PC Peripherals Case cooling fans direction !!

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kaneunderground

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I have few doubts regarding direction of air flow of inside cabins ..
Presently i have a cabin & has 4 fans
1. At top ( exhaust ) (80mm)
2. rear ( exhaust )(120mm)
3. & 4. @ side panels one facing cpu(120 mm) other facing gpu(80mm) respectivily
Now the q is should both fans be inlet or outlet @ same time??:(
or one should act as inlet & other out or viceversa??:huh:
Can any one sort this out ??
thanks ...:cool2:
 
Both the side fans should be intake fans to bring cooler air to the cpu,gfx card and other motherboard components.Also add one fan in front as intake.

NOte:You should never keep side fans in different direction.Both fans should be in one direction only.
 
When you place a fan in exhaust it automatically pulls some air through the side panel as well. You may check it by cutting out a very small piece of paper and place it on the side panel grill.

And don't put a fan blowing air towards the Active Heat sink. The heatsink fan wants to blow the air away from the heatsink and another side panel fan blowing air towards it does not help.

Make it 2 or 1 Fan for blowing air on the GPU.
 
side panel fans must be inlet or intake.If u have option to mount fan at front then put ur cpu facing fan there.
 
1. At top ( exhaust ) (80mm)-Outside Air Flow.

2. rear ( exhaust )(120mm)-Outside Air Flow.

3. & 4. @ side panels one facing cpu(120 mm) other facing gpu(80mm)- Inside Air Flow.
 
The rear fan is supposed the be an exhaust fan. In other words, it should be blowing hot air from the system, out the back of the computer and tandem with the PSU. The main reason its there is for aiding the CPU cooler. The most commen method of placing a current model CPU cooler is to face its exhaust to the rear of the case. This should line up pretty well with the cases external exhaust fan. This allows the PSU and case exhaust fant to pretty much suck out most of the hot air created by the CPU.

To simplify:

The rule of thumb is IN from the front and side, out from the back and top. And attempt to equivilate the in flow and the out flow. Simple and easy to follow.
fanplacement.gif
 
One doubt if side panel fans both become intake wont it interfere with cup heat sink exhaust ?? The flow will be something like this

[CPU]====>>> HEAT ??!! COLLISION AIR !! HEAT ?? <<<<====[FAN]
 
I would prefer the top fan to be exhaust. But all this is subjective. No right or wrong answer.
 
I prefer the top ones & the upper side panel case fans to be exhaust. The one in the front ones & the lower side panel ones to be intake. This helps in having a more efficient circulation system.
 
Top fans should always be exhaust since warm air is lighter and accumulates at the top of the cabinet . Front fan should be an intake one which also cools the HDD's , rear should be exhaust . Side panel fans are intake ones .
 
Having the side fans as intake helps in sucking cooler air into the cabinet and onto the CPU and GPU respectively. The warmer air from the CPU and GPU will rise to the top and hence the fan at the top has to be a exhaust.

A front one too should be an intake to pull in cooler air, while the rear 120mm or 140 mm would dispose of all the accumulated/remaining warmer air from the CPU/GPU/Case.
 
When I had a cabby with side fans I noticed that, when the side fan was on, it only managed to make temps worse inside the cabby by circulating the hot air from cpu to bottom of case and back to top. Since my cabby had some vents in bottom, I could feel warm air if I placed my hand there.

Best would be to have one 120 or 140mm front intake fan and two top rear 120mm exhaust fans. Since my new cabby is open on top (plastic mesh), all the warm air from cpu directly goes through top and does not circulate in cabby anymore. :)
 
hash said:
And don't put a fan blowing air towards the Active Heat sink. The heatsink fan wants to blow the air away from the heatsink and another side panel fan blowing air towards it does not help.

Make it 2 or 1 Fan for blowing air on the GPU.
Click to expand...

Do you mean that the heatsink fan acts as an sxhaust , if that is your meaning then its wrong . More then 80% setups have fans blowing air on the heatsink .
Heatsinks that have fans pulling air out are usually the dual fan setups where 1 blows air on the heatsink and other pulls out air .
If the fan pulls air from the side the only part of the cooler getting good airflow in the "pull" configuration is the top. Not the bottom, where the CPU is. Bad idea.
 
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