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side panel fan intake or outtake

Soldato
Joined
23 Nov 2009
Posts
6,014
Location
North Leicestershire
What do you have on g-cards that dump hot air into the case i'm looking at ideas for more efficient cooling etc etc

been also dabling with the idea of sectioning off the top hlf of my case/mobo so it's compartmented so hot air from the gpus is expelled before it gets a chance to hit my NH-D14 cou cooler.

Throw me your ideas :)

TESTING RESULTS ARE NOW IN PLEASE CHECK OUT POST 12
 
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Associate
Joined
20 Aug 2006
Posts
1,798
Location
Liverpool
Intake, as it blows cool air onto the fan of your GPU which then blows the cool air acroos the heatsink. You should also have positive airflow in your case (more intake than outflow fans).
 
Associate
Joined
25 Dec 2008
Posts
1,366
Location
Dublin
Although I have not tried it yet I think if you create positive air pressure on the inside by having more/faster filtered inlet than outlet it will solve many cooling issues.

Less strain on the GPU/exhausting fans and possibly reduce noise.
Less air coming through unfiltered sources and pulling in dust.
The case will have more fresh cool air per volume and less "used" air.
 
Caporegime
Joined
5 Sep 2010
Posts
25,572
my side panel is intake to blow cool air onto the gpu's @surveyor why would it being outlet help keep the cards cooler?

Because it will extract the hot air being dumped by the graphics cards.

An easy one for the OP to test.

Fit the fan one way and monitor GPU temperatures.

Fit the fan the other way and monitor GPU temperatures.

Stick with whichever works best.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
23 Nov 2009
Posts
6,014
Location
North Leicestershire
Because it will extract the hot air being dumped by the graphics cards.

An easy one for the OP to test.

Fit the fan one way and monitor GPU temperatures.

Fit the fan the other way and monitor GPU temperatures.

Stick with whichever works best.

I am the op lol,

i'm just about to start re- painting my room so when i've done tonight i'll give some configs a go , i've got 4x spare 230 mm fans i also have a free space on top of my case for another 230mm but i could never decide whether i should have it as intake or out take so i left it off. I believe demci flex who make some of the best after market filters said positive pressure is always better as it stops unwanted dust collecting in the case and also forces hot air out of the case.
 
Associate
Joined
8 Jun 2006
Posts
1,062
Location
leicester
HAF-X user here too,side fan is intake too,look forward to seeing your results,i must admit that as much as i like this case,the weekly dusting to clear the vents peeves me somewhat,haha,or i'm just lazy.:D
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
23 Nov 2009
Posts
6,014
Location
North Leicestershire
RESULTS ARE IN

Msi kombuster 5 minute tests on gpu burn in in mode using 4xAA using manual fan set at 60%. All tests the card was allowed time to settle back to idle temp for 5 minutes.I have higlighted the most interesting results in yellow

Degrees


Ambient temp 28 c (Yes my house is roasting)

side panel fan on full intake (positive pressure)

GPU temp 64
CPU temp 42
GPU Return to idle 38c
CPU Return to idle 40c

side panel fan off (negative pressure)
GPU temp 66
CPU temp 44
GPU Return to idle temp 39
CPU Return to idle temp 40

Side panel fan outake ( negative pressure)
GPU temp 69
CPU temp 42
GPU Return to idle 39
CPU return to idle 40

Side panel fan outake with additional top fan as intake (negative pressure)
GPU temp 69
CPU temp 41
GPU return to idle 39
CPU return to idle 39

Side panel fan outake with additional top fan as outake (extreme negative pressure)
GPU temp 69
CPU temp 45
GPU return to idle 40
CPU return to idle 40

Side panel fan intake with additional top fan as outake (Negative pressure)

GPU temp 64
CPU temp 42
GPU return to idle 39
CPU return to idle 40


Side panel fan intake with additional top fan as intake (extreme positive pressure)
GPU temp 64
CPU temp 42
GPU return to idle 39
CPU return to idle 40


Side panel off completly (equal pressure i presume)
GPU temp 67
CPU temp 43
GPU return to idle 40
CPU return to idle 40


Round-up

Interestingly despite what a lot of people say actually having the side panel fan as outake increased temps by over 7 degrees. What did seem to make sense was the whole idea of heat rising having the lower fans as intakes and upper fans as outakes seem to force the warm air out.

Look over the results yourself if anyone else has time to test this then please share your results.
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Feb 2010
Posts
14,591
Interestingly despite what a lot of people say actually having the side panel fan as outake increased temps by over 7 degrees. What did seem to make sense was the whole idea of heat rising having the lower fans as intakes and upper fans as outakes seem to force the warm air out.

Look over the results yourself if anyone else has time to test this then please share your results.
I think this result only confirm that for the HAF-X it is better to have the the 200mm side-panel fan as intake rather than exhaust, but I don't think it applies as valid result for midi-cases of other models.

Just a couple of things I would like to point out:
i) For the HAF-X, the drive bays restrict airflow from front intake, so cool air simply isn't getting into a main department of the case at a effective rate, therefore not enough cool air reaching the graphic card's cooler if the side-panel was exhaust instead of intake

ii) The 200mm fan on the side-panel of the HAF-X pretty much nearly cover the full length of the graphic card, where as more midi-case only got a 120mm on the side-panel, which only roughly cover half of the graphic card's length on the left (rear) side. Also the side-panel has a shroud for channeling the air-intake to the right, so it increase the efficiency of the fan as intake, but get in the way when the fan is used as exhaust instead.

iii) Midi cases don't have the luxory of two 200mm on top as exhaust

For my CoolerMaster 690II with MSI 5850 Twin FrozRII, the differcent between having the side-panel (with a 120mm fan) as exhaust and intake was that temp was was roughly 4-5C higher on intaken than exhaust. This is with good intake and with the unneeded removable drive bays removed.

So having good default amount of air-intake or not and case layout/design would be the determining factor.
 
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