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Intake vs Exhaust fan

geokilla

geokilla

Platinum Member
I have one case fan. Currently, I placed it at the back acting as my exhaust fan. My case is cheap so if I do use it as a intake fan, the fan would be placed at the side of my case and not the front.

The quesiton is, where is the ideal place to place my one case fan. Should I leave the case fan at the back or should I change it into an intake fan at the side? Thanks in advance.
 
If you only have one fan, use it as exhaust. Until you get an intake fan, make the air travel as far as possible thru the case by blocking off all superfluous openings - rear, side, bottom top, etc. Try to make the only way for air to get in be from the front of the case- and the lower on the front the better. Otherwise you'll just be sucking in cool air and blowing it out the back without its having done any work by picking up some heat along the way.

.bh.
 
negative air pressure - sucks air from inside
the only drawback is, you're collecting more dust - something to consider (don't forget to do regular maintenance!)
 
I just cleaned the interior of my case. It wasn't too dusty.

I did what Zepper. When I used paper to block the side openings of the case, the temperature of my video card went up by 5C. Since I have two side openings, currently, only the top one is blocked. The bottom one remains open.
 
Why are you running only one fan. At least buy another for intake. As for now, I would use the one fan that you do have as an exhuast fan in the rear.
 
yeah, definitely use it as an exhaust, but i wouldn't block off other openings because you want air to come in through them (after all they are usually next to components like video cards and cpu's). i'm assuming you don't have an opening in the front of the case because you said if it were intake it'd be on the side? how many fan mounting spots are on your case? where are they? how big are they?
 
The reason the temp went up is because the air was working harder and picking up more heat just as I said it would. As long as the temp of your vid card is in the safe range, it won't be hurt any. If you short-circuit the air path by opening the side, then all you're doing is blowing air out the back that hasn't done any work. Cooling the vid card at the expense of everything else...

.bh.
 
The reason the temp went up is because the air was working harder and picking up more heat just as I said it would. As long as the temp of your vid card is in the safe range, it won't be hurt any. If you short-circuit the air path by opening the side, then all you're doing is blowing air out the back that hasn't done any work. Cooling the vid card at the expense of everything else...

.bh.
 
I have only one fan in my case is because my dad is cheap. "As long as the computer doesn't overheat, no need to waste more money on your computer."

I think I have 4 fan mounting spots in my case. One of them is the exhaust. 2 of them are at the side, one for intake (bottom) and one I think for outtake (top) judging by the design of my case. The final mounting spot is at the bottom front of my case. This spot is blocked by my hard drive, and that is where the power switch. There is a little slit across the front of my case, and I can feel a bit of air coming out of those slits. For the size, I think it is 80mm big and that intake one has a mounting spot for a 80mm fan and something bigger.

I will see how high the video card temps go up to. They can go up to like 90C right? The case that I'm using is a generic fan I think. My dad bought it a few years ago.

BTW: This is the case that I'm using. link
 
You really have to tell your old man that you need more fans. At least one more to either put in the front or side as intake.
 
I finally got my fan 🙂. Link I just hope it will fit into that side intake slot, otherwise, I'll have to return it. I'll put it into my case later today.
 
The fan is now installed, yet I am not seeing a difference with my video card's idle temps. I think the temperature of my CPU dropped by 2C. I will see what the load temps are in a few minutes.

Is there a program that allows me to control the speed of my CPU fan and my chassis fan? My new fan is suppose to be at around 1200RPM, but PC Probe has it at 990RPM. I want to increase this speed to say around 1100RPM so I can use the full potential of this fan.

EDIT: The fan speed is now at 1230RPM after I changed a BIOS setting. Thanks guys.
 
The temps for both the video card and the CPU hasn't changed much. It only went down by 1-2C. Is this because the fan is installed as a side intake and not a front intake? I don't want to think that I spent $13 on a fan that does little to change the temps of my computer.
 
After a few days of testing, I have concluded that my idle video card temp has gone down by 2C, but the load temp remains almost the same. For the CPU, under 70% load, I think the temperature has went down by around 2-3C.

I was expecting a higher drop in temps. Is this because the fan is at the side and not the front?
 
In my opinion, the order of the fan placement should be as follows:

Rear exhaust, front intake, side intake, second rear exhaust.

Having a fan at the back and the front would provide better air-flow.
 
sorry if I'm raining on the parade.. but from past experiences with computers and using case fans, I believe only two are needed, or even one is fine.
I used to have 5 fans in my thermaltake, 1 on top, two on the sides, 1 exhaust, and 1 intake.
I took away the side fans, the top fan... because of noise issues. Temps only raised 1-2C on my graphics card, and 3C on my motherboard chipset. No changes on my processor.
I think as long as you have atleast one fan exhausting hot air it should be fine, and it'll be better if you have a intake pushing new air in.

From your site where you bought that 120mm fan, I would honestly never spend 10+ on a fan. In my opinion me thinks its a waste of money.

edit: if you want to specifically cool your video card? or your processor? I would invest that money spent on that 120mm fan on, let's say.. aftermarket cooler for your video card? or.. your processor? 🙂 hope things work out.
 
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