Question about Air flow inside the case help please.

[snajper69]

Oki guys I have a question for you, it has to do with an air flow and with the way my CPU HSF is set up. Everything is inside Antec 900 case. Currently the fan on the case in the back I believe is pulling air out of the case. And if I am not wrong CPU sink fan is blowing air on the fins. So right now heat sink fan is facing the case fan wouldn’t that screw up the air circulation? Should I switch the fan on the cooler to the other side? I think so? But maybe some of you will be able to tell me more since I am totally dummy when comes to Air flow. One more question side fan should I use it or just block it? I heard some people saying that it actually screws up the air circ. Thanks 

 

[Onus]

The usual setup for fans is the rear (along with the PSU) and top are exhausts, and the front and side are intakes. The CPU fan should blow toward the rear, to exhaust the heat rather than circulate it within the case.
Balancing intake and exhaust generally creates the most flow through the case.

 

[snajper69]

Oki so I guess what you are saying if I understand it right. Is that most of the heat sink fans are mounted to pull the air (hot air) away from the fins rather than blowing air on it? So that would mean that my set up is good? I don't know where I got the idea that the heat sink fan blows the air on the heat sink Thanks for the clarification. How about the side panel fan? Should I just block it? Or should I put it in so that it removes the air from the case? Antec set up is that the two fron fans pull the air in and the top and back pulls it out. So what to do with the side fan? Thanks for your help (again)

 

[evongugg]

You must have a Zalman. Zalman blows air over the fins and outside the back of the case, which is fine.
A side fan is optional. That is for a different heatsink mostly, that blows air down on the motherboard. You don't need to block it.

 

[evongugg]

Look at the pictures of these heatsinks. That will explain:

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

 

[snajper69]

Oki guys I checked my fan is screwing up the air flow it dose blow the air on the fin so those two fans are fighting for air lol and I think my HSF is loosing hihihi So i guess I should reverse it right? Here you go I am attaching a link to the page that shows the Air flow on my HSF
http://www.coolermaster.com/products/product.php?act=detail&id=2535

 

[bobbknight]

Ok HSF are made to blow air onto the fins of the HS.
On the Antec 900 the two front 12cm fans push air into the case.
The back 12cm fan pushes out of the case.
The top 20cm fan pushes air out of the case.
This setup allows for air flow through the case and cooling of the CPU.

Leave things alone, they are fine, if as stated above.

 

[snajper69]

Agree that the fans inside the case are fine and they should not be changed. But the direction of my heat sink fan is screwed up it needs to be reverse so that the hot air can get out of the case faster by directing the hot air towards the back vent. Thanks for all your help. I will know once I make the change if it makes it better than it will if not than I will change it back.

 

[Onus]

Going by the Coolermaster photo you linked, your HSF should be mounted with the fan toward the front of your case. In that position, it will blow air through the fins and toward the back of the case, where an exhaust fan can quickly remove the heat.
It sounds like you have it mounted with the fan blowing toward the front of the case. If that is true, you may wish to change it. If so, remove the HSF and clean off the existing thermal paste (91% isopropyll alcohol works well). Apply new thermal paste, and remount the HSF in the correct orientation.

 

[snajper69]

Thanks but luckly I will just need to remove the cover and switch it around its monted on a pins so no need to remove the heat sink saves me extra work thanks for all your help especially jtt283 Can't wait to go home and do it and see if it knock the temp a bit

 

[snajper69]

I just switched around fan on my heat sink and yeah I got it wrong now its runing 10C less thanks all for your input.