does move.
I went for ventilation systems that take air from outside, filter it and then bring it inside the room. Namely Xiaomi MJXFJ-300-G1: https://www.xiaomitoday.com/xiaomi-mijia-air-purifier-mjxfj-... I've installed one in every bedroom.
My "measurement" was my lungs when working from home: coughing before, no coughing after. Filters turned black.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Honeywell-20-in-x-20-in-x-1-in-A...
For extra flow, set up a triangle with the fan on one side and 2 of these filters on the intake end as the other two sides, and duct tape some cardboard to seal the top and bottom.
In China there is a whole company founded on doing just this, although they've since pivoted into selling specific air purification hardware at a significant discount. See: https://smartairfilters.com/cn/en/product/diy-1-1-air-purifi...