Thermalright SI-120 fan: which direction should it face?

[Superguy]

No this is not a dirty question.

I couldn't find a definitive answer on thermalright's side, so I figured I'd ask.

Which is more effective ... having the fan "suck" the heat away from the processor, or blowing cooler air down onto it (and the RAM)?

I have it sucking right now and seems to be doing pretty well, but I want to make sure I have the optimum setup.

Thanks,

Super

 

[metaP]

I have hte same question myself actually. My thermaltake came automatically face down blowing the air at the copper. I was told its better the other way but I would love to know which is optimum.

 

[JEDIYoda]

it is better to have the fan blowing air at the copper...becuase the air will also disperse accross the motherboard and also the memory!!

 

[Fardringle]

I agree. Some heat sinks do provide slightly better cooling of the CPU when the fan is set to suck air away from the heat sink. However, in my opinion having the fan pointing at the CPU and motherboard, providing air flow actively blowing over the RAM and motherboard chipset is more than worth the 1 or 2 degrees difference in temperature that you might get by pointing the fan away from the CPU.

For example: I don't have the same heat sink you do (Mine is a Thermalright SLK-800c) but when I have the 90mm fan pointing away from the motherboard the CPU temperature under full load sits around 2 degrees Celsius lower than when the fan is pointing at the CPU, but the chipset temperature is around 8-10 degrees (and sometimes even more) higher with the fan pointed away than it is with the fan pointed at the motherboard...

 

[Superguy]

How can you check the temps of the chipset? I'm running an Asus A8n-SLI Premium, and have yet to see anything where I can tell.

The thermalright makes it each to change the direction, so I'll try that and see what happens tonight.