ctech

I have just built a new system and this is how I have the fans laid out:

Two 80mm fans in front pulling air in.

One 80mm fan on top blowing air out.

One 120mm fan on the back blowing air out.

And one 80mm fan on the side blowing air in at the CPU.

I keep hearing conflicting views on this subject so I just used my on judgment. I am thinking about turning the fan on the side around thinking it would pull hot air away from the CPU but I also think that blowing cool air at the CPU is good also?

The case came with a funnel on the side and I took it off and sandwiched the fan in the middle between the funnel and the panel thinking it would concentrate all of the air at the CPU/Heat sink. Also I have a Zerotherm heat sink (heat pipe) with a fan mounted on top and I can't tell if it blows air at the heat pipes or it pulls the air away??? If it pulls air away from the heat sink then I would think I should turn the case fan on the side panel around...

Thanks for any ideas you can give me on this.

manic

Ive found its more effective having side fan blowin out.

ctech

With all of the fans blowing out except for the two on the front would there be enough air allowed in to match the air trying to escape? Also the side funnel came with a filter so I figured the side pannel was meant to be an inlet?

ebackhus

Front fans should be intake. Side panels should be intake. Rear and top should be exhaust. This creates a stream that evenly flows over the computer hardware and doesn't suck in air already heated by the computer.

manic

I know, most cases that have a side fan that Ive dealt with blow in. I
guess the idea is to suck air in and blow in,on,or around the cpu. Imo
and testing this is wrong. Ive tested it both ways using motherboard
monitor.With a prescott 2.8ghz machine, using a zalmon 7000 hsf.
If memory serves. It was small but I think I got a 2 or 3 degree cooler
reading with the fan blowing out. Mix and match yourself, see what you
think is best. Use mbm or some other temp recording software, then make
comparisons,,,,,A couple degrees can make all the difference.
Ps, when I have a fan with a varible fan control such as the zalmon hsf,
I always crank the fan all the way up.

ctech

Yeah I am tying to figure out how to check my system temps right now but I don't know how yet. I posted a thread in the MB section and was told to find out if my MB had a monitor in the BIOS but I have not figured it out yet. I would like to know how my system is performing with the CPU cooler that I have (it is supposed to speed up or slow down due to the CPU temp but it looks like it is the same speed all the time to me?)

I have my PC in an enclosed computer desk and my last PC died after only a little over a year so I want to make sure that it stays plenty cool. I will put some fans in the desk to blow out and in to help also.

Do they make fans that plug into USB ports by chance?

Tumbleweed36

This is the proper fan direction schematic as posted by ebackhus.

Download and run SensorViewPro and it will tell you about your temps. Here is the link:

SensorView Pro

http://www.stvsoft.com/download.php?id=122

ebackhus

Keeping a modern PC in an enclosed area is murder. They simply create too much heat to be kept like that.

There are USB-powered fans, but they're more meant to keep the user cool rather than the PC. :tongue" I do suggest getting slot fans. They fit into the empty slots of your case and do a great job exhausting heat. I installed one in a friend's PC after his kept having heat-related video problems. No problems ever since.

If you still plan to keep your PC enclosed then I suggest looking at liquid cooling.

ctech

Do you have a link to the type of fans you are talking about? I have seen narrow slot fans that blow out the back of the case and plug in to the PCI and I have seen some that blow at the video card? I have also seen many brands and most with bad reviews?

I will keep an eye on my temps once I find a good program that works... I have downloaded sensorsview and it only gives me a HDO reading. I have checked my BIOS and I can get my readings from there for now. If I start seeing high temps I will think about getting the liquid cooler...

Thanks,

-ctech

magnethead

I went and got a dual slot fan from fry's for 15 bucks, has a switch on the back so you can choose quiet (20 CFM) or high-flow (40 CFM).

Tumbleweed36

When you get it in, let us know the results. Have a great evening.

Wozer

hey tumbleweed, remember those pm's we shot back and forth about this subject, specifically fans over the cpu?

what I found from experimentation with my box is that the following setup worked the best for my box, which has 7HDDs, floppy and DVD burner.

I have 2 fans in front sucking air in, one in back blowing air out, and 2 fans on the side..the side fans are what I experimented with...I have one over my cpu, and another situated below it which is over the PCI slots, and fairly close to the AGP slot...the fan over the cpu blows in, and the other blows out...

as has been previously noted, take temperature readings to find the best setup for your system...it is 'common knowledge' that the front fans suck air into the case, and the rear blows out, and as noted in my setup the fans on the side of my case are setup as described, which gave the lowest temp readings for me..

good luck, as heat is a killer with computers!

Tumbleweed36

Whatever works best for you will do the job. By the way, where the heck have you been Wozer? Seems like you just up and disappeared on us. Have a great weekend.

Wozer

well....I got promoted and am now a supervisor (still do most of the actual carpentry work, but I am 'in control' of the crew) and that took a lot of my mental effort for a while...it also cured me of my 'internet addiction' and on this weekend specifically I am taking a break from thinking about projects and find myself back online for a bit...

but, back on the subject of this thread, heat is a killer (been lucky as while a drive or 2 has sustained 'aging' because of heat, I caught the problems before they got terminal) and I hope this d00d gets his setch under control..nothing like noticing a drive is wacking out..a drive which in my case had 232GB of 'valuable' data on it

PCG342

I'm not gonna get into the whole "Which setup is better" debate because it largely varies based on case/board/CPU design and you could all very well be wrong, you could all be right. We may never know for sure. What I will do, however, is toss you another nice freebie -- in my opinion, better than Tumbleweed36's link -- download SpeedFan!
Dell notebook users take note: There's a special setting in there just for you! hooray.
For the rest of you, this is a pretty handy utility, but most settings are best left untouched, lest ye knows what ye's doing.... or whatever.

magnethead

I use speedfan for my computer.

As to the slot fan, it's 15 bucks at fry's, and though my temps haven't moved, i can feel a good bit of air coming out of it on full speed.

magnethead

ok, i found the spec sheet that was in the packaging:

12 volt molex
130 grams weight
High speed: 37.5 CFM @ 2600 RPM @ 39.0 decibels
Medium Speed: 24.4 CFM @ 2000 RM @ 32.1 decibels
Low speed: 20 CFM @ 1500 RPM @ 24 decibels

ctech

Thanks Guy's for the info! I am going to add some slot fans and I am also going to mount a couple of fans to the air vents on my PC cabinet to pull some air thru the enclosure.

magnethead

the fan is an Antec by the way..forgot to menion that.

PCG342

I may be unobservant [Ha! Good one, me!] but have you tried changing placement of fan/direction of flow? Might just be, for lack of a better term, pulling the cool[er] air out of your case.