Which direction should the fans face?

[imported_boe]

I guess I never really thought about it before but I'm building a new system and figure I might as well ask what is the proper direction? I've always had the fan in the front blowing in towards the center of the case and the one in the back blowing out.

 

[DaSinical1]

Fans in front or bottom blowing in. Fans on back or top blowing out. I don't usually use the fans on the side of a case but if you decide to then place those blowing in as well.

 

[imported_boe]

Thanks - I'll defintiely have at least one on the side by the video card and possibly one by the hard drive cage on the other side. I've never used the side before so this is helpful, thanks.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

I prefer to avoid side intake fans, they can mess up the flow from your other fans and cause dead spots due to turbulence. What case are you using?

 

[krnmastersgt]

I have way more exhaust pull than intake pull in terms of air, not sure if thats such a great thing though.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt
I have way more exhaust pull than intake pull in terms of air, not sure if thats such a great thing though.

It's not a terrible thing, so long as your heatsinks aren't getting stargved of cool air. people will say "air can always find ways into the case" but, what level of control over the airflow are you getting if you're just relying on it to seep in. Again, to give a propery idea of flow directionality, we need to know what case you're using and what heatsinks you're using where and what fans you've got.

 

[imported_boe]

Hello,

I have the Rosewill 5717-P-BK - it has a fan at the bottom in the front --120mm but that is somewhat limited due to the front guard and filter, it has a fan at mid level in the back. It has a fan on the side towards the back where the video card is (I'll be using that as many of the silent cooling solutions for video cards don't exaust out the back like the stock ones do in the second slot). There is also a duct going to the CPU - no fan. The 80mm will go on the right hand bottom next to the drive cage. I'll be putting in three drives so I will have a gap between each about the size of a drive however, the bottom one won't have a gap that big beneath it and the top one won't have a gap that big above it.

left side
http://c1.neweggimages.com/New...mage/11-147-054-06.jpg

Rigth side
http://c1.neweggimages.com/New...mage/11-147-054-08.jpg

Chances are I'll be putting some form of filter in front of all vents going in as there is a lot of dust in my area.

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: boe
Hello,

I have the Rosewill 5717-P-BK - it has a fan at the bottom in the front --120mm but that is somewhat limited due to the front guard and filter, it has a fan at mid level in the back. It has a fan on the side towards the back where the video card is (I'll be using that as many of the silent cooling solutions for video cards don't exaust out the back like the stock ones do in the second slot). There is also a duct going to the CPU - no fan. The 80mm will go on the right hand bottom next to the drive cage. I'll be putting in three drives so I will have a gap between each about the size of a drive however, the bottom one won't have a gap that big beneath it and the top one won't have a gap that big above it.

left side
http://c1.neweggimages.com/New...mage/11-147-054-06.jpg

Rigth side
http://c1.neweggimages.com/New...mage/11-147-054-08.jpg

Chances are I'll be putting some form of filter in front of all vents going in as there is a lot of dust in my area.

sounds good.

 

[imported_wired247]

Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
I prefer to avoid side intake fans, they can mess up the flow from your other fans and cause dead spots due to turbulence. What case are you using?

I prefer to use more intake fans than exhaust fans, granted the intakes are blowing directly on my hard drives, from the front of the case, which is sometimes an overlooked cooling necessity.

I don't like side intake fans either, although some people like them for blowing directly on the RAM.

luckily, I've never lost a component due to heat

deadspots are not usually a big issue when you have temperature gradients inside your case, due to natural convection.

if your case temps are fine, chances are, your components will not die from heat.