Radiator Fan

[CelticFury]

Here is a pic of my system

Currently the radiator fan is mounted to the inside front of the case right at the fan hole. My question is whether it should be intaking air from outside to blow through the radiator or if it should be exhausting air from within the case. Also, should the fan be mounted at the back of the radiator if it is exhausting air?

I would think that it should intake cold air from outside the case to push through the radiator for better cooling. I'm not entirely sure though.

I also need a shroud to direct the air flow better, that'll be my next step though.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

 

[AnnoyedGrunt]

Well, if your CPU temps are good, then you might want to setup the radiator so the fan exhausts the case air through it. This way, the heat from the water cooling will be forced out of the case which will help cool the entire case and all the components within.

If you end up with CPU temps higher than you like, you could reverse the airflow which would make the radiator cool the water better, but would also blow the warmer air into the case.

I'd probably go with option 1 and only change if my CPU temps were getting higher than I wanted.

-D'oh!

 

[TitanDiddly]

For the coldest CPU, blow in. For a cooler overall system, but probably higher chip, blow out.

 

[0roo0roo]

why would blowing in be colder? i guess if his case ventilation is poor then the psu and radiator fans could sorta work together. radiators are rather dense, forcing air through them is hard work. best to have a fan on each side of such things with shrouds to boot. hows the grillwork on the front of the case anyways, does it block air? fans got enough work trying to force air through those tiny radiator gaps u know. whether u blow in or out depends on your case flow. does your case have enough vent/exhaust to get rid of that hot air quickly?

 

[CelticFury]

I had assumed blowing in would only be colder for the CPU I suppose, but after the air got through the radiator and into the case it would make the overall system temp higher.

I just cut a 120mm fan hole in the front of the case so the fan has plenty of space to move air through. Ideally, I would like to be able to have 2 shrouded fans to get air through the radiator and out of the case. I think I'll try switching the direction of the fan to see how the it affects the overall system temp in relation to the cpu temp.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Originally posted by: CelticFury
I had assumed blowing in would only be colder for the CPU I suppose, but after the air got through the radiator and into the case it would make the overall system temp higher.

I just cut a 120mm fan hole in the front of the case so the fan has plenty of space to move air through. Ideally, I would like to be able to have 2 shrouded fans to get air through the radiator and out of the case. I think I'll try switching the direction of the fan to see how the it affects the overall system temp in relation to the cpu temp.

sounds like a plan stan....too bad you can't just duct the heat from the radiator directly out the case while using the outside air as an intake. (like a duct from the front of the case to the rear of the case at the pci slots)

 

[CelticFury]

Yea man, a duct would be truly ideal. Then the radiator air would be nice and isolated from the rest of the case. Unfortunately, there is just too much crap like the pump and tubing in the way to make a duct possible.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

move your pump back a couple of inches and duct the hot air out the side.