Air Flow... is it better to...

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18 May 2006
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... Is it better to have more air going into your case than exhausting or visa versa?

I have 120mm intake, 2x 120mm side, 2x 120mm roof and 1x 120mm rear

Having a h50 fitted with push pull corsair fans (taking up the rear 120mm slot)

leaves me with a more powerful 120mm fan that I can replace one of my case fans (£7 asaka ones that are silent and pretty average)

just wondering where to direct my coolings!

thanks :)
 
My understanding is that its good to have negative pressure, so more exhaust than intake.

no...more inputs are better. positive pressure.

The debate continues :p

OP, best bet is to just try to match intake to exhaust as closely as you can, though a little difference either way wont matter.

However, if you have more intakes then it's easier to have a dust free case (assuming intakes are dust filtered) as the positive pressure pushes dust out of the small gaps in the case. Negative pressure will suck more dust in through gaps like this.
 
ive got filters so thats ace news :D next q then

where do i put the powerful fan for intake, do i replace one on the side or one in the front?
 
I used to believe in neg pressure, now my case is setup with positive pressure my temps are lots better.
I just think you want as much cool air going in as possible
 
My case is a Silverstonetek FTO1 works on positive air pressure, intake > 1 front x 180mm fan, 1top x 180mm fan, Silverstonetek 5.25 bay converter which has 120mm fan plus 2 x 120mm fans PUSH/PULL exhaust on my H50.

CPU Temps idle core's > 26'c, 27'c,29'c,31'c varries alittle bit by 1'c, my room temp at this moment is about 17.5'c.

Got to be the best case l have had up till now for temp's!!!!! :cool:

Vary little dust get's past the filters on the 180mm fan's, l clean the filter's and inside of the case about every 3 months, as the filter's start to clogg up....

PS; Forgot to mention the PSU is at the bottom of the case and the fan also exhaust's, under my 5870.
 
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I've had cases with both a little positive or negative pressure, but I think the key factor is just lots of air flow.

A little positive or negative pressure may be slightly better depending on the case design, but don't sacrifice overall air flow for too much of either!
 
Positive pressure for me!

3x 180mm intakes
1x 120mm exhaust + 5770 shroud cooler + natural rising of warm air due to case design

Dust free case! :D
 
Silverstone all the way > poitive air pressure, my FTO1 as l said in my earlier post best case yet, worth every penny!!!!!!
 
This is 100% correct in my experience.

Proper filters on the intakes will mean you only ever have to dust/hoover those and not every single panel gap or crack between optical drives.

gt

This - on the nose IMO - positive pressure means that you don't need to worry about all the little gaps sucking in dust.
 
negative pressure literally sucks!

if you have negative pressure every little gap around your case gets dust particles gathering around where the case is sucking in air.

i'd rather have to much air beeing blown in and not have to deal with dust trying to get inside the case from any little paper thin gap around the cd drives etc
 
dont forget depending on your case if PSU is at top then that extracts air too.

I have two front intakes, one side intake, push pull on H50 with Apache's extracting air and one apache on roof just above running slightly slower extracting air.
 
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