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Fans Over Video Card

L

lcboyee1123

Gawd
Joined
Aug 9, 2004
Messages
541
So the new case I got has 2 80mm fans over the video card/pci slot area and i was wondering if its best to have those fans act as intakes or exhaust fans...ill have 1 120mm in front intake and 1 120mm fan in the back exhaust...theres also a fan on the right side behind the HD drive cage which will prolly be an intake...
 
ashmedai said:
In the front & side, out the back & top.
Click to expand...

QFT

Always have the cooler stuff come in from the bottom front and side. Exhaust out the upper rear and that top of the case. If you have case fans near the vid card, make them exhaust.
 
Wolf-R1 said:
QFT

Always have the cooler stuff come in from the bottom front and side. Exhaust out the upper rear and that top of the case. If you have case fans near the vid card, make them exhaust.
Click to expand...

i thought everyone else said to make the side fans intake?? and if i do have the sides and front as intake, ill be having more air in than out, is that ok?? ill have 4 fans pushin in with just 1 120mm fan exhausting (and PSU)
 
Generally you want side fans as intake to push more air in on the gpu,nb,and mem.
I'm sure you dont want 100 fans as intake and 1 as exhaust....
your PSU should most likely has 2 fans, the bottom one will suck in air from the case and push it through the PSU and out the PSU fan in the rear of the case. If you have a rear case fan you want that sucking air out the back. if thats a decent 120 fan that should be fine.
I have one 120mm one 90mm side the two psu fans and a 120 pushing air through my radiator out the back.
 
lcboyee1123 said:
i thought everyone else said to make the side fans intake?? and if i do have the sides and front as intake, ill be having more air in than out, is that ok?? ill have 4 fans pushin in with just 1 120mm fan exhausting (and PSU)
Click to expand...

Yes, that'll be fine. Apparently positive air pressure (ie more intakes then exhausts) is better, keeps the dust out.
 
lcboyee1123 said:
i thought everyone else said to make the side fans intake?? and if i do have the sides and front as intake, ill be having more air in than out, is that ok?? ill have 4 fans pushin in with just 1 120mm fan exhausting (and PSU)
Click to expand...

no, look: what they said was, make the two 80mm exhaust along with the 120mm, and have the front & side fans as intakes. Simple

DaLurker said:
Yes, that'll be fine. Apparently positive air pressure (ie more intakes then exhausts) is better, keeps the dust out.
Click to expand...

no. You want neutral pressure if possible, becasue more intakes than out causes stagnation and accumulation of warm air. Similarly, more exhaust than intakes means too little air flows over the components, thereby cooling them. In this case it doesn't really matter hugey if he has 120mm and 2x80mm exhausts over 120mm and one 80mm intake, as 80mms suck anyway, and the difference in air pressure is negligible; so little as to not make a difference
 
lcboyee1123 said:
i thought everyone else said to make the side fans intake?? and if i do have the sides and front as intake, ill be having more air in than out, is that ok?? ill have 4 fans pushin in with just 1 120mm fan exhausting (and PSU)
Click to expand...

That's what I said as well. Bottom front AND side fans are intake.

Upper rear and top fans exhaust. :)
 
fenderltd said:
Generally you want side fans as intake to push more air in on the gpu,nb,and mem.
I'm sure you dont want 100 fans as intake and 1 as exhaust....
your PSU should most likely has 2 fans, the bottom one will suck in air from the case and push it through the PSU and out the PSU fan in the rear of the case. If you have a rear case fan you want that sucking air out the back. if thats a decent 120 fan that should be fine.
I have one 120mm one 90mm side the two psu fans and a 120 pushing air through my radiator out the back.
Click to expand...

Exactly. There will be some sort of equilibrium established within the case. You want as much flowing in as you do flowing out. The less static air (pressurized) you have hanging around the case the better. Not that you'll ever have a great amount of pressure in there but you will have some in the form of stagnant, circulating air if you don't get as much coming in as you've got going out. Although I tend to think that the more you have outgoing the better.
 
ok, so if i imply correctly, the best set up would be the front 120mm and the right side HD 80mm to be intakes and the rear 120mm and the 2 left side 80mms over the video card should be exhaust?
 
Wally said:
no. You want neutral pressure if possible, becasue more intakes than out causes stagnation and accumulation of warm air. Similarly, more exhaust than intakes means too little air flows over the components, thereby cooling them. In this case it doesn't really matter hugey if he has 120mm and 2x80mm exhausts over 120mm and one 80mm intake, as 80mms suck anyway, and the difference in air pressure is negligible; so little as to not make a difference
Click to expand...

I agree, neutral pressure is best, because it means the air is flowing through your case at an equal rate throughout. However if you can't have equal pressure, and lets face it most people can't, more intake blowing air in is better than more sucking out, of course we're talking a very minor variation.

In his particular case though, having the fans blow cool air from the outside would be better and give him more cooling since 1, it's blowing right over the hot component, and 2, it's blowing cool ambient air.
 
If I were you I would probably put all 3 fans on your side blowing in, or perhaps have the HDD fan blowing out (and then the standard front intake, back exhaust).

But the fact of the matter is that all of these very particular notions about how case flow should/would be in a perfect world, while being goods things to understand, won't hold up in the real world with a million different variables coming into play. The point is that you should take in what you can, assess your particular case, and go with your gut. See how your temps are, and then try something else and see how your temps are then. Always have a baseline to compare with and try your best to make the fan config the only variable between tests. Because then, at the end of the day, you will know you are operating at your best instead of simply believing you are because some guy that sounds smart said so.

Everybody has a different opinion on this subject.
 
Not to hijack this thread but.. When I got my case it had 2 intakes on the front, two exhausts on the back, but the top fan is pulling air in... to switch it i'd have to take out 6 screws as it is mounted on a piece of metal near the top of the case. would it be worth it to flip it around? would it even make that much of a difference? Right now at full load my CPU never goes over 45 (a64 3000+ @ 2.2) and my case temps never go over 30 (with all fans on the lowest setting)..

also.. my psu has 4 fans on it, 2 right above the heatsink sucking air up.. one intaking next to the top fan.. and one exhaust on the back going out of the case..

is it bad that 5 fans are all competing for the same air? 2 psu fans, cpu hsf, and 2 rear exhausts are all intaking air within 6-7 inches of each other.. ?
 
I just lay my mobo on the table on an improvised desk thing I made. Then use a big living room box fan to cool the whole thing :)


Works for me
 
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