best fan direction?

[boing]

hi, doing a first time build and i'm putting a coolermaster hyper 212 plus onto a gigabyte P55-UD4 board (core i7 860) for an antec 300 case, the manual seems to show the fan fitted on the memory module side in the installation sheet

http://www.coolermaster.co.uk/upload/download/485/files/Hyper 212 Plus manual.pdf

but as i presume the fan 'pulls' that would mean drawing air from the back of the case (away from the two exhaust fans) and throwing it towards the front. would i not be better to fit the fan at the back so it's blowing towards the case exhaust fans?

 

[boing]

one more question, the antec 300's case fans have molex plugs so i presume i just plug them straight onto the power supply? since they have no MB connection does that mean they are not speed adjusted? or can the PSU do that?

 

[Ayah]

The fans have a little switch on a cable with them to adjust speed (Low,Med,High) And yes, they plug straight into the PSU.

 

[boing]

ok cheers guys, i'll keep an eye on them.

One more question, with the coolermaster heatsink, how tightly are you supposed to screw the central screw down? i don't want to crush the CPU but the heatsink is still twisting under light pressure and i've already used up all the travel in the spring beneath the screw (screw is still turning though)

 

[gorobei]

your eyes need to be checked. the manual show the fan pushing towards the exhaust fans at the back.

since you have a 300 you may want to consider a fan pushing up orientation(south to north). most reviewers testing indicate minor improvement when the heatpipes are aligned horizontally such that the internal wicks dont have to fight gravity to get the liquid back to the baseplate area.

 

[boing]

that pdf shows the fan blowing over the RAM slots, in my case that's towards the front of the case. had a look at a horizontal set up but i don't think the heatsink would clear the RAM heatsinks.

 

[gorobei]

look again or become more familiar with the design of fans. see the fan hub all exposed, and the side with the crossbars against the cooler. mount it so it looks like the illustration and it will be exhausting towards the rear.

 

[Red Squirrel]

What I normally try to go for is a front fan pushing air in the case against the hard drives, then maybe side fans blowing against the expansion slot area (vid card mostly) then the rest are exhaust. I like having a top fan and then let the PSU fan do the rest.

It's hard to find good cases that let you put a front fan though, well there's a lot, but few actually have venting on the front. No point in putting a fan in the front if there's a solid plastic front with no vent.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It's hard to find good cases that let you put a front fan though, well there's a lot, but few actually have venting on the front. No point in putting a fan in the front if there's a solid plastic front with no vent.

I agree. I have a CodeGen case that I modded, putting lots of drill-holes into the plastic front piece, and drilling a second set of HD mounting holes in the HD support, in order to fit a fan up front without blocking the HD mounting holes.

Nowadays, you can just buy a Raidmax Tornado case and get the same thing.

The Antec 300 is also excellent.

 

[SZLiao214]

your eyes need to be checked. the manual show the fan pushing towards the exhaust fans at the back.

since you have a 300 you may want to consider a fan pushing up orientation(south to north). most reviewers testing indicate minor improvement when the heatpipes are aligned horizontally such that the internal wicks dont have to fight gravity to get the liquid back to the baseplate area.

It is nice to read this as thats the way i set up my ac7pro in my antec 300. I figure it would be a ghetto version of push/pull with heat my easily rising straight up.

 

[kranky]

The fan on my Hyper 212 plus was mounted so it pushed air across the heatsink towards the exhaust fan at the back. You can verify it - on one edge of the fan, there is an arrow showing the direction of airflow.

Regarding that center screw, I just put my cooler in the other day and I could not figure that out. It didn't seem to actually screw into the mounting bracket (at least on mine) I ended up just making sure that it mated with the hole on the heatsink base and when I tightened the four posts down, it was very snug. I suppose it could still be turned a little if I pushed on it, but I can assure you it's working very well the way it is even if the center screw of the mounting bracket isn't actually screwed into the heatsink base.

On my i7-860, my temps at stock speeds with the stock cooler were 47c idle and dangerously high (90c) under full load. After putting in the Hyper 212 plus, they are 35c idle and 55c max under load.

 

[boing]

look again or become more familiar with the design of fans. see the fan hub all exposed, and the side with the crossbars against the cooler. mount it so it looks like the illustration and it will be exhausting towards the rear.

i see the problem, i thought the fan spun in the opposite direction but it's a 'pusher' not a 'puller'


can anyone tell me how tightly the heatsink should be screwed down? as i say it's a coolermaster hyper 212 plus and i don't want to screw the central screw (the one that pushes it onto the cpu) too tight. The heatsink still turns on the cpu at the moment with a little force applied, is this normal?

 

[Phanuel]

i see the problem, i thought the fan spun in the opposite direction but it's a 'pusher' not a 'puller'


can anyone tell me how tightly the heatsink should be screwed down? as i say it's a coolermaster hyper 212 plus and i don't want to screw the central screw (the one that pushes it onto the cpu) too tight. The heatsink still turns on the cpu at the moment with a little force applied, is this normal?

There should be an anti rotation pin on the top of the block that is pressed to the CPU by the bracket. The bracket should have some notches in it and one set up of the bracket will have a notch that corresponds to that pin. It should prevent most twisting. Check this to see if it's there or not. But a little twisting isn't that bad. Understand that you're pressing two surfaces together that should be relatively smooth. You don't rub your hand on a teflon coated pan and try to make it stop.

And as far as the screw in the center, I think the hole in the block is deeper than that screw goes so it never actually puts pressure on the block. The cross brace should be putting the pressure onto it.