hsf direction

[coderunner]

This is pretty basic but I never figured it out and I can't find it detailed on any other post here...The fan that is on a heat sink on a cpu or gpu...is the fan supposed to be blowing cool air ONTO the heat sink or is it supposed to be taking hot air AWAY from it? ie., what direction should the fan be blowing?

Thanks

 

[Tiamat]

the direction that yeilds the best temperatures.

 

[suszterpatt]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
the direction that yeilds the best temperatures.

And usually that is... ?

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: suszterpatt

Originally posted by: Tiamat
the direction that yeilds the best temperatures.

And usually that is... ?

Don't know how more simple this gets...
You try one way, play a game and check the temperature.
You try the other way, play a game, and check the temperature.

It all depends on the airflow in your case, location of the socket, turbulence, type of heatsink.

Generalizations don't work some of the times so the best way is to try for your specific system. I have the Thermalright SLK947U and in my computer, blowing air away from the cpu grants me a 6C advantage. I have the superlanboy case heavily modified.

My roommate has one of the old school Dragon type cases and with the 80mm exhausts, blowing air into the cpu is better for him.

 

[Icepick]

You can install the fan either way. There is no "wrong" way so you can't really mess this up. That said, just about every review site I've read suggests that you will achieve better cooling with the fan oriented so that it blows air onto the CPU/GPU. Hope this helps...

Edit: As an example, I have my CPU fan oriented to blow air onto the CPU and it works well.

 

[furballi]

Blowing into the motherboard will generally yield the best cooling performance, especially if there is a side duct that directs cold room temp air to the CPU cooling fan.

Blowing out is not the ideal setup because the fan is drawing air near the surface of the motheboard. The air temp near the motherboard will be hotter due to the MOSFETs, chipset, and various electronic components.

 

[coderunner]

Thanks for the replies, they helped out.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Unless you HS specifically says it can an be used with a fan exhausting air, than blowing air on the components will be optimal.

-Kevin