Question on Fan orientation

[Kenpachi219]

I just recently bought a few extra 120mm fans, curious on input about how to orient them as exhaust or intake at the top of the case with a Noctua nh d15 or if it would be useful at the bottom for the GPU.

Case : Cooler Master H500 (x2 200mm intake front fans) (x1 120mm exhaust back)
Z490 Tomahawk
i7 10700k
Noctua NH d15
32gb corsair vengence 3600 ram
rtx 3080

[_I_]

depends on the case

for most, front and bottom are intake, and rear/top are exhaust

the open face of the fan is intake

[Kobs]

Heat rises so no intake on top you'll only push heat back down

[sebo]

i've worked with many different style of cases and all of them it's the same: front/bottom as intakes, top/rear as exhausts.. its just the most efficient way to remove hot air.

rear can be either or, but it's most efficient as an exhaust because it would streamline the flow of air when the front is intake.

since you're using air for cpu cooling, i would make sure to orientate the fans on the cooler to follow the same flow of air (pulling air from the front fan and pushing it out the back fan).

the idea is to minimize turbulence inside the case (which is why i generally dislike blower coolers and prefer an AIO - but this is another topic, not bashing your choice lol).

[SeriousCCIE]

You probably should engage in some trial and error.

Usually:

Pull cold in for CPU and drive bays

Expell heat out back or one of the sides

That isn't always optimal, though, as some gpus and peripheral cards just recirculate hot air and you may be best pulling in cold air onto the card and expelling hot air that rose out of the card via the back of the case or also on the side--heat might rise but it also can get pulled out pretty effectively before it rises with the right fan placement (and if your case has venting or holes to allow for it).

I've got a gpu with an AIO cooler on it that I could only attach a high speed "Delta" fan pulling in from the rear of the case--it couldn't be attached any other way -- and so I reversed what I stated above, but just for that system. The CPU is a little hotter on idle as a result, but... using a push/pull fan setup for the cpu cooler handled that issue well enough.

So... don't be afraid to move things around if you are seeking what works best for you. And don't worry much if someone else on the internet says you are wrong. If you are monitoring your temps as you test, you will know yourself if you're doing anything wrong... either it'll got hotter or colder, and that guy on the internet that said you are wrong isn't playing games on your computer to feel the difference after a few hours of gaming.

[_I_]

Kobs eredeti hozzászólása:

Heat rises so no intake on top you'll only push heat back down

you want to push hot air out the top since heat rises

its harder to push hot air down

[Magma Dragoon]

leave the front top slot empty, maybe even use it as intake

[Kenpachi219]

I put 1 140mm on the top towards the back for exhaust and replaced back exhaust fan with new corsair one, CPU temps are 55-74c tops on load, game depending , seems to have done just a little. Thanks for suggestions.

[Kobs]

Maybe it's your CPU cooler that's not doing it's job, what is it?