Push/Pull Fan question

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On a 60mm rad with push pull, do the fan on push need to be the same type as pull? Is there any reason for one side to be better than the other? Is there ever a reason to set them at different speeds or profiles?

Cheers guys :)
 
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With Push/Pull You ideally want the same fans in pairs on opposite sides of the rad, this is to keep the same performance/air pressure/pixie dust as you're likely to run your fans through software or your motherboard, not all fans have the same rpm/performance.
Aside from that you can do alternating along the length of the radiator as I did when I was waiting for some fans to be delivered.. 4 Arctic p12 Push Pull , and next to them 4 Gentle Typhoons Push Pull.
There no reason to change fan settings for the fans depending on what side they are mounted on, push pull was just a way to move air that was slowing down too much in the middle of thicker radiators and to be able to use thicc ass rads with low rpm fans.
Tbh as radiators and fans get better I can see push pull being less effective in the majority of builds.
 
Don
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Does anyone have a link that shows push/pull works better than push alone? I agree it's better than pull alone.
You have to go back to the likes of Skinee labs which is long gone for this sort of testing and the general consensus was you could maybe reduce temps by about 1-2degC depending on the radiator type.
 
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True but I guess that a few small gains in several places can incrementally add up to a decent temp reduction? (That’s not a statement by the way that’s a question to the more knowledgable amongst us - which I am definitely not ;) )
 
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I Swapped out 3 x Corsair ML20 fans on my 45mm Radiator (they were too loud at high rpm) for 6 x Arctic P12 which lowered my water temps while gaming from 40C to 35C (Ambient temps 22C), and it was also much quieter.

Adding another 240 Rad helped reduce the water temp to 33C.

When not gaming, my fans are all running at less than 800 rpm, So the only sound I can hear is from the D5 Vario pump (3 setting) with water temps at 27C.

I have a 5900X and 3080 FE.
 
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That’s interesting figures there, @Wingz, thanks.

So was that basically taking your system from a single rad to a double rad?

Or are there other rads involved that you didn’t change? Was the added 240 also push/pull, or just single sided?

What’s the total fan count on your system? What res are you playing at and are you OCed?

Apologies for all the detailed questions! But I am trying to home in on a silent (or near to) system when idling.

So am curious as to the effect of the overall number of fans a system has. Am considering the Arctic P12 rgb fans.

Thanks mate :)
 
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Whether push/pull helps depends to an extent on the radiator. Jay did a test five years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJmE13sG9PI&t=729s

Push slightly better than pull except at high rpm where pull was slightly better. Push/pull better by around 5-6C

This was with one specific radiator (22fpi) and one specific fan.

Bottom line is "it depends". On the radiator density, the case air pressure, the type of fan, the speed of the fan.

From my unscientific observations, I find pull vs push to be no different. I prefer pull where possible as it's easier to clean the radiator.
 
Soldato
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Does anyone have a link that shows push/pull works better than push alone? I agree it's better than pull alone.
Push alone is rarely better or worse than Pull, except that Pull traps less dust for some reason and can be better suited to certain cases/builds.
Xtreme Rigs used to have some decent comparison tests with several rads in both P and P-P configurations, wherein you could see that some rads have a massive difference between the two... usually the thicker the rad, the greater the difference and the more the benefit of P-P.
https://www.xtremerigs.net/2015/02/11/radiator-round-2015/5/
 
Soldato
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That’s interesting figures there, @Wingz, thanks.

So was that basically taking your system from a single rad to a double rad?

Or are there other rads involved that you didn’t change? Was the added 240 also push/pull, or just single sided?

What’s the total fan count on your system? What res are you playing at and are you OCed?

Apologies for all the detailed questions! But I am trying to home in on a silent (or near to) system when idling.

So am curious as to the effect of the overall number of fans a system has. Am considering the Arctic P12 rgb fans.

Thanks mate :)

I only had a 360 rad then added 240 Radiator to the bottom of my case, because the rad is only 30mm thick you only need either push or pull, but right now I'm using stock case fans but will replace them with more P12 fans.

Right now my fan setup are

Front Intake: 2 x 140mm Arctic p14 and 1 x 120mm P12 fan.
Bottom Intake: 2 x Stock fans which came with my Thermaltake case.
Top Exhaust: 6 x 120mm P12 mounted to my 360 Rad.
Rear 1 x Gamemax 140mm fan with red leds.

