Air flow question

marcus2704 · 21 Oct 2008 at 20:55

Im assembling a new Mini Ninja cooler for my CPU, which is housed in a Silverstone LC17 case that forms my HTPC.

I just wanted to ask if the position of the fan on the cooler is correct, Im not so sure its best situated for airflow within the system but may be limited by the physical dimensions of the cooler and case.

If someone could take a quick look at the attached pic and advise if they feel its ok or not, Id appreciate it!

RJC · 21 Oct 2008 at 21:19

On my setup I put the fan between the cooler and inlet vent it's a tight sqeeze but it's do-able.

jellybeard999 · 21 Oct 2008 at 21:47

Personally, Id position it pulling through the heatsink and out the vent and remove the case fans from the rear.

Kennysevenfold · 22 Oct 2008 at 11:39

i would have it to the left next to the dvd drives etc.

pushing air through the cooler towards the exaust fans at the back to get rid of the hot air.

Kenny

crsnwby · 23 Oct 2008 at 01:17

Turn it 180 Degrees,... your sucking cool air in with that fan and it will then be coming in from the intake as the picture shows with a dust meash on it.. the rear fans will then remove the air creating a circualr cooling patten on the interior for good cooling on the ram etc.

If it stays where it is your going to be sucking air of any GFX card onto the CPU.

DO NOT REMOVE THE CASE FANS nor reverse the fan to pull heat. Its not made to do that nor is it a good idea for a HTPC nor any PC.

Darthe · 25 Oct 2008 at 22:52

I'm not sure that would be the best setup, crsnwby.

You really want to set up internal airflow so it works with natural convection, not against it. The danger in having the fan drag air down into the case is some of the hot flow off the heatsink will recirculate round inside the case rather then going out through the back ports. Not good.

From the photo it looks like the ram obstructs one side of the heatsink, so I'd guess the best spot would be above blowing hot air out the top fan-mount.

The back fans can be kept low; the gap between them and the heatsink is large enough for them not to have much suction effect (as a fluid air flow generally develops along the path of least resistance).

Heat from other case components shouldn't be a big issue; graphics card fans generally have their own external outlets and I'm sure you must have some inlet fans on the front. Play about with fan settings on the case if you have them, but you'll likely find having them on high won't make a huge difference to low.

psd99 · 25 Oct 2008 at 23:41

A bit debatable I also got a ninja heatsink with a noctua fan and if you want some ideas it looks something like this:

You can probably only see 2 fans one on the heatsink and another on the case.

There are 3 more I think 2 on the top and one on the bottom blowing hot air out of the case.

Frositay · 26 Oct 2008 at 01:09

It looks like you have the CPU in solitary confinement or something lol

.

psd99 · 26 Oct 2008 at 08:35

Frositay said:
It looks like you have the CPU in solitary confinement or something lol .

Yes something like that it works good so far though. The temperatures for my Q6600 are 35- 40 degrees. Without overclocking

Darthe · 26 Oct 2008 at 17:04

Blimey that thing looks huge. Must be the perspective.

Thats a 120mm fan behind it, right?

psd99 · 26 Oct 2008 at 17:08

Darthe said:
Blimey that thing looks huge. Must be the perspective.

Thats a 120mm fan behind it, right?

It is gigantic. It took a lot of time and patience to get that heatsink installed.

Yes there is one 120mm fan attached to the heatsink and another 120mm case fan on the side.