Which way should my watercooler face?

saltlife97

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Hello,

I wanted to ask which way should the fans face on my water cooler? Should they point out of the case or into it? I’ve seen PCs set up both ways. The radiator will be mounted on the front of the case. I am wanting to buy this: Cooler Master MasterLiquid ML240R Addressable RGB All-in-one CPU Liquid Cooler Dual Chamber Intel/AMD Support Cooling (MLX-D24M-A20PC-R1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079K244KZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_s6tbCbA23A9E2

My case is the CoolerMaster LAN box, I bought the case from a friend and I’m not sure which model it is, and I’ve had it for a few years so it’s probably not up to date but it’s basically identical to these: http://www.coolermaster.com/product/Lines/lan-box/
(Not the glass top version)

PC Specs:
Ryzen 7 1700
Gigabyte Aorus GTX 1080
GSkill TridentZ 16gb 3000mhz
Gigabyte Aorus GA-AX370 Gaming K7 mobo

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.
 
Solution
I would always set them up to push the air from the case, through the rad, out of the case. Blowing the warm air out.

However ive seen test done that show there's not a lot of different in it as long as you have the air pressure right (equal air being pushed out as pulled in)

In your case as the rad is on the front id have them pulling in from the front and blowing out the back, to avoid having the warm air/noise being expelled in your direction.
I would always set them up to push the air from the case, through the rad, out of the case. Blowing the warm air out.

However ive seen test done that show there's not a lot of different in it as long as you have the air pressure right (equal air being pushed out as pulled in)

In your case as the rad is on the front id have them pulling in from the front and blowing out the back, to avoid having the warm air/noise being expelled in your direction.
 
Solution

saltlife97

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So, if the fans are intake, I should face them towards the outside of the PC to pull in cool air, and if they are exhaust I should put it facing in towards the pc so it blows out the back of the case? Wouldn’t that make it so I’m blowing hot air into my PC?
 
Your fans can be intake or exhaust it just depends which was around you point them (there will normally be an arrow showing which way they move the air.

If you set them up to pull air through the front of the case/ through the rad/ into the pc, you would then need at least 1 fan at the rear to push the warm air out of the case.
 

saltlife97

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Alright cool, thank you very much! I do have a fan in the back so I will set up the fans to pull air from the front of the case through the rad and then the back fan can pull that air out the back of the PC.
 


You don't have a choice. It seems you chose the case first and the cooling solution 2nd. You have 1 spot that accepts 2 x 120mm fans/ 240mm radiator and that is in the front. I normally install radiators in the top of my case. It can accept 2 x 140mm fans/ 280mm radiator on top or in front. I want cooler air to feed the heatsinks which doesn't happen when there is a radiator exhausting warmer air into the case.
 

saltlife97

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I don’t really know much about PC cooling and PC stuff in general, just the simple mechanics of plugging stuff in. So if it won’t cool my heatsink, how will it cool down the cpu? Is it worth the money to upgrade from my stock air cooler? Should I just add more fans to the front to bring in more cool air and keep the air cooler? What would you suggest? I’ve just been building on the PC I bought from my friend a couple years ago, having replaced the mobo ram cpu gpu and added a ssd. That is the extent of my PC knowledge.
 


If you aren't looking to eventually OC I would leave it as is. If not I would look into the BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 4.
 

saltlife97

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Idk what I will do yet then. I would really like a water cooler, I live in a hot environment and my pc gets to between 60-70c when running games. I’m just looking to cool it down a bit.