Orientation of Cooler (Hyper 212+)

[asher]

Hi all.

I am rebuilding my PC and have a question about mounting my CPU cooler (a Hyper 212+). I am planning to overclock so I would like to get the cooling setup right.

Heres an image from inside my case (Antec 300)

As you can see, the cooler is right in the top back corner of the case, near the two exhaust fans. The orientation you see is how the cooler's instructions showed it.

I am inexperienced with cooling stuff so I thought I would ask you guys for help. My concerns are as follows...

1. The size of this thing seems to be blocking airflow from the case through the top exhaust fan.

2. The fan sucking air through the cooler seems to be competing with the exhaust fan for air (they are going in different directions).

3. It could be blowing hot air over the RAM and onto the hard drives.

I have some options with this cooler, including reversing the fan direction and rotating the whole thing 90 degrees. There will be 3 intake fans in this case, two on the front panel (below the 5.25" bays) and one on the side blowing into the graphics card.

My thoughts were that I should reverse the direction of the fan so it blows into the heatsink rather than sucks out of it. In either orientation the cooler is going to have an exhaust fan on the other side close by sucking air through, so this would be kind of like a push/pull setup. What do you guys think of that idea? Also, would you leave the heatsink in its current position or rotate it 90 degrees?

Thanks

 

[Manticorps]

1. I wouldn't worry too much about blocking airflow. As for
2. Your fan should be blowing air through the HS,towards the rear case fan. It should exhaust towards the top or rear so the hot air from the cooler is expelled out of the case.
3. See #2.

As for rotating it 90 degrees, I would probably try it both ways to see what worked better in my installation. I have a different case and different fan layout, and I found exhausting towards the rear case fan worked best for me.

 

[Termie]

Hi all.

2. The fan sucking air through the cooler seems to be competing with the exhaust fan for air (they are going in different directions).

2. Your fan should be blowing air through the HS,towards the rear case fan. It should exhaust towards the top or rear so the hot air from the cooler is expelled out of the case.

This...except that the fan that comes with the Hyper 212+ is premounted on plastic clips, I believe, and unless there was a mistake at the factory, it should be blowing into the heatsink, not towards your memory sticks. If it is blowing over the memory sticks, definitely reverse it - it was mounted incorrectly.

As for orientation, I think most people are more successful having the fan go towards the back rather than the top. Don't know why, honestly. But I can say that coolermaster fans do not liked to be mounted horizontally (which is how it would be facing up). The bearings will be loud.

I had a push-pull dual fan setup on my Hyper 212+ until a couple of days ago (it's getting cold outside after all), and it did make a difference, so just having the fan orient towards the back isn't exactly the equivalent of a push-pull setup.