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The basic idea is to use side and top fans only. The front fan is only for hard drives if your case mounts them horizontally at the front (like my case).
Have two low/med speed side fans (120 mm) blowing directly onto the motherboard and hitting pretty much everything on the motherboard. I think this is a lot more effective, in theory, than front intake or a small side intake because moving air is always cooler and the faster the air is moving upon impact, the better it should cool the components. With front intake the air isn't really felt by the time it reaches the back of the case; it just kinda draws in cool air which slowly mixes with hot air inside the case.
All exhaust will be at the top. With a med/high speed fan (120 mm). Of course, it will have to be covered with something to prevent stuff from falling in. A lot of modders do this already because hot air rises and the most logical to place exhaust fans is at the top of the case, not at the back. One exhaust fan should be enough because grooves or holes will be cut out from the top to let hot air flow out naturally, in addition to the exhaust fan's draw.
You may say the air flow is not balanced here because there's clearly more intake than exhaust, but I don't think that would be a problem because the air inside the case is always warmer than outside and with enough openings (the fan grill at the back of the base is an opening) the air inside will be forced out by the large amount of intake. The power supply can also act as an exhaust if it's one of those dual-fan ones.
Anyone have input on this idea?
The basic idea is to use side and top fans only. The front fan is only for hard drives if your case mounts them horizontally at the front (like my case).
Have two low/med speed side fans (120 mm) blowing directly onto the motherboard and hitting pretty much everything on the motherboard. I think this is a lot more effective, in theory, than front intake or a small side intake because moving air is always cooler and the faster the air is moving upon impact, the better it should cool the components. With front intake the air isn't really felt by the time it reaches the back of the case; it just kinda draws in cool air which slowly mixes with hot air inside the case.
All exhaust will be at the top. With a med/high speed fan (120 mm). Of course, it will have to be covered with something to prevent stuff from falling in. A lot of modders do this already because hot air rises and the most logical to place exhaust fans is at the top of the case, not at the back. One exhaust fan should be enough because grooves or holes will be cut out from the top to let hot air flow out naturally, in addition to the exhaust fan's draw.
You may say the air flow is not balanced here because there's clearly more intake than exhaust, but I don't think that would be a problem because the air inside the case is always warmer than outside and with enough openings (the fan grill at the back of the base is an opening) the air inside will be forced out by the large amount of intake. The power supply can also act as an exhaust if it's one of those dual-fan ones.
Anyone have input on this idea?