Airflow from the side.. Which direction!?

[Tacman]

Ok got a 120mm Fan (silenx) blowing out of my Lian Li pc-60, should it be blowing out or in? I dont really see a difference either way. (my friend and i have been arguing over this) Any opinions?

[XeRo_Dark]

depends, you want to have air going into your case, and out of your case it only matters if you dont have some sort of in/out fan ratio or somethin like 2 in 1 out or 2 in 2 out or something of that nature.

[Monkey34]

This is going to depend on the other fans you have. Dont forget, your case is not a "sealed" box. Lets say you have equal fans before the side one is installed ( ie: 2 front blowing in, 2 rear blowing out). I would put the side fan blowing in for one reason - if its blowing out, air will be sucked in all the "cracks and gaps" around the case, sucking in more dust into the case. If you set it blowing in, the air will go OUT those gaps. It will at least minimize the dust mess. I dont have any [H]ard data about cooling effects though.......although I believe the cooling difference is small. This is the same question/different flavor I see alot concerning cpu fans - suck air off, or blow on. ;)

[ryuji]

i would venture to say that unless you got like 4x intake and 1x exaust intakes the traditional way to have a side panel fan.. personally tho.. i have it intake to blow on my zalman..

[aug1516]

I usually get better temps with side fans pushing air into the case.