Fan positioning.

Chaos Marine · 26 Feb 2011 at 23:49

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-029-OB&groupid=43&catid=339&subcat=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-144-CM&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=29

I've bought one of these the other day (And yes, I just saw that there's another bundle at the same price but with a faster overclock and I am kicking myself over it as I type).

There's an exhaust fan right behind the CPU on the case and two exhaust fans right above it, at the top of the case. If anyone has this case and the standing heatsink design, is it better to have the heatsink blowing air out the back or up to the top of the case? Will it affect the airflow going to the GPU? A 580GTX to be exact. Will it improve the general flow of air upwards or would it matter at all?

Emphacy · 27 Feb 2011 at 00:01

I think it's best to have it blowing out the back of the case, because you get nice streamline airflow from any front case fans straight out the back, and it pulls air over your memory to keep it cool, which is important for overclocking.

Having said that, some people prefer it to blow out the top as heat rises and they like to keep their chipsets cool.
It shouldn't affect the airflow of your GPU.

Stryda09 · 27 Feb 2011 at 00:43

And if you have it facing upwards it may be hotter as it will pull hot air from off the graphics card.

Chaos Marine · 27 Feb 2011 at 10:56

Okay, thanks for the advice. Though the case in question doesn't have any front mounted fans, just the intake fan from the bottom.

m4rkw7 · 27 Feb 2011 at 15:04

Heat rises, you want cool air coming in from the front / bottom then out at the back/ top. Air should only be going one way