Regarding Fan Set-Up

[xth-o-dth]

Just have two questions:

1) Does having one fan in front of another (about 5" apart) increase any airflow?

I believe only turbine-type fans can have air blown into them and actually use it to push more air, but for normal case fans, I believe I've heard it doesn't work.

Reason I ask is that I have an Antec 1200, which has three front intake 120mm fans. But, it also comes with a mount (I actually have two) to mount another 120mm internally on the inside of the HDD cages (top, middle or bottom), which puts a fan right in front of the components, where ever you choose to put it.

So, if mounting a fan internally, is there even a point in having another intake fan in front of it on the front of the case? Would the front fan really move any more air through the internally mounted fan right in front of it?

2) In regards to the above set-up... would it actually be better (and possibly quieter) to use the internal mounting in the Antec 1200 for 120mm fans, to have the fans as close to the hardware as possible?

I don't know if it would make that much of a difference, but given the distance the air has to travel from the front of the case to reach the components, I'm wondering if having fans mounted internally on the drive cages, closer to the RAM, GPU, NB etc. would actually maybe cool better.

Thoughts/opinions?

 

[xth-o-dth]

Anyone help me out with my questions?
Thinking about altering my set-up for better cooling.
I'd appreciate it, from those knowledgeable in the subject, thanks.

 

[Forceman]

I doubt there is any feed-on effect from one fan to the second, where the second has better performance because it is being fed by another fan, and so blows faster or something.

The benefits are that the inside fan is getting fed with cooler outside air blown into the case by the intake fan, which it is then blowing more directly on the hot components - the proximity of the internal fan gives greater (faster) airflow over the component than only the intake fan would. If you remove the intake fan, you run the risk of having the internal fan be just blowing the same hot air around the inside of the case.

 

[xth-o-dth]

I doubt there is any feed-on effect from one fan to the second, where the second has better performance because it is being fed by another fan, and so blows faster or something.

The benefits are that the inside fan is getting fed with cooler outside air blown into the case by the intake fan, which it is then blowing more directly on the hot components - the proximity of the internal fan gives greater (faster) airflow over the component than only the intake fan would. If you remove the intake fan, you run the risk of having the internal fan be just blowing the same hot air around the inside of the case.

Great feedback, thank you.

However, just to clarify the details of the set-up: what if the internally mounted fan is only about 5" from the outside of the case - i.e. where the front intake fans are - wouldn't it still be pulling in the same cool air?

There's no warm air it would be pulling from the case itself, because there's no warm air "in front" of the internally mounted fans, due to the fact that they mount only about 5" in from the front of the case.

Wish I has a picture, but if you check out the internal mount that comes with the Antec 1200, you'll see what I mean.

I've no problems just leaving the front fans, just makes for more fan noise. Perhaps I could turn down the front fans though, and turn up the internal fans, to keep the noise down, but cools things down faster?