Case clearance

[tw1164]

How much clearance do you need to have around your case to get the full airflow from your fans? The fans in the front and rear of the case isn't really a concern, but the side fans are. I have 80mm fans in my case.

Also, I was wondering why the cases are not designed with the side fans on the right side of the case. I would guess that the majority of users are right handed, so I would think that they would be more likely to have the case on the right side of their desk.

 

[Geomagick]

I assume when you mean full airflow you are suggesting most efficient for cooling with the fans you have.

Efficient cooling requires equal air in and out. For that to occur where you want it to requires matched fans and a compleatly sealed case, neither is at all easy to acheive.

As for fan positioning on a case not all cases are created or assembled equally. A well laid out case which has had a lot of thought put into the location of devices and fans / heatsinks can operate at lower temperatures and with lesss heatspots than a poorly designed / laid out system. Thus the well built / designed system can use lower speed and thus quieter fans to acheive the same final result. I particularly noticed this when moving from a budget steel tower to a LianLi PC65 a few years ago. Managed to keep temps the same and shave 15dB off the noise (measured).

As for fans on the side of the case these are on the left usually becuase of the standard ATX layout, although some cases can now have the motherboard tray flipped over.

Edit: For really efficient cooling you need to zone and duct the airflow in the case, this would in most cases be difficult to acheive and really worth it for a domestic setup.