Do we not fit side fans now

RobTi · 2 Dec 2018 at 14:47

Hi son gave me his coolermaster elite 430 when he upgraded, I told him I was going to upgrade the fans and surprise he brought me up a couple of Corsair pro a 120 ml & 140 ml so 140 fitted in front and 120 in rear, I asked about the side window fan and he said not to bother with one.
So just though5 to ask on here what the current opinion was ?
Thanks

Glanza · 2 Dec 2018 at 15:06

Not really required anymore now that cases offer better airflow.

RobTi · 2 Dec 2018 at 16:21

Thanks so do block it up or leave it open ?

ahar · 2 Dec 2018 at 19:13

I have the same case and didn't bother for my previous build, but having just upgraded to a new motherboard and AMD 2700x I thought I would try a few things. The case is quite compact compared to the popular ones now (I got mine in 2011) and struggles to get enough air flow with a long 1080TI card .

I tried the side fan both ways (intake and exhaust) and without - I found a good difference for the GPU when stress testing using it as an intake fan. Card temp was the same but fan speed was 15 percentage points lower to maintain that temp, so much less noise.

RobTi · 2 Dec 2018 at 19:18

ahar said:
I have the same case and didn't bother for my previous build, but having just upgraded to a new motherboard and AMD 2700x I thought I would try a few things. The case is quite compact compared to the popular ones now (I got mine in 2011) and struggles to get enough air flow with a long 1080TI card .

I tried the side fan both ways (intake and exhaust) and without - I found a good difference for the GPU when stress testing using it as an intake fan. Card temp was the same but fan speed was 15 percentage points lower to maintain that temp, so much less noise.

Thanks can I ask what mb you have and any problems fitting it as I am upgrading soon

ahar · 2 Dec 2018 at 20:19

It's a gigabyte aorus gaming 7. The only issue I had is fitting the left hand roof fan as it interferes with the CPU power cable that goes into the motherboard to left. I could have got it in but in the end I just installed the fan on top of the case instead of inside it.

The AMD chucks out so much more heat than my previous processor (Intel 2500k from 2011) I can feel the side panel heating up when stress testing

RobTi · 3 Dec 2018 at 08:44

Thanks looking at a Ryzen 5 2600 with atx board so hopefully it will fit as case says it shoukd

Distracted · 3 Dec 2018 at 14:59

I've found side fans that are adjacent to the GPU allow the card to run cooler and quieter and also allow it to clock higher.

Being able to supply cool air or quickly exhaust hot air from a powerful GPU is definitely a bonus but one that is rarely used these days given windowed side panels.

Obviously it is not a necessity and using a side fan in a case with poorly set up airflow will not necessarily fix the airflow issues, but as part of a whole system cooling setup for silence with a powerful gpu they are worth it imo.

gailjon · 4 Dec 2018 at 08:58

I have tried my Fractal R4 with and without a side fan, in both push and pull.
I found that having the side fan in exhaust was the best way of getting hot air out of the case.
I am getting about 2-3 degrees less temp on the 980Ti with it in that configuration. I have a Corsair H110i at front in intake, with a 140mm fan at rear exhausting and the 140mm side exhausting.
It can really shove out a massive amount of heat from the side after a long gaming session on BFV/1, etc.

Distracted · 4 Dec 2018 at 09:27

gailjon said:
I have tried my Fractal R4 with and without a side fan, in both push and pull.
I found that having the side fan in exhaust was the best way of getting hot air out of the case.
I am getting about 2-3 degrees less temp on the 980Ti with it in that configuration. I have a Corsair H110i at front in intake, with a 140mm fan at rear exhausting and the 140mm side exhausting.
It can really shove out a massive amount of heat from the side after a long gaming session on BFV/1, etc.

I found a decent drop in temps when i did the same with my define S. I had plenty of air coming in the front as well so the gpu heat was exhausted quickly.

RobTi · 5 Dec 2018 at 08:21

Many thanks to you all for the helpful replies, fitted a side fan and at the moment have it as an intake but will try it as an exhaust as well as unplugged and see what temps I get

gailjon · 13 Dec 2018 at 09:45

Hi RobTi. Any update on your temps? It wil be interesting to see how you get on.

RobTi · 13 Dec 2018 at 09:50

Sorry changed my parts and upgraded so waiting for help with my ram so I can get my sides back on

PieEater · 30 Dec 2018 at 12:56

gailjon said:
I have tried my Fractal R4 with and without a side fan, in both push and pull.
I found that having the side fan in exhaust was the best way of getting hot air out of the case.
I am getting about 2-3 degrees less temp on the 980Ti with it in that configuration.

I have a Fractal Arc Midi and am running a 1070 with a Prolimatech MK-26 cooler, I fitted a filter to the side intake a while ago and noticed that the dust was on the inside of the filter suggesting that the GPU cooler was blowing a far bit of air towards the side panel rather than drawing air through it. I've just ghetto fitted a Thermaltake 150mm fan to the outside of the case (cooler is too big to allow internal fitting) as a side exhaust and have noticed that the GPU cooler runs a lot quieter now when under full load and it maintains its highest clock 2152 at around 54c rather than throttling down to 2138 at 58c which it was doing before.

bainbridge · 1 Jan 2019 at 11:53

I use side fans for intake because using them for exhaust chills my ankles

gailjon · 1 Jan 2019 at 18:02

bainbridge said:
I use side fans for intake because using them for exhaust chills my ankles

I have mine set up so that it ramps up the speed as and when the temps increase inside the case. It means that it only really pumps out warm/hot air.