Heatsink/Fan Orientation with Antec900 Case

[tviceman]

I've got a Noctua NH-U12P cooler (tower cooler) and I'm getting ready to upgrade to Sandy Bridge. The heatsink and fan is currently set to point out the back of the case, but I've wondered and considered many times if it would be best to have it point up since A) heat rises and B) the larger 200mm fan is above the CPU. So, as of now, I think I am going to reorient the heatsink and fan in this manner when I install my sandy bridge mobo and cpu.

Any thoughts or disagreements with this logic?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

I do not have that case or HS, but with my GB board I had to install my Tuniq a direction other than out the back, my Asus board allowed me to point the fan out the back. I saw no change in temps having to do this.

 

[nyker96]

I got a haf which has similar fan intake/outtake constructions. I point my mugen 2 toward the back because the g-card practically cuts off any air circulation from the bottom. Maybe mugen 2 is just too big to have any room. I'd point up if it's a small HSF like the hyper 212+.

 

[Tanclearas]

Same case and I've had my HSF blowing up (hehe... upWARD... not "blowing up") since installed (over three years ago). Just seemed the logical thing to do. Why fight the natural flow?

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Same case and I've had my HSF blowing up (hehe... upWARD... not "blowing up") since installed (over three years ago). Just seemed the logical thing to do. Why fight the natural flow?

A case is pretty much all un-natural flow. The case fans push and pull the air the direction of the design.

 

[fffblackmage]

A) heat rises and B) the larger 200mm fan is above the CPU.

(A) While that's true, it's practically irrelevant with active cooling. The passive movement of hot air contributes way too little flow compared to the amount of airflow a fan can provide.

(B) This is something I kinda wondered about. However, if you have a side fan (I do), you might not even have the option of pointing the fan upwards anyways. I had to cut a corner of the side fan's frame to even get the door closed without bumping on the cpu cooler.

 

[Tanclearas]

A case is pretty much all un-natural flow. The case fans push and pull the air the direction of the design.

Well, not entirely. A case is only part of the overall "air direction" issue. The cooler style of the video card, CPU, and power supply, the placement of drives, and the management of cables are all going to play a role in the movement of air. Granted, the HSF is going to draw heat away from the CPU, and typically that is horizontal. From there, yes, the fan is going to do the work of directing the heat elsewhere. In the Antec Nine Hundred, there is a large fan on top of the case, directly above the CPU.

The large fan on the top of the case is there because someone recognized that heat rises, and you can either let it gather up there, or deal with it.