case fans, which way?

izzy eckerslike · 23 Apr 2008 at 15:32

Just wondering whether the general rule is to have all case fans pulling air out of the case or maybe have one blowing air in to help with airflow ?

Lyle44 · 23 Apr 2008 at 15:44

Depends on location....
on the side not to sure about.
Front - usually sucking in
Back - Pulling out

/Waits for the connotation jokes

Kearney_1988 · 23 Apr 2008 at 15:55

as above front in back out....side i tend to put blowing cool air onto GFX

Franco_cov · 24 Apr 2008 at 00:02

what about fans located on the top of your case ?

I have just got the new coolmaster cosmos s case and you can fit 3 fans to the top and 1 inside the case on the base beside the psu? so which way would you place these fans ?

TheVoice · 24 Apr 2008 at 00:17

Top fans would generally extract air, seeing as heat rises anyway.

Oddly enough, my new Lian-Li case is the opposite to the norm; the intake fan is at the back, and the hot air is extracted through the front.

Franco_cov · 24 Apr 2008 at 00:21

what about the extra fan that can be fitted inside the case on the base beside the hard drive rails ?

PhillyDee · 24 Apr 2008 at 01:04

A general rule is in at the front out at the back and try to keep it balanced. Swap the fans around once they are running and see what the temps are like. My Lian-Li has a top 140mm fan, which cools better as an intake. The PSU is exhausting all the hot air, along with the rear fan.

izzy eckerslike · 24 Apr 2008 at 15:43

Just removed the small gauze that covers the fan intake to protect your fingers.

Amazed at the difference it makes to airflow 150% more air passes thru than with it on so going to modify mine with coarser gauze, i would think less resistance would also extend the life of the fan

Greebo · 24 Apr 2008 at 16:22

TheVoice said:
Oddly enough, my new Lian-Li case is the opposite to the norm; the intake fan is at the back, and the hot air is extracted through the front.

Very strange. The norm is the other way round because logic dictates that your psu and usually your gpu is pumping loads of hot air out of the back so you don't want your air intake to be coming from that area and also, in general, the back of peoples cases tend to be cramped, against walls, in corners so the air will be warmer to be used as an intake.

However, not familiar with you case and there may will be good reason with airflow inside it as to why it's routed like.

Greebo · 24 Apr 2008 at 16:24

Franco_cov said:
what about the extra fan that can be fitted inside the case on the base beside the hard drive rails ?

If your case is like mine then I have slots on the front of the case in front of the hard drive rails so I have a fan there to draw in cool air across my 4 hard drives.

TheVoice · 25 Apr 2008 at 14:33

Greebo said:
Very strange. The norm is the other way round because logic dictates that your psu and usually your gpu is pumping loads of hot air out of the back so you don't want your air intake to be coming from that area and also, in general, the back of peoples cases tend to be cramped, against walls, in corners so the air will be warmer to be used as an intake.

However, not familiar with you case and there may will be good reason with airflow inside it as to why it's routed like.

The PSU is mounted at the front on mine, so the hot air is expelled from the front. I imagine the 120mm fan would just end up sucking in that warm air if it was an intake.

I'm not too impressed with the cooling to be honest, my hard-drives run very hot because instead of having cool air drawn over them, they have the warm air extracted over them (they're mounted directly next to that 120mm extract fan). It's only got a single 80mm on the back as an intake, although I've ordered an Akasa 80mm to pair it with so hopefully that makes a difference without adding to the noise. Want to switch to just 2 HDDs instead of 3 soon anyway so that should also stop all that heat being produced.

My 8800GTS seems to get quite hot too, but the fan never seems to make any noise so I can only assume it's happy as it is!