Airflow experts - advice needed.

[MikeHunt79]

Quick question, I'm building a rig with a 120.3 rad and an Antec 900 case. I'm mounting the 120.3 where the drive bays are in the front.

Now, what I need to know is what would be best?

1) have the 3 fans on the rad act as an intake and suck air into the case thru the rad

2) have the 3 fans on the rad act as an exhaust and blow air out the case thru the rad

Bear in mind I also have a 200mm fan in the top (exhaust) and a 120mm fan mount at rear which I can use as an intake/exhaust...

I'm tempted to go for option 1, just a gut feeling....

 

[Monkey Puzzle]

Option 1 - cooler air through radiator, plus hot air rises so makes more sense...

 

[konam4]

I think i read in one of w3bbo' build logs taht he has tested this loads of times and had no effect. Even if there is an effect it could be down to anything.... unless it's over 1'C.

I personally agree with your gut though, pulling warm air out through the rad will surely warm the whole WC setup up a small amount compared to pulling cooler outside air in through the rad.

 

[ZedPowered]

Quick question, I'm building a rig with a 120.3 rad and an Antec 900 case. I'm mounting the 120.3 where the drive bays are in the front.

Now, what I need to know is what would be best?

1) have the 3 fans on the rad act as an intake and suck air into the case thru the rad

2) have the 3 fans on the rad act as an exhaust and blow air out the case thru the rad

Bear in mind I also have a 200mm fan in the top (exhaust) and a 120mm fan mount at rear which I can use as an intake/exhaust...

I'm tempted to go for option 1, just a gut feeling....

bet i know where you got that case

sent the ramsinks mate.

i'd go with intake, should run cool enough to not heat up your case.

 

[MikeHunt79]

Cheers, that's 3-0 to the intake, so I've gone with the fans as an intake, it will probably work better with the 200mm exhaust anyway.

Mounting it was a PITA tho, I had to mount the fans on the other side of the rad, the fan behind the grill is only acting as a spacer, but I just about managed it in the end:

bet i know where you got that case

sent the ramsinks mate.

The case has become a bit of a project, I've had to take a holesaw and a few cans of spraypaint to it today, but it's coming on.

Cheers for sending the ramsinks, I'll let ya know when they arrive.

 

[richyb_safc]

6 fans? 3 intakes and 3 exausts?

 

[Pneumonic]

Cheers, that's 3-0 to the intake, so I've gone with the fans as an intake, it will probably work better with the 200mm exhaust anyway.

Mounting it was a PITA tho, I had to mount the fans on the other side of the rad, the fan behind the grill is only acting as a spacer, but I just about managed it in the end:

The case has become a bit of a project, I've had to take a holesaw and a few cans of spraypaint to it today, but it's coming on.

Cheers for sending the ramsinks, I'll let ya know when they arrive.

Odd question maybe but how have you mounted it in the drive bays like that? what is attaching to the rad.. getting mine tonight so will probably do the same

 

[MikeHunt79]

Odd question maybe but how have you mounted it in the drive bays like that? what is attaching to the rad.. getting mine tonight so will probably do the same

I'm using 4 long bolts which go thru an Antec fan bracket and fan, and bolt to the rad. I then mounted the fan bracket to the 3 grills at the bottom. Easier said than done, if I was to do it again it would be far easier to use the 3 middle drivebays instead of the bottom 3...

Hopefully this pic should help:

Once I got this far I then fed the rad from the back and bolted the bracket to the 3 grills...

Also, post pics once done, I'll be interested to see how you get on.

6 fans? 3 intakes and 3 exausts?

Well, I would if I could but I can't....

I can't actually mount more than 5 fans to my rad as the antec bracket gets in the way of mounting 2 fans side my side...

Plus I'm using my motherboard to control fan speed automatically... it just about copes with 3 fans, 6 fans would definately be too much.