Case fans intake/exhaust + concern about cpu cooler

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Casey130x

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Mar 22, 2017
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I'm just concerned about which direction my fans should be facing in my gaming PC. Recently I changed them around. diagram of current set up (x2 = 1 on each side).
1. Is this fan set up correct/best?

I'm considering getting this CPU cooler. My only concern with it is that the CPU cooler fan will replace my rear exhaust fan and it is supposed to be set up as an intake to properly liquid cool the CPU.
2. Is having the CPU cooler fan going to cause problems with the system air flow?
3. It will, of course, make my CPU a lot cooler, but will it make my case warmer as a result of having the intake instead of exhaust?
 
Solution
geofelt
Your case is, unfortunately, not the best for cooling.
1. My best thought would be to use a single strong 140mm front intake fan.
Then, keep a single 120mm exhaust at the rear.
If all the intake comes from a single source and is filtered, your case will stay cleaner.
Use a tower type air cooler which will be in the middle of the airflow.
Something like a noctua NH-U12s would be sufficient.
The key is to use a reasonably strong 140mm intake.
You will have a trade-off between noise(rpm) and cooling.
Something in the 1500 rpm range is about right.
2. AIO coolers are really air coolers, the difference is where the radiators are placed. You need good case airflow regardless. AIO coolers are not any more efficient than a good air cooler.

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KyleADunn

KyleADunn

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Jul 8, 2014
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Yes, it will make things hotter. I used to have a H55 with my R9 290 Kraken G10 setup, and it replaced my rear exhaust as well. I set it up as an exhaust, but it didn't keep things as cool as I'd have liked (used warm air from the case) and made the case warmer in general. My solution to this was to replace the stock fan that came with the H55 for the radiator with a beast of a fan. Still not exactly great...so I added better top fans. This did well.

The only issue with reversing your case air flow setup is that hot air rises, and you'd then be trying to intake with a single fan on the back right under your top fans, trying to exhaust to the front. It doesn't sound very...settling to me.

So my recommendation is use a stronger radiator fan and make it an exhaust using your current setup. If the case remains too warm, upgrade the top fans.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

Titan
Oct 9, 2006
54,380
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174,240
Your case is, unfortunately, not the best for cooling.
1. My best thought would be to use a single strong 140mm front intake fan.
Then, keep a single 120mm exhaust at the rear.
If all the intake comes from a single source and is filtered, your case will stay cleaner.
Use a tower type air cooler which will be in the middle of the airflow.
Something like a noctua NH-U12s would be sufficient.
The key is to use a reasonably strong 140mm intake.
You will have a trade-off between noise(rpm) and cooling.
Something in the 1500 rpm range is about right.
2. AIO coolers are really air coolers, the difference is where the radiators are placed. You need good case airflow regardless. AIO coolers are not any more efficient than a good air cooler.

 
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Solution
M

malespina

Distinguished
Sep 26, 2008
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18,520


1. No your new setup will not be the best option but if you really want to get a closed loop cooler, I don't think you should just follow to what somebody here says and stick with it. Just try different options/setups and see which keeps your temps cooler.

2. Might not be the best setup but again I think you just need to experiment a little and see if the difference is just a couple degrees higher which you can ignore or more and you need to switch the flow.

3. It will most likely make your case warmer but again, if it is a matter of a couple of degrees it doesn't matter.

Options I would try:
Try using the CPU cooler as an exhaust so that you have the ideal case setup with front intakes and rear/top exhausts.

Try with a top intake. Not ideal but still could give better temps

Last recommendation would be to switch it up, invert the flow with rear in and front out. Again you have to test and pick the best option for your situation.

As a side notes:

I don't think that closed loops are necessarily the best coolers. They beat fan coolers hands down in speed when lowering temps back to idle but my Zalman 9500 beat the first h100 on keeping a lower max temp when i tried some years ago so I returned the h100 and kept using the Zalman for several more years with very good results.

Something else that could help would be getting a GPU with a blower cooler. That MSI will take air from the bottom to cool the card and dissipate the heat inside the case, a blower type will just blow the hot air outside. For this to work the rear definitely has to be an exhaust or else as in intake it would just suck in the hot GPU air.




 
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