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the fan on the cpu heatsink... pull hot air away or push cold air in?

the fan on the hs has(usually) a lil direction arrow to denote rotation direction and airflow direction..so..it depends on which its mounted..some blow down ..some blow up and away..
 
Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon
the fan on the hs has(usually) a lil direction arrow to denote rotation direction and airflow direction..so..it depends on which its mounted..some blow down ..some blow up and away..

But which way is correct?
 
USUALLY you blow cold air into the HS, but in some cases it does work better the other way. Try it both ways and see which one runs cooler.
 
Mark is correct. If you have an newer computer (which tend sto have higher temps :cpu, gpu, psu, ram, etc, etc...) and you don't have any outside fans blowing in or big vents from which to draw cooler air to force into the HS, then you'd probably do better blowing away from the cpu. By and large, though, it's better off blowing onto the cpu.
 
Originally posted by: jmebonner
Mark is correct. If you have an newer computer (which tend sto have higher temps :cpu, gpu, psu, ram, etc, etc...) and you don't have any outside fans blowing in or big vents from which to draw cooler air to force into the HS, then you'd probably do better blowing away from the cpu. By and large, though, it's better off blowing onto the cpu.

reworked a Celeron 533 Compaq to use a matx via mobo w/ Duron..the hsf ended up with blowing upwards as the psu's intake was 1/2" off the top of said fan.. 😀
 
Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon
reworked a Celeron 533 Compaq to use a matx via mobo w/ Duron..the hsf ended up with blowing upwards as the psu's intake was 1/2" off the top of said fan.. 😀

My english teacher always said " Blow before suck, except in certain unusual situations, and that's definitely one of those unusual situations 🙂

wait, wait, that was i before e
Oh well, same rule applies 🙂
 
Originally posted by: jmebonner
Originally posted by: ScrapSilicon
reworked a Celeron 533 Compaq to use a matx via mobo w/ Duron..the hsf ended up with blowing upwards as the psu's intake was 1/2" off the top of said fan.. 😀

My english teacher always said " Blow before suck, except in certain unusual situations, and that's definitely one of those unusual situations 🙂

wait, wait, that was i before e
Oh well, same rule applies 🙂

suck dank cool air in..blow hot stale air out.. at least that's how most breathe.. inhale (hold it..hold it....hold it..😉) before exhale 😛
so the fan blew upwards with the psu's fan sucking it up.. 😉
 
Most heatsinks are designed for the fan to direct air down onto the heatsink, very few do it the other
way around, in fact you can get very very poor performance if you reverse the direction the heatsink
was designed for. I think only the alpha's have the fan pull air through the fins. Anyway down into the
heatsink is your best bet.
 
The vast majority of HSFs have the fan blow air onto the HS, but if the airflow in your case warents it sometimes its better to have your fan suck instead of blow air onto the HS, your best bet it to try it both ways and see which is cooler and leave it that way. Hope this helps... 🙂 FYI Alpha's HSFs tend to suck and not blow air but that is not true of all of their coolers but it's worth knowing 🙂
 
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