I play at 1440p with Curve Optimised 5900X -voltage offset and PBO. The 3080 is set to run at 1905Mhz @ 887mv so usually 180-250W depending on the game.

I just fixed the pump noise problem buy placing a strip of foam between the case and the pump.
 
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As others have said, it depends on the rad. My rads (HWLabs Nemesis GTX 280's) perform brilliantly with push/pull, especially at low rpm's. I have 4x Arctic Cooling P14 fan's on each rad and normally have them running at 750rpm although in the hot spell I had to increase them to 1080rpm (controlled by a fan controller) to keep my water temp below 28 degrees C at full load. As my rads are mounted in a box sucking outside air through them I have a delta of 1.5 degrees C or less giving me very low water temps.
 
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Thanks for the input guys.

I was wondering about choosing between:

1. A 45mm alphacool in pull, vs

2. a 38mm EK PE in push / pull.

This is for the vertical rad slot on the o11 XL dynamic.

Reason for considering this is that the alphacool option would be located in the second chamber with a pull fan in the main chamber, and therefore give me more space in the main chamber.

The EK option would have EKWB PE in the main chamber with a pull fan on it, and a push fan in the second chamber.

So: fatter rad in pull, vs thinner rad in push/pull


One of the reasons for asking is that the alphacool allows for shorter pipe runs due to the additional ports.
 
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Oh and I managed to test fit an EKWB PE 360 in that slot to give me a sense of how all this would fit. Nice bit of kit. The actual radiator elements are a lot thinner than the 38mm of the frame!
 
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Soldato
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Thanks for the input guys.

I was wondering about choosing between:

1. A 45mm alphacool in pull, vs

2. a 38mm EK PE in push / pull.

This is for the vertical rad slot on the o11 XL dynamic.

Reason for considering this is that the alphacool option would be located in the second chamber with a pull fan in the main chamber, and therefore give me more space in the main chamber.

The EK option would have EKWB PE in the main chamber with a pull fan on it, and a push fan in the second chamber.

So: fatter rad in pull, vs thinner rad in push/pull


One of the reasons for asking is that the alphacool allows for shorter pipe runs due to the additional ports.


No-one can answer your question, only you can. Every loop is unique. What works for one may not work for anyone else. If you like the Alphacool rads, get them. I've had lots of Alphacool rads and they're excellent. (Can't say the same for their gpu blocks which should be avoided)
 
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Cheers Mike. Main concern I guess is the 45mm thickness and it being Pull. Considering EK-Varder X3M or Varder EVO 120 fans. They're high static, and the consideration is partly made on looks and rgb, they're not necessarily the best performing fan I appreciate, but they're quite good from what I can tell.
 
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Soldato
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I use pull on some 60mm rads and have had no issues. I also use push on others. It's whatever looks better as I've never seen any measurable difference between the two. Pull makes it easier to clean the radiator of dust and that is a massive win for me; just use a hoover. The rads I have that use push mean cleaning them is a matter of using my blower from the back of the rad with a hoover at the front at the same time while trying not to get dust all over the room. Yuck!
 
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Part of the reason for the original question on different fans on a push/pull was: on a push / pull rad in the bottom of a case, there's no point making the fan below the rad an RGB, as you'd never see it (ie, the fan sandwiched between case floor and the bottom of the rad). So if I used a varder XM3 RGB on the top side of the rad, and a non-RGB Varder 120 ER* on the bottom "hidden" side, would this be an issue. (If I had to I'd put the bottom fans on a separate profile to the upper ones)

(* I know there are non-rgb XM3s, but the Varder120 visually would look more discrete and it seals better to the rad... go with me on this!)
 
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Associate
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I had a similar setup where i had a bottom 360mm rad with X3M as a Pull and Arctic P12 as a Push. Though the X3m runs at a max 2200rpm whilst the P12 runs 1800rpm max, i took out Excel and calculated roughly each RPM speed by percentage and matched them between the 2 so my fan controller would closely sync the speeds together

Example (figures are random): X3M runs at 1500rpm at 30% and the P12 runs 1500 at 37%. 1 profile for each set of identical fans
 
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