Fan placement? Moving air?

[MBigD011]

I have a xion case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208009

There is an exhaust fan in the rear of the case, the side panel fan is blowing air into the case onto the PCIe vid card. The CPU fan blows onto the CPU/heatsink and the PSU fan is exhaust.

My question is conerning the front case fan, I bought a 120mm fan but I cant decide which direction would provide better cooling. Is it better to have the Air entering the fan creating a flow from front of case to rear or to have the fan as exhaust. Note my harddrive is mounted in the bottom front so exhaust would blow out that heated air.

And as a general noob question is it better to run your case with the side panel closed or off for cooling?

Thanks

 

[cantankerous]

Hi,

it is always best to have air coming IN from the front and side of the case and OUT through the back and top blow holes if present. Hope that helps.