Is my fan installed properly?

Sudden

Sudden

Sudden

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A few weeks ago I had given my computer into a shop for a problem and ended up having him install a new motherboard.

I was just poking around inside to figure out some wires I think he forgot to connect and noticed that the fan wasn't on the way I had it earlier. (Zalman 9500 CPU fan) No idea if I was right earlier and he put it back wrong or I was wrong and he fixed it. Could someone tell me? :)

Attached is a pic of it as it is now

http://4mlugw.bay.livefilestore.com...RHfW3ETsdr0Cag2fnasj9LGxjP1aYDP9/DSC00248.JPG


It used to be pointing towards the akasa amber fan instead of well, towards the PSU basically :p

Logically, it seems wrong to me but just thought i'd double check before fixing it :)
 
It's not "wrong" per say, but it makes more sense to have it pointing towards your exhaust fan to clear the hot air. I doubt that guy has ever done any overclocking before!
 
Is it easy enough to fix? I've only ever installed the stock intel cooler when I first built the comp. The zalman was installed by some other computer guys when I had taken it to them to fix some problems and bought it then. Do I just unscrew it and screw it back the right way in? Or do I need thermal paste and clean up the cpu and apply it etc etc.?

If it's the latter, and if the installation isn't wrong as such, i'm tempted to just leave it in there.
 
Its not wrong, but now your blowing hot air into the base of the PSU, so the PSU fan is going to have to work harder to keep the PSU at normal working temperatures. IMHO its much better to have the hot air directed towards the rear exhaust fan.
 
If you had something like an Antec 900 case with a fan on the roof then it wouldnt be a problem.

Seeing as you have your PSU there, id turn the fan 90 degrees so its blowing out the back.
 
Yea you would have to reapply your thermal paste, Have you overclocked? If you haven't then it probably won't make any difference to you, if you have the extra couple of degrees in temps could make a small difference.

Also look into getting some filters for your fans! it's very dusty in there! :P
 
Huh? Am I the only one who sees a picture where the CPU fan is blowing down towards the back of the GPU? Why is everyone saying it is blowing up towards the PSU? It definitely shouldn't be blowing down, simply because that makes no sense with regards to the laws of physics, and it should be changed to either blow towards the Amber case fan, or to blow straight up towards the PSU.
 
Looking at that pic you posted again, I suspect he was considering the airflow from the small motherboard fan you've got on there at 45 degrees. Perhaps they didn't want that blowing air into the side of the zalman heatsink. Then again, he may not of been thinking at all :p

Personally, I'd turn the cpu cooler and consider replacing that small fan with a passive heatsink.
 
Yea, the small fan thing did cross my mind as well. If I turn it around, would the small fan impact it negatively then? Would I absolutely need to replace it with a passive heatsink or could I just leave it like that?

I'm not doing any overclocking, so if it's not a massive deal, I might not do it atm since I have no thermal paste or anything and will go ahead and do it once I get my hands on some. Don't want to make it worse or anything by trying to turn it without any thermal paste to reapply it. Never changed a fan on a CPU so a bit nervous about trying it. (Built it and so installed on a fresh one. Never changed it myself).

Thanks for the help :)

mrochester, i've put my hand in between them and no air is being blown on to the graphics card.

Also, I put my hand on the other end, the air being blown up isn't hot. Fairly cool actually. Any chance that might actually help the PSU? :p (or is it something that under load would heat up quickly?)
 
ive got the same cooler on my 2nd system, and i have the back of the fan facing the rear of my case, which allows the 120mm fan to suck the excess hot air out :)
 
Also, I put my hand on the other end, the air being blown up isn't hot. Fairly cool actually. Any chance that might actually help the PSU? (or is it something that under load would heat up quickly?)
Click to expand...

Huh? The fan is orientated to blow the air down as per your picture. If you turn the whole heatsink around so that the fan is at the bottom, it will be blowing up.
 
It'll most likely raise your CPU temp by a few degrees, but it'll still be much better than the stock cooler - if you're not overclocking, I don't see any harm in leaving it.
 
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