cpu fan cooling

robwigan · 27 Apr 2019 at 11:52

if i hypothetically put my cooling fan on incorrectly e.g both extracting air and one side NOT sucking in air.

how soon would the CPU run before shutting down ? if in a cpu heavy game title would this rear its head straight away or is it something that wouldn't affect it for quite some time ?

CPU is i5 5670k no oc
phantek tc12dx

MartinPrince · 27 Apr 2019 at 14:27

Do you have 1 fan or 2 fans on the heatsink as you used the singular 'fan' then used the word 'both'. It depends on what CPU you have and how hot it actually gets. More info needed, like CPU, Heatsink etc.

EsaT · 27 Apr 2019 at 14:40

As long as there's heatsink attached, CPU won't get completely paralyzed.
And as long as there's airflow through heatsink to any direction it will cool pretty much normally.

StarShock · 27 Apr 2019 at 15:27

assuming you mean a cooler similar to this, With the fan blowing in opposite directions :

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noctua-nh-u12a-high-performance-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-03k-nc.html

It wouldn't be very efficient and likely would throttle under high usage, but you'd probably still get enough cooling out of it to keep working. The heat sink will still be moving heat away from the CPU die and there would still be some air flow over the fins.

Wouldn't be good, but wouldn't just shut down either

robwigan · 27 Apr 2019 at 15:57

MartinPrince said:
Do you have 1 fan or 2 fans on the heatsink as you used the singular 'fan' then used the word 'both'. It depends on what CPU you have and how hot it actually gets. More info needed, like CPU, Heatsink etc.

fans plural

one is supposed to intake one exhale however when I built in the new case I have a feeling I set them up wrong and it feels that way also

Cooler running · 28 Apr 2019 at 03:20

robwigan said:
if i hypothetically put my cooling fan on incorrectly e.g both extracting air and one side NOT sucking in air.

Air flow is a weird one, one of the good things about positive pressure case-fan setups do sort of help solve this.

As long as it's not blowing onto the GPU or something isn't blowing on to it, (unless your case is literally a closed off oven) then I'll be ok.

You can check the airflow as usually there is a little arrow on the side of the fan which shows which way it blows.

robwigan said:
how soon would the CPU run before shutting down ?

It'll throttle. Note fans aren't a necessity, on my 45watt cpus they don't even come with a fan. In your case you'll just get lower performance.

freddie64 · 28 Apr 2019 at 07:04

Ideally the fans should be set up like in the pics in this review.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Phanteks/PH-TC12DX/5.html

Case fans should be installed following the same airflow direction for optimal cooling.

Any chance of some pics of your setup?

robwigan · 28 Apr 2019 at 12:48

Cooler running said:
Air flow is a weird one, one of the good things about positive pressure case-fan setups do sort of help solve this.

As long as it's not blowing onto the GPU or something isn't blowing on to it, (unless your case is literally a closed off oven) then I'll be ok.

You can check the airflow as usually there is a little arrow on the side of the fan which shows which way it blows.

It'll throttle. Note fans aren't a necessity, on my 45watt cpus they don't even come with a fan. In your case you'll just get lower performance.

they do have the arrows on so I was able to check. should have looked in the first place but it wasnt right how I had it, my fan at the back of the cooler was the one drawing in air and the fan at the front pulled it through. switched them round now