I plan in mounting a 120x3 rad on the inside top of my case. What i want to know is should i have the fans on top of the rad pulling air from inside the case to the outside? or have the fans below the rad and have the fans pull air from outside into the case?
![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
-
Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.
air flow for top mounted rad
- Thread starter osirus35
- Start date
malice8691
Weaksauce
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2004
- Messages
- 64
I think you wanna have the fans pulling air in from the outside because the air outside is going to be cooler than the air in your case. Correct me if i'm wrong cause im new to watercooling myself.
Fans that pull air through the radiator are a percentage point or two better than pushusing the air from the bottom.
So in the grand scheme of things it probably doesn't make a difference.
BUT I like having the fans on top of the radiator because they look better than staring at an ugly radiator core!
So in the grand scheme of things it probably doesn't make a difference.
BUT I like having the fans on top of the radiator because they look better than staring at an ugly radiator core!
holli4pirating
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2005
- Messages
- 1,432
malice8691 said:
This might be true, but then you'd be pumping your case full of hot air. If you want to put it on top and internally, I think it would be best to have the fans between the rad and the case such that they would suck air through the rad and push it out the top of the case.
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2001
- Messages
- 38,999
osirus35 said:
or no fans directly on the rad at all. Works great for me, very quiet. I just make sure all my case fans are set so they are inlet, and let the exhaust flow out of the top of the case thru the rad.
holli4pirating
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2005
- Messages
- 1,432
With the rad outside the case, that should be fine. But the general impression I've gotten from reading around is that it's better to under-pressure than over-pressure your case as far as cooling is concerned. If you overpressure, you risk having hot spots with stagnant air develop.
A little too much science seeping in.
The temperature of the air outside the case is going to be cooler than the air inside the case so long as you don't have some sort of A/C unit inside your rig. Therefore, you'll get slightly better performance by sucking air into the case (a higher delta between water temperature and air temperature), through the radiator, from the outside. This is unless you have some sort of negative pressure zone inside the case that would persuade air to exit via any openings (of which you already have several, if not dozens) and increase airflow through the radiator.
If you want to maintain low air temperature inside the case, then obviously adding a heat load (radiator) to the circulating air within is not the best idea. So, in this case, you want to suck the warm air inside the case through the radiator. But you'll naturally start losing the air/water delta T, due to the higher temperature of the air passing through the radiator fins, and you'll sacrifice the performance of the loop.
The water temperature difference between either configurations can be more than you may think, so determine what your priorities are and go from there.
The temperature of the air outside the case is going to be cooler than the air inside the case so long as you don't have some sort of A/C unit inside your rig. Therefore, you'll get slightly better performance by sucking air into the case (a higher delta between water temperature and air temperature), through the radiator, from the outside. This is unless you have some sort of negative pressure zone inside the case that would persuade air to exit via any openings (of which you already have several, if not dozens) and increase airflow through the radiator.
If you want to maintain low air temperature inside the case, then obviously adding a heat load (radiator) to the circulating air within is not the best idea. So, in this case, you want to suck the warm air inside the case through the radiator. But you'll naturally start losing the air/water delta T, due to the higher temperature of the air passing through the radiator fins, and you'll sacrifice the performance of the loop.
The water temperature difference between either configurations can be more than you may think, so determine what your priorities are and go from there